why was cunieform writing a lasting importance for global history?

Question

justt curious.

Answer 1

We cannot say that writing would not have arisen without the invention of cuneiform. In fact, the development of the hieroglyphic writing system in Egypt not much later does not seem to have depended on cuneiform. And the very important development of an ALPHABETIC script was probably by a Semitic group in the Sinai whose idea was based on the Egyptian system.

Nonetheless the development of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia DID have an important impact. A system of writing enables much more complex record-keeping and economic transactions, hence cuneiform was a cornerstone of the growth of Mesopotamian civilization and later its empires. Neighboring groups-- esp the Elamites and Hittites-- borrowed and benefited from their own adaptations of the cuneiform system. (In an interesting mix, a group on the Syrian coast, in the ancient port of Ugarit, combined the alphabetic writing system with cuneiform, using the cuneiform method [that is, a stylus pressed into clay] to keep their own records as well as to record some of their stories/mythology... )

Of course, this sort ot dissemination meant that Mesopotamian beliefs and institutions were spread throughout the ancient Near East. (In fact, in the mid-2nd millennium B.C. "Akkadian" -- the Semitic language of Mesopotamia [whose dialects included Babylonian and Assyrian] was the lingua franca of the Near East. Even the Egyptian and Hittite Empires used it to correspond with other nations.)

So the effects on "global history" were mostly because of the role Mesopotamia played (e.g., the Old Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires) which this basic 'technology' supported.

Cuneiform is important for another reason --in MODERN times. The fortunate fact that this writing system used clay (or stone for more formal inscriptions) means that a large number of their writings --sometimes whole librarires-- have survived to this day! Since the mid-19th century archaeologists have dug up tens of thousands of tablets... mostly economic records (though these can be helpful too), but also many other texts that have taught us much about the language and civilization of these peoples (and helped to shed some light on traditions, on biblical texts, etc).

Answer 2

Because it was the first recorded form of writing that spread around the known world. No cuneiform = no writing = no global spread of ideas = still in bronze age.