Download History- evolution of writing

HISTORY- EVOLUTION OF
WRITING
Name- ALEFIYAH LAKDAWALA
Section- H
INTRODUCTION
“So the two civilizations separately responsible for this totally transforming human
development are the Egyptian and the Sumerian (in what is now Iraq). It has been
conventional to give priority, by a short margin, to Sumer – dating the Sumerian
script to about 3100 BC and the Egyptian version a century or so later.”
Read more:
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab33#ixzz4I345Mjyo
SO THEY BEGAN DRAWING PICTURES FOR COMMUNICATION (PICTOGRAPHS)
WHICH SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY EVOLVED TO WHAT WE WRITE TODAY.
HOW DID IT EVEOLVE? LETS SEE…
1. BLAU MONUMENTS
• DATED-3300-3000 BC.
PTO
“
THE TWO STONE TABLETS SEEM TO FORM A PAIR, THOUGH IT IS NOT FULLY
UNDERSTOOD WHAT THEY WERE USED FOR, AND WHAT THEY MEAN.
HOWEVER, IT IS WIDELY ACCEPTED THAT THEY RECORD A TRANSACTION IN
WHICH LAND WAS EXCHANGED FOR VARIOUS GOODS, WITH THE CARVED
FIGURES REPRESENTING THE INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED. THEY THUS
REPRESENT AN EARLY FORM OF MESOPOTAMIAN KUDURRU OR BOUNDARY
STONE. THE PICTOGRAPHS ON THE LONG POINTED TABLET APPEAR TO
RECORD THE SIZE OF A FIELD, WHILE THE HALF-MOON-SHAPED TABLET LISTS
WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PURCHASE PRICE AND/OR ADDITIONAL
PAYMENTS.THE TABLETS, MADE OF A SLATEY SCHIST, WERE ONCE THOUGHT
TO BE FAKES. HOWEVER, CLAY TABLETS FOUND IN LATER EXCAVATIONS AT
THE SITE OF URUK, IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA, HAD SIMILAR ARCHAIC
SCRIPT. OTHER IMAGES OF THE CARVED FIGURES HELPED TO SHOW THAT THE
BLAU MONUMENTS WERE AUTHENTIC. THE MONUMENTS ARE NAMED AFTER A
PREVIOUS OWNER, DR A. BLAU.
”
http://culturalinstitute.britishmuseum.org/asset-viewer/the-blau-monuments/BgE1PvKQEbetYg?hl=en
The Monuments were purchased by A. Blau in 1886 near the city
of Uruk (modern-day Iraq). Uruk was the capital of Sumeria then…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blau_Monuments
SO WAS URUK WHERE IT ALL STARTED?
“Cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia began as a system of pictographs written with styli on clay
tablets. The earliest cuneiform tablets. written in proto-cuneiform, were discovered in excavations of
periods IV-III of the Eanna (Eana) district of Uruk (Warka) an ancient city of Sumer and later
Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, some 30 km east of modern AsSamawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq. Between 1928 and 1976 approximately 5000 proto-cuneiform tablets
were excavated at Uruk by the German Archaeological Institute.
"But these are not the only witnesses to the archaic script. Proto-cuneiform texts corresponding to the
Uruk III [circa 3100 BCE] tablets have been found in the northern Babylonian sites of Jemdet Nasr
, Khafajah , and Tell Uquair , testifying to the fact that the new technology spread quickly throughout
Babylonia soon after its invention (in ancient Iran proto-cuneiform possibly inspired the proto-Elamite
script ca. 3100 BC.)
"Indeed that the vast majority of the earliest texts [discovered at Uruk and elsewhere in Mesopotamia]
are administrative in nature suggests that the invention of writing was a response to practical social
pressures—simply put, writing facilitated complex bureaucracy.
Link- http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=1581
URUK, BEING THE CAPITAL OF SUMERIA MUST HAVE BEEN
WHERE THE PICTOGRAPHS DEVELOPED FOR
ADMINISTRATION PURPOSES AND THEN IT WAS ADAPTED
EVERYWHERE DUE TO CULTURAL EXPANSION …
BUT THEN, HOW DID THE PICTOGRAPHS
SPREAD OUTSIDE SUMERIA…
2. THE AL-GEZEB KNIFE
• DATED- 3000 BC
• “This knife, with the Gilgamesh figure carved on one side,
was found in the Pre-Dynastic cemetery at Abydos, Egypt.
The perfectly knapped flint blade highlights the high skill
levels attained towards the end of the Neolithic period.
These earliest potential reference to Sumerian and
Egyptian communication is the record of a mass
immigration of people called the 'Shepherd Folk'
into Egypt from 'The East' at around the same time as
the decline of the Sumerian empire and the simultaneous
rise of the Egyptian Dynasties. (c. 3,000 B.C.)”
• http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/sumeria.htm
WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED…
• Due to change of power in Sumeria, the people may have migrated to Egypt and other places. They must
have taken with them the concept of pictographs.
• Or they maybe be travelling in large groups for trading purposes. Since the dynasty was crumbling, the
economy may have been down and so they were forced to go out for employment and they carried with
them this system of communication.
SO WHILE THE PICTOGRAPHS SPREAD,
PEOPLE BACK IN MESOPOTAMIA STARTED
TO MAKE MORE CHANGES TO THIS
SYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES
THEY WERE FACING…
3. CLAY TABLETS AND CYLINDER SEALS
WHAT CHANGED AND WHY…
• EARLY CUNEIFORM
The earliest cuneiform tablets, known as proto-cuneiform, were pictorial, as the subjects
they addressed were more concrete and visible (a king, a battle, a flood) but developed in
complexity as the subject matter became more intangible (the will of the gods, the quest for
immortality). By 3000 BCE the representations were more simplified and the strokes of the
stylus conveyed word-concepts (honour) rather than word-signs (an honourable man).
This new way of interpreting signs is called the rebus principle. Only a few examples of its
use exist in the earliest stages of cuneiform from between 3200 and 3000 B.C. The
consistent use of this type of phonetic writing only becomes apparent after 2600 B.C.
THEY MAY BE FACING DIFFICULTIES IN PICTOGRAPHS BECAUSE DIFFERENT PICTURES CAN MEAN
DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. ALSO, SOME THINGS LIKE EMOTIONS CANT BE DRAWN AND
HENCE THEY WERE PUSEHD TO EVOLVE.
PICTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION WAS REPLACED WITH WEDGE-SHAPED SIGNS, FORMED
BY IMPRESSING THE TIP OF A REED OR WOOD STYLUS INTO THE SURFACE OF A CLAY
TABLET.
CYLINDER SEALS
• “A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch in length, engraved with written
characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a twodimensional surface, generally wet clay. They were used as an administrative tool, a form of
signature, as well as jewellery and as magical amulets; later versions would employ notations
with Mesopotamian cuneiform. In later periods, they were used to notarize or attest to multiple
impressions of clay documents. Graves and other sites housing precious items such as gold, silver,
beads, and gemstones often included one or two cylinder seals, as honorific grave goods.”
The cylinder seals were like modern day stamps and probably that’s why they
were the ones that spread the most because they would be needed for trade
purposes and so they had to be carried.
•
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_seal
WAS EGYPT THE ONLY PLACE WHERE THIS
SCRIPT FLOURISHED?
NO
4. HARRAPAN CIVILIZATION SEALS
• DATED- 2500
• The first objects unearthed from Harappa and MohenjoDaro were small stone seals inscribed with elegant
depictions of animals, including unicorn-like figures, and
marked with Indus script writing which still baffles
scholars. These seals are dated back to 2,500 B. C.
• Seal impressions have been found in the ancient city of
Harappa, in the Indus River valley (modern Pakistan), that
had been made by seals found in Lagash in Sumeria
(modern Iraq). From 3,600 B.C. in Sumer, and a little later
in the Indus Valley, we can find seals made out of a rare
high-quality stone, lapis lazuli. These stones could only
have originated from rather distant and inaccessible
mines in Afghanistan.
SUMERIAN SEALS IN HARAPPA?
• The remains of the Sumerian script on these
seals proves that there was a connection
between these two civilizations and since
they are the first seals found, we can say that
the Indus valley civilization got its script or
rather learnt about the pictographs because
of the Sumerians.
• But they didn’t adopt their script. Where the
Sumerians had moved to cuneiform, the
Indus people developed a script of their
own…
• But why did they have a connection in the
first place?
• Trade?
Mesopotamia was a region which did not have
many natural resources. Therefore, the people
who lived there needed to trade with
neighbouring countries in order to acquire the
resources they needed to live.
Discoveries of obsidian from far-away
locations in Anatolia and lapis lazuli from
north-eastern Afghanistan, beads from Dilmun
(modern Bahrain), and several seals inscribed
with the Indus Valley script suggest a
remarkably wide-ranging network of ancient
trade centered around the Persian Gulf.
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/trade/home_set.html
http://www.crystalinks.com/sumereconomy.html
SO MAYBE…
• Sumerian seal made with lapis lazuli which was found in
Afghanistan.
• For trade, Sumerians developed a network with
the Indus Valley civilization. The seals used for
stamping may have been exchanged and the
people in Indus developed their own script. They
then discovered places like Afghanistan because
of the Indus people. So the script spread further.
• Or maybe they discovered places like
Afghanistan first and then reached Indus when
they dug further.
• BUT WHAT WE KNOW FOR SURE, BECAUSE
OF THE GIVEN SEAL, THAT THE SUMERIANS
DIDN’T HAVE A CONNECTION ONLY WITH
THE HARRAPAN CIVILIZATION. BECAUSE
OF THIS TRADE, THEIR SCRIPT FLOURISHED.
THE VIEW ON THE WORLD MAP
THE SPREAD OF SUMERIAN TRADE MAY HAVE INCREASED BECAUSE THEY EXPLORED
THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD AND OF THE CIVILIZATIONS THEY TRADED WITH …
THE PEOPLE IN HARAPPA DEVELOPED
THEIR OWN SCRIPT.
THEN WHAT HAPPENED IN EGYPT?
5. EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS
The Egyptian Hieroglyphs is among the old
writing system in the world. Unlike its
contemporary cuneiform Sumerian,
Egyptian Hieroglyph's origin is much more
obscure. There is no identifiable precursor.
It was once thought that the origin of
Egyptian Hieroglyphs are religious and
historical, but recent developments could
point to an economical impetus for this
script as well as push back the time depth of
this writing system.
http://www.ancientscripts.com/egyptian.html
OBSCURE ORIGIN…
• The origin of Egyptian hieroglyphs is poorly
understood. There are, however, several hypotheses
that have been put forth. One of the most convincing
views claims that they derive from rock pictures
produced by prehistoric hunting communities living
in the dessert west of the Nile, who were apparently
familiar with the concept of communicating by means
of visual imagery. Some of the motifs depicted on
these rock images are also found on pottery vessels
of early Pre-dynastic cultures in Egypt.
• In ancient Egypt, for example, the invention of
writing is attributed to the god Thoth (Dhwty in
Egyptian), who was not only the scribe and
historian of the gods but also kept the calendar
and invented art and science.
• There are certain elements in
Egypt's Early Dynastic Period
which seem to betray
unmistakable Sumerian
influence. Egyptian hieroglyphic
writing may be one.
•
http://www.crystalinks.com/sumeregypt.html
“
THEY ALSO TRADED WITH ELAM AND SUMER, FROM WHENCE CAME
ELEMENTS SHOWN ON PALETTES AND CYLINDER SEALS, AND
INDICATES CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND OTHER REGIONS OF
THE NEAR EAST. HOWEVER, WITH ALL THE SIMILARITIES THAT CAN
BE NOTED, THERE ARE ALSO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
NEAR EASTERN CULTURES AND THAT WHICH IS UNDENIABLY
EGYPTIAN. THE EGYPTIAN COSMOLOGY, COSMOGONY,
GOVERNMENTAL HIERARCHY AND ADMINISTRATION, WRITING,
DRESS, ITS CONCEPT OF KINGSHIP - THESE WERE ALL THINGS
MOST DEFINITELY EGYPTIAN, EVEN IF PERHAPS INFLUENCED BY
OUTSIDE CONTACTS.
Marie Parsons Egypt Tour
”
So what may have happened –
The Egyptians found pots and caves left behind by their ancestors. They
also had pictures, just like the Sumerian seals. So maybe, that motivated
them to develop a script of their own…
DEVELOPMENT OF HIEROGLYPHICS
• As Egyptian writing evolved during its long history, different versions of the Egyptian hieroglyphic script were
developed. In addition to the traditional hieroglyphs, there were also two cursive equivalents: hieratic and
demotic.
Hieroglyphic - This was the oldest version of the script, characterized by its elegant pictorial appearance. These
signs are typically found in monument inscriptions and funerary contexts.
Hieratic - Encouraged by priests and temple scribes who wanted to simplify the process of writing, hieroglyphs
became gradually stylized and derived into the hieratic ‘priestly’ script. It is believed that hieratic was invented and
developed more or less simultaneously with the hieroglyphic script. Some of the hieroglyphs found in tombs dated
to the c. 3200-3000 BCE period were in the form of royal serekhs, a stylized format of the king’s name. Some
serekhs written on pottery vessels had hieroglyphs in cursive format, possibly a premature stage of hieratic.
Hieratic was always written from right to left, mostly on ostraca (pottery sherds) and papyrus, and it was used not
only for religious purposes, but also for public, commercial and private documents.
Demotic - An even more abbreviated script lacking any pictorial trace known as demotic ‘popular’ came in use
around the 7th century BCE. The Egyptians called it sekh shat, "writing for documents". With the exception of
religious and funerary inscriptions, demotic gradually replaced hieratic. While hieratic still carries some traces of
the pictorial hieroglyphic appearance, demotic has no pictorial trace and it is difficult to link demotic signs with its
equivalent hieroglyph.
PAPYRUS AND OTHER WRITING SURFACES
• Papyrus, the chief portable writing medium in Egypt, appears during the First dynasty (c. 3000-2890 BCE):
the earliest surviving example we know of comes from a blank roll found in the Tomb of Hemaka, an official
of King Den. Egyptian scribes used papyrus and other alternative writing surfaces, including writing
boards generally made of wood. Until the end of the Eighteenth dynasty (1550-1295 BCE), these boards
were covered with a layer of white plaster which could be washed and re-plastered, providing a convenient
reusable surface. Examples of clay tablets, a popular medium in Mesopotamia, dating to the late Old
Kingdom (2686-2160 BCE) were found in the Dakhla Oasis, an area far away from the various locations
where papyrus was produced. Bone, metal and leather were other type of materials used for writing.
•
SCRIBES
• The Egyptian scribe uses a fine reed pen to write on the smooth surface of the papyrus scroll. Inevitably
the act of writing causes the hieroglyphs to become more fluid than the strictly formal versions carved
and painted in tombs. Even so, the professional dignity of the scribes ensures that standards do not slip.
There gradually emerge three official versions of the script (known technically as hieratic) which is used
by the scribes. There is one, the most formal, for religious documents; one for literature and official
documents; and one for private letters.
In about 700 BC the pressure of business causes the Egyptian scribes to develop a more abbreviated
version of the hieratic script. Its constituent parts are still the same Egyptian hieroglyphs, established more
than 2000 years previously, but they are now so elided that the result looks like an entirely new script.
Known as demotic ('for the people'), it is harder to read than the earlier written versions of Egyptian. Both
hieroglyphs and demotic continue to be used until about 400 AD.
DIFFERENT DYNASTIES CAME TO POWER
DURING THESE YEARS…
SO DIDN’T THEY HAVE THEIR VARIATIONS
WHICH WOULD LEAD TO A WHOLE SCRIPT
IN ITSELF?
6. OTHER LANGUAGES- A) KUDURRU
(KASSITE)
• Dated- 16th and 12th centuries BCE
• Kudurru, (Akkadian: “frontier,” or “boundary”), type of boundary
stone used by the Kassite of ancient Mesopotamia. A stone block or
slab, it served as a record of a grant of land made by the king to a
favoured person.
• The original kudurrus were kept in temples, while clay copies were
given to the landowners. On the stone were engraved the clauses of
the contract, the images or symbols of the gods under whose
protection the gift was placed, and the curse on those who violated
the rights conferred. The kudurrus are important not only for
economic and religious reasons but also as almost the only works of
art surviving from the period of Kassite rule in Babylonia (c.16th–
c. 12th century BC)
KASSITE
• Excavated at- Abu Habba (Sippar)
• The Kudurru of Melishihu is a grey limestone 0.7-meter tall
boundary stone (kudurru) from ancient Babylonia, which is now
housed at the Louvre.
• Important sources for reconstructing the Kassite Dynasty are
kudurrus. Other revealing information is provided by
the Amarna letters, which include correspondence from the
Kassite Babylonian kings to the Egyptian pharaohs of the midfourteenth century BC. Babylonian wealth and influence at this
time is reflected in the use of the cuneiform script and the
Babylonian language as the main form of diplomatic
communication.
7. OTHER LANGUAGE- B)AMARNA LETTERS
(HURRIAN)
• Discovered in- 1887
• Found in- Amarna
• Time period-the second half of
the fourteenth century BCE
(1400-1300 BCE)
DEVELOPMENT IN SCRIPT
• They concern mostly the amount of copper that has been sent from Alashiya and requests
for silver or ivory in return.
• Unexpectedly, when the tablets were discovered, they were written not in Ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphics, but in a foreign language, Akkadian, the language of Babylonia and the
diplomatic lingua franca of the day used between different kingdoms to communicate. Two
tablets are in Hittite (an Indo-European language) and one in Hurrian, spoken in the
Mitanni kingdom north of Assyria.
• IT SHOWS HOW DIFFERENT PARTS OF ONE AREA HAD A DIFFERENT SCRIPT AND HOW
WELL THEY HAD ORGANISED A SYSTEM OF COMMON LANGUAGE.
• THESE VARIATIONS ARE ALSO SAID TO BE THE ORIGIN OF VARIOUS MODERN
DAYLANGUAGE.
SAMPLE OF HURRIAN AND SPREAD OF
WRITING• The letters, though written in Akkadian,
are heavily coloured by the mother
tongue of their writers, who spoke an
early form of Canaanite, the language
family which would later evolve into its
daughter languages. They also have
examples of Hurrian.
• The Amarna letters are an archive,
written on clay tablets, primarily
consisting of diplomatic correspondence
between the Egyptian administration and
its representatives in Canaan and Amurru
during the New Kingdom
•
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters
• Observation- Canaan is located between
Egypt and Mesopotamia. They have
mentioned that these letters are written in
AKKADIAN(MESOPOTAMIAN SCRIPT) BY
THE CANAANITES FOR EGYPTIANS.
• IT SHOWS THAT THE EGYPTIANS HAD
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS SCRIPT AND
ALL ITS VARIATIONS.
• IT ALSO SHOWS HOW A DIFFERENT
PLACE CAN INFLUENCE AND CHANGE A
LANGUAGE AND HOW IT PLAYS AN
IMPORTANT ROLE IN ITS EVOLUTION.
NOW THAT THEY HAD SO MANY
LANGUAGES,SCRIPTS, WRITTEN WORKS,
THEY PROBABLY THOUGHT OF STORING IT
ALL…
8.LIBRARY OF ASHURBANIPAL
• DATED- 668 BC to 627 BC
• TAKEN CARE OFF BY- BRITISH
MUSEUM.
ITS IMPORTANCE• He assembled in Nineveh the first systematically collected and catalogued library in the ancient
Middle East (of which approximately 20,720 Assyrian tablets and fragments have been preserved in
the British Museum). At royal command, scribes searched out and collected or copied texts of every
genre from temple libraries. These were added to the basic collection of tablets culled from Ashur,
Calah, and Nineveh itself. The major group includes omen texts based on observations of events; on
the behaviour and features of men, animals, and plants; and on the motions of the Sun, Moon, planets,
and stars. Lexicographical texts list in dictionary form Sumerian, Akkadian, and other words, all
essential to the scribal educational system. Ashurbanipal also collected many incantations, prayers,
rituals, fables, proverbs, and other “canonical” and “extracanonical” texts. The traditional
Mesopotamian epics—such as the stories of Creation, Gilgamesh, Irra, Etana, and Anzu—have
survived mainly due to their preservation in his library. The presence of handbooks, scientific texts,
and some folk tales (The Poor Man of Nippur was a precursor of one of the Thousand and One
Nights tales of Baghdad) show that this library, of which only a fraction of the clay tablets has
survived, was more than a mere reference library geared to the needs of diviners and others
responsible for the King’s spiritual security; it covered the whole range of Ashurbanipal’s personal
literary interests, and many works bear the royal mark of ownership in their colophons.
WE SHOULD THANK HIM.
• IF HE WOULDN’T HAVE MADE THAT
LIBRARY, WE WOULDN’T HAVE ALL
THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE
TODAY.
• THIS IS HOW WIDE HE ORDERED HIS
SCRIBES TO, JUST FOR HIS CURIOSITY.
• THIS WAS IMPORTANT FOR THE
SOURCES OF WRITING AND THE FIRST
EVER LIBRARY (COLLECTING
LITERARY SOURCES)
WELL AFTER THE LIBRARY, THE NEXT BIG
DISCOVERY WAS…
9.BABYLONIAN IMAGO MUNDI
• DATED- 600 BCE
• FOUND IN- SIPPAR
• The Babylonian Map of the World is
a diagrammatic labelled depiction of the known
world from the perspective of Babylonia. The map
is incised on a clay tablet,
showing Babylon somewhat to the north of its
centre;[1] the clay tablet is damaged, and also
contains a section of cuneiform text.
SPREAD
• THE MAP OF NORTHERN BABYLON WAS
FOUND IN THE SOUTH.
• IT WAS PROBABLY USED BY THE TRADERS
AND TRAVELLERS. IT SHOWES THAT THEY
HAD STARTED TO DEVELOP NOT ONLY
WRITING OR LETTER WRITIING BUT ALSO
OTHER WAYS OF COMMUNICATION SUCH
AS MAPS…
• THE SCRIPT USED IS BABYLONIAN, ANOTHER
VARIATION OF THE SUMERIAN CUNIEFORM.
• IT SHOWS THAT WITH EVERY DYNASTY,
THERE WAS A NEW VARIATION.
NOW THAT WE KNOW ALL THIS, LETS SEE
HOW EXACTLY DID WE START
DECIPHERING WHAT THEIR SCRIPT
MEANS…
10.ROSETTA STONE
• DATED- 206-196 BC
• Without the Rosetta stone, we
would know nothing of the
ancient Egyptians.
• WHERE WAS IT FOUND- The
Rosetta Stone was found by
French soldiers who were
rebuilding a fort in Egypt.
ITS IMPORTANCE
• Captain Bouchard immediately realized its importance to the scholars who had accompanied the
French army to Egypt. In fact the Rosetta Stone is probably the most important archaeological
artefact in the world today.
• The content of the inscriptions is not what makes the stone important; the text is simply a decree
listing benefits bestowed on Egypt by King Ptolemy V. But so that all the people could read and
understand its content it was written in two languages, Egyptian and Greek. It was also written in
three writing systems, hieroglyphic, demotic, and the Greek alphabet and this is what makes the
Rosetta stone such an vital discovery.
• Since we have never lost our understanding of ancient Greek, the Greek
inscriptions provided a key to decoding their Egyptian equivalents.
TO CONCLUDE…
Recent archaeological research indicates that the origin and spread of writing may be
more complex than previously thought. Complex state systems with proto-cuneiform
writing on clay and wood may have existed in Syria and Turkey as early as the midfourth millennium B.C. If further excavations in these areas confirm this assumption,
then writing on clay tablets found at Uruk would constitute only a single phase of the
early development of writing. The Uruk archives may reflect a later period when
writing “took off” as the need for more permanent accounting practices became
evident with the rapid growth of large cities with mixed populations at the end of the
fourth millennium B.C