Script

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Definition

by Joshua J. Mark
published on 02 September 2009

Script is any particular system of writing or the written means of human communication. In the West, writing begins in Sumeria over 4,000 years ago and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh is a stunning example of what the written word can produce. The Sumerians considered writing a gift from the god Enlil (as, later, the Babylonians would also claim from their own god, Nabu).

In ancient Egypt the god Thoth (not surprisingly, the patron god of scribes) created script. Thoth

was not only the scribe and historian of the gods but also kept the calendar and invented art and science. In some Egyptian myths, Thoth is also portrayed as the creator of speech and possessing the power to transform speech into material objects. This ties in closely with the Egyptian belief that in order for a person to achieve immortality his or her name must be spoken or inscribed somewhere forever.

In Greece, writing begins with the Myceneaen Civilization and the only partially decipherable Linear B script. The alphabet of most modern languages originated in ancient Phoenicia and first came to Greece sometime before the 8th century BCE, from whence it spread. Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, written around the 8th century BCE, are early examples of the Greek use of the Phoenician alphabet, as are the classics Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod.

Written by , published on under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Illustrations

Cuneiform Writing Evolution of the Phoenician Alphabet Sarcophagus of Ahiram Banner at the North Gate of Dholavira Meroitic Script Egpytian Scribe's Palette

Articles

Article

Cuneiform Writing

by Jan van der Crabben
published on 18 January 2012
Writing is undeniably one of humanity's most important inventions. The earliest forms of storing information on objects were numerical inscriptions on clay tablets, used for administration, accounting and trade. The first writing system dates back to around 3000 BC, when the Sumerians developed the first type script: hundreds of abbreviated pictograms that... [continue reading]
Article

The Phoenician Alphabet and Language

by Thamis
published on 18 January 2012
Phoenician is a Canaanite language closely related to Hebrew. Very little is known about the Canaanite language, except what can be gathered from the El-Amarna letters written by Canaanite kings to Pharaohs Amenhopis III (1402-1364 BC) and Akhenaton (1364-1347 BC). It appears that Phoenician language, culture, and writing was strongly influenced by Egypt (which... [continue reading]
Article

What happened to the Great Library at Alexandria?

by Brian Haughton
published on 01 February 2011
Once the largest library in the ancient world, and containing works by the greatest thinkers and writers of antiquity, including Homer, Plato, Socrates and many more, the Library of Alexandria,  northern Egypt, is popularly believed to have been destroyed in a huge fire around 2000 years ago and its volumous works lost. Since its destruction... [continue reading]
Article

Roman Imperialism and Runic Literacy : The Westernization of Northern Europe (150-800 AD)

by Svante Fischer
published on 18 May 2012
This dissertation discusses Roman imperialism and runic literacy. It employs an interdisciplinary terminology. By means of terms new to archaeology, the growth of a specialized language, a technolect, is traced until it enters the realm of literacy. The author argues that there is more than one way for literacy to appear in prehistoric cultures. The ’normal&rsquo... [continue reading]
Article

The beginnings of the written culture in Antiquity

by M. Isabel Panosa
published on 28 November 2011
This paper proposes an analysis of writing as a system for communication, since its origins, in terms of its uses and socio-cultural context. We shall also look to review and comment on the way in which it has evolved in time and space and its primordial domains for expression. Likewise, we shall look at the current state of affairs with respect to graphic communication... [continue reading]

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Timeline

Visual Timeline
  • c. 3500 BCE
    First written evidence of religion in the world recorded on Sumerian tablets.
  • 3200 BCE
    Hieroglyphic script developed in Egypt.
  • c. 2150 BCE - 2000 BCE
    The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh written on clay tablets.
  • 2000 BCE
    Minoan hieroglyphic script is invented.
  • 1700 BCE
    Minoan Linear A script.
  • 1600 BCE
    Canaanite alphabet.
  • c. 1400 BCE
    Ugaritic alphabet of 30 letters is invented.
  • 1100 BCE
    Phoenician alphabet.
  • c. 1000 BCE
    Death of Ahiram (or Ahirom) of Byblos, whose sarcophagus bears the oldest inscription of the Phoenician alphabet.
  • c. 647 BCE - c. 627 BCE
    Extensive collection of clay tablets acquired known as Ashubanipal's Library at Nineveh.
  • c. 350 CE - c. 950 CE
    Estimated use of the Ogham in Ireland and southwestern England.
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