Johnson and Parker 2009

Greg Woolf, "Literacy or Literacies in Rome?" (46-68)

writing widespread throughout Roman empire; "Writing articulated the complex economic and administrative systems on which the empire, its cities, and their inhabitatns dependent. The roman empire, and its societies, could not have functioned without it." (46)

"Roman literacies were much more closely connected -- much more joined up -- than in many other premodern societies." (47)

writing often seen as tied to states, domination, power; however most powerful in ancient societies often not those in greatest command of texts (depended on scribes) (47) -- analogy to software engineers today?

"it seems very likely that in ancient Rome, empire learned how to use writing from private individuals, rather than the other way around" (51)

• generalized literacy
• power of generalized literacy "most widely felt beyond the narrow realm of administration" (53)

most Roman texts short; readers had to bring knowledge to them

case study of Roman Britain:

• smallest number of inscriptions from actions of the state (lapidary epigraphy, milestones)
• then texts/numbers integral to manufactured objects; gaming tokens, coins
• larger group of marks generated in making/transportation/retailing of objects; stamps on tiles (instrumentum domesticum)
• large group of short texts on portable objects, not integral to objects' use

objects often declare their subject before one word is read -- shape of objects itself becomes a kind of "formatting" (57) (shows interesting gap in Olson's view of literacy)