Andrew M. Riggsby is a historian of the Roman world. Educated at Harvard and Berkeley, he is now Lucy Shoe Meritt Professor in Classics at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and was the Stanley Kelley Jr. Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching in Classics at Princeton University.

• A Brief Orientation


• 1. Lists


• Ordered Lists


• Indexed Lists


• Tables of Contents


• Nested Lists


• 2. Tables


• Actual Tables


• Not Tables


• Outliers


• Conclusions


• 3. Weights and Measures


• How Does Roman Measurement Work?


• Standards and Standardization


• Direct Standardization


• Indirect Standardization


• Complications


• Conclusions


• 4. Representing Three Dimensions


• Perspective and the Theory of Space


• The Corpora


• Space in the Landscapes


• Two Comprehensive Examples


• Conclusions


• 5. Representing Two Dimensions


• Data Graphics


• Textual Illustrations


• Plans


• What is a "Map"?


• Maps


• Maps as Information Technology


• 6. Conclusion


• Where Are We Now?


• Going Forward I: Power and Other Topics


• Going Forward II: An IT Revolution in Late Antiquity?


• Bibliography

In the Roman world, technologies were limited to small, scattered social groups, whereas today's information technology often seems to take on a life of its own, spreading into every part of our lives. Mosaics of Knowledge combines detailed readings of a wide variety of evidence such as inscriptions and artworks, with theoretical consideration of the social, cognitive, and material contexts for their use to present a unique portrait of Roman IT capabilities, limitations, and habits.