Why Writing?
Writing developed as the first reliable form of communication, beyond the use of pictograms.
The creation of writing was attributed to the Sumerians as a means of long distance communication to aid the ability for trading.
It was found that an elaborate writing system was required, to express concepts more complex than lists of terms or transactions.
This was understood to have developed in the Sumerian city of Uruk in C3200 BC.
The first written languages have been ascribed to…
3rd century – Volscian… Tabula, Veliterna.
c260 BC – Middle Indo-Aryan… Prakrit
c200 BC – Tamil… cave inscription and potsheds, in Tamil Nadu.
Around the 8th. century the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet and modified it to construct their own language, thus creating the process of the first ‘true’ alphabet.
This system conceded equal status to vowels and consonants.
Before the event of writing there was no precise means of recording history, no books and no effective recourse for a ruler’s commands to extend beyond his sight, voice or even his death.
As a medium of human communication, writing represents language and emotion, with written signs and symbols complimenting speech in most languages.
This is the second in an occasional series I will be writing, about the history of writing, reading and books.
I will be pleased to hear any questions, opinions or anecdotes on these topics.
Just leave a comment below or email me ?
sue@bestbooksandpens.com
One of the earliest libraries or archives of conserved and classified information was found at Nineva. It comprised of 20,000 clay tablets belonging to the Kings of Assyria from the 7th century BC, who apparently had at their disposal whole workshops of copyists and conservationists.