The Ancient Greek Secretary : a study of secretaries in Athens and the Peloponnese
This thesis explores the roles played by secretaries in Athens and the Peloponnese. Secretaries are present in some form in all documents produced by the Athenian boule. They are often named as the writer of a stele, or their existence is inferred from the existence of the document itself. However, little is known about the daily duties of these individuals, as the means of writing and setting up of inscriptions is limited to brief, epigraphic formulae lacking in procedural detail, and any other information about an office is confined to passing references in ancient authors and bald statements in ancient lexica. These issues are even more pronounced in the Peloponnese, where the existence of a secretary can be limited to a single word â his job title or designation â in an inscription, and many unique types of Peloponnesian secretary are absent from ancient historical works and lexica altogether. This thesis takes both a quantitative, and analytical approach to the question âwhat does it mean to be a secretary in ancient Greece?â. It examines all sources from Athens and the Peloponnese which refer to any type of secretary, or specify that an officer is to write something (i.e. perform some or all
Abbott, Terry Jude
secretary, Greek, Athens, Peloponnese, grammateus, gropheus
The Ancient Greek Secretary : a study of secretaries in Athens and the Peloponnese. This thesis explores the roles played by secretaries in Athens and the Peloponnese. Secretaries are present in some form in all documents produced by the Athenian boule. They are often named as the writer of a stele, or their existence is inferred from the existence of the document itself. However, little is known about the daily duties of these individuals, as the means of writing and setting up of inscriptions is limited to brief, epigraphic formulae lacking in procedural detail, and any other information about an office is confined to passing references in ancient authors and bald statements in ancient lexica. These issues are even more pronounced in the Peloponnese, where the existence of a secretary can be limited to a single word â his job title or designation â in an inscription, and many unique types of Peloponnesian secretary are absent from ancient historical works and lexica altogether. This thesis takes both a quantitative, and analytical approach to the question âwhat does it mean to be a secretary in ancient Greece?â. It examines all sources from Athens and the Peloponnese which refer to any type of secretary, or specify that an officer is to write something (i.e. perform some or all
ancient_greek secretary study secretary athens peloponnese explore_role play secretary athens peloponnese secretaries present form document produce athenian often name writer existence infer existence document itself however_little known daily duty individual mean write set inscription limited brief epigraphic formula lack procedural detail information office confine pass reference ancient_author statement ancient issue even pronounce peloponnese existence secretary limit single_word job title designation inscription many unique type peloponnesian secretary absent ancient historical_work altogether take quantitative analytical question mean secretary ancient_greece examines source athens peloponnese refer type secretary specify officer write something perform