Opificio 10th November 2016

The historian and papyrologist Giovanni Geraci (Alma Mater, Bologna) has explored the social and cultural contexts by which Latin script gradually spread across Egypt during the first cent. and the mid-second cent. AD. The analysis, focusing on specific typologies of the surviving evidence, has persuasively shown that, at first, Latin script had served a non-official and pragmatic purpose. In spite of the common opinion that ascribes a great influence to the Roman army, a more important source may be found in the community of businessmen, recent immigrants, and imperial slaves.

locandina_geraci