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  1. Home
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  3. Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens
  • Cited by 271
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2009
Print publication year:
1989
Online ISBN:
9780511597404
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511597404
Subjects:
Ancient History, Classical Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology
Series:
Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture (18)
Information

Book description

Despite its written literature, ancient Greece was in many ways an oral society. This is the first serious attempt to study the implications of this view. Dr Thomas stresses the coexistence of literacy and oral tradition in Greece and examines their character and interaction. Concentrating on the plentiful evidence from Classical Athens, she shows how the use of writing developed only gradually and under the influence of the previous oral communication. Drawing on anthropological discussion, the author isolates different types of Athenian oral tradition, building up a picture of Athens' traditions about its past and examining why they changed and disappeared. This study provides crucial insights into the methods and achievements of the Greek historians. It also has major implications for the interpretation of ancient literacy.

Reviews

‘Rosalind Thomas has given us a landmark book: sinewy, provocative, closely argued, widely ranging, selectively learned and discreetly imaginative.’

Peter Parsons Source: London Review of Books

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