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Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in Greece and Rome
Classicists have been slow to take advantage of the important advances in the way that literacy is viewed in other disciplines (including in particular cognitive psychology, socio-linguistics & socio-anthropology). On the other hand, historians of literacy continue to rely on outdated work by classicists (mostly of the 60's & 70's) & have little access to the current reexamination of the ancient evidence. This timely volume attempts to formulate new interesting ways of talking about the entire concept of literacy in the ancient world--literacy not in the sense of whether 10% or 30% of people could read or write, but in the sense of text-oriented events embedded in a particular socio-cultural context. The volume is intended as a forum in which selected leading scholars rethink from the ground up how students of classical antiquity might best approach the question of literacy in the past & how that investigation might materially intersect with changes in the way that literacy is now viewed in other disciplines. The result will give readers new ways of thinking about specific elements of literacy in antiquity, such as the nature of personal libraries, or what it means to be a bookseller in antiquity; new constructionist questions, such as what constitutes reading communities & how they fashion themselves; new takes on the public sphere, such as how literacy intersects with commercialism, or with the use of public spaces, or with the construction of civic identity; new essentialist questions, such as what "book" & "reading" signify in antiquity, why literate cultures develop, or why literate cultures matter. The book derives from a conference (a Semple Symposium held in Cincinnati in 4/2006) & includes new work from the most outstanding scholars of literacy in antiquity (e.g., Simon Goldhill, Joseph Farrell, Peter White & Rosalind Thomas).
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446 pages, Hardcover
First published January 3, 2009
About the author
William A. Johnson
71 booksWilliam A. Johnson is Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Duke University.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 5, 2022
Series of essays on "ancient literacy" I read for a class project.
January 5, 2010
This volume consists of fourteen essays with an introduction by one of the editor-contributors, William A. Johnson. It is based on papers delivered at a a symposium entitled “Constructing Literacy Among the Greeks and Romans” held in 2006 at the University of Cincinnati.
Rosalind Thomas' “Writing, Reading, Public and Private 'Literacies'” distinguishes between different orders of literacy (List, Name and Official) and shows how literacy became more sophisticated and widespread with the evolution of Athens into a “democratic” commercial empire, ca. 480-300.
Greg Woolf's “Literacy or Literacies in Rome?” shows how Latin literacy developed from the ground up, from the private sphere of citizens and dependents, to be appropriated as needed for the evolving public “needs of the state.”
Barbara Burrell's “Reading, Hearing and Looking at Ephesos” narrows its focus to a detailed examination of monuments and inscriptions at a single site, Roman Ephesos, emphasizing how each informed the other.
Simon Goldhill's “The Anecdote” studies the employment of anecdotes in Empire culture, anecdotes notably crossing “the boundaries between oral and literate in a way that shows the interdependence of both spheres” while creating “a normative perspective on the word” and organizing “knowledge in a very particular, packaged way.”
Thomas Habinek's “Situating Literacy in Rome” asks, and suggests answers to, three questions: “How does the social impact and significance of literacy at Rome change over time? How do the uses of literacy at Rome differ from those found in other ancient societies? What do Roman practices of reading and writing tell us about the Roman understanding of what writing is and is not?”
Florence Dupont's “The Corrupted Boy and the Crowned Poet” discusses the differences between books considered as texts and books considered as objects in Rome.
Joseph Farrell's “The Impermanent Text in Catullus and Other Roman Poets” discusses the relations of the immaterial “voice” of authors to their materializations as text using Catullus as an early instance of self-conscious opposition to romantic convention.
Holt N. Parker's “Books and Reading Latin Poetry” shows that the Roman reception of poetry was, contrary to some opinion, predominately through the private, silent reading of books.
George W. Houston's “Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman Empire” is a detailed, scholarly review of what little evidence exists for the content and organization of Roman book collections.
Peter White's “Bookshops in the Literary Culture of Rome” offers an interesting description of bookshop businesses in Rome, their location and cultural roles.
Kristina Milnor's “Literary Literacy in Roman Pompeii” is a study of graffiti with a focus on apparent references to Vergil which raises some interesting questions about low and high culture.
William A. Johnson's “Constructing Elite Reading Communities in the High Empire” is about high culture, canonicity and those who cared about such things.
Shirley Werner's “Literacy Studies in Classics” is a thematically arranged and annotated bibliographic essay spanning the last two decades of scholarship.
David R. Olson's “Why Literacy Matters” caps the collection with a broad examination of how literacy adds a dimension to language and cognition, writing putting what is written in brackets so as to distinguish sense from content.
Overall, this collection has little merit for the general reader. Most of the essays are by specialists for specialists, linked only by the wide rubric of “classical literacy” and by the fact that they came out of a single conference. Further, there is neither historical nor cultural balance. Most of the essays are about Rome—the Empire in particular. No discernable thread links the lot. The exception to this criticism is the essay by Olson, an educator rather than a classicist or ancient historian. He alone performs an explicit hermeneutic, meaningfully linking the classics to the present and raising issues worthy of general consideration. The inclusion of his essay as the epilogue for this collection was a wise choice.
Rosalind Thomas' “Writing, Reading, Public and Private 'Literacies'” distinguishes between different orders of literacy (List, Name and Official) and shows how literacy became more sophisticated and widespread with the evolution of Athens into a “democratic” commercial empire, ca. 480-300.
Greg Woolf's “Literacy or Literacies in Rome?” shows how Latin literacy developed from the ground up, from the private sphere of citizens and dependents, to be appropriated as needed for the evolving public “needs of the state.”
Barbara Burrell's “Reading, Hearing and Looking at Ephesos” narrows its focus to a detailed examination of monuments and inscriptions at a single site, Roman Ephesos, emphasizing how each informed the other.
Simon Goldhill's “The Anecdote” studies the employment of anecdotes in Empire culture, anecdotes notably crossing “the boundaries between oral and literate in a way that shows the interdependence of both spheres” while creating “a normative perspective on the word” and organizing “knowledge in a very particular, packaged way.”
Thomas Habinek's “Situating Literacy in Rome” asks, and suggests answers to, three questions: “How does the social impact and significance of literacy at Rome change over time? How do the uses of literacy at Rome differ from those found in other ancient societies? What do Roman practices of reading and writing tell us about the Roman understanding of what writing is and is not?”
Florence Dupont's “The Corrupted Boy and the Crowned Poet” discusses the differences between books considered as texts and books considered as objects in Rome.
Joseph Farrell's “The Impermanent Text in Catullus and Other Roman Poets” discusses the relations of the immaterial “voice” of authors to their materializations as text using Catullus as an early instance of self-conscious opposition to romantic convention.
Holt N. Parker's “Books and Reading Latin Poetry” shows that the Roman reception of poetry was, contrary to some opinion, predominately through the private, silent reading of books.
George W. Houston's “Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman Empire” is a detailed, scholarly review of what little evidence exists for the content and organization of Roman book collections.
Peter White's “Bookshops in the Literary Culture of Rome” offers an interesting description of bookshop businesses in Rome, their location and cultural roles.
Kristina Milnor's “Literary Literacy in Roman Pompeii” is a study of graffiti with a focus on apparent references to Vergil which raises some interesting questions about low and high culture.
William A. Johnson's “Constructing Elite Reading Communities in the High Empire” is about high culture, canonicity and those who cared about such things.
Shirley Werner's “Literacy Studies in Classics” is a thematically arranged and annotated bibliographic essay spanning the last two decades of scholarship.
David R. Olson's “Why Literacy Matters” caps the collection with a broad examination of how literacy adds a dimension to language and cognition, writing putting what is written in brackets so as to distinguish sense from content.
Overall, this collection has little merit for the general reader. Most of the essays are by specialists for specialists, linked only by the wide rubric of “classical literacy” and by the fact that they came out of a single conference. Further, there is neither historical nor cultural balance. Most of the essays are about Rome—the Empire in particular. No discernable thread links the lot. The exception to this criticism is the essay by Olson, an educator rather than a classicist or ancient historian. He alone performs an explicit hermeneutic, meaningfully linking the classics to the present and raising issues worthy of general consideration. The inclusion of his essay as the epilogue for this collection was a wise choice.
May 26, 2018
A truly fascinating look at types of literacy in the ancient world, and its purpose in daily life.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews