Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature

by Barry B. Powell

• ISBN13: 9780521036313
• ISBN10: 0521036313
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Professor Powell ties the origin and nature of archaic Greek literature to the special technology of Greek alphabetic writing. In building his model he presents chapters on specialized topics - text, orality, myth, literacy, tradition and memorization - and then shows how such special topics relate to larger issues of cultural transmission from East to West. Several chapters are devoted to the theory and history of writing, its definition and general nature as well as such individual developments as semasiography and logosyllabography, Chinese writing and the West Semitic family of syllabaries. He shows how the Greek alphabet put an end to the multiliteralism of Eastern traditions of writing, and how the recording of Homer and other early epic poetry cannot be separated from the alphabetic revolution. Finally, he explains how the creation of Greek alphabetic texts demoticized Greek myth and encouraged many free creations of new myths based on Eastern images.

Table of Contents

List of figures

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction: building models like a wigwam

Text

Orality and genre

Myth

Literacy

Tradition

Memorization

M. L. West and the Eastern origins of Greek tradition

Cultural transmission by literate means in the Near East

Writing: general

Writing: semasiography and logosyllabography

Writing: the Chinese enigma

Oral and written in the land between the rivers

Oral and written in the Valley of the Nile

The West Semitic revolution

The invention of the Greek alphabet and the end of multiliteralism

Where does Homer fit in the alphabetic revolution

The aoidos in context

Aoidic innovation in myth: stories from pots

Summary and conclusions: early Greek literature in context

Bibliography

Index

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