what makes up a library?. writing what makes up a library? writing books
TRANSCRIPT
What makes up a library?
What makes up a library?
Writing
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
Writers
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
Writers
Readers
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
Writers
Readers
Collections
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
Writers
Readers
Collections
Catalog
What makes up a library?
Writing
Books
Writers
Readers
Collections
Catalog
Librarians
The Fertile Crescent
Our story begins in Sumer, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq, between 4000-3000 BCE.
Development of writingHere is a very early form of a receipt in Sumer.Merchants would press tokens into a clay ball called a bulla. In case of a dispute, they could break the ball open to see the tokens.
Development of writing
Later, merchants drew pictures of what they were selling and used indentations to indicate quantities (left). These pictures eventually became stylized into writing.
Cuneiform
Cuneiform uses the wedge shape of a reed stylus to make uniform impressions on clay.
At one time, a scribe had to learn 2,000 characters to write in Sumerian. The language was later simplified to 700 characters.
Sumerian scribes
Wealthy Sumerians could pay for education in the first schools, where they learned biology, botany, astronomy and other subjects as they learned to describe them in writing.
Sumerians also studied with individual scribes - even women - in the equivalent of a high school education. Going to a school for scribes was more like going to a university. The cultures were fairly literate, especially the Babylonians. Public and private letters have been found, and a royal post was established to deliver letters.
Sumerian temples
All property was thought to belong to the gods, so decisions about land rentals, agriculture and trade was decided by priests.
Copies of business transactions were kept at temples. These archives soon grew to include other texts as well, including religious hymns, sacred books, medical and law texts.
There is debate as to whether these texts could be checked out – if so, these would be the first public libraries.
The ziggurat of Ur
Sumerian signatures
Sumerian seals were used as signatures, and if your seal was stolen, you had to proclaim it in the marketplace to avoid identity theft.
Here, a father is signing his consent for his daughter’s marriage using a seal.
Warring civilizations
Sumer was taken over by waves of invaders, including the Akkadians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians.
Each group of invaders forced the Sumerians to teach them to read and write, and writing spread.
Sargon the Great (2270-2215 BCE) was the first ruler to unite all four of the kingdoms into Mesopotamia.
Ancient texts
•This Mesopotamian tablet shows a legal text protected in an envelope.
•Business transactions were inscribed, and signed, and then an envelope of clay was inscribed and sealed over it.
•In case of dispute, a judge could check if there were any discrepancies between the two versions.
Books as status symbolsOwning books was a sign of wealth, and conquerors would gather books to add to their collections.
One of the largest libraries was created by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE) in Nineveh. It contained more than 30,000 tablets.
Ashurbanipal prided himself on being able to read, write and translate texts, which he undertook to keep his advisors from giving him misinformation.
His library contained mostly divination texts, but also medicine, astronomy and literature texts, including the epic of Gilgamesh.
Cultural traditions
Here is one of the tablets of the story of Gilgamesh, an early epic which predates Homer.
The entire book takes up 12 tablets.
Scribes would write the number of tablets in the set and the first line of the next tablet at the bottom to keep multiple-tablet works straight.
Cultural beginningsThese ancient works are not all practical, however. I especially like the curse on anyone who messes up the tablet (right side.) Apparently people then didn’t like misplaced or messed up library books any more than we do.
Sumer or Egypt?There is some debate as to whether Egypt or Sumer developed writing first.
Since Sumer used clay tablets, their early record is better preserved than Egyptian papyrus.
A letter written in cuneiform
An example of Egyptian heiroglyphics
EgyptEgypt was more isolated than Mesopotamia, and their culture developed along different lines.
Egyptians believed writing contained magic powers, so writing something down was a way of trying to make it
come true.
Papyrus
Egyptian papyrus scrolls were made by mashing together reeds of the papyrus plant, drying the sheets, then gluing the sheets together into a roll.
Papyrus became the world’s premier writing surface for a while, and Egypt held a monopoly on it.
Why papyrus?
Although less durable than clay, papyrus is lighter, easier to transport, and can be rolled up for easier storage.
A brush and black and red watercolor pigments were used to write on papyrus.
Egyptian scribesScribes had to go
through years of training to learn the 700+ heiroglyphs needed for their work.
Schools were set up through temples and government offices, and students were apprenticed.
Scribes as young as 12 or 13 were already helping do government work.
Egyptian scribes•Egyptian scribes did not have to pay taxes. Their writings were considered their tribute.
• Becoming a scribe was considered a way to move up in society, but few peasants could afford the schooling.
• One man, the son of a laborer, became a scribe and eventually worked his way up to become Grand Vizier.
Duties of scribes
Scribes were needed as accountants as well as historians.Here, two scribes count up the severed hands of some slain enemies after a battle.
HieroglyphicsHieroglyphics (left) use pictures to represent ideas, but each character also represents a sound.
Hieroglyphics could not be understood in the modern world until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.
Egyptians also used two other writing systems, hierotic and demiotic.
Egyptian templesMany Egyptian scribes were also priests.
The temple was the house of the god and a place of higher education.
The Egyptian “house of life” was the library and scriptorium for the temple. The most famous of these is that of Ramses II.
Medical, magic texts and religious books were copied there.
Library of AlexandriaThe Library at Alexandria was the grandest library project in the world at that time.
Its only rival was the library at Pergamum.
The idea was to bring all of the world’s books to Alexandria.
There are many estimates on the number of scrolls held at the library– 200,000 to 700,000 or more.
Library categories
The library was organized into nine subjects and alphabetized by the first letter of the author’s name. Scrolls would list the title, author, scribe’s name and volume number if in a series.
Scrolls were bought, borrowed or stolen from all over the known world.
Library scholarshipScholars were invited to stay at the library, where they were given free room and board as well as a salary and servants.
It was the ancient equivalent of a think tank or university today.
Library workers copied many texts, translated others, and even collected different versions of Homeric texts.
Library directorThe head of the library was expected to advise the king, tutor his children, and be a courtier.
Directors added to the scholarship. One developed a dictionary, another a natural history.
One director created a list of the best works in different fields, listing them by subject, author and then individual works. He also assisted scholars in finding works in the enormous library.
What happened to it?Burned by Julius Caesar?Looted by Caesar for Pergamum?Destroyed by the Arabs in the 600s?Neglected and disregarded?
What happened to it?Burned by Julius Caesar?Looted by Caesar for Pergamum?Destroyed by the Arabs in the 600s?Neglected and disregarded
Ancient Greece
Writing systemAlphabet adopted from Phoenician syllabary
First system to use vowels
Ancient Greece
Methods of writingOstraka – pottery shards used for ‘notes’
c.f. ‘Ostracism’
Ancient Greece
Methods of Writing - ScrollsImported papyrus from Egypt
Parchment
Ancient Greece
Focus on recording epics in early Greek literature
Later focus on dramas and scholarly works in Classical Athens (circa 500 BCE)
Ancient Greece
Roots of Greek librariesRecords office for Athenian state-sponsored drama festivals
Personal collections of philosophersVarying views on the value of literacy
Ancient GreeceFurther developments of the library
In association with templesRoyal libraries of Greek tyrants
Regional specialtiesAthens – Drama / PhilosophyRhodes – RhetoricSicily – CookingPontus – Medicine
Ancient Greece
Libraries of the Philosophy Schools
Origins in gymnasiaThe Academy - Plato
The Lyceum - Aristotle
Ancient GreeceReasons for the Development of Libraries in Greece
Idea of arete (αρετη)Need for well-rounded citizen body, especially after the spread of Alexander’s idealismLater development of philanthropy and donations in smaller townsScriptoria were not always wealthy enough to maintain their own copies of works
Ancient Greece
Example of one Ancient Greek Cataloging System
Hegesias, Praisers of the Athenians one
Aspasia one
Alcibiades one
Theodotus, Art of Rhetoric four
On the Amphictyony one
Ancient Greece
The Great Library of Pergamum
Rival of Alexandria
Founded by Lysimachus, a general of Alexander
Collection originated as plunder from Alexander’s conquests
Feuding with Alexandria led to development of parchment
Approximately 200,000 volumes at height of collection
Ancient Rome
Writing systemAdapted from Etruscans, who borrowed form Greeks
Became more distinct as Roman culture evolved
Ancient Rome
Writing MaterialsScroll (papyrus and parchment)
Wax tablets (tabulae)
Later development of the codex
Ancient Rome
Most early Roman writers were admirers of Greek culture and literature
Small pro-Latin minority
Sibylline Books
Later developments during expansion and conquest of Greece
Ancient Rome
Roots of Roman librariesSpoils of war from expansion and conquest
Further adoption of Greek culture among upper class
Horace – “Conquered Greece took her savage conqueror hostage.”
Ancient Rome
Bibliotheca BilinguaSeparate rooms for Greek and Latin materials
The typical Roman librarianEducated slaves from Greece
Ancient RomeLibraries during the Republic
Private collections
Rise of literary circles
Libraries during the EmpireFirst public libraries
Purpose of libraries under dictatorship
Ancient RomeProminent Libraries
Temple of Apollo – RomeLibrary of Atticus – RomePorticus Octavia – RomeSebasteion – AlexandriaTrajan’s Library – Rome (still standing)Libraries attached to Bath Houses
Baths of NeroBaths of TrajanBaths of Diocletian
Ancient RomeVilla of the Papyri (Herculaneum)
Belonged to Calpurnius PisoPrivate library – ca. 1,100 scrollsPreserved by ash from Pompeii eruption in
79 CE
Ancient Rome
Transfer from scrolls to codexLoss of many works
Prominent use by Christians
Roman innovation
Ancient RomeSome statistics
1st Century CE - 1.5% in codex form2nd Century CE - 17% in codex form4th Century CE - 50% in codex form5th Century CE - 90% in codex form