Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites

Among classical scholars there is a widespread assumption that there is no relationship between the sizes of communities and their epigraphic output. In this article, I offer a new model, which suggests two hypotheses for how inscriptions increase with population, depending on whether they can be re...

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Bibliografische gegevens
Hoofdauteur: Hanson, JW
Formaat: Journal article
Taal:English
Gepubliceerd in: Brepols Publishers 2021
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author Hanson, JW
author_facet Hanson, JW
author_sort Hanson, JW
collection OXFORD
description Among classical scholars there is a widespread assumption that there is no relationship between the sizes of communities and their epigraphic output. In this article, I offer a new model, which suggests two hypotheses for how inscriptions increase with population, depending on whether they can be regarded as a form of infrastructure or a measure of wealth or disposable income. I show that, despite the variation between sites, there is nonetheless a consistent relationship between the numbers of inscriptions and the estimated populations of sites. The numbers of inscriptions increase slower than the estimated populations of sites, however, suggesting that they acted as a form of information infrastructure. This has important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms for transmitting information in ancient contexts, suggesting several avenues for future research.
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spelling oxford-uuid:90f08acb-16c3-4b80-90f8-f2a2b87e703a2024-11-19T15:35:56ZCities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sitesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:90f08acb-16c3-4b80-90f8-f2a2b87e703aEnglishSymplectic ElementsBrepols Publishers2021Hanson, JWAmong classical scholars there is a widespread assumption that there is no relationship between the sizes of communities and their epigraphic output. In this article, I offer a new model, which suggests two hypotheses for how inscriptions increase with population, depending on whether they can be regarded as a form of infrastructure or a measure of wealth or disposable income. I show that, despite the variation between sites, there is nonetheless a consistent relationship between the numbers of inscriptions and the estimated populations of sites. The numbers of inscriptions increase slower than the estimated populations of sites, however, suggesting that they acted as a form of information infrastructure. This has important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms for transmitting information in ancient contexts, suggesting several avenues for future research.
spellingShingle Hanson, JW
Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title_full Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title_fullStr Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title_full_unstemmed Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title_short Cities, information, and the epigraphic habit: re-evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
title_sort cities information and the epigraphic habit re evaluating the links between the numbers of inscriptions and the sizes of sites
work_keys_str_mv AT hansonjw citiesinformationandtheepigraphichabitreevaluatingthelinksbetweenthenumbersofinscriptionsandthesizesofsites