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Literacy was much lower, and writing much more expensive. People didn't communicate through writing unless it was really necessary, and were generally much more
by brazzy 1y ago
Literacy was much lower, and writing much more expensive. People didn't communicate through writing unless it was really necessary, and were generally much more selective about what to write down.
So of this was a tradition among craftsman, taught and shown off in person, nobody would have seen a need to write about it.
Whereas tax records were how the state ensured it got its money and citizens proved they had already paid - everyone wanted that written down.
- wl 1y agoTax records don't get copied over and over again by generations of scribes.
- brazzy 1y agoTrue, but the sheer amount that was produced means that some, through fortunate circumstances, have been preserved to the present day: https://www.richardcarrier.info/papyrus/ https://www.richardcarrier.info/papyrus/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/44968442 https://www.jstor.org/stable/44968442