Sarah E. Bond, author of Trade and Taboo...
...has a new article in Hyperallergic, "The Enslaved People Who Wrote Down the New Testament": Art history has long concealed the scribes who put swaths of the Bible and early Christian writings on paper. July 28, 2024.
"In ancient Egypt and early Imperial China, scribes were of high status," she says, but this contrasts with "many Greek and Roman cities, villas, libraries, churches, and even monasteries," where scribes were often enslaved.
These books are mentioned in the article:
She also directs us to "Female Scribes in Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity," an article by Kim Haines-Eitzen.
And another article: "In one study, ancient historian Adam Serfass reconstructs how Gregory gave enslaved people to his friends and ordered them bought at auction and even tortured."
Why this interests me
I've written about eunuchs in history.
When we read about eunuchs serving as scribes, we should look at the context of whether they were enslaved. Also, if sole authorship is credited to someone (eunuch or not), we should ask who was helping them (maybe enslaved people, some of whom may have been eunuchs.
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