alphabet within the context of the dialect of Homeric language (cf. Ruijgh
1997). Woodard 1997,Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer, makes a
linguistic argument for the continuity of literacy from syllabic to alpha-
betic scripts: ‘‘The Linear B syllabic script, the syllabary of the Cypriot
Greeks and the alphabet each stand as points along an unbroken con-
tinuum of Greek literacy.’’ The study of the evolution of the alphabet is in
any case inextricably tied up with questions concerning literacy (Bodson
1991). This development has received much attention within the field
of Greek epigraphy. In a review article, Walbank 1993 discusses the
challenges of interpreting the evidence, remarking that ‘‘the preponder-
ance of Attic inscriptions, as well as of Athenian literary material, has led
to an undeserved emphasis upon Athens in the history of the Greek
alphabet.’’ Recent work (Guarducci 1987, Jeffery 1990 [1st ed. 1961],
Immerwahr 1990) shows that ‘‘literacy was by no means the invention of
the Athenians.’’ Rather, as Immerwahr 1990: 29 suggests, the paucity
of the epigraphical documentation from Attica in the late eighth and first
three quarters of the seventh century indicates that ‘‘Athens seems to
have been a cultural backwater, at least so far as writing is concerned.’’
Pandolfini and Prosdocimi 1990 discuss the rise of alphabetic literacy in
Etruria and archaic Italy; Camporeale 2004: 192–208 conveniently sur-
veys this topic and provides further bibliography. The cultural signifi-
cance of Linear B has continued to be assessed. Whereas Palaima 1987
argues that writing in the Mycenaean world was the almost exclusive
province of the palace administration, Godart and Tzedakis 1989 recon-
sider the history of Linear B in light of recent discoveries of inscribed
vases. Driessen 1992 reflects on possible links between Linear B docu-
ments and other Aegean scripts, and asks whether the Mycenaeans had
an oral epic poetry and whether the Homeric poems show any knowledge
of it. For further comparanda with Aegean and other Mediterranean
scripts—such as cuneiform and hieroglyphic Hittite—see A. Davies
- Sherratt 2003 raises the question of whether a link may be found
between the introduction of alphabetic literacy in Greece and the ree-
mergence of syllabic literacy in Cyprus. Chrisomalis 2003 discusses the
Egyptian origin of the Greek alphabetic numerals.
The study of the bookroll—of its material and social contexts, of its
physical and conceptual structure—has undergone a renaissance, thanks
in part to an outpouring of dedicated scholarship that has benefited from
developing technology that allows investigation of the carbonized pa-
pyrus bookrolls discovered at Herculaneum without causing disastrous
further damage, partly also to dramatic recent discoveries such as the
Posidippus epigram book (P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309), and partly to other new
work. The typology and material aspects of the ancient book were first
studied systematically by Birt 1882 before the spectacular discovery, in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, of fragments of thou-
sands of Greek literary bookrolls preserved at Oxyrhynchus and else-
where in Egypt. Fundamental contributions of the twentieth century to
Literacy Studies in Classics 335