History and Transmission of Ancient Writing [ LGLOR1571 ]

The course material and all the iconographic material is available on  the iCampus server.

A basic knowledge of Greek and Latin is useful.

This course deals with the following themes:

1. Writing: generalities and the factors which were conducive to its emergence;
2. Terminological notions;
3. The different materials and supports of the writing, with a first approach to epigraphy, papyrology and palaeography;
4. A presentation of the different scripts to identify.

An introduction to the history of ancient classic, oriental and medieval writings.

At the end of this course, the student will be capable of identifying and describing the factors which led to the birth of writing, the different types of scripts, and the principal stages in their evolution, their functions in those civilisations, as well as the materials and supports that were used.

Oral exam

Lectures, with the occasional collaboration of colleagues for oriental scripts. The course is abundantly illustrated with documents and photos

This course retraces the birth and evolution of writing in the different civilisations. It takes in the acquisition of certain technical notions (pictogram, logogram, ideogram, digram),  the presentation of supports and writing techniques ( inscriptions on stone, clay tablets, papyrus and other vegetable matters, parchment, paper and numerical supports), some precisions as to their chronological and geographical diffusion.

It will also cover the evolution of Greek and Latin writing, from their origins until the invention of printing, as well as an introduction to oriental scripts, both ancient and modern, (Egyptian hieroglyphs,  cuneiform, Etruscan, Arabic and Chinese scripts, etc).

- C. Temple et alii, The Beginnings of Writing, 3e éd., Boston (Mass.), 1993.
- G. Ballaira, Esempi di scrittura latina dell'età romana. I. Dal III-II secolo a.C. al I secolo d.C., Turin, 1993.
- M.C. Betrò, Hiéroglyphes : les mystères de l'écriture, Paris, 1995.
- L. Bonfante et alii, La naissance des écritures. Du cunéiforme à l'alphabet, Paris, 1994.
- E. Boswinkel et P.J. Sijpestein, Greek Papyri, Ostraca and Mummy Labels, Amsterdam, 1968.
- J.P. Boulanger et G. Renisio, Naissance de l'écriture : cunéiformes et hiéroglyphes, 4e éd., Paris, 1982.
- F. Briquel-Chatonnet et M. Sartre (éd.), L'Arabie chrétienne : histoire des Arabes et des Arabies, diffusion du christianisme, écriture et langues des Arabes chrétiens, les chrétiens du Proche-Orient face à l'islam, Dijon, 2005.
- J.-L. Calvet, Histoire de l'écriture, Paris, 1996.
- A.-M. Christin (éd.), Histoire de l'écriture : de l'idéogramme au multimédia, Paris, 2001.
- J.G. Février, Histoire de l'écriture, Paris, 1995.
- S.D. Houston (éd.), The First Writing. Script Invention as History and Process, Cambridge, 2004.
- L'écriture depuis 5000 ans, Paris, 2005.
- B. Rémy et F. Kayser, Initiation à l'épigraphie grecque et latine, Paris, 1999.

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