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Paper short abstract:

This proposal aims to give an overview of the few mythical accounts assigning the invention of writing to gods in ancient Greek traditions in order to explain why, if compared to the more famous figure of heroes, these characters are so rarely credited with inventing this cultural object.

Paper long abstract:

The technology of writing has been widely discussed by poets, writers and intellectuals of ancient Greek world since the 6th century BC. In this regard, analysing all the mythical accounts concerning this subject, it is possible to notice that the attention has often been drawn to the topical moment of its invention to illuminate origin, functions and peculiarities of this tool.

Despite what could be expected if considering the tales hailing from other contexts – as for examples the ones from Mediterranean and Near East cultures –, gods in ancient Greek world seem less «bon à penser» the invention of writing than other mythical characters: in Greek mythology this process is ascribed to cultural heroes (Palamedes, Prometheus), figures showing an explicit ethnic characterization (Kadmos, Phoinix), historical characters (Simonides, Epicharmos), entire populations (Phoenicians, Egyptians, Chaldeans), but very rarely to divine beings. Hermes is one of the most important among these since its involvement in this mythical act is enough attested – taking into account his Latin (Mercurius) and Egyptian (Thoth) equivalents too. Besides Zeus herald, we find just a few notes indicating Athena or the Muses as inventors of this medium, but it’s relevant that all the sources concerning gods involved in this process barely reach a quarter of the ones related just to Palamedes.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the striking absence of divine beings in these accounts and it aims, through and exhaustive analysis of these traditions and their narrative patterns, at comparing Greek tales with their equivalents hailing from Mediterranean and Near East cultures and at understanding in this way the reasons behind this “silence”: whether it is caused by a lack of sources or by an assumed disinterest in the ancient Greek gods as narrative tool to elucidate the invention of writing.