BMCR review of BAGNALL - CRIBIORE, Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt.

Reviewed by Sarah B. Pomeroy, The City University of New York (SBPom@aol.com)
Word count: 1280 words

"This important collection makes available to students and scholars a vast trove of letters attributed to women that is unparalleled in the ancient world. These documents were written on papyrus and ostraca and appear here in English translation. Ninety-seven pages, nearly a quarter of the book, are devoted to introductory chapters of varying length. These include: Ch. 1 Introduction: This Book and How It Came to Be Written; Ch. 2 Why Women's Letters?; Ch. 3 About the Corpus of Letters; Ch. 4 Late Medieval Letters as Comparative Evidence; Ch. 5 Writing and Sending Letters; Ch. 6 Handwriting; Ch. 7 Language; Ch. 8 Economic and Social Situation; Ch. 9 Household Management and Travel; and Ch. 10 Practical Help in Reading the Letters. The letters follow, 161 pages that are part of Archives and Dossiers and 148 individual letters grouped according to themes such as Work, Religion, and Literacy and Education." more

source: BMCR