Writing and Power in the Roman World: Literacies and Material Culture

Examines writing tools and their different uses by age, gender and status. 

Contents: 

Part 1. Understanding literacies, material culture and practice in the Roman world. 

• Introduction: Literacies, power and identities
• The practicalities of literacy: writing implements in the Roman world
• Literacy as technology and practice 

Part 2. A case study. 

• Materials and production
• Metal inkwells in the Roman Empire
• A practice turn: thinking about inkwell use
• The spatial and social distribution of inkwells 

Part 3. Writing equipment in funerary contexts and the expression of identities. 

• Literacy as performance: self-presentation of the educated elite?
• Literacy and the life course: gender
• Literacy and the life course: age
• Literacy, the body and elite identities: writing and status
• Conclusion: Writing empire through material culture