Register for a CSMC workshop
A Tale of Searching, Finding, and Keeping.
Archives in the Greco-Roman World
When: Friday, 29 April 2022, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm (CEST)
Where: Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg (and online)
The archiving and, thus, safekeeping of important documents was a crucial part of the administrative processes in the Greco-Roman world. To a substantial extent, this task was performed by state-run archives, working at the service of both society and individual. When researching into the various states, empires and societies of Classical antiquity, one discovers a variety of different archival systems, each adapted to the respective needs at hand.
Over the past decades, modern research on ancient archives has seen significant progress due to in-depth studies into various geographical and chronological settings. In Egypt, where actual archives and their documents are preserved, the publication and analyses of large amounts of primary texts has substantially furthered our understanding of the functioning of both public and private archives. In regions and cities with less fortunate climatic conditions and, therefore, a less favourable material basis—most importantly Athens and Rome—the reconstructive work falls back on more indirect sources (literary and epigraphical) that nevertheless deliver invaluable hints at the underlying processes of archiving and safekeeping.
By gathering specialists on archives from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Asia Minor, the workshop attempts at exploring both similarities and differences in the archival practices of Greco-Roman antiquity.
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