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2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Literacy and Social Fluctuation in the Mediterranean World

Research Project

Project/Area Number 13301020
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field History of Europe and America
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

MOTOMURA Ryoji  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (40147880)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) OHNUKI Tasashi  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (90138818)
IKEGAMI Shunichi  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (70159606)
SAKURAI Mariko  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 教授 (90011329)
TAKAYAMA Hiroshi  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 教授 (90226936)
NAKAMURA Yusuke  The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Associate Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助教授 (60237443)
Project Period (FY) 2001 – 2004
KeywordsMediterranean World / Ancient Times / Medieval Times / Social History / Literacy / Oral Culture / Bureaucracy / Trade
Research Abstract

When we make ourselves understood, written language cannot express our feeling better than oral language. But human being came out as a thinking animal, because he/she can control his/her feeling. This intelligent work of ‘thinking' had given a lot of influence on the birth of letters or written language. Therefore our literacy seemed to have gone up only when we found how to write by small numbers of letters such as Alphabet. Remarkably this writing system of Alphabet was established by the Phoenicians as they lived in Canaan which was located between Mesopotamia with cuneiform and Egypt with Hieroglyph.
We can find any continuity between Linear B and Greek Alphabet in the case that we make notice of their phonemes and we realize that there was their tradition of oral culture in archaic societies of the Greeks. Things hardly changed also in Classical societies. Since then oral societies went on without basic change. But there had appeared any variations between urban and rural society, … More coastal and inland area, upper and lower class, male and female sex etc. We can guess rather high levels of literacy, for example, in Jewish society with their own sacred book or in Italian local city as Pompeii with a lot of graffiti on walls. But we must consider that this conjecture tends to depend on our impression of male people living in coastal city.
Though we observe a little less level of literacy during the period of Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Times, there were also people who hoped to promote with written skill because of thoroughgoing of documentation. But we cannot deny that there tend to decrease people who could read letters. There appeared, however, a trend of devices with more easily readable texts since 11 century, above all in cities where some merchants and craftsmen had a rather good level of literacy. For example, in Sicily, we can see multi-linguistic (Latin, Greek and Arabic) society with bureaucracy.
It is clear that written language make our density of ‘thinking' high, but penetration of documentation is not sure to lead our social behavior to be more vivid and lively. However we can see that spread of using written language is one of leading roles for systematization of society. Less

  • Research Products

    (14 results)

All 2005 2004 2002 2001

All Journal Article (12 results) Book (2 results)

  • [Journal Article] Archaeology and Cultural Change in Early Hellenistic Middle Egypt : Reconsidering the Wine-making Scene in the Tomb of Petosiris2005

    • Author(s)
      Yoshiyuki Suto
    • Journal Title

      Journal of the School of Letters Nagoya University 1

      Pages: 43-51

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Archaeology and Cultural Change in the Early Hellenistic Middle Egypt : Reconsidering the Wine-making Scene in the Tomb of Petosiris(English Version)2005

    • Author(s)
      SUTO, Yoshiyuki
    • Journal Title

      Journal of the School of Letters Nagoya University I

      Pages: 43-51

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Central Power and Multi-Cultural Elements at the Norman Court of Sicily2004

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Takayama
    • Journal Title

      Mediterranean Studies XII

      Pages: 1-15

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] 書簡とコミュニケーション 他2004

    • Author(s)
      甚野 尚志
    • Journal Title

      中世ヨーロッパを生きる(甚野尚志・堀越宏一編)(東京大学出版会)

      Pages: 251-268

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] プロローグ(古代ギリシャとオリンピック)2004

    • Author(s)
      桜井万里子, 橋場弦 編
    • Journal Title

      古代オリンピック(桜井万里子・橋場弦 編)(岩波書店)

      Pages: 1-15

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Central Power and Multi-Cultural Elements at the Norman Court of Sicily(English Version)2004

    • Author(s)
      TAKAYAMA, Hiroshi
    • Journal Title

      Mediterranean Studies XII

      Pages: 1-15

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Ancient Greece and Olympic Games2004

    • Author(s)
      SAKURAI, Mariko
    • Journal Title

      Ancient Olympic(Iwanami-Shoten)

      Pages: 1-15

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Letters and Communication2004

    • Author(s)
      JINNO, Takashi
    • Journal Title

      Living in Medieval Europe(University of Tokyo Press)

      Pages: 251-268

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] 全時的『今』の系譜-イエスの時間理解に向けて2002

    • Author(s)
      大貫 隆
    • Journal Title

      中世思想研究 44

      Pages: 1-18

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] A Genealogy of "Now" in the Whole Ages : Toward Jesus' Understanding of the Time2002

    • Author(s)
      OHNUKI, Takashi
    • Journal Title

      Studies of Medieval Thoughts XLIV

      Pages: 1-18

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] ローマ人の読み書き能力2001

    • Author(s)
      本村 凌二
    • Journal Title

      書物の言語態(シリーズ言語態3)(宮下志朗・丹治愛編)

      Pages: 31-50

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Literacy of the Romans2001

    • Author(s)
      MOTOMUKA, Ryoji
    • Journal Title

      Ecology of the Book (Praxis of Language 3)(University of Tokyo Press)

      Pages: 31-50

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Book] 優雅でみだらなポンペイ2004

    • Author(s)
      本村 凌二
    • Total Pages
      270
    • Publisher
      講談社
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Book] Elegant but Indecent Pompeii : the World of Graffiti and the Romans2004

    • Author(s)
      MOTOMUKA, Ryoji
    • Total Pages
      270
    • Publisher
      Kohdansha
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より

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Published: 2006-07-11  

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