Soldiers and Documents: Insights from Nubia. The Significance of Written Documents in Roman Soldiers’ Everyday Lives
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Michael A. Speidel
Abstract
The Roman army as an institution and the Roman soldier as an individual could not have functioned without the written word. A few newly published finds from Primis / Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia as well as a number of other documents discussed in this paper illustrate the extent to which administrative paperwork and the soldiers’ (semi-)private correspondence contributed to the army’s functioning and governed the soldiers’ everyday lives already in the first decades of the new imperial army. Other evidence shows how the formal and symbolic qualities of imperial and official texts, and administrative documents served Roman soldiers from all types of units in their private documents and monuments as a means to demonstrate military identity
Abstract
The Roman army as an institution and the Roman soldier as an individual could not have functioned without the written word. A few newly published finds from Primis / Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia as well as a number of other documents discussed in this paper illustrate the extent to which administrative paperwork and the soldiers’ (semi-)private correspondence contributed to the army’s functioning and governed the soldiers’ everyday lives already in the first decades of the new imperial army. Other evidence shows how the formal and symbolic qualities of imperial and official texts, and administrative documents served Roman soldiers from all types of units in their private documents and monuments as a means to demonstrate military identity
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Preface ix
- Literacy in Ancient Everyday Life – Problems and Results 1
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I A Global Perspective
- The Development of Literacy in Early China: With the Nature and Uses of Bronze Inscriptions in Context, and More 13
- The Creation and Spread of Scripts in Ancient India 43
- Literacy in Pharaonic Egypt: Orality and Literacy between Agency and Memory 67
- Anmerkungen zu Literalität und Oralität im teispidisch-achaimenidischen Iran 99
- Der Raum alltäglicher weiblicher Literalität im Achaimeniden-Reich 113
- Literacy in Everyday Ancient Life: From Gabii to Gloucestershire 143
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II Roman Empire
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Social Groups
- Frauen und Schriftlichkeit im römischen Ägypten 163
- Soldiers and Documents: Insights from Nubia. The Significance of Written Documents in Roman Soldiers’ Everyday Lives 179
- Literacy in Roman Britain 201
- Schriftlichkeit und Wirtschaft im Römischen Reich 221
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Religious Practice
- Als die Götter lesen lernten: Keltisch-germanische Götternamen und lateinische Schriftlichkeit in Gallien und Germanien 239
- Schriftlichkeit in der Schadenzauberpraxis am Beispiel der vulgärlateinischen defixionum tabellae 261
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Administration
- Monumenta fatiscunt. Meaning and Fate of Legal Inscriptions on Bronze: the Baetica 289
- The Municipalization of Writing in Roman Egypt 319
- Who Needed Writing in Graeco-Roman Egypt, and for What Purpose? Document Layout as a Tool of Literacy 335
- Schreiben im Dienste des Staates. Prolegomena zu einer Kulturgeschichte der römischen scribae 351
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Education
- Geschichte und Geschichten im Alltag 363
- Bedrohte Latinitas. Sprachliche Veränderungen auf spätantik-frühmittelalterlichen Grabinschriften aus dem Rhein-Mosel-Gebiet 387
- List of Authors 413
- Fotograph of the Participants during the Conference 415
- Index 417
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Preface ix
- Literacy in Ancient Everyday Life – Problems and Results 1
-
I A Global Perspective
- The Development of Literacy in Early China: With the Nature and Uses of Bronze Inscriptions in Context, and More 13
- The Creation and Spread of Scripts in Ancient India 43
- Literacy in Pharaonic Egypt: Orality and Literacy between Agency and Memory 67
- Anmerkungen zu Literalität und Oralität im teispidisch-achaimenidischen Iran 99
- Der Raum alltäglicher weiblicher Literalität im Achaimeniden-Reich 113
- Literacy in Everyday Ancient Life: From Gabii to Gloucestershire 143
-
II Roman Empire
-
Social Groups
- Frauen und Schriftlichkeit im römischen Ägypten 163
- Soldiers and Documents: Insights from Nubia. The Significance of Written Documents in Roman Soldiers’ Everyday Lives 179
- Literacy in Roman Britain 201
- Schriftlichkeit und Wirtschaft im Römischen Reich 221
-
Religious Practice
- Als die Götter lesen lernten: Keltisch-germanische Götternamen und lateinische Schriftlichkeit in Gallien und Germanien 239
- Schriftlichkeit in der Schadenzauberpraxis am Beispiel der vulgärlateinischen defixionum tabellae 261
-
Administration
- Monumenta fatiscunt. Meaning and Fate of Legal Inscriptions on Bronze: the Baetica 289
- The Municipalization of Writing in Roman Egypt 319
- Who Needed Writing in Graeco-Roman Egypt, and for What Purpose? Document Layout as a Tool of Literacy 335
- Schreiben im Dienste des Staates. Prolegomena zu einer Kulturgeschichte der römischen scribae 351
-
Education
- Geschichte und Geschichten im Alltag 363
- Bedrohte Latinitas. Sprachliche Veränderungen auf spätantik-frühmittelalterlichen Grabinschriften aus dem Rhein-Mosel-Gebiet 387
- List of Authors 413
- Fotograph of the Participants during the Conference 415
- Index 417
