Literacy In Pre-Islamic Arabia: An Analysis Of The Epigraphic Evidence
Literacy In Pre-Islamic Arabia: An Analysis Of The Epigraphic Evidence
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前伊斯兰阿拉伯半岛的识字率：碑文证据分析
DOI：
10.1163/ej.9789004176881.i-864.58
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Peter Stein
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Peter Stein
当一部广泛的文学作品，特别是像《古兰经》这样的圣典，致力于写作时，这似乎是以存在既定的写作实践和该经文所涉及的社区中的最低识字率为前提的。例如，犹太教和基督教的圣经出现在美索不达米亚和地中海的文化中心，也就是说，在一个地区和一个时代，文字的使用已经是几个世纪以来日常生活中熟悉的元素。相比之下，古兰经诞生的地区--即阿拉伯西部--似乎并没有广泛的文学作品。尽管这一地区的考古证据，尤其是世纪的考古证据很少，但有迹象表明，即使在这一地区，识字率的传播也是有限的。毫无疑问，《古兰经》是在基督教（即叙利亚语，也可能是埃塞俄比亚语）和犹太文学传统的影响下写成的。当时在阿拉伯半岛城市中心的基督徒和犹太人一定把他们的圣经带到了这个地区，这些社区的礼拜仪式一定涉及到一些书面文件的使用。因此，可以安全地假设这些社区中的阿拉姆语（甚至希伯来语）的抄写员生产最低限度，尽管这种假设仍然有待考古学的证实。然而，由于这类文学作品是从叙利亚-巴勒斯坦进口的，并没有真正的阿拉伯起源，因此在本文的范围内将不再进一步探讨。相反，现在
When an extensive literary work, and especially a holy scripture like the Qur'an, is committed to writing, this appears to presuppose the existence of established writing practices and a minimum of literacy among the community addressed by that scripture. The holy scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, for example, emerged in the cultural centers of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, that is, in an area and at a time where the use of writing had been a familiar element of everyday life for centuries. By contrast, the region in which the Qur'an came into being—namely, western Arabia—does not seem to have been characterized by extensive literary production. But even though archeological evidence for this region, and especially for the sixth century, is sparse, there are indicators of a limited spread of literacy even in this area.There can be no doubt that the Qur'an was put into writing under the influence of the Christian (ie, Syriac, and probably also Ethiopian) and Jewish literary traditions. The Christians and Jews who were present in the urban centers of the Arabian Peninsula must have brought their holy scriptures with them into the region, and liturgical practices in these communities must have involved some use of written documents. A minimum of scribal production in Aramaic (or even Hebrew) among these communities can thus safely be assumed, even though this supposition still awaits archeological confirmation. Yet since literary production of this kind was imported from Syria-Palestine and did not have a properly Arabian origin, it will not be pursued any further within the scope of this contribution. ¹ Rather, the present