Lec 1: Origins of Printing

What is orality?

• oral culture

• speech communication

• predates writing

Who is Harold Innis?

• media scholar

• part of the Toronto School of Communication Theory

What is oral culture?

• ways in which people express themeslves

both:

• production of information

• reception of information

Why were proverbs/maxims so useful?

Memorable phrases that conveyed simple beliefs and cultural attitudes

Why is oral tradition so important?

• storytelling

• predates all forms of writing

• developed legends, myths, fables, religion, etc

• spread of wisdom

What form of writing existed in Mesopotamia?

the cuneiform

What were the “City Laments”?

• ancient cuneiform poems

• existed in the Mesopotamia civilization

• described the fall of ancient cities

What is the cuneiform?

• the world’s first writing system

• produced with reed and clay and written on clay tablets

• not a language

What form of writing existed in Ancient Egypt?

the hieroglyphs

What were the hieroglyphs and what did they symbolize?

• signs

• sacred carvings using symbols

• primarily linked to elite (sometimes) royal tombs for deceased nobility/royalty

What are the hieratic Egyptian scripts?

• more common writing system

• cursive writing system

• used in the Egyptian Book of the Dead

What is the Egyptian Book of the Dead?

• funerary text

• contains ritual and spells

What’s the difference between Homeric Greek and Coptic Greek?

• Homeric is dialectic

• Coptic is written

What are the three types of Latin in use?

1. Classical written Latin

2. Classical oratorical Latin

3. ordinary colloquial Latin

Why was calligraphy used for?

• existing in several writing systems

• primarily for sacred ttexts

• predates printing press → books were illustrative and decorative

How did print culture emerge?

• started from China

• European development focused on language and images

  • to mass print books

• form of record keeping

What is the significance of movable types?

• created in China, not Europe

• used with clay

• earliest surviving printed books using movable type were produced in Korea 14th century