Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures

New Approaches to Writing and Reading in the Ancient Near East. Papers from a Symposium held February 25-26, 2005

by Seth Sanders, edited by Sarite Sanders

Book cover: Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures

Extent: 306 pages

Publisher: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Language & Linguistics

Series: Oriental Institute Seminars

Series volume number: 2, 2

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(March 2006)

ISBN: 9781885923394

Price: $24.95

In stock

This symposium was the first to bring leading philologists together with anthropologists and historians to connect theories of writing, language, and identity with the latest results of ancient Near Eastern scholarship.


Who invented national literature? What is the relationship between script, identity, and history? Recorded history began in the ancient Near East, but we are just beginning to explore the powerful creative relationship between writing and the political identities of the Near East’s cultures. This symposium was the first to bring leading philologists together with anthropologists and historians to connect theories of writing, language, and identity with the latest results of ancient Near Eastern scholarship.

  • By (author) Seth Sanders
  • Edited by Sarite Sanders