Latin Literary Culture An Introduction to Texts from Archaeology

Since their origins, writing has both belonged to and shaped the cultural identities of societies. Written sources recovered through archaeological excavation reveal only one, albeit significant, aspect of the many factors that characterise and contribute to a specific geographical, chronological, social, and cultural context. Disciplines such as epigraphy and papyrology, though relatively young within the field of Classics, are primarily devoted to the study of such archaeologically derived written sources. Over time, however, their increasing specialisation has also led them to suffer, at least in part, from disciplinary compartmentalisation, particularly as a consequence of their wide geographical and chronological—and therefore linguistic—scope. This book aims, for the first time, to provide a methodological introduction to Latin written sources of archaeological provenance, with particular emphasis on literary texts. Its purpose is twofold: on the one hand, to explore how such sources contribute to the shaping of cultural landscapes—by situating ancient literature within specific local and historical contexts—and, on the other, to assess how they can enhance our understanding of Latin literary history itself. The book is primarily addressed to Classicists, especially those working on Latin literature, philology, and language, but it also seeks to engage historians and archaeologists by highlighting the potential value of critically informed approaches to written sources within broader contextual analyses.