What Type of Writing Was in Mesopotamia
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ScribdTranslationsWhat Type of Writing Was in Mesopotamia
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsWhat Type of Writing was there
in Mesopotamia?
The Mesopotamian type of writing is known as cuneiform writing. It was
created during the Neolithic revolution (4,000-1,8000 BC), an era in which
the economy would have been managed by the leaders of the religious
temples.
This way of writing was born given the growing need to keep economic
transactions recorded for correct accounting and distribution.
Origin of cuneiform writing used in Mesopotamia
The origin of cuneiform writing dates back to the creation of the first city
known in the history of the world as Uruk, in the region of Sumeria.
This city had a defined political and social system, led by a priestly king.
The Sumerians were the first to write non-abstract concepts on tablets.
However, cuneiform writing was later copied by other languages.
One of the earliest writing samples presents a list of 120 officials who were
part of the city's political structure. It is believed that the development of
this city is due to the birth of cuneiform writing.
Cuneiform writing was done on tablets. These were made of clay, since it
was an economical and abundant resource in the region. After their
manufacture, the tablets were moistened to draw the pictograms with
canes or sharp wedge-shaped sticks.
Initially, the symbols were drawn in the direction from top to bottom and
from right to left.
The layout was eventually directed from left to right to avoid clay stains on
the tablet.
The tablets were then baked under sunlight, which is why the tablets were
generally brittle.
Evolution of cuneiform writing
The word cuneiform comes from the Latin “wedge”, given thanks to the
shape of the pipe that pressed the clay to draw a symbol.
The first tablets, called proto-cuneiform, were composed of pictograms.
These pictograms were concrete concepts using symbols that represented a
simple idea.
These early tablets only conveyed objects, such as a bull or a tiger, and are
not considered a writing system.
Little by little, pictograms evolved to describe intangible information. This
refinement of language is known as the Rebus principle, where symbols
were transformed into phonograms, or characters that expressed ideas
through vowels and syllables. Now, cuneiform writing was functionally
phonetic and semantic.
Cuneiform writing evolved into a
mixture of phonetic and semantic
characters
This means that cuneiform writing not only represented simple objects, but
also conveyed the meaning given by the scribe.
The reader could understand precise reasons and emotions through writing,
such as, for example, a running tiger or a saddened human being. This
advance in cuneiform writing simplified 600 characters into 400.
Cuneiform writing played a vital role in the history of Mesopotamia. Scribes
of the time were able to write names, words and write stories and even the
king's laws.
Thanks to cuneiform writing, the first literary representations and legal
systems were also born, known as The Poem of Gilgamesh and the
Hammurabi Code, respectively.
Cuneiform writing constitutes the principle of writing that gave rise to the
economic and communication development of the world.
References
Spar, Ira. (2004). The Origins of Writing. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art
History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Chuchiak, John. 2006. Cuneiform Writing. Michigan Technological
University.
Mark, Joshua J. 2011. Cuneiform. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Kriwaczek, P. (2012). Babylon: Mesopotamia and the birth of civilization.
New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press.
National Environment for the Humanities. 2017. The Cuneiform Writing
System in Ancient Mesopotamia: Emergence and Evolution.
