Assistant Professor of History Sarah Malena Published in Scribes and Scribalism

Sarah Malena, assistant professor of history, has been published in the volume Scribes and Scribalism (T&T Clark, 2020). Malena’s contribution, “Influential Inscriptions: Resituating Scribal Activity During the Iron I-IIA Transition,” examines the significance of inscriptions in a time of extremely limited literacy and great social and political turmoil in the ancient Levant. Malena argues that an emerging class of elites employed scribes in order to distinguish themselves from the general populace and assert themselves as rightful leaders over small, newly defined territories. Despite the absence of bureaucratic states, the elites looked the part of leadership by associating themselves with recognizable symbols of political power.