Ancient Egyptian religion
Next offered in 1996
CCV3730
Orality and literacy
J R Ellis
8 points * 3 hours per week * Second semester * Clayton
Every society builds and maintains a large constantly evolving body of information essential to survival and to social coherence and order, which must be transmitted effectively between the generations. In the case of our own, for example, a developed, universal education system trains (most) people to read and write, manipulate electronic media, etc., so as to have access to libraries and other kinds of databank. In a society which relies on oral communication the means of information storage and retrieval are quite different, and may often go unrecognised by literate observers. This subject is a study of the transformation in ancient Greek society from a wholly oral mode of communication to fundamental literacy, a process which took place over a remarkably drawn out time, some half a millenium. During that time, the central period of classical Greek civilisation, the two modes coexisted and interacted with each other. An exploration of those processes can enrich our experience of the written and other artefactual forms which survive as the present expression of ancient Greek civilisation.
Assessment
Written (6000 words): 100%