Startseite Altertumswissenschaften & Ägyptologie Dead Letters, Documentality, and the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius
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Dead Letters, Documentality, and the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius

  • Scott J. DiGiulio
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Documentality
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Documentality

Abstract

Amidst the explosive proliferation of written texts in the latter half of the second century CE, Aulus Gellius’ miscellany, the Noctes Atticae (NA), offers a critical lens for understanding how at least one ancient reader approached reading different material in the Roman Empire. This chapter examines Gellius’ use of texts that would be conventionally termed “documentary” and argues that he sees them as more analogous to the literary works quoted throughout the NA than we might initially assume. While his narratives discussing the treatment of official documents suggest that some material had privileged status, his citations from the letters of Cicero and Augustus, as well as his discussions of public inscriptions, reveal that the divide between the documentary and the literary was more permeable than we might otherwise imagine. In his hands, literary works and documents stand together as authoritative evidence for Latin language and style within the broader text-world of his miscellany.

Abstract

Amidst the explosive proliferation of written texts in the latter half of the second century CE, Aulus Gellius’ miscellany, the Noctes Atticae (NA), offers a critical lens for understanding how at least one ancient reader approached reading different material in the Roman Empire. This chapter examines Gellius’ use of texts that would be conventionally termed “documentary” and argues that he sees them as more analogous to the literary works quoted throughout the NA than we might initially assume. While his narratives discussing the treatment of official documents suggest that some material had privileged status, his citations from the letters of Cicero and Augustus, as well as his discussions of public inscriptions, reveal that the divide between the documentary and the literary was more permeable than we might otherwise imagine. In his hands, literary works and documents stand together as authoritative evidence for Latin language and style within the broader text-world of his miscellany.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Abbreviations IX
  5. List of Figures XI
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I: Approaches to Ancient Documentality
  8. Documenting Identity in the Early Roman Empire 35
  9. Copying the Canon: Imperial School Texts as Documentary Traces 57
  10. Documenting Wonderland: Lucian’s True Stories and the Documentary imaginaire 79
  11. Part II: Documentary Communities and Landscapes
  12. Cities Full of Words: Illiteracy and Epigraphy in Lucian of Samosata 107
  13. Documenting the oikoumenê: What “Documents” Supported the Description of the Inhabited World in the Hellenistic and Early Imperial Periods? 133
  14. A Community Set in Stone? Monumental Decrees as Instruments of Greek Interactions 153
  15. Part III: Between Documents and Literature
  16. Dead Letters, Documentality, and the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius 181
  17. The Relationship between Documents and Literature in Late Antiquity: The Case of the Petition, between Document, Adaptation and Literary Creation 209
  18. When the Letter Speaks Up: Living and Lifeless Letters 233
  19. Epilogue
  20. The Ancient Historian and His Documents: Reader, Interpreter, and/or Author? 253
  21. List of Contributors 279
  22. Index Locorum 281
  23. Index Rerum 285
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110791914-008

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Abbreviations IX
  5. List of Figures XI
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I: Approaches to Ancient Documentality
  8. Documenting Identity in the Early Roman Empire 35
  9. Copying the Canon: Imperial School Texts as Documentary Traces 57
  10. Documenting Wonderland: Lucian’s True Stories and the Documentary imaginaire 79
  11. Part II: Documentary Communities and Landscapes
  12. Cities Full of Words: Illiteracy and Epigraphy in Lucian of Samosata 107
  13. Documenting the oikoumenê: What “Documents” Supported the Description of the Inhabited World in the Hellenistic and Early Imperial Periods? 133
  14. A Community Set in Stone? Monumental Decrees as Instruments of Greek Interactions 153
  15. Part III: Between Documents and Literature
  16. Dead Letters, Documentality, and the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius 181
  17. The Relationship between Documents and Literature in Late Antiquity: The Case of the Petition, between Document, Adaptation and Literary Creation 209
  18. When the Letter Speaks Up: Living and Lifeless Letters 233
  19. Epilogue
  20. The Ancient Historian and His Documents: Reader, Interpreter, and/or Author? 253
  21. List of Contributors 279
  22. Index Locorum 281
  23. Index Rerum 285
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Heruntergeladen am 1.11.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110791914-008/html
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