Inhabiting a lettered world: exploring the fringes of Roman writing habits

Kruschwitz, P. (2016) Inhabiting a lettered world: exploring the fringes of Roman writing habits. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 59 (1). pp. 26-41. ISSN 2041-5370 doi: 10.1111/j.2041-5370.2016.12016.x

Abstract/Summary

Based on a survey of the evidence for perishable and liminal Roman material writing habits that might appropriately be described as ‘fringe epigraphy’, this paper invites a conceptual re-evaluation of writing and the role of letters, words, and texts – including their perception – in the Roman world. It thus challenges recent attempts of an all too narrow disciplinary, institutional view of what might constitute Latin epigraphy. Much rather, it is argued, it seems appropriate to think of the Roman world as a fundamentally lettered one – a world that is not only described and perceived, but, in actual fact, even imagined and explained in such terms, allowing for fluid transitions from monumental to informal, from serious and communication-driven to playful, pointless, and sensational, and ultimately from real to imagined.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/52187
Identification Number/DOI	10.1111/j.2041-5370.2016.12016.x
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Language Text and Power Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Classics
Publisher	Wiley
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