This brings to mind one of the failures, from the modern point of view, of the recording of the
history of the
Roman empire.
And one of the key differences in the modern (a fairly large span of time) and the ancient point of view. Literacy in the really modern sense was lacking among the common classes. Yes, they cold identify coin values, and could read which building meant what ("a brothel? I was seeking the
baths of this small
provincial town").
What we get from
roman history is the
history of a very small percentage of the population.
It would be similar to scholars in the far future trying to reconstruct ancient 21st century America from press realeases of the entertainment industry and government press conferences. Both would likely end:
"and then there were the common folk. According to the writings and "videos" of "Entertianment Tonight", an ancient chronicle of both common and famous people, the common people of the 21st century lived in what they called "apartments" or "suburbs" and frequented the houses of "movies' for entertainment. Some of course lived in the "provinces" known in ancient times as "states" and some lived rurally with nothing but their agricultural or factory jobs and
had little learing or amusment available.
They mostly
had boring, hard jobs, and looked to the "politicans" and "entertainers" for amusement when they were not working long days.
Coin production was seen to by the government. Commoners were employed.
"What's that? A description of how coins were made by commoners? In the name of the allmighty, why? How boring that would be. Coins just .......are. It is enough"