Imperial Greece was a culture of the written word. Texts were produced and circulated in impressive numbers., in the form of papyrus scrolls and the new technology of the codex book; some were then annotated, illustrated, commented on, or translated. Cities were stuffed with stone inscriptions recording decrees, awards, honours, donations, and commemorations. The imperial bureaucracy was in large part a machinery for the circulation of writing, in the form of edicts, rescripts, and letters. Even the very bodies of slaves were often tattooed. In an increasingly literate world, even those incapable of reading must have sensed the power and burden of the written words that hovered wherever they turned.