Publica aut peri! The Releasing and Distribution of Roman Books

This outline of our knowledge of the process of releasing literature in late republican and early imperial Rome addresses the nature of the recitations, the question of ‘publishing’ and distribution of books, from Atticus to Pliny the Younger. Although recognising that the distribution of Roman literature to a large extent consisted of private copying and exchange, I argue for the existence of a ‘book industry’ consisting of low-status craftsmen and traders editing and reproducing books for a commercial market

The Ancient Origin of the East/West Controversy

This short account tries to show that the stereotype of the barbarians and an anti-Eastern discourse was developed in the literate culture of the Greeks in classical times, based on a genuine fear of the Persians, but also on an increasing smugness. The attitude towards the East was handed down to the Romans and occasionally exploited for political, private or satirical purposes by writers throughout antiquity, and thus prevailed for all those who could read. ‘The light from the Acropolis’ has never illuminated its Near Eastern neighbours, rather a nefarious shadow was cast on the East that has proved hard to dispose of

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