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

在我休假期间，我计划完成一部古希腊书信写作的批判性历史，从古代到早期希腊化时期，包括与近东的比较。认识论的研究不可避免地涉及到更大的问题，即媒介和传播策略，以及它们各自的思想内涵。(例如，在公元5世纪的雅典，写信可以被认为是一种秘密的(因此)女性的交流方式。)古代书信保存在各种素材中，需要不同的分析技巧和视角。有些被铭刻在铅或石头上，另一些在文学文本(如史学、演说家或喜剧)中被完整地提及或引用。书信被题写并公开展示，通常是古代城邦自我宣传的一部分，因此它们的分析也需要考古学的视角。总的来说，我的研究关注的是媒介选择与意识形态之间的关系。因此，它处于不同的交界处：在希腊和近东之间；在文学、历史和考古之间；在口语和识字之间。

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.