''Empire and Communications'' is a book published in 1950 by

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

professor

Harold Innis Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894 – November 9, 1952) was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. He helped deve ...

. It is based on six lectures Innis delivered at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in 1948. The series, known as the Beit Lectures, was dedicated to exploring British imperial history. Innis, however, decided to undertake a sweeping historical survey of how communications media influence the rise and fall of empires. He traced the effects of media such as stone, clay,

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

from ancient to modern times. Innis argued that the "bias" of each medium toward space or toward time helps to determine the nature of the civilization in which that medium dominates. "Media that emphasize time are those that are durable in character such as

, clay and stone," he writes in his introduction.Innis (Empire), p.26. These media tend to favour decentralization. "Media that emphasize space are apt to be less durable and light in character, such as papyrus and paper." These media generally favour large, centralized administrations. Innis believed that to persist in time and to occupy space, empires needed to strike a balance between time-biased and space-biased media.Innis (Empire), p.27. Such a balance is likely to be threatened, however, when

monopolies of knowledge Monopolies of knowledge arise when the ruling class maintains political power through control of key communications technologies. The Canadian economic historian Harold Innis developed the concept of monopolies of knowledge in his later writings on ...

exist favouring some media over others. ''Empire and Communications'' examines the impact of media such as stone, clay, papyrus and the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

on the empires of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Babylonia. It also looks at the oral tradition in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

; the written tradition and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

; the influence of parchment and paper in

medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and the effects of paper and the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

in modern times.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Harold Innis's highly condensed prose style, which frequently ranges over many centuries and several key ideas in one or two sentences, can make his writing in ''Empire and Communications'' difficult to understand. Biographer Paul Heyer recommends that readers use Innis's introduction as a helpful guide. Roman-empire-mod

Empire, bias and balance

In his introduction, Innis promises to examine the significance of communications in a small number of empires. "The effective government of large areas," he writes, "depends to a very important extent on the efficiency of communication." He argues for example, that light and easily transported papyrus enabled Rome to govern a large, centralized empire. For Innis, papyrus is associated with the political and administrative control of space. It, therefore, is a space-biased medium. Parchment, dominant after the breakup of the Roman Empire, was a durable medium used for hand copying manuscripts in medieval monasteries. For Innis, parchment favours decentralization and is associated with the religious control of time. It, therefore, is a time-biased medium. Innis argues that in order to last, large-scale political organizations such as empires must balance biases toward time and space. "They have tended to flourish under conditions in which civilization reflects the influence of more than one medium and in which the bias of one medium towards decentralization is offset by the bias of another medium towards centralization."Innis (Empire), p.27

Writing, printing, and speech

Innis divides the history of the empires and civilizations he will examine into two periods, one for writing and the other for printing. "In the writing period we can note the importance of various media such as the clay tablet of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

, the papyrus roll in the Egyptian and in the Graeco-Roman world, parchment codex in the late Graeco-Roman world and the early Middle Ages, and paper after its introduction in the Western world from China." Innis notes that he will concentrate on paper as a medium in the printing period along with the introduction of paper-making machinery at the beginning of the 19th century and the use of wood pulp in the manufacture of paper after 1850. He is quick to add, however, that it would be presumptuous to conclude that writing alone determined the course of civilizations. Historians naturally focus on writing because it endures. "We are apt to overlook the significance of the spoken word," he writes, "and to forget that it has left little tangible remains." For Innis, that tendency poses a problem. "It is scarcely possible for generations disciplined in the written and the printed tradition to appreciate the oral tradition." Therefore, the media biases of one civilization make understanding other peoples difficult, if not impossible. "A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another." As an example, Innis refers to our tendency to impose a modern conception of time on past civilizations. "With the dominance of arithmetic and the decimal system, dependent apparently on the number of fingers or toes, modern students have accepted the linear measure of time," he writes. "The dangers of applying this procrustean device in the appraisal of civilizations in which it did not exist illustrate one of numerous problems." Innis also contrasts the strikingly different effects of writing and speaking. He argues that "writing as compared with speaking involves an impression at the second remove and reading an impression at the third remove. The voice of a second-rate person is more impressive than the published opinion of superior ability."

Chapter 2. Egypt: From stone to papyrus

Harold Innis traces the evolution of ancient Egyptian dynasties and kingdoms in terms of their use of stone or papyrus as dominant media of communication. His outline of Egyptian civilization is a complex and highly detailed analysis of how these media, along with several other technologies, affected the distribution of power in society.

Influence of the Nile

Innis begins, as other historians do, with the crucial importance of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

as a formative influence on Egyptian civilization. The river provided the water and fertile land needed for agricultural production in a desert region. Innis writes that the Nile therefore, "acted as a principle of order and centralization, necessitated collective work, created solidarity, imposed organizations on the people, and cemented them in a society."Innis (Empire), p.32. This observation is reminiscent of Innis's earlier work on the economic influence of waterways and other geographical features in his book, ''

The Fur Trade in Canada ''The Fur Trade in Canada'' is a 1930 book by Harold Innis that draws sweeping conclusions about the complex and frequently devastating effects of the fur trade on aboriginal peoples; about how furs as staple products induced an enduring economic ...

'', first published in 1930. However, in ''Empire and Communications'', Innis extends his economic analysis to explore the influence of the Nile on religion, associating the river with the sun god Ra, creator of the universe. In a series of intellectual leaps, Innis asserts that Ra's power was vested in an absolute monarch whose political authority was reinforced by specialized astronomical knowledge. Such knowledge was used to produce the calendar which could predict the Nile's yearly floods.

Stone, hieroglyphics and absolute monarchs

As the absolute monarchy extended its influence over Egypt, a pictorial

hieroglyphic Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

writing system was invented to express the idea of royal immortality. According to Innis, the idea of the divine right of autocratic monarchs was developed from 2895 BC to 2540 BC. "The

pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

," Innis writes, "carried with them the art of pictorial representation as an essential element of funerary ritual." The written word on the tomb, he asserts, perpetuated the divine power of kings. Innis suggests that the decline of the absolute monarchy after 2540 BC may have been related to the need for a more accurate calendar based on the solar year. He suggests that priests may have developed such a calendar increasing their power and authority. After 2000 BC, peasants, craftsmen, and scribes obtained religious and political rights. "The profound disturbances in Egyptian civilization," Innis writes "involved in the shift from absolute monarchy to more democratic organization coincided with a shift in emphasis on stone as a medium of communication or as a basis of prestige, as shown in the pyramids, to an emphasis on papyrus."

Papyrus and the power of scribes

Innis traces the influence of the newer medium of

on political power in ancient Egypt. The growing use of papyrus led to the replacement of cumbersome hieroglyphic scripts by cursive or hieratic writing. Rapid writing styles made administration more efficient and highly trained scribes became part of a privileged civil service. Innis writes. however, that the replacement of one dominant medium by another led to upheaval.

The shift from dependence on stone to dependence on papyrus and the changes in political and religious institutions imposed an enormous strain on Egyptian civilization. Egypt quickly succumbed to invasion from peoples equipped with new instruments of attack. Invaders with the sword and the bow and long-range weapons broke through Egyptian defence, dependent on the battle-axe and the dagger. With the use of bronze and possibly iron weapons, horses and chariots, Syrian Semitic peoples under the
Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...
or Shepherd kings captured and held Egypt from 1660 to 1580 BC.Innis (Empire), p.39.

Hyksos rule lasted about a century until the Egyptians drove them out. Innis writes that the invaders had adopted hieroglyphic writing and Egyptian customs, "but complexity enabled the Egyptians to resist." The Egyptians may have won their victory using horses and light chariots acquired from the Libyans.

Empire and the one true god

Innis writes that the military organization that expelled the Hyksos enabled the Egyptians to establish and expand an empire that included Syria and Palestine, and that eventually reached the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

. Egyptian administrators used papyrus and a postal service to run the empire, but adopted

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

as a more efficient script. The pharaoh Akhnaton tried to introduce

Aten Aten also Aton, Atonu, or Itn ( egy, jtn, ''reconstructed'' ) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system established in ancient Egypt by the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect o ...

, the solar disk as the one true god, a system of worship that would provide a common ideal for the whole empire. But the priests and the people resisted "a single cult in which duty to the empire was the chief consideration." Priestly power, Innis writes, resulted from religious control over the complex and difficult art of writing. The monarch's attempts to maintain an empire extended in space were defeated by a priestly monopoly over knowledge systems concerned with time --- systems that began with the need for accurate predictions about when the Nile would overflow its banks. Innis argues that priestly theocracy gradually cost Egypt its empire. "Monopoly over writing supported an emphasis on religion and the time concept, which defeated efforts to solve the problem of space."

Chapter 3. Babylonia: The origins of writing

In this chapter, Innis outlines the history of the world's first civilizations in

. He starts with the fertile plains between the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

and

rivers, but as the history unfolds, his discussion extends to large parts of the modern

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. Biographer Paul Heyer's warning that Innis's work can be challenging applies to te 3000 history. Innis's condensed, elliptical prose demands careful reading as he traces the origins of writing from

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...

and cuneiform script to the efficient

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician a ...

written on parchment and papyrus. Along the way, Innis comments on many aspects of the ancient Middle Eastern empires, including power struggles between priests and kings, the evolution of military technologies and the development of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Sumer depended on the rivers and so, the cycles of agricultural production were organized around them. The rivers also provided communications materials. In Egypt, the Nile's papyrus became a medium for writing while in Mesopotamia, the rivers yielded the alluvial sediments the Sumerians used to fashion the clay tablets on which they inscribed their wedge-shaped, cuneiform script. Their earliest writing recorded agricultural accounts and economic transactions. Innis points out that the tablets were not well suited to pictographic writing because making straight lines "tended to pull up the clay." Therefore, Sumerian scribes used a cylindrical reed stylus to stamp or press wedges and lines on the moist tablet. Scribes gradually developed cuneiform signs to represent syllables and the sounds of the spoken language. Innis writes that as a heavy material, clay was not very portable and so was not generally suited for communication over large areas. Cuneiform inscription required years of training overseen by priests. Innis contends therefore, that as a writing medium, clay tended to favour decentralization and religious control.

From city-states to empires

Innis suggests that religious control in Sumer became a victim of its own successes. "The accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of priests and the temple organizations," he writes, "was probably followed by ruthless warfare between city-states." The time-bound priests, unskilled in technological change and the military arts, lost power to spatially oriented kings intent on territorial expansion. Around 2350 BC, the Sumerians were conquered by their northern, Semitic neighbours the Akkadians. Under

Sargon the Great Sargon of Akkad (; akk, ''Šarrugi''), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highl ...

, the empire expanded to include extensive territories reaching northwest as far as

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and west to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. Thus begins the rise and fall of a series of empires over approximately two thousand years. Innis mentions many of them, but focuses more attention on innovations that facilitated their growth. These include the advancement of civil law under

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...

, the development of mathematics including fixed standards of

weights and measures A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multi ...

, as well as the breeding of horses that combined speed with strength and that, along with three-man chariots, helped deliver spectacular military victories to the

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

ns.

Alphabet, empire and trade

In discussing the advent and spread of the

, Innis refers to what he sees as the subversive relationship between those at the centre of civilizations and those on their fringes or margins. He argues that monopolies of knowledge develop at the centre only to be challenged and eventually overthrown by new ideas or techniques that take shape on the margins. Thus, the

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n alphabet, a radically simplified writing system, undermined the elaborate hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts overseen by priestly elites in Egypt and Babylonia. "The Phoenicians had no monopoly of knowledge," Innis writes, "

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

might hamper the development of writing."Innis (Empire), p.64. As a trading people, the Phoenicians needed "a swift and concise method of recording transactions." The alphabet with its limited number of visual symbols to represent the primary elements of human speech was well suited to trade. "Commerce and the alphabet were inextricably interwoven, particularly when letters of the alphabet were used as numerals." The alphabet, combined with the use of parchment and papyrus, Innis argues, had a decentralizing effect favouring cities and smaller nations over centralized empires.Innis (Empire), p.65. He suggests that improved communication, made possible by the alphabet, enabled the Assyrians and the Persians to administer large empires in which trading cities helped offset concentrations of power in political and religious organizations.

Alphabet, the Hebrews and religion

Innis sketches the influence of the alphabet on the

Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still ...

in the marginal territory of Palestine. The Hebrews combined oral and written traditions in their scriptures. Innis points out that they had previously acquired key ideas from the Egyptians. "The influence of Egypt on the Hebrews," he writes, "was suggested in the emphasis on the sacred character of writing and on the power of the word which when uttered brought about creation itself. The word is the word of wisdom. Word, wisdom, and God were almost identical theological concepts." The Hebrews distrusted images. For them, words were the true source of wisdom. "The written letter replaced the graven image as an object of worship."Innis (Empire), p.66. In a typically complex passage, Innis writes:

"Denunciation of images and concentration on the abstract in writing opened the way for advance from blood relationship to universal ethical standards and strengthened the position of the
prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
in their opposition to absolute monarchical power. The abhorrence of idolatry of graven images implied a sacred power in writing, observance of the law, and worship of the one true God."

The alphabet enabled the Hebrews to record their rich oral tradition in poetry and prose. "Hebrew has been described as the only

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...

before Arabic to produce an important literature characterized by simplicity, vigour and lyric force. With other Semitic languages it was admirably adapted to the vivid, vigorous description of concrete objects and events."Innis (Empire), p.67. Innis traces the influence of various strands in scriptural writing suggesting that the combination of these sources strengthened the movement toward

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxfo ...

. In a summary passage, Innis explores the wide-ranging influence of the alphabet in ancient times. He argues that it enabled the Assyrians and Persians to expand their empires, allowed for the growth of trade under the Arameans and Phoenicians and invigorated religion in Palestine. As such, the alphabet provided a balance. "An alphabet became the basis of political organization through efficient control of territorial space and of religious organization through efficient control over time in the establishment of monotheism."

Chapter 4. Greece and the oral tradition

"Greek civilization," Innis writes, "was a reflection of the power of the spoken word." In this chapter, he explores how the vitality of the spoken word helped the ancient Greeks create a civilization that profoundly influenced all of Europe. Greek civilization differed in significant ways from the empires of Egypt and Babylonia. Innis biographer John Watson notes that those preceding empires "had revolved around an uneasy alliance of absolute monarchs and scholarly theocrats."Watson, p.368. The monarchs ruled by force while an elite priestly class controlled religious dogma through their monopolies of knowledge over complex writing systems. "The monarch was typically a war leader whose grasp of the concept of space allowed him to expand his territory," Watson writes, "incorporating even the most highly articulated theocracies. The priests specialized in elaborating conceptions of time and continuity." Innis argues that the Greeks struck a different balance, one based on "the freshness and elasticity of an oral tradition" that left its stamp on Western poetry, drama, sculpture, architecture, philosophy, science and mathematics.

Socrates, Plato and the spoken word

Innis begins by examining Greek civilization at its height in the 5th century BC. He points out that the philosopher

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

(c. 470 BC–399 BC) "was the last great product and exponent of the oral tradition." Socrates taught using a question and answer technique that produced discussion and debate. His student,

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(428/427 BC – 348/347 BC), elaborated on these Socratic conversations by writing dialogues in which Socrates was the central character. This dramatic device engaged readers in the debate while allowing Plato to search for truth using a dialectical method or one based on discussion. "The dialogues were developed," Innis writes "as a most effective instrument for preserving hepower of the spoken word on the written page."Innis (Empire), p.79. He adds that Plato's pupil,

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

(384 BC – 322 BC), regarded the Platonic dialogues as "half-way between poetry and prose." Innis argues that Plato's use of the flexible oral tradition in his writing enabled him to escape the confines of a rigid philosophical system. "Continuous philosophical discussion aimed at truth. The life and movement of dialectic opposed the establishment of a finished system of dogma." This balance between speech and prose also contributed to the immortality of Plato's work. Innis writes that the power of the oral tradition reached its height in the tragedies of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

and

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

when "drama became the expression of Athenian democracy." He argues that tragedy attracted the interest and participation of everyone. "To know oneself was to know man's powerlessness and to know the indestructible and conquering majesty of suffering humanity." For Innis, the fall of Athens to Sparta in 404 BC and the trial and execution of Socrates for corrupting Athenian youth were symptoms of the collapse of the older oral culture. That culture had sustained a long poetic tradition, but Plato attacked poetry as a teaching device and expelled poets from his ideal republic. According to Innis, Plato and Aristotle developed prose in defence of a new culture in which gods and poets were subordinated to philosophical and scientific inquiry. Innis argues that eventually, the spread of writing widened the gap between the city-states hastening the collapse of Greek civilization.

The Greek alphabet

Innis notes that the early

Mycenaean Greeks Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...

of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

developed their own styles of communication because they escaped the cultural influence of the Minoans they had conquered on the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. "The complexity of the script of Minoan civilization and its relative restriction to Crete left the Greeks free to develop their own traditions." Innis adds that the growth of a strong oral tradition reflected in Greek epic poetry also fostered resistance to the dominance of other cultures. This led the Greeks to take over and modify the

n alphabet possibly around the beginning of the 7th century BC. The Greeks adapted this 24-letter,

Semitic alphabet The history of the alphabet goes back to the conwriting system used for Semitic languages in the Levant in the 2nd millennium BCE. Most or nearly all alphabetic scripts used throughout the world today ultimately go back to this Semitic proto-alpha ...

which consisted only of

consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

to their rich oral tradition by using some of its letters to represent

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

sounds. Innis writes that the vowels in each written word "permitted the expression of fine distinctions and light shades of meaning."Innis (Empire), p.81. The classics professor,

Eric Havelock Eric Alfred Havelock (; 3 June 1903 – 4 April 1988) was a British classicist who spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the University of Toronto and was active in the Canadian socialist movement du ...

, whose work influenced Innis, makes a similar point when he argues that this alphabet enabled the Greeks to record their oral literary tradition with a "wealth of detail and depth of psychological feeling" absent in other Near Eastern civilizations with more limited writing systems. Innis himself quotes scholar Richard Jebb's claim that the Greek language "'responds with happy elasticity to every demand of the Greek intellect...the earliest work of art created by the spontaneous working of the Greek mind.'"

Poetry, politics and the oral tradition

"The power of the oral tradition," Innis writes, "implied the creation of a structure suited to its needs." That structure consisted of the metres and stock phrases of

epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

which included the Homeric poems, the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'' and ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

''. The epics were sung by professional minstrels who pleased audiences by reshaping the poems to meet the needs of new generations. Innis points out that music was central to the oral tradition and the lyre accompanied the performance of the epic poems.Innis (Empire), p.84. He argues that the Homeric poems reflected two significant developments. The first was the rise of an aristocratic civilization which valued justice and right action over the traditional ties of kinship. The second was the humanization of the Greek gods whose limited powers encouraged belief in rational explanations for the order of things. "Decline of belief in the supernatural led to the explanation of nature in terms of natural causes," Innis writes. "With the independent search for truth, science was separated from myth."Innis (Empire), p.85. Head of Sappho Smyrna Istanbul Museum Hellenistic period

Head of Sappho Smyrna Istanbul Museum Hellenistic period

Gradually, the flexible oral tradition gave rise to other kinds of poetry. Innis notes that these new kinds of literature "reflected the efficiency of the oral tradition in expressing the needs of social change."

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

wrote about agricultural themes, becoming the first spokesman for common people. Innis writes that his poems were produced "by an individual who made no attempt to conceal his personality." In the 7th century BC,

Archilochos Archilochus (; grc-gre, Ἀρχίλοχος ''Arkhilokhos''; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the ea ...

took poetry a step further when he contributed to breaking down the heroic code of epic poetry. Innis suggests he responded to a rising public opinion while historian

J.B. Bury John Bagnell Bury (; 16 October 1861 – 1 June 1927) was an Anglo-Irish historian, classical scholar, Medieval Roman historian and philologist. He objected to the label "Byzantinist" explicitly in the preface to the 1889 edition of his ''Lat ...

describes him as venting his feelings freely and denouncing his enemies. Innis argues that these changes in poetic style and form coincided with the replacement of Greek kingdoms by republics in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Finally, he mentions the development of shorter,

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

that could be intensely personal as shown in the work of Sappho. This profusion of short personal lyrics likely coincided with the spread of writing and the increasing use of papyrus from Egypt.

Greek science and philosophy

Innis credits the oral tradition with fostering the rise of Greek science and philosophy. He argues that when combined with the simplicity of the alphabet, the oral tradition prevented the development of a highly specialized class of scribes and a priestly monopoly over education. Moreover, unlike the Hebrews, the Greeks did not develop written religious texts. "The Greeks had no Bible with a sacred literature attempting to give reasons and coherence to the scheme of things, making dogmatic assertions and strangling science in infancy." Innis contends that the flexibility of the oral tradition encouraged the introduction of a new medium, mathematics.

Thales of Miletus Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded ...

may have discovered

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies ...

. He also studied

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

, using mathematics as "a means of discarding allegory and myth and advancing universal generalizations." Thus, mathematics gave rise to philosophical speculation. The map maker, Anaximander also sought universal truths becoming "the first to write down his thoughts in prose and to publish them, thus definitely addressing the public and giving up the privacy of his thought."Innis (Empire), p.87. According to Innis, this use of prose "reflected a revolutionary break, an appeal to rational authority and the influence of the logic of writing."

Chapter 5. Rome and the written tradition

In this chapter, Harold Innis focuses on the gradual displacement of oral communication by written media during the long history of the Roman Empire. The spread of writing hastened the downfall of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, he argues, facilitating the emergence of a

stretching from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. To administer such a vast empire, the Romans were forced to establish centralized

bureaucracies The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

.Innis (Empire), p.122. These bureaucracies depended on supplies of cheap

from the Nile Delta for the long-distance transmission of written rules, orders and procedures. The bureaucratic Roman state backed by the influence of writing, in turn, fostered absolutism, the form of government in which power is vested in a single ruler. Innis adds that Roman bureaucracy destroyed the balance between oral and written law giving rise to fixed, written decrees. The torture of Roman citizens and the imposition of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for relatively minor crimes became common as living law "was replaced by the dead letter." Finally, Innis discusses the rise of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, a religion which spread through the use of

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

inscribed on

.Innis (Empire), pp. 130–131. He writes that the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

in the east eventually flourished because of a balance in media biases. Papyrus enabled the governing of a large spatial empire, while parchment contributed to the development of a religious hierarchy concerned with time.Innis (Empire), p.137.

Rome and Greece

"The achievements of a rich oral tradition in Greek civilization," Innis writes, "became the basis of Western culture."Innis (Empire), p.106. He asserts that Greek culture had the power "to awaken the special forces of each people by whom it was adopted" and the Romans were no exception. According to Innis, it appears Greek colonies in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and Italy along with Greek traders introduced the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as w ...

to Rome in the 7th century BC. The alphabet was developed into a Graeco-Etruscan script when Rome was governed by an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. The Etruscans also introduced Greek gods in the 6th century BC apparently to reinforce their own rule. Rome became isolated from Greece in the 5th and 4th centuries BC and overthrew the monarchy. A

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

aristocracy took control, but after prolonged class warfare, gradually shared power with the

plebeians In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

. Innis suggests that

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Ju ...

flourished at this time because of its oral tradition. A priestly class, "equipped with trained memories," made and administered the laws, their power strengthened because there was no body of written law.Innis (Empire), p.107. Although plebeian pressure eventually resulted in the adoption of the

Twelve Tables The Laws of the Twelve Tables was the legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. Formally promulgated in 449 BC, the Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.Crawford, M.H. 'Twelve Tables' in Simon Hornblowe ...

—a written constitution—interpretation remained in the hands of priests in the

College of Pontiffs The College of Pontiffs ( la, Collegium Pontificum; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the '' pontifex maximus'' and the other '' ...

. One of Roman law's greatest achievements, Innis writes, lay in the development of civil laws governing families, property and contracts. Paternal rights were limited, women became independent and individual initiative was given the greatest possible scope. Innis seems to suggest that political stability coupled with strong oral traditions in law and religion contributed to the unity of the Roman Republic. He warns however, that the growing influence of written laws, treaties and decrees in contrast to the oral tradition of civil law "boded ill for the history of the republic and the empire." Innis quickly sketches the Roman conquest of Italy and its three wars with the North African city of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

. The Punic Wars ended with the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. At the same time, Rome pursued military expansion in the eastern Mediterranean eventually conquering Macedonia and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

as well as extending Roman rule to

Pergamum Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

in modern-day

Rome and the problems of Greek empire

Innis interrupts his account of Roman military expansion to discuss earlier problems that had arisen from the Greek conquests undertaken by

Philip of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the a ...

and his son,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. Philip and Alexander had established a

Macedonian Empire Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...

which controlled the Persian Empire as well as territory as far east as India. Innis suggests Rome would inherit the problems that faced Philip and Alexander including strong separatist tendencies. After Alexander's death, four separate Hellenistic dynasties arose. The

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the M ...

controlled the former Persian Empire; the Ptolemies ruled in

; the

Attalids The Kingdom of Pergamon or Attalid kingdom was a Greek state during the Hellenistic period that ruled much of the Western part of Asia Minor from its capital city of Pergamon. It was ruled by the Attalid dynasty (; grc-x-koine, Δυναστ ...

and the Antigonids in Macedonia.

Seleucid dynasty

The Seleucid rulers attempted to dominate

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Babylonian and Hebrew religions but failed to establish the concept of the Greek city-state. Their kingdom eventually collapsed. Innis concludes that monarchies that lack the binding powers of nationality and religion and that depend on force were inherently insecure, unable to resolve dynastic problems.

Ptolemaic dynasty

Innis discusses various aspects of Ptolemaic rule over Egypt including the founding of the ancient

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and university at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

made possible by access to abundant supplies of papyrus. "By 285 BC the library established by Ptolemy I had 20,000 manuscripts," Innis writes, "and by the middle of the first century 700,000, while a smaller library established by Ptolemy II...possibly for duplicates had 42,800." He points out that the power of the written tradition in library and university gave rise to specialists, not poets and scholars — drudges who corrected proofs and those who indulged in the mania of book collecting. "Literature was divorced from life, thought from action, poetry from philosophy."Innis (Empire), p.113. Innis quotes the epic poet Apollonius's claim that "a great book was a great evil." Cheap papyrus also facilitated the rise of an extensive administrative system eventually rife with nepotism and other forms of bureaucratic corruption. "An Egyptian theocratic state," Innis notes, "compelled its conquerors to establish similar institutions designed to reduce its power."

Attalid dynasty

Innis contrasts the scholarly pursuits of the Attalid dynasty at Pergamum with what he sees as the dilettantism of Alexandria. He writes that

Eumenes II Eumenes II Soter (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης Σωτήρ; ruled 197–159 BC) was a ruler of Pergamon, and a son of Attalus I Soter and queen Apollonis and a member of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon. Biography The eldest son of king Attalus ...

who ruled from 197 to 159 BC established a library, but was forced to rely on

because Egypt had prohibited the export of papyrus to Pergamum. Innis suggests that the Attalids probably preserved the masterpieces of ancient Greek prose. He notes that Pergamum had shielded a number of cities from attacks by the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

. "Its art reflected the influence of the meeting of civilization and barbarism, a conflict of good and evil, in the attempt at unfamiliar ways of expression."Innis (Empire), p.115.

Antigonid dynasty

Innis writes that the Antigonids "gradually transformed the small city-states of Greece into municipalities." They captured

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

in 261 BC and

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

in 222 BC. The Greek cities of this period developed common interests. "With supplies of papyrus and parchment and the employment of educated slaves," Innis writes, "books were produced on an unprecedented scale. Hellenistic capitals provided a large reading public."Innis (Empire), p.116. Most of the books, however, were "third-hand compendia of snippets and textbooks, short cuts to knowledge, quantities of tragedies, and an active

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...

in Athens. Literary men wrote books about other books and became bibliophiles." Innis reports that by the 2nd century "everything had been swamped by the growth of rhetoric." He argues that once classical

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empi ...

"became crystallized in writing," it was superseded by an emphasis on philosophical teaching. He mentions Stoicism, the Cynics and

Epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by Ep ...

teachings all of which emphasized the priority of reason over popular religion. "The Olympian religion and the city-state were replaced by philosophy and science for the educated and by

Eastern religion The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese ...

s for the common man."Innis (Empire), p.117. As communication between these two groups became increasingly difficult, cultural division stimulated the rise of a class structure. Innis concludes that the increasing emphasis on writing also created divisions among Athens, Alexandria and Pergamum weakening science and philosophy and opening "the way to religions from the East and force from Rome in the West."

Greek influence and Roman prose

Innis returns to his account of Roman history by noting that Rome's military successes in the eastern Mediterranean brought it under the direct influence of Greek culture. He quotes the Roman poet Horace: "Captive Greece took captive her proud conqueror." Innis gives various examples of Greek influence in Rome. They include the introduction of Greek tragedies and comedies at Roman festivals to satisfy the demands of soldiers who had served in Greek settlements as well as the translation of the ''

'' into Latin. Innis mentions there was strong opposition to this spread of Greek culture. He reports for example, that

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write his ...

deplored what he saw as the corrupting effects of Greek literature. Cato responded by laying the foundations for a dignified and versatile Latin prose.Innis (Empire), p.118. In the meantime, the Roman Senate empowered officials to expel those who taught rhetoric and philosophy and in 154 BC, two disciples of Epicurus were banished from Rome. Nevertheless, Innis points out that Greek influence continued as "Greek teachers and grammarians enhanced the popularity of Hellenistic ideals in literature." Meantime, Innis asserts, Roman prose "gained fresh power in attempts to meet problems of the Republic." He is apparently referring to the vast enrichment of the Roman aristocracy and upper middle class as wealth poured in from newly conquered provinces. "The plunder from the provinces provided the funds for that orgy of corrupt and selfish wealth which was to consume the Republic in revolution," writes Will Durant in his series of volumes called ''The Story of Civilization''. Innis mentions that the large-scale farms owned by aristocrats brought protests presumably from small farmers forced off the land and into the cities as part of a growing urban proletariat. The Gracchi brothers were among the first, Innis writes, "to use the weapon of Greek rhetoric" in their failed attempts to secure democratic reforms. Gaius Gracchus made Latin prose more vivid and powerful. Innis adds that political speeches such as his "were given wider publicity through an enlarged circle of readers." As political oratory shaped Latin prose style, written speech almost equaled the power of oral speech.

Writing, empire and religion

Rome's dominance of Egypt, Innis writes, gave it access to papyrus which supported a chain of interrelated developments that would eventually lead to the Decline of the Roman Empire, decline and fall of Rome. Papyrus facilitated the spread of writing which in turn, permitted the growth of bureaucratic administration needed to govern territories that would eventually stretch from Britain to Mesopotamia. "The spread of writing contributed to the downfall of the Republic and the emergence of the empire," Innis writes. Roman Colosseum With Moon

Centralized administrative bureaucracy helped create the conditions for the emergence of absolute rulers such as the Caesar (title), Caesars which, in turn, led to Imperial cult (ancient Rome), emperor worship. According to Innis, the increased power of writing touched every aspect of Roman culture including law which became rigidly codified and increasingly reliant on such harsh measures as torture and

even for relatively trivial crimes. "The written tradition dependent on papyrus and the roll supported an emphasis on centralized bureaucratic administration," Innis writes. "Rome became dependent on the army, territorial expansion, and law at the expense of trade and an international economy." Innis notes that Rome attempted to increase its imperial prestige by founding libraries. And, with the discovery of cement about 180 BC, the Romans constructed magnificent buildings featuring arch, vault and dome. "Vaulted architecture became an expression of equilibrium, stability, and permanence, monuments which persisted through centuries of neglect." Innis argues that the gradual rise of

from its origins as a Jewish sect among lower social strata on the margins of empire was propelled by the development of the parchment codex, a much more convenient medium than cumbersome papyrus rolls. "The oral tradition of Christianity was crystallized in books which became sacred," Innis writes.Innis (Empire), p.132. He adds that after breaking away from Judaism, Christianity was forced to reach out to other religions, its position strengthened further by scholars who attempted to synthesize Jewish religion and Greek philosophy in the organization of the Church. Constantine the Great, Constantine ended official persecution of Christianity and moved the imperial capital to Constantinople eventually creating a religious split between the declining Western Roman Empire and believers in the East. "As the power of empire was weakened in the West that of the Holy See, Church of Rome increased and difficulties with heresies in the East became more acute." Innis contends the Eastern or

survived after the fall of Rome because it struck a balance between time and space-biased media. "The Byzantine empire developed on the basis of a compromise between organization reflecting the bias of different media: that of papyrus in the development of an imperial bureaucracy in relation to a vast area and that of parchment in the development of an ecclesiastical hierarchy in relation to time."

Chapter 6. Middle Ages: Parchment and paper

In Chapter 6, Innis tries to show how the medium of parchment supported the power of churches, clergy and monastery, monasteries in medieval Europe after the breakdown of the Roman empire. Rome's centralized administration had depended on papyrus, a fragile medium produced in the Nile Delta. Innis notes that parchment, on the other hand, is a durable medium that can be produced wherever farm animals are raised. He argues, therefore, that parchment is suited to the decentralized administration of a wide network of local religious institutions. However, the arrival of

via China and the Arab world, challenged the power of religion and its preoccupation with time. "A monopoly of knowledge based on parchment," Innis writes, "invited competition from a new medium such as paper which emphasized the significance of space as reflected in the growth of nationalist monarchy, monarchies." He notes that paper also facilitated the growth of commerce and trade in the 13th century.

Monasteries and books

Innis writes that Christian monasticism, monasticism originated in Egypt and spread rapidly partly in protest against Caesaropapism or the worldly domination of the early Christian church by emperors. He credits Benedict of Nursia, St. Benedict with adapting monasticism to the needs of the Western church. The Rule of St. Benedict required monks to engage in spiritual reading. Copying books and storing them in monastery libraries soon became sacred duties.Innis (Empire), p.140. Innis notes that copying texts on parchment required strength and effort:

Working six hours a day the scribe produced from two to four pages and required from ten months to a year and a quarter to copy a Bible. The size of the scriptures absorbed the energies of monasteries. Libraries were slowly built up and uniform rules in the care of books were generally adopted in the 13th century. Demands for space led to the standing of books upright on the shelves in the 14th and 15th centuries and to the rush of library construction in the 15th century.

Innis points out that Western monasteries preserved and transmitted the classics of the ancient world.

Islam, images, and Christianity

Innis writes that Islam (which he sometimes refers to as Mohammedanism) gathered strength by emphasizing the sacredness of the written word. He notes that the Caliph Yazid II, Iezid II ordered the destruction of pictures in Christian churches within the Umayyad Empire.Innis (Empire), p.142. The banning of icons within churches was also sanctioned by Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian#Iconoclasm, Leo III in 730 while Emperor Constantine V#Iconoclasm, Constantine V issued a decree in 753–754 condemning image worship. Innis writes that this proscription of images was designed to strengthen the empire partly by curbing the power of monks, who relied on images to sanction their authority. Monasteries, he notes, had amassed large properties through their exemption from taxation and competed with the state for labour. Byzantine emperors reacted by secularizing large monastic properties, restricting the number of monks, and causing persecution, which drove large numbers of them to Italy. The Western church, on the other hand, saw images as useful especially for reaching the illiterate. Innis adds that by 731, iconoclasts were excluded from the Church and Charles Martel's defeat of the Arabs in 732 ended Muslim expansion in western Europe. The Synod of Gentilly (767), the Lateran Council (769), and the Second Council of Nicea (787), sanctioned the use of images although Charlemagne prohibited image veneration or worship.

Chapter 7. Mass media, from print to radio

In his final chapter, Harold Innis traces the rise of mass media beginning with the printing press in 15th century Europe and ending with mass circulation newspapers, magazines, books, movies and radio in the 19th and 20th centuries. He argues that such media gradually undermined the authority of religion and enabled the rise of science, facilitating Reformation, Renaissance and Revolution, political, industrial and commercial. For Innis, space-biased and mechanized mass media helped create modern empires, European and American, bent on territorial expansion and obsessed with present-mindedness. "Mass production and standardization are the enemies of the West," he warned. "The limitations of mechanization of the printed and the spoken word must be emphasized and determined efforts to recapture the vitality of the oral tradition must be made."

Bibles and the print revolution

Innis notes that the expense of producing hand-copied, manuscript Bibles on parchment invited lower-cost competition, especially in countries where the copyists' guild did not hold a strong monopoly. "In 1470 it was estimated in Paris that a printed Bible cost about one-fifth that of a manuscript Bible," Innis writes. He adds that the sheer size of the scriptures hastened the introduction of printing and that the flexibility of setting the limited number of alphabetic letters in type permitted small-scale, privately-owned printing enterprises. "By the end of the fifteenth century presses had been established in the larger centres of Europe," Innis writes. This led to a growing book trade as commercially minded printers reproduced various kinds of books including religious ones for the Church, medical and legal texts and translations from Latin and Greek. The Greek New Testament that Erasmus produced in 1516 became the basis for Martin Luther's German translation (1522) and William Tyndale's English version (1526). The rise in the numbers of Bibles and other books printed in native or vernacular languages contributed to the growth in the size or printing establishments and further undermined the influence of hand-copied, religious manuscripts. The printed word gained authority over the written one. Innis quotes historian William Edward Hartpole Lecky, W.E.H. Lecky: "The age of cathedrals had passed. The age of the printing press had begun." Innis notes that Luther "took full advantage of an established book trade and large numbers of the New and later the Old Testament were widely distributed at low prices." Luther's attacks on the Catholic Church including his protests against the sale of indulgences, Canon law#Catholic canon law as legal system, Canon law and the sacerdotalism, authority of the priesthood were widely distributed as pamphlets along with Luther's emphasis on St. Paul's doctrine of Martin Luther#Justification by faith alone, salvation through faith alone.Innis (Empire), p.167

Recent critical opinion

Notes

References

* Bury, J.B. (undated) ''A History of Greece: To the Death of Alexander the Great''. New York: The Modern Library. * Havelock, Eric. (1986) ''The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to the Present''. New Haven: Yale University Press. * Heyer, Paul. (2003) ''Harold Innis''. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. * O'Brien, Patrick K., general editor. (1999) ''Atlas of World History''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Roberts, J.M. (1992) ''History of the World''. Oxford: Helicon Publishing Ltd. * Watson, Alexander, John. (2006) ''Marginal Man: The Dark Vision of Harold Innis''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Bibliography

* Innis, Harold. (2007) ''Empire and Communications''. Toronto: Dundurn Press. * Innis Harold. (1951) ''The Bias of Communication''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * Innis, Harold. (1970) ''The Fur Trade in Canada''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Empire And Communications 1950 non-fiction books Books about media theory Books about the media Canadian non-fiction books Harold Innis History books about printing Works about the information economy Works about the theory of history