Phonographs and Potsherds

A reference in Daniel Faltesek’s contribution to Dougherty and Nawrotzki’s Writing History in the Digital Age caught my interest. Faltesek discusses the rise of non-linear editing particularly in film, but he refersto an article by Thomas Edison from 1878 which celebrated the potential of the phonograph for both recording and playing back sounds.

In this article, Edison imagines the phonograph function:

“For the purpose of preserving the sayings, the voices, and the last words of the dying member of the family – as of great men – the phonograph will unquestionably outrank the photograph. In the field of multiplication of original matrices, and the indefinite repetition of one and the same thing, the successful electrotyping of the original record is an essential.” (pp. 533-534).

This passage immediately reminded me of the end of St. Theodoros of Kythera’s life. According to his Vitae, Theodoros’ recorded on a pot sherd the following phrase: “I, Theodore, humble deacon, laid down in sickness on April 7th, and I died on the 12th of May, on the day of the Holy Epiphany.”

In a short article on this life, I argue that by knowing the time of his death and inscribing a potsherd to this effect, Os. Theodoros demonstrates his sanctity. The modest, inscribed sherd demonstrates that Theodoros knew his future and had attained access to timeless knowledge of God. The use of a potsherd to inscribe his revelation takes an archaeological twist by the embedding a revelation that warps time on an object that is both modest and likely to endure.

Edison’s phonograph, likewise, sought to disrupt the predictable flow of time by making the last words of individuals remain alive after death. The immediacy of the spoken word and enduring the materiality of phonograph gave it a particular power as medium for last words. Like St. Theodore’s potsherd, the phonograph record became a way to warp time.