Observing the scribe at work : scribal practice in the ancient world /
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Scribes are paradoxically both central and invisible in most societies before the typographic revolution of the 15th century, witnessed by every manuscript, but often elusive as historical figures. The act of writing is a quotidian and vernacular practice as well as a literary one, and must be observed not only in the outputs of literary copyists or reports of their activities, but in the documents of everyday life. This volume collects contributions on scribal practice as it features on diverse media (including papyri, tablets, and inscriptions) in a range of ancient societies, from the Ancient Near East and Dynastic Egypt through the Graeco-Roman world to Byzantium. These discussions of the role and place of scribes and scribal activity in pre-typographic cultures both contribute to a better understanding of one of the key drivers of these cultures, and illuminate the transmission of knowledge and traditions within and between them.
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xiv, 346 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789042942868 :
0777-978X ;
The pharaoh's treasure : the origin of paper and the rise of Western civilization /
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For our entire history, humans have always searched for new ways to share information. This innate compulsion led to the origin of writing on the rock walls of caves and coffin lids or carving on tablets. But it was with the advent of papyrus paper when the ability to record and transmit information exploded, allowing for an exchanging of ideas from the banks of the Nile throughout the Mediterranean--and the civilized world--for the first time in human history. In The Pharaoh's Treasure, John Gaudet looks at this pivotal transition to papyrus paper, which would become the most commonly used information medium in the world for more than 4,000 years. Far from fragile, papyrus paper is an especially durable writing surface; papyrus books and documents in ancient and medieval times had a usable life of hundreds of years, and this durability has allowed items like the famous Nag Hammadi codices from the third and fourth century to survive. The story of this material that was prized by both scholars and kings reveals how papyrus paper is more than a relic of our ancient past, but a key to understanding how ideas and information shaped humanity in the ancient and early modern world.
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xxi, 356 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 24 cm :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
168177853X
9781681778532
Egypt at its origins 6 : proceedings of the Sixth International Conference "Origin of the state. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", Vienna, 10th-15th September 2017 /
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This volume represents the 6th installment of proceedings of the successful international conference series "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", which this time was held at the University of Vienna in Austria from 10th to 15th of September 2017. With this new peer-reviewed volume of focused research on early Egypt, the 41 contributors dedicated their research to various questions surrounding prehistoric Egypt, the emergence of Pharaonic civilization and the territorial state. While some papers present new archaeological results from on-going excavations, others involve the analysis and interpretation of previously known evidence from the different regions along the Nile Valley. A large group of papers specifically discuss the area of ancient Memphis, which was also a central theme of the conference helping to summarize 20 years of research at the archaeological site of Helwan. Following the good tradition of previous Origins conferences, a very large number of papers are dedicated to the area of Lower Egypt and the Nile Delta from early prehistoric through to the early Old Kingdom periods. These papers highlight the significance and enormous progress of archaeological fieldwork in an area that was long considered an uninhabitable swampland in prehistoric times. Other papers report on new fieldwork at different sites in a largely unexplored region of the Egyptian Nile Valley - the Eastern Desert of Middle Egypt, where active mining on a very large scale has taken place raising questions about the organization and scale of such activities during the formative periods of Egyptian civilization. There are numerous contributions on archaeological evidence from sites in Upper Egypt and their material culture, many of which having been excavated long ago but offering the opportunity to raise new questions.
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xiii, 814 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color), plans, portrait ; 26 cm. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789042940666
9042940662 :
0777-978X ;
The rediscovery of Shenoute : studies in honor of Stephen Emmel /
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Stephen Emmel, professor at the University of Munster since 1996, has devoted much of his work to researching the manuscript tradition of the works composed by the Egyptian archimandrite Shenoute (4th/5th c.), the most prolific Coptic author and crucial for the study of the language. Thanks to a masterful reconstruction of the Shenoutean corpus, from a hundred witnesses, all fragmentary and dispersed, he made this research make considerable progress, which opened the way to studies on the content of the works and the history of monasticism during this period. In homage to these pioneering works, and to S. Emmel's stimulating leadership, this volume brings together twenty-five contributions which illustrate the variety of approaches and issues in the study of Shenoute's sermons and the manuscripts transmitting them: Bible, liturgy, magic, patristics, history, hagiography, philology, codicology, and even archeology are all fields affected by this collection.
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xxii, 546 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm. :
Bibliography of Stephen Emmel: pages xiii-xx.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789042948303
9042948302 :
0777-978X ;
Egypt's golden age : the art of living in the New Kingdom, 1558-1085 B.C. /
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"A Picture book."
Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 3-May 2, 1982; the Museum of Natural Science, Houston, July 14-Sept. 19, 1982; and the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Oct. 27-Jan. 2, 1983 :
68 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm. :
Bibliography : page 65.