2006-06-13 17:25:52 · 7 answers · asked by babydoll53175 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Geography
Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC
2006-06-13 17:31:25 · answer #1 · answered by Big O 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Somewhere around 3,500 BCE, the Sumerians developed "cuneiform," the earliest-known form of writing. The name means "wedge-shaped," and it was made by sticking the end of a reed into wet clay - multiple different wedge-shaped marks combined to make a particular specific mark.
About 500 years later, the Sumerians reduced the number of these symbols, called pictographs, to about 550 units. At around the same time, the earliest known written poety and epic were composed - probably these forms had existed long before, but the oldest surviving written versions date from this time.
Somewhere around or after 2500 BCE, the Sumerican-style script, written on lines horizontally across a table, from left to right, changes form. it becomes the "Semitic" style, written vertically, from right to left.
Another 500 years later, the origins of the modern alphabet are in use. These are simplified pictographs derived from cuneiform concepts - the Phoenicians use an alphabet that relates a symbol to a sound, making a massive change in thinking and writing. All earlier writing had been whole ideas contained in a single symbol - now the symbol was phonetic, forming part of a word.
Our modern Greco-Latin "A," for example, was originally written on its side, The letter symbolized an ox and its horns - and the word for "ox" then corresponded with something like our form today of the long or short pronunciation of "A".
But it all got started with some guys in funny hats and skirts who lived on the plains of Mesopotamia and had just some broken bits of stiff grasses and slabs of mud to use to record their lives.
2006-06-14 06:00:21 · answer #2 · answered by Der Lange 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Cuneiform originated with the Sumerians of Mesopotamia and was handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries.
2006-06-13 17:38:05 · answer #3 · answered by B.W. 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think you should explain the question by giving addition info.
2006-06-13 17:29:58 · answer #4 · answered by Habib A 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
sumerians or babylonians?
2006-06-13 17:44:46 · answer #5 · answered by crunkmyfunk5 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that is to say, babilion
2006-06-13 17:30:37 · answer #6 · answered by wise old,man 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
mesopotamians??
2006-06-13 17:28:55 · answer #7 · answered by pukcipriavroc8v 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋