Mosaics of Knowledge

Reviews / Votes

With Mosaics of Knowledge, Andrew Riggsby has produced a very ambitious and thought-provoking book * Jason C Morris, Independent Scholar, Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science * Riggsby, professor in classics and of art history at the University of Texas, Austin, conducts a very scholarly guided tour of how the Romans represented information (via concepts such as lists, tables, weights and measures, landscapes, and more) - often for very limited, rather than universal, uses. The best kind of academic work, rendering the commonplace unfamiliar. The landscape examples dazzle. * Harvard Magazine * Throughout this tome [Riggsby] is meticulous in discussing the views of other scholars and in providing evidence for his own theories. It is a work of specialised scholarship, rather than aimed at the general reader. * Marion Gibbs, Classics for All * REVIEW: Jason Koenig, University of St. Andrews, 01/03/2019. Quote loaded: 14/03/2019 REVIEW: Michael Koortbojian, Princeton University, 01/03/2019. Quote loaded: 14/03/2019 REVIEW: Richard J. A. Talbert, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 01/03/2019. Quote loaded: 14/03/2019 With Mosaics of Knowledge, Andrew Riggsby has produced a very ambitious and thought-provoking book. Like Daryn Lehoux's What Did the Romans Know? [2012], Riggsby's new book reminds us that the Romans did not see science or technology as we do...Riggsby explores how the Romans understood and used several types of information technology. Here I summarize and comment on what I consider to be the key contributions of each chapter...More specifically, he focuses on Latin and visual forms of information technology used in the period before AD 300...As Riggsby points out, many forms of information technology are specialiized uses of writing, and therefore linguistically specific. With the possible exception of Roman wall-paintings, every form of technology. * Jason C. Morris, Independent Scholar, Baltimore, MD * In terms of its subject, scope and theoretical framework this is the first study of its kind, and its central questions are manifestly important... Riggsby's creative exploitation of the evidentiary value of different ways of arranging and encapsulating data- e.g. spatial representations as reflections of imperial logic applied to physical landscapes, or listing methods as indicators of the capacity for mobilizing administrative knowledge-showcases the potential of this approach to generate new insights, even from well-known sources... This is a highly promising and exciting new direction for research on the Roman empire. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Riggsby delineates an innovative and productive approach that will surely enrich the study of Roman documentary practices and mentalites. * Anna Dolganov, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *