This course offers an overview of the main writing systems that have been developed in the world. Starting from the earliest mnemonic methods of written communication, the course examines the most important scripts of antiquity that were developed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as scripts that flourished in the Far East and pre-Columbian America. The process of deciphering some of them is explained and reference is also made to the most important scripts that have not yet been deciphered. 

One of the main aims of this course is the development of a critical approach to the history of writing, namely one which avoids the outdated narrative that described the evolution from “primitive” writing systems to the alphabet. To that end, the characteristics of each writing system are examined in context, that is within the cultural milieu within which the system in question came into being and evolved as well as in conjunction with the needs for which it was required to cater. The materiality of writing is also stressed, in order to show that the significance of writing is a lot more multifaceted than just the act of recording speech. Examining the material aspects of written objects, according to the trends of the last thirty years in archaeology and anthropology, helps us to relate the object with its cultural context. This results in the treatment of the object as a multifaceted historical document, where not only its written content is considered, a process which can bridge the study of documentary sources and material culture.  

Week #1: How and why people started writing. Sumerian traders, Egyptian priests and Chinese bureaucrats.

Week #2: How writing works. Speech and writing, mnemonics and communication.

Week #3: Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Mayan writing.

Week #4: Linear A and B.

Week #5: Chinese and Japanese scripts.

Week #6: The earliest alphabets.

Week #7: Development of the Greek alphabet.

Week #8: The Greek alphabet and Homer: a heretic view.

Week #9: Writing systems and evolutionism. The problematic teleology of the alphabet.

Week #10: Writing instruments.

Week #11: The materiality of writing. The text as object.

Week #12: Writing as art: Arabic, Chinese and Japanese calligraphy.

Week #13: Writing as a technological achievement: bureaucracy and administration.

Main bibliography in Greek

• J. Chadwick (2005) Γραμμική β΄ και συγγενικές γραφές. Παπαδήμας [Εύδοξος: 35256]
• J. Goody (2001) Η λογική της γραφής και η οργάνωση της κοινωνίας. Εκδόσεις του Εικοστού Πρώτου [Εύδοξος: 9832]
• Χρ. Λάζος (1980) Ιστορία και εξέλιξη της γραφής. Εστία
• W. Ong (2005) Προφορικότητα και εγγραμματοσύνη. Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης [Εύδοξος: 912]
• Χ. Ν. Πολάτωφ (2001) Συμβολή στην ιστορία της γραφής. Ίων [Εύδοξος: 14717]
• Α. Ρόμπινσον (2007) Ιστορία της γραφής. Αλφάβητα, Ιερογλυφικά, Εικονογράμματα. Polaris [Εύδοξος: 7985]
• R. Thomas (1996) Γραπτός και προφορικός λόγος στην Αρχαία Ελλάδα. Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης [Εύδοξος: 1112]

Further reading in Greek

• D. Barton (2009) Εγγραμματισμός. Εισαγωγή στην οικολογία της γραπτής γλώσσας. Παπαζήσης [Εύδοξος: 29935]
• L. Casson (2006) Οι βιβλιοθήκες στον αρχαίο κόσμο. MIET [Εύδοξος: 43985]
• G. Cavallo, R. Chartier (2008) Ιστορία της ανάγνωσης στο δυτικό κόσμο. Μεταίχμιο [Εύδοξος: 24147]
• N. Chomsky (2008) Γλώσσα και νους. Πολύτροπον [Εύδοξος: 12839374]
• M. Gagarin (2011) Γραφή και αρχαίο ελληνικό δίκαιο. Καρδαμίτσα [Εύδοξος: 12761415]
• J. Gleick (2011) Η Πληροφορία. Τραυλός [Εύδοξος: 12578649]
• D. R. Olson (2003) Ο κόσμος πάνω στο χαρτί. Οι εννοιακές και νοητικές επιπτώσεις της γραφής και της ανάγνωσης. Παπαζήσης [Εύδοξος: 30260]

Select bibliography in English

• Diringer (1962) Writing. Thames and Hudson
• T. Hooker (ed. 1990) Reading the Past. Ancient Writing from Cuneiform to the Alphabet. British Museum Press
• Pope (1999) The Story of Decipherment. From Egyptian Hieroglyphs to Maya Script. Thames and Hudson
• B. Powell (1996) Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet. Cambridge University Press

Lectures, making extensive use of visual aids.

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Written examination.