Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures: New Approaches to Writing and Reading in the Ancient Near East. Papers from a Symposium held February 25-26, 2005 (Oriental Institute Seminars)

Writing and the state both first began in the ancient Near East. The origins of history are traced to the place where they met. But what did they actually have to do with each other? Most of ancient Near Eastern philology consists of careful examination of the leavings of the state scribes; it has revealed a treasure-house of ancient culture, from haunting poetry to onion archives. But there is a crucial blind spot in our perspective on the largest and oldest archive of the ancient world: the relationship between the vast body of official writing and the actual life of language as spoken, understood, and imagined by ancient Near Eastern people. The vital relationships between language and ethnicity, the connections between languages of empire and local identity, and way languages are born, live and die in writing has remained the subject of more speculation than rigorous research. If recorded history began in the ancient Near East, we are just beginning to explore the powerful creative relationship between writing and the political identities of the Near East's cultures. Collectively, the articles here provide well-documented challenges to conventional wisdom about that for which people actually used Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite, and Hebrew. This conference was the first to bring leading philologists together with anthropologists and social theorists to explore what writing meant to politics in the ancient Near East. Who invented national literature? What is the relationship between script, identity, and history? Recorded history began in the ancient Near East, but we are just beginning to explore the powerful creative relationship between writing and the political identities of the Near East's cultures. This symposium was the first to bring leading philologists together with anthropologists and historians to connect theories of writing, language, and identity with the latest results of ancient Near Eastern scholarship. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1. "Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures." Seth Sanders, University of Chicago FIRST INSTITUTIONS 2. "Writing and the China, India, and General Definitions." John Kelly, University of Chicago 3. "Writing in Another Alloglottography in the Ancient Near East." Gonzalo Rubio, Pennsylvania State University 4. "Abundance in the Multiplicity of Script in the Demotic Magical Papyri." Jacco Dieleman, University of California Los Angeles 5. "Response for First Session." Jerrold Cooper, Johns Hopkins University SECOND PUBLICS 6. "Bilingualism, Scribal Learning, and the Death of Sumerian." Christopher Woods, University of Chicago 7. "Multilingual Inscriptions and Their Cilicia and Lydia." Annick Payne, University of Wrzburg 8. "Aramaic, the Death of Written Hebrew, and Language Shift in the Persian Period." William Schniedewind, University of California, Los Angeles 9. "Response for Second Writing at the Chronotopic Margins of Empires." Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago SUPPLEMENT 10. "The Lives of the Sumerian Language." Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor THIRD COSMOPOLITAN AND VERNACULAR 11. "Official and Vernacular The Shifting Sands of Imperial and Cultural Identities in First Millennium B.C. Mesopotamia." Paul-Alain Beaulieu, Harvard University 12. "Institutions, Vernaculars, The Case of Second Millennium Anatolia." Theo Van den Hout, University of Chicago 13. "Writing, Writers, and Reading in the Kingdom of Van." Paul Zimansky, Boston University 14. "Response for Third Power and Culture Beyond Ideology and Identity." Sheldon Pollock, University of Chicago FINAL ROUNDTABLE 15. "Final Response." Peter Machinist, Harvard University Margins Of Writing, Origins Of Cultures / Seth L. Sanders -- Writing And The State : China, India, And General Definitions / John Kelly -- Writing In Another Tongue : Alloglottography In The Ancient Near East ; Postscript (december 2007) / Gonzalo Rubio -- Abundance In The Margins : Multiplicity Of Script In The Demotic Magical Papyri / Jacco Dieleman -- Response For The First Session : Origins, Functions, Adaptation, Survival / Jerrold S. Cooper -- Bilingualism, Scribal Learning, And The Death Of Sumerian / Christopher Woods -- Multilingual Inscriptions And Their Audiences : Cilicia And Lycia / Annick Payne -- Aramaic, The Death Of Written Hebrew, And Language Shift In The Persian Period / William M. Schniedewind -- Response For The Second Session : Writing At The Chronotopic Margins Of Empires / Michael Silverstein -- The Lives Of The Sumerian Language / Piotr Michalowski -- Official And Vernacular Languages : The Shifting Sands Of Imperial And Cultural Identities In First-millennium B.c. Mesopotamia / Paul-alain Beaulieu -- Institutions, Vernaculars, Publics : The Case Of Second-millennium Anatolia / Theo Van Den Hout -- Postscript (november 2007) / Theo Van Den Hout -- Writing, Writers, And Reading In The Kingdom Of Van / Paul Zimansky -- Response For Third Session : Power And Culture Beyond Ideology And Identity / Sheldon Pollock -- Final Response : On The Study Of The Ancients, Language, Writing, And The State / Peter Machinist. Edited By Seth L. Sanders ; With Contributions By Seth L. Sanders ... [et Al.]. Papers Presented At A Seminar Held Feb. 25-26, 2005, University Of Chicago. Includes Bibliographical References. Who invented national literature? What is the relationship between script, identity, and history? This volume contains papers from a symposium, which brought leading philologists together with anthropologists and historians to connect theories of writing, language, and identity with the results of ancient Near Eastern scholarship