Ancient Writing Systems — Quick Reference

Mesopotamia and the cradle of civilization

• Mesopotamia = cradle of civilization; early complex societies with cities, governments, writing, and culture.
• Invention of cuneiform in Mesopotamia; used to record laws, trade, stories, and history.

Writing as a turning point: Sumerians

• Sumerians contributed to social and intellectual progress; writing invention was a key revolution influencing social order, economy, technology, and culture.

Earliest written records and production

• Tablets: commodities listed with pictographs, numerals, and personal names in orderly columns.
• Term used: “Tablets.”

Clay preparation and writing process

• Clay sourced from riverbanks; kneaded to remove debris; water added to soften.
• Stylus often reed with a triangular wedge tip.
• Tablets dried in sun or shade; baking hardens clay, making it durable for centuries.

Proto-Cuneiform

• Early Sumerian proto-cuneiform used mnemonic/ideographic signs resembling objects.
• Information organized in grid zones; c. 3100 BCE.
• Tablet size around $4.5 \times 4.3\,\text{cm}$.

Origin of visible language

• Theory: language evolved from tagging sacks/pottery contents with pictographs and simple decimal counting based on ten fingers.

Code of Hammurabi

• Stele shows Hammurabi receiving laws from the sun god Shamash; divine authority buttresses the code.
• Date: $1792\text{ BCE}$ to $1750\text{ BCE}$.
• Dimensions: $2.3 \times 0.7\,\text{m}$.

Cylinder seals and printed image reproduction

• Stamp-cylinder seal allows image repetition; precursor to printing.
• Dimensions: $5.8 \times 2.2\,\text{cm}$.

Persian stamp seal

• C. $500\text{ BCE}$.

Hieroglyphics: evolution of Egyptian writing

• Ivory tablet of King Zet illustrates early pictographic writing leading to hieroglyphics.
• Dimensions: $45.5 \times 49\,\text{cm}$.
• Hieroglyphics used pictograms, phonograms (sounds), and determinatives (categories).

Alphabet, decipherment, and the rebus principle

• Alphabet signs appear beside hieroglyphs in cartouches of Ptolemy and Cleopatra; deciphered by Champollion.
• Rebus principle: pictures stand for sounds or words; examples: bee, leaf, sea, sun; can form words like “belief” and “season.”

Activity: petroglyph (petroglyph)

• Objective: experience early visual communication without paper or ink.
• Group task: carve a four-part rock message; each member contributes a symbol; carvings should connect to convey a common story.

Design directions and hieroglyphic flexibility

• False door of Sitinteti shows inscriptions carved into a grid; hierarchy of symbols.
• Sarcophagus of Aspalta demonstrates writing direction flexibility: four directional options:
  • left to right, horizontal
  • left to right, vertical
  • right to left, horizontal
  • right to left, vertical
• Writing direction typically matched to the facing direction of living beings depicted; combinations possible.