(in Polish) Ancient epistolography in theory and practice

elementary

enter learning outcome code/codes

The lecture familiarises the student with the basic information on an important part of a culture: communication by correspondence. The seminar's topic is focused on the beginnings of correspondence in important cultural centres of the Mediterranean civilization.

1. The problem of classification of epistolary writings and literature. Letter of epistles? What does ancient epistolography mean? The main structure of the letter.

2. Epistolography in the light of communication theory. Role of letters in ancient society.

3. Ways of writing and delivering letters in the past. Examples of preserved artefacts. What do the letters tell us about people and life in ancient time?

4. Practice of correspondence in ancient Near East. Analysis of selected examples from Babylon and Egypt.

5. An overview of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic epistolography.

6. Development of epistolography theory. Types of the letters. The particular structure of the letters. Epistolary formulas.

7. Epistolary theory and rhetoric. Letter writing in the Schools.

8. Greek and Roman letters.

9. Letter as the literary genre. Epistolary narratives in Ancient literature.

10. Editing of the letters in Antiquity.

11. Early Christianity letter writing in the framework of Ancient epistolography.

Recommended: Stanley K. Stowers, Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity, The Westminster Press: Philadelphia 1989.

J.B. Pritchard, ed. The Ancient Near East, vol. 1, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, Princeton University Press 1958.

D. Pardee, Catalogue of Hebrew Letters: Seventh Century B.C. to Second Century A.D., SBLSP (1976) 75-77.

J.A. Fitzmyer, Some Notes on Aramaic Epistolography, JBL 93/2 (1973) 201-225.

C. Poster, L. Mitchel, eds., Letter-Writing Manuals and Instruction from Antiquity to the Present, Columbia Press: 2007.

A. L. Malherbe, Ancient Epistolary Theorists, Scholars Press: Atlanta 1988.

R. Morello, A.D. Morrison, eds., Ancient Letters. Classical and Late Antique Epistolography, Oxford University Press: New York 2007.

After the course, the student should be able:

a) to define basic concepts of ancient epistolography

b) to explain the impact of the ancient epistolary practice and theory on contemporary language and communicative form.

The final test on the MSForms platform.