Epistolary writing in ancient Greece: the formation, the evolution and the ideological connotations of a genre

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During my leave I plan to complete a critical history of letter writing in ancient Greece, from the archaic to the early Hellenistic period, including a comparison with the Near East. The study of epistolography inevitably involves larger questions about media and communicative strategies, and their respective ideological connotations. (In fifth-century Athens, for instance, the writing of letters could be considered a secretive and (hence) feminine means of communication.) Ancient letters have been preserved in a variety of source materials, which require different analytic skills and perspectives. Some are inscribed on lead or stone, others are mentioned or quoted in full in literary texts (such as historiography, oratory, or comedy). Inscribed and publicly displayed, letters often formed part of the self-promotion of an ancient city-state, and their analysis thus requires archaeological perspectives as well. Overall, my study is concerned with the relation between choice of medium and ideology. It is therefore positioned at various interfaces: between Greece and the Near East; between literature, history, and archaeology; and between orality and literacy.