Reading, Writing, and Bookish Circles in the Ancient Mediterranean

This volume integrates conversations across disciplines, particularly focusing on classical studies and Jewish and Christian studies, to address imbalances in scholarship on reading and textual activity in the ancient Mediterranean. It emphasizes the social-historical context of reading circles and networks, avoiding traditional methodological debates and focusing on groups, scribal culture, material culture, and social relationships. The volume encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and fosters future discussion between ancient literacy specialists.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 22 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

This volume, through the integration of conversations across disciplines, particularly focusing on classical studies and Jewish and Christian studies, aims to address several imbalances in scholarship on reading and textual activity in the ancient Mediterranean. The contributors intentionally place Jewish, Christian, Roman, Greek, and other reading circles back into their encompassing historical context, avoiding subdivisions along modern subject lines that still bear marks of cultural and ideological interests. In their examination, the contributors steer clear of dwelling upon traditional methodological debates over orality vs. literacy and social classifications of literacy, instead turning their attention to the social-historical: groups of people, circles and networks, strata and class, scribal culture, material culture, epigraphic and papyrological evidence, functions and types of literacy, and the social relationships that all of these entail.

Overall, this volume makes a significant contribution to an emerging and important interdisciplinary collaboration between specialists in ancient literacy, fostering future discussions between two currently divided fields.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350265066