Orality and Literacy in Greek and Roman Egypt June 6, 2012

This exhibit shows the different levels of literacy that existed in the ancient world, from people barely able to write at all to professional scribes able to produce the most beautiful books. It also demonstrates the role of writing in a society where not many people were literate. Orality and Literacy in Greek and Roman Egypt brings together original documents from the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection that illustrate how written documents can help us reconstruct a spoken world.

One of the ways we can learn about the ancient world is to read the texts left behind. These texts give first-hand insight into what these ancient peoples did, planned, and thought, and we are lucky that the dry sands of Egypt have preserved for us thousands of them, written on papyri and other perishable writing materials, allowing us an unparalleled look into day-to-day life. Papyri preserve the written world of ancient Egypt but also provide glimpses of what the spoken world was like.

This exhibit coincides with the conference “Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World X: Tradition, Transmission, and Adaptation” hosted by the Department of Classical Studies, June 27-30, 2012.