Mnemonics in the Mouseion. Considerations on spatial mnemonics as a tool for classification and retrieval
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2014-0016 |
| Published date | 09 March 2015 |
| Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Pages | 278-293 |
| Author | Ole Olesen-Bagneux |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Mnemonics in the Mouseion
Considerations on spatial mnemonics
as a tool for classification and retrieval
Ole Olesen-Bagneux
Royal School of Library and Information Science,
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –Mnemonics was a tool in classification and information seeking processes in pre-print
libraries. The purpose of this paper is to study the role of spatial mnemonics in Hellenistic libraries,
including the one in Alexandria.
Design/methodology/approach –Since library- and information science has not explored this
subject in depth, philology, rhetoric, book-history and archeology constitute the core literature. From
this literature, the role of mnemonics in the libraries is discussed.
Findings –A new description of the practice of classification and retrieval in Hellenistic libraries,
based on spatial mnemonics.
Originality/value –This paper is a new analysis of spatial mnemonics in the Hellenistic libraries.
As will become clear, they blend easily and logically with each other.
Keywords Library history, Library in Alexandria, Library in Pergamum, Memory art,
Mnemonics, Pinakes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Generally speaking, mnemonics was a part of classification and retrieval processes in
all libraries before print. Mary Carruthers (2008) writes in The Book of Memory about
this, and with great clarity demonstrates how it worked. Figures, illuminations, notes,
numbers and the overall structure of books –and collections of books; libraries –
constituted a mental grid, that scholars after intense mnemonic practice could browse
in their memory. Carruthers (2008) focusses on memory techniques in medieval books
and libraries, but she argues several times (p. 129) that the relation between them date
back to antiquity. One of her many and convincing examples deals with the Canon
Tables of Eusebius, a concordance added to almost all medieval bibles (see Plate 1):
The tables are laid out in columns (one meaning of in pagina), the numbers listed one
after another vertically, and architectural columns are drawn to separate the four [in the
case of Plate 1; three] vertical spaces of the page, together with other architectural elements
representing a classical façade. It has been suggested that, in this context, an arcade
motif may derive from the ancient mnemonic advice to use buildings –including
intercolumnia, the spaces between columns –as backgrounds for things to be remembered
(Carruthers, 2008, p. 118).
The table in Plate 1 is a grid, showing occurrences of the same passages in the Gospels.
Relying on testimony from medieval scholars Carruthers (2008) clearly demonstrates
(p. 118) that such a layout was used to navigate using mnemonics, simply by browsing
the architecture of the concordance in memory with ease. This is just one of her many
examples that give clear evidence of this mnemonic practice.
Carruthers (2008) emphasizes that mnemonics linked to books and collections of
books emerged in antiquity. On this topic, Christian Jacob (2013) provides excellent
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 71 No. 2, 2015
pp. 278-293
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-01-2014-0016
Received 30 January 2014
Revised 30 January 2014
Accepted 7 March 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
278
JDOC
71,2
insight in his recently published The Web of Athenaeus. Decoding the enormous and
complex structure of the Deipnosophistae by Athenaeus (second century AD) with great
originality, he describes the correspondence and interrelatedness of the literature
stored both in the scholars memory and in physical libraries. Jacob (2013, p. 57) argues
that even though his object of study is a gathering of scholars over food and wine in
second century AD Rome, such practices emerged already in Hellenistic Alexandria
(Jacob, 2010). It is these considerations that are continued in the present paper.
A central testimony on this subject is Vitruvius’treaty on architecture (Jacob, 2010).
Vitruvius explains how the memory of Aristophanes of Byzantium (ca. 260-185 BC)isa
sort of mental construct that matches the library in Hellenistic Alexandria (Jacob, 2010,
p. 11). But how, and indeed to what extent, mnemonics played a role in classification
and retrieval in the Hellenistic libraries, is a matter that remains open for discussion.
This paper engages in that discussion.
Mnemonics enabled scholars to store and organize substantial amounts of
knowledge in their memory. When needed, this knowledge could be recollected.
Note: The intercolumnar structure, as it will play a central
part in the following
Plate 1.
This figure shows
a table with
concordances in
three of the four
Gospels, from
the monastery of
St. Martin in tours
279
Mnemonics in
the Mouseion
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