Communication in Europe and its Influence - Orality And Literacy In Greece, Plato's Critique, Rome, The Middle Ages, Monastic Expansion

By the first millennium B.C.E., major world civilizations were flourishing in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China. Each had developed a distinct form of writing, along with urban centers for administration and record keeping. In contrast, Europe was largely a series of diverse nonliterate village farming communities steeped in the conventions of primary oral communication. The eventual emergence of a literate tradition in Europe took place in Greece—at its cusp, one of the most celebrated works in the history of Western civilization.