Everyday Writing in the Graeco-Roman East [Paperback]

Most of the everyday writing from the ancient worldthat is, informal writing not intended for a long life or wide public distributionhas perished. Reinterpreting the silences and blanks of the historical record, leading papyrologist Roger S. Bagnall convincingly argues that ordinary peoplefrom Britain to Egypt to Afghanistanused writing in their daily lives far more extensively than has been recognized. Marshalling new and little-known evidence, including remarkable graffiti recently discovered in Smyrna, Bagnall presents a fascinating analysis of writing in different segments of society. His book offers a new picture of literacy in the ancient world in which Aramaic rivals Greek and Latin as a great international language, and in which many other local languages develop means of written expression alongside these metropolitan tongues.

Roger S. Bagnall is Professor of Ancient History and Director at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University and the author most recently ofEarly Christian Books in Egypt.

This is the most important and original study of literacy and the function of writing in ancient society to have appeared in the last twenty years. In a masterly and detailed survey of evidence from across the ancient Mediterranean world, Bagnall shows how and why 'routine' writing was essential to social and administrative infrastructures from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the role and function of the written text in human social behaviour.

Alan Bowman, Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford University



This richly illustrated and annotated book takes the reader on an extended tour from North Africa to Afghanistan. Bagnalls theme is the ubiquity and pervasiveness of writing in the long millennium from Alexander to the Arab conquests and beyond. Briskly challenging the currently fashionable lol3#