The Hidden Language of Graphic Signs
Cryptic Writing and Meaningful Marks

This book zeroes in on hidden writing and alternative systems of graphic notation, exploring writings that deflect attention from language.

John Bodel (Edited by), Stephen Houston (Edited by)

9781108840613, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 August 2021

330 pages
26.1 x 18.3 x 2 cm, 0.85 kg

'… the book editors-classicist John Bodel and Mayanist Stephen Houston - are to be congratulated on assembling experts to produce a 'first' in this relatively neglected field.' Andrew Robinson, Miverva

A common belief is that systems of writing are committed to transparency and precise records of sound. The target is the language behind such marks. Readers, not viewers, matter most, and the most effective graphs largely record sound, not meaning. But what if embellishments mattered deeply - if hidden writing, slow to produce, slow to read, played as enduring a role as more accessible graphs? What if meaningful marks did service alongside records of spoken language? This book, a compilation of essays by global authorities on these subjects, zeroes in on hidden writing and alternative systems of graphic notation. Essays by leading scholars explore forms of writing that, by their formal intricacy, deflect attention from language. The volume also examines graphs that target meaning directly, without passing through the filter of words and the medium of sound. The many examples here testify to human ingenuity and future possibilities for exploring enriched graphic communication.

Part I. Hidden Writing: 1. Buried and Camouflaged Writing in Early China Haicheng Wang
2. Dazzled and Absorbed: Delayed Reading in Altered Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing Andréas Stauder
3. Impossible Unities: Full-Figure Glyphs among the Maya Stephen Houston
4. Inscribe and De-scribe/Cipher and De-cipher: A Pious Phrase in Medieval Byzantium and Islam Scott Redford
5. Script, Pseudoscript, and Pseudo-pseudoscript in the Work of Filippo Lippi Benjamin C. Tilghman
6. Numerals as Letters: Ludic Language in Chronographic Writing Stephen Chrisomalis
Part II. Legible Signs: 7. Marking and Writing in an Egyptian Workmen's Community Ben Haring
8. The Semiotics of Signa and the Significance of Signs in Roman Stamps John Bodel
9. Late Antique and Early Medieval Monograms (c. 300–900): From Producers' Marks to Liminal Graphic Devices Ildar Garipzanov
10. Crests and Familial Identity in Medieval Japan David Spafford
11. Where Credit's Due: Making Marks and Counting Labor in the Andes Howard Tsai
12. From Modeling to Destruction: Cyclicity and Multi-Sensoriality in Learning Catechisms in the Bolivian Highlands Bérénice Gaillemin.

Subject Areas: Medieval European archaeology [HDDM], Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG], History of the Americas [HBJK], Asian history [HBJF], Language: history & general works [CBX]