Libmonster ID: U.S.-1872
Author(s) of the publication: V. A. SMETANIN

In antiquity and the Middle Ages, there were precise rules for writing letters, and anyone who deviated from them would simply not be understood, considered ignorant or insulting. The ancient Greeks attributed the invention of writing to individuals. The logographer Hellenicus considered the author of the first letter to be a woman, not unknown in history, Atossa, the daughter of the Persian king Cyrus II the Great. Herodotus described the introduction of written communication with his subjects by the Median king Deiocus. However, the oldest letters could, of course, have been written much earlier, for 2400-2200 years BC. Later, in the monuments of classical and Eastern literature, there is information about the letters of the Indian king Stratobates to Semiramis, David to Joab (letter of Uriah), King Praet of Argos to the Lycian ruler - the oldest references found in sources. From the earliest extant letters of antiquity, the letters of Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle are known.

Since that time, the volume of correspondence has begun, is growing rapidly, and will probably continue to grow. Only according to preliminary estimates, history has saved us several million emails. The most prolific were among the Byzantine epistologists, that is, the authors of letters, Isidore Pelusiot, who wrote them in 2012, Libanius - over 2000 (1 - 544 are recognized as authentic), Michael Gavra-about 1400. Epistolography, this auxiliary historical discipline, which now firmly occupies its modest but honorable place in science, has also known fans of jokes. Mark. Junius Brutus, Philostratus, Isidore, and Symmachus probably wrote the shortest letters. The Pythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana (I century) sent Musonius a letter of 3.5 lines (29 words) in size. On the contrary, Julius Caesar gave his letter to the Senate the appearance of a whole memorial book with pages.

Philo of Byzantium, Archimedes, and others wrote letters, some of which were as long as a book.

The pace of correspondence was also not the same at different times. Letters before 1850 BC are extremely rare. They are much more common in 1750-1650 BC. In the following centuries, there is a tendency to a permanent increase in the number of letters. However, in the period of classical Greece (V - IV centuries BC), the pulse of correspondence subsides, probably due to the emergence of fiction. Since the Hellenistic period (IV - II centuries BC), there has been a strong revival of written communication, and letters soon become the usual literary form. After 100 BC, writing was also a popular form of contact among the Romans. The popularity of letters is constantly growing, and in the IV - V centuries A.D. writing letters becomes a fashionable occupation. The epistological heritage of Byzantium is huge and includes at least several tens of thousands of such sources. It is unlikely that there will be a more or less well-known person who would not have left behind a correspondence. The heyday of Chinese epistolography was in the Tang and Song dynasties (VII-XIII centuries). Humanists have left a significant mark on the history of letters. Erasmus of Rotterdam sometimes wrote up to 40 letters a day. By the end of the Middle Ages, correspondence increases dramatically. The priest Nicaise of Bordeaux (circa the middle of the 17th century) received several thousand letters. The XVIII century, which is sometimes called the century of letters, stands out in particular. The scope of correspondence becomes unprecedented. Influential people are bombarded with an avalanche of correspondence. It seems that people were trying to outdo each other in their correspondence.

The forms and tools for composing emails have changed over time. If a man of the twentieth century had received a letter in the form in which-

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if it had existed among primitive peoples, then sometimes he would have considered it even an inappropriate joke. In fact, it is far from easy to decipher a letter-like message in the form of various objects strung on a string, such as coal, grain and rags, with a specific meaning for each component (Yoruba people, West Africa). The peoples of Western Asia used clay tiles for writing. The ancient Egyptians wrote on potsherds, which in Greek were called "ostraca", on limestone, clay tablets and papyrus. The Greeks and Romans also used, in addition to papyrus, wooden wax tablets consisting of two (diptych) or more (triptych, polyptych) folding wooden lid margins. The tablets were deepened inside and smeared with wax, on which the text of the letter was applied. The threads that wrapped the tablets were tied and sealed with var, wax, clay or special printed earth. Each sender of the letter had a seal or a signet ring. An impression of it was supposed to guarantee the secrecy of correspondence. The addressee returned the same signs back, but with their own answer. The Spartans used the staff as a writing material; text was cut on its bast. A letter written in byblos was rolled up or folded and tied with threads. The Romans during the empire used the so-called epistolary script for writing. If the contents of the letter were not a secret, typos were avoided. Sealed letters were marked with the addressee's name in the dative case. Mail carriers and mail vessels were used to deliver the letter. Several emails to the same destination were combined in a bundle. During the Roman Empire, a special post office functioned.

Around 160 BC, parchment appears, and it has been used for writing since the third century AD. The Indians and Chinese wrote on palm leaves. Cotton paper passed from the Chinese to the Arabs in the seventh century and to Italy in the ninth. After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, papyrus is no longer used for letters. Since the 12th century, the Arabs and Spanish Jews used linen paper. In the XIII - XIV centuries, cotton paper was already widely known. Finally, since 1340, letters on rag paper appear. In Byzantium, until the middle of the 14th century, the so-called bombycina was used, and then paper made of hemp or linen rags was distributed. Writing pens appeared in the VI century. The Greeks used a reed feather (kalam), in Russia-goose, swan and, as an exception, peacock feathers. The first steel feathers date back to the end of the XVIII century. The population of Siberia, North American Indians and residents of ancient Russian cities used birch bark for writing, that is, the upper, easily separated layers of birch bark. Several hundred Novgorod birch bark letters ("beresto") were issued in the 11th and 15th centuries, as well as three from Russian districts outside Novgorod. Most of them are private letters. They wrote on birch bark using sharp bone or copper rods.

In the 15th century, sealing wax was brought from the East. In 1624, wafers appeared. Since 1820, the envelope has been used (an invention of the Englishman Brouet). The regular postal service in medieval Western Europe originated in the early 15th century in Venice. A horse-drawn post office has been operating in France since 1464. "Bottle mail" was also practiced. One of these letters of Christopher Columbus in a tarred barrel was found only in 1856 on the shore of the bay near Cape Leh, at the foot of Mount Jabal Musa (Gibraltar). Queen Elizabeth of England, emphasizing the special importance of this form of communication, even established the position of "bottle opener".

It is interesting that the language of the people to which the epistologographer himself belonged was not always chosen as the language for writing. If in the Middle Ages (before the XII - XIII centuries) the dominant language was Latin, then later, first in Italy, and then in other countries, it is gradually replaced by national languages. However, Latin did not immediately give up its position. This applies in particular to the address, address, and date. The humanists revived Latin in their letters again. In the correspondence of scientists and diplomats, it remains the same form until the XVIII century. But since the seventeenth century, French has successfully competed with Latin in the letters of nobles, which in the eighteenth century almost completely supplanted it.

However, even under the dominance of Latin, the most important obstacle to correspondence was something else. Even the ancient Egyptians developed a special style of writing-clear stereotypical formulas, which they followed strictly. The place of an epistolograph in Egypt was considered a high and honorable court position. Beginners had to have a solid grasp of the architectonics of writing-

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ma based on special samples. Letter writers were then among the most educated people. In Babylon under Hammurabi, the greeting formula had several variants, depending on the social status of a particular letter writer and addressee. Since Hellenistic times, a number of manuals on epistolary art have appeared. The most famous among them are: "On the syllable", the authorship of which was mistakenly attributed to Demetrius of Falera, "On the use of the word" Hello" in letters " by Dionysius of Alexandria," Types of Letters "by Pseudo-Demetrius of Falera, "On the Syntax" by Apollonius Discolus (all of them appeared before the third century)," On the style of writing " by Proclus- Libania (already the beginning of the Byzantine period)," Rhetorical Art " by Julius Victor (IV century). The theory of epistolary style was intensively developed. These are the epistles of Philostratus of Lemnos to Aspasius Rabbinicus entitled "On how to write letters", Gregory of Nazianzus to Nicobulus.

The concept of epistolary style appears in the circle of peripatetics - the philosophical school of Aristotle. The representative, and perhaps the creator, of this teaching was Artemon, believed to be one of Aristotle's disciples (not to be confused with Artemon of Cassandria, II century BC). The peculiarity of the Greek theory of writing was a peculiar disclosure of its content. The latter found expression in a" suitable " way of thinking, friendliness. Thanks to the letter, the spatial alienation of correspondents should have disappeared, it should have created the illusion of presence. The definition of the letter took into account the peculiarity of the epistolary situation, which was understood as a special kind of conversation between the author and the addressee in the form of a dialogue. Ancient epistolary theory imposed a number of requirements on writing. It should be characterized by brevity, clarity, expression of the moral qualities of the writer, his character and mood. Writing should strive for rhetorical reproduction of personality traits with the help of those means of expression that correspond to the character of the writer; it should be distinguished by easy speech, simple verbosity. The language should be close to colloquial (a thesis directed against the penetration of literary dryness and rigor in letters). The writer should avoid forced embellishments, strive for the absence of embellishments and moderation in style, which gives the letter grace. The letter is intended to reflect only your subject of speech. In a number of manuals, wit is called a distinctive feature of writing.

At the same time, the ancient Greek script used stereotypical formulas. Its basic scheme included three components: an introductory (prescript), main and final (clause). Greek letters on papyrus also had an external address (inscript). The prescript formula has evolved over time. Since the fourth century BC, the name of the writer in the nominative case was placed in the prescript before the name of the addressee in the dative case. Special words served as a link between them. Let's look at the formulas of the main part of the email. There were four different types of "health formula" 1, preserved from antiquity to the Middle Ages 2 . In its original form, the "health formula "came right after the prescript:"if you are healthy, good, and I am healthy." Its origin falls on the IV century BC. The second type of formula was the most common and was found before the clause in the form of "be in order and healthy". In the second century it disappears. Then, at the beginning of the email, new types of "health formula"3 appeared .

This formula was followed by a supplement, sometimes with requests to the gods for well-being. Standard expressions with motivation and special "reminder" expressions of the request were used, and the formula about the addressee's well-being was based on constant words. Since the second century BC, the greeting formula appears. Its usual place is the end of the letter. The addressee was not included in the list of persons to whom the greeting was sent. Only in the II-IV centuries A.D. there was a formula of greeting directed to the addressee. It was placed at the beginning of the letter, immediately after the prescript, or in combination with the"health formula". Friends were also welcomed separately. The penultimate or last place in the main part was occupied by the letter motivation formula, which existed before the IV century. To the clause-

1 H. Koskenniemi. Studien zur Idee und Phraseologie des griechischen Briefes bis 400 n. Ch. Helsinki. 1956, S. 130 - 139.

2 G. Karisson. Ideologic et ceremonial dans l'epistolographie byzantine. Textes du Xe siecle analyses et commentes. Uppsala. 1959, pp. 138 - 141.

3 F. Ziemann. De epistularum graecarum formulis sollemnibus quaestiones selectae. Halle. 1910, p. 324 sqq.

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Since the second century, expressions such as "o brother" and "o father" addressed to the addressee were included. In the fourth century, polite or flattering addresses appeared in this place. The "health formula" and the clause constantly competed with each other: the reduction of one caused the expansion of the other.

The most important or official letters contain an indication of the place and time of writing. There was no signature in the letters of ancient times. In total, the epistolary theory of antiquity distinguished 41 types of letters. Now they are classified into private, literary, official (or official), poetic, fictitious (which, in turn, are divided into inset, pseudonymous, letters-novels, love, mimic). The form of a letter was also taken by works of various types, depending on which letters are also distinguished: journalistic, instructive, dedicatory, magical, letters "in the name of God" and, finally, scientific literature in the form of letters. Apocryphal letters in religious books stand apart. Journalistic writing has been common since the fourth century BC. It is close to a modern open letter. The earliest example is the letter of Isocrates to Dionysius I. The love letter also appears in the fourth century BC.e. From Hellenistic times (except for a brief news from Plutarch about obscene correspondence between Mithridates and Monima), such letters have not reached. But in the period of the Roman Empire erotic epistolography flourished luxuriantly.

Letters attributed to the gods date back to the third century B.C. They were first written by Menippus. Archimedes (287-212 BC) left us the first letter of dedication. At the same time, scientific literature in the form of letters was born. The earliest of the pseudonymous letters (I century BC) belong to Anacharsis, Hippocrates and Diogenes. Their forgery is determined by several criteria: letters contain instructions that should already be known to the addressee and are intended only for the reader (especially for the names of localities); the authors of pseudonymous letters operate with dates freely, which is unusual for ancient epistolography; the use of anachronisms; the inability to constantly adhere to a certain situation; the inability to accurately imitate the language and style of the era. The earliest of the instructive letters dates back to 64 BC. e. The apogee of instructive epistolography is associated with the letters of Epicurus. Seneca wrote 124 letters of this kind to Lucilius. In the Middle Ages, correspondence between Seneca and the Apostle Paul was "discovered". Cicero once wrote a consoling letter to himself (belongs to the group of instructive letters). The poet Horace (65-8 BC). E.) created poetic letters that were not surpassed by anyone in the ancient world.

In general, however, the history of the development of writing in the ancient world and especially in the Middle Ages requires further special study. While there are many general works, there are almost no specific studies. And in the period of developed and late feudalism, as already noted, the volume of correspondence increases dramatically.

A medieval letter was supposed to consist of five parts: a greeting, a preamble, a statement of the circumstances of the case, a request, and a conclusion. Various formulas of greetings were developed (to the Pope, emperor, high and low clergy, secular princes, private individuals).

The letter writing guidelines were then divided into two groups: complete and incomplete. The complete medieval scribbler consisted of four parts: introduction; theory of writing style and literacy; collection of formulas; a number of legal provisions. Epistolary Byzantine manuals were of two types: general letter books, collections of maxims and standard expressions for letters. At the end of the Middle Ages, a particularly popular collection was that of the epistologographer Theophilus Corydalleus (1563-1646), an Athenian Aristotelic who bore the name of Theodosia as a monk. His "Essay on Types of Writing" was first published in London in 1625, and in the XVIII century - three more times (Moscow, 1744; Halle, 1768; Venice, 1786).

The art of writing letters was regularly taught in the Middle Ages. There were special teachers who were called " dictators "(from the verb "dictare" - "prescribe"). This practice appears in Italy in the second half of the XI century. The first known such "dictator" in the history of Western Europe is the monk Alberico Montecassino (died in 1088). The corresponding work belongs to him. John Caetani is considered the most prominent of the "dictators". These individuals developed both the main parts of Western European writing and the second side of the epistolary teaching - the law of accentuation (a set of special rules for constructing a stereotyped phrase and alternating it in the text).

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for stressed and unstressed syllables), which was specially taught.

Medieval letters were distinguished not only by their peculiar architectonics, but also by an increasing tendency to forget the real, vital content, "deconcretization", and the progressive "pointlessness of correspondence". However, this process has developed in an extremely contradictory way and cannot be considered only as a straightforward one .4 Epistolographs of the Middle Ages are still a considerable mystery for historians, and the significance of epistolographic works as an important historical source has not yet been fully appreciated. The work of even such luminaries of Byzantine epistology as Theodore the Studite, Nicholas the Mystic, Photius, Michael Psellus, Nicetas and Michael Choniates, Nicephorus Humnus, Michael Gavra, Demetrius Cydonis and Manuel II Palaiologos contains many unsolved mysteries. By the way, Russian academicians A. A. Kunik and V. G. Vasilevsky wrote to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1894: "One of the first tasks of Byzantology... The goal is to collect accurate information and determine - if possible-chronologically the extant Byzantine ones... emails". B. M. Melioransky, a master's student at St. Petersburg State University, was assigned to carry out this work, which was supposed to be the beginning of the regests of letters. But the realization of this plan was beyond the power of one person .5
At the III International Congress of Byzantinists (Athens, October 1930), the Greek scholar I. Sikoutris made a report on "The problem of Byzantine epistolography", who again stressed that the epistolography of Byzantium is unfairly regarded as a poor source, and put forward a demand that has not yet been implemented to publish all the epistolary monuments that have survived to us. Only in recent years has epistologography as a special discipline become a subject of teaching in some places. Now the task is to study in depth the history of the development of letters up to modern times, while simultaneously developing specific research methods peculiar to epistology (for example, methods for dating letters based on epistological features characteristic of a particular era).

4 A. P. Each rightly emphasizes that the" deconcretization " of letters in Byzantine times did not become an absolute (abstract on the books of G. Karlsson and G. Hungera "Byzantine Vremennik", Vol. XVIII. 1968, p.299).

5 Premature death interrupted the work of the researcher (see B. Melioransky. List of Byzantine documents and letters. Issue I. Documents of 784-850. Introduction. A few words about the manuscripts and editions of the letters of Theodore the Studite. With five tables. "Notes" of the Academy of Sciences on the historical and philological department, vol. IV. 1899, N 5).

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