ABSTRACT
Writing was an exceptionally popular pursuit in the Hellenistic age, and given that the written word by then dominated legal, political, economic and private life, the illiterate were effectively social outsiders. The levels of knowledge in all spheres of science, technology, craftsmanship, finance and military science were set down in specialist textbooks, and scholarly discussion was similarly conducted in book publications. Research and education alike were linked with major libraries. The analogy with present-day conditions falls short only in the absence of periodicals in the Hellenistic age. Aside from this, however, the lack of a printing industry should not be seen as too much of a handicap. Large copying workshops in which armies of scribes reproduced texts from dictation, combined with a well-organised book retailing trade, ensured a dissemination of the written word that was unparalleled in the days of medieval Latin prior to the invention of printing.
