Information Collection and Transmission in Classical Greece

The manner in which Information was collected and transmitted in Classical Greece was a function of the change from a predominantly oral to a more literate culture. The earliest stages of this transition are seen in Homer. The epic poems attributed to him, the Iliad and the Odyssey, collected, and passed on Information about Mycenaean Greece, Information derived from a tradition of oral literature. The poems were written down sometime between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, and so later transmission was literary. Herodotus represents a period in Classical Greece when writing is well established, but the old oral culture is still strong. In his Histories, he indicates he used both oral reports and written sources such as archives. The Histories were composed in writing, but intended for public recitation. Theophrastus and Alexander the Great both lived in a period when writing was fully established and widespread oral culture was waning. Theophrastus used oral reports from informants, but also written sources. His works were written down and used for lecture notes. Alexander's Information collection, due to its military nature, was predominantly oral, but the preferred form of transmission was written. Information collection and transmission in Classical Greece changed from Homer, who relied entirely on orally collected and transmitted information, to Theophrastus and Alexander the Great, who used oral sources, but were firmly committed to written Information.