Bagnall, Roger S

Berkeley. 2011. January 2011. University of California Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 9780520267022. Sather Classical Lectures, 69. A Joan Palevsky Book in Classical Literature. 50 b/w photographs, 9 tables, 2 graphs . 192 pages. hardcover. keywords: Archaeology Ancient History Language . FROM THE PUBLISHER - Most of the everyday writing from the ancient world - that is, informal writing not intended for a long life or wide public distribution - has perished. Reinterpreting the silences and blanks of the historical record, leading papyrologist Roger S. Bagnall convincingly argues, however, that ordinary people - from Britain to Egypt to Afghanistan - used 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. inventory #37810 ISBN: 9780520267022.