Cuneiform, coming from the Latin word cuneus, meaning “wedge” was the world first developed script for writing. It was originally developed sometime between 3500 and 3000 BCE by the Sumerians. The surrounding cultures would soon also adopt cuneiform as their way of writing. The Elamites of modern Iran, the Hittites of Turkey, as well as the Hurrians near Ararat all adopted their own version of cuneiform. Cuneiform writing allowed for more complex writing compared to pictographs and hieroglyphics. So effective was cuneiform that it remained even a century into the common era.
DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM WRITING
Evolution of Cuneiform
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The Sumerians were the inventors of written language. Originally created to keep record of surplus it did not take long for it to evolve into a complete system of writing. Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, cuneiform began with pictographs. Archaic (Akkadian) Cuneiform scripts were simpler renders of the pictographs using a wooden wedge stylus in wet clay. After the Akkadian Cuneiform there came about a script that is now known as Old Babylonian circa 1700 BCE. This script lasted until 1200 BCE where it was replaced by Middle Assyrian script. The Assyrians further worked to develop what is known as Neo-Assyrian around 700 BCE. Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian scripts were used up until 3rd Century CE.
Evolution of Cuneiform
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The Sumerians were the inventors of written language. Originally created to keep record of surplus it did not take long for it to evolve into a complete system of writing. Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, cuneiform began with pictographs. Archaic (Akkadian) Cuneiform scripts were simpler renders of the pictographs using a wooden wedge stylus in wet clay. After the Akkadian Cuneiform there came about a script that is now known as Old Babylonian circa 1700 BCE. This script lasted until 1200 BCE where it was replaced by Middle Assyrian script. The Assyrians further worked to develop what is known as Neo-Assyrian around 700 BCE. Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian scripts were used up until 3rd Century CE.
BASIC BABYLONIAN VOCABULARY
Babylonian Dictionary ~一~ We have such extensive examples of Mesopotamian writings that we have been able to fully translate these texts in our modern languages. Universities of Assyriology and Near East Studies have been able to publish volumes upon volumes of dictionaries for different cuneiform scripts. Among the most extensively researched is the Old Babylonian language. This glossary of words is how different cuneiform symbols have been translated into modern script. |
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