EARLY CIVILIZATIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS AND EARLY CIVILIZATIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF

WRITING SYSTEMS IN THE WRITING SYSTEMS IN THE WORLDWORLD

Prof. M. M. NinanProf. M. M. Ninan

Cave paintings

The oldest known cave painting is that of the Chauvet Cave, dating to around 30,000 BC.

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs from Häljesta, Scandinavia. Nordic Bronze Age.

The next step in the history of communications is petroglyphs, carvings into a rock surface. It took about 20,000 years for homo sapiens to move from the first cave paintings to the first petroglyphs, which are dated to around 10,000 BC

Four Rivers – Four World Cultures

Humankind is defined by language; but civilization is defined by writing

2600 BC to 1900 BCVery short and brief texts.

The average number of symbols on the seals is 5, and the longest is only 26.

Dravidian?

Indus Script

3,500 B.C. Indus Script

?They developed a system of writing with around 250 symbols. They carved their writings on soft soapstone. No one has yet deciphered their language. This civilization died out, whereas the other two continued to grow.

Around 4100-3800 BCE, the tokens began to be symbols that could be impressed or inscribed in clay to represent a record of land, grain or cattle and a written language was beginning to develop. 

Summerian Accounting

On Clay Tablets

Evolution of Writing?• Writing itself undergoes changes before and after the invention of cuneiform.• Tokens-precursors of numeration• Pictograms• Ideograms• Syllabary• Alphabets

Pictograms

Pictograph from 1510 telling a story of coming of missionaries to Hispaniola

Pictograms were used by various ancient cultures all over the world since around 9000 BC, when tokens marked with simple pictures began to be used to label basic farm produce, and become increasingly popular around 6000-5000 BC.

head foot sun "day" hand woman

pictographs of Sumeria

The pictograph for woman, as seen above became    .

Eventually, the pictographs were stylized, rotated and in impressed in clay with a wedge shaped stylus

to become the script known as Cuneiform.

Sumerians and the first writing system

in the world

4000 - 3500 BC

The Sumerians developed a form of pictographic writing

that used word pictures like

bird, fish, ox or grain etc.,

Early pictographic tablet (3100 B.C.).

Ideograms

The beginning of the Lord's Prayer in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing. The text reads Nujjinen wásóq – "Our father / in heaven"

Geometric signs (dots, squares, etc.) with no apparent depicted object = ideographs( symbols to represent ideas or concepts.)

Egypt where

picture writing had developed

4000 BC

Nowadays there is more-or-less consensus on a few points concerning the origin of writing.

First of all, writing was invented independently in at least three places,

Mesopotamia, China,

Mesoamerica.

Recent discoveries might also provide evidence that writing was invented in

Egypt Indus

independently of Mesopotamia.

I LOVE YOU

.However, there are no wrong answers to this puzzle. Both of the other choices could also be correct.

To eliminate confusion, the writer might use a determinative. These were special characters which had a special meaning

and acted to clarify the statement

Egyptian hieroglyphs such as

which was pronounced r'i meaning "mouth"

became the pictograph for the sound of R with any vowel.  

The pictograph for "water"

pronounced nu

became the symbol for the consonantal sound of N. 

This practice of using a pictograph to stand for the first sound in the word it stood for is called

acrophony

and was the first step in the development of an

ALPHABET

or

the "One Sign-One sound" system of writing.

A glottal stop similar to the Hebrew Alef

Consonantal Y, like the Hebrew Yod

Sometimes abbreviated as \ \, sound of Y or ee used in the last syllable

Gutteral sound corresponding to Hebrew Ayin

W or U, corresponds to Hebrew Waw

Sound of B

            Sound of P

Sound of F

                        Sound of M

Acrophonic pictograms make excellent phonograms because they establish a meaningful connection between the shape of the mark and the associated sound category.   The technique is often used in literacy programs because paired associate learning is easier with a connected picture. A=avian/apple/ape, B=boot/book, C=cup/cat...  The technique would even be more powerful if the name of the associated picture was also related to the letter name and letter shape.  In Egyptian and the early Semitic scripts they were.

"Hieroglyphic writing was an offshot of direct pictorial representation. In this respect it resembled the original Babylonian script (circa 3200 B.C.) and indeed it is not improbable that there was an actual relationship between them, though it may have amounted to no more than a hearsay knowledge that the sounds of language could be communicated by means of appropriately chosen pictures. The subsequent development, however, differed very considerably in the two cases. Babylonian writing, using cuneiform (wedge-shaped) characters, quickly ceased to be recognizable as pictures, whereas the Eg. hieroglyphs retained their pictorial appearance... By virtue of this fact, the signs continued to mean what they represented." (p. 22f., Egypt of the Pharaohs, 1961). 

Amduat - The Book of the Secret Chamber

The oldest of the royal funerary books is the Amduat. Amduat literally means "That Which Is In the Afterworld" - is an important Ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom. Like many funerary texts, it was written on the inside of the tomb for reference by the deceased. Unlike other funerary texts, however, it was reserved only for pharaohs or very favored nobility. It tells the story of Re, the sun god, traveling through the underworld, between the time the sun sets in the west and rises again in the east. It is understood that the dead pharaoh is taking this same journey, ultimately to unify with the sun god and become immortal. The underworld is divided into twelve hours of the night, each presenting various allies and enemies for the pharaoh/sun god to encounter. The Amduat names all of these entities, totalling many hundreds of gods and monsters. In fact, a prime purpose of the Amduat to provide the names of these creatures to the spirit of the dead pharaoh, so he can call upon them for aid or use their name to defeat them. The earliest complete version of the Amduat is found in KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III in the Valley of the Kings.

Pyramid Texts

The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom, mostly inscriptions on the walls of tombs in pyramids. They depict the Egyptain view of the afterlife, and the ascent into the sky of the divine Pharaoh after death. They were written upwards of five thousand years ago; thus, they are some of the oldest known writings in the world. The Pyramid Texts are also the oldest collection of religious spells known to us from ancient Egypt. This collection forms the basis of much of the later religious theology and literature of ancient Egypt. The passages were eventually separated and categorized, as well as illustrated and eventually evolved into the Book of the Dead, or more properly, The Book of the Coming forth by Day. The oldest of these text come from that Pyramid of Wenis, or more popularly these days, Unas at Saqqara. However, the first Pyramid Text that were actually discovered were from the Pyramid of Pepy I. This collection forms the basis of much of the later religious theology and literature of ancient Egypt.

The Book of the Dead

Papyrus of Ani

Ani (man with his wife bowing to the gods), while Anubis weighs his heart against Maat's feather of truth, and Thoth records the event, and Ammit the devourer waits patiently.

The scene depicted here shows the climax of the journey to the afterlife. Nany is in the Hall of Judgment. Holding her mouth and eyes in her hand, she stands to the left of a large scale. Her heart is being weighed against Maat, the goddess of justice and truth, who is represented as a tiny figure wearing her symbol, a single large feather, in her headband. On the right, Osiris, god of the underworld and rebirth, presides over the scene. He is identified by his tall crown with a knob at the top, by his long curving beard, his crook, and by his body, which appears to be wrapped like a mummy except for his hands.

Book of Gates

The Book of the Heavenly (Celestial) Cow

symbol of life

This is the alphabet that was the precursor to

Phoenician,

Greek

and

Roman

The hieroglyphicsEgypt.

HIEROGLYPHS symbols on Gerzean pottery resemble hieroglyphic writing. 4000 BC

Earliest known hieroglyphic inscription was the Narmer Palette, at Hierakonpolis

3200 BC.

Egyptians borrowed the idea of pictorial writing from Sumerians. Their hieroglyphics was as pictography or ideograms.

Old Egyptian (3000 to 2200 BC), Middle Egyptian (2200 to 1600 BC),

Late Egyptian (1600 to 700 BC), Demotic (700 BC to 400 AD) and

Coptic (200 AD to about 1500 AD). Coptic was the only stage of the Egyptian language that had proper

vowels and gave a clear idea of their pronunciations. But, for a very long time these writings remained unintelligible

2,000 B.C. Shang Dynasty Chinese

The Shang on the Yellow River is the earliest known civilization that used Chinese writing. They used about 3,000 symbols for words and actions. The Chinese language of today differs very little from this early writing. This is because the Chinese civilization was isolated from the rest of the world for many years

The Assyrians. Akkadian language

and Northeastern Semitic language (Aramaic) –

3000 BC to 1000 BC - in Mesopotamia.

It had two dialects, Assyrian and Babylonian.

It was written in cuneiform script.

After 700 BC the Aramaic began to replace the Akkadian language, and died out by 1st

century AD.

2600 BC Sumeria

Historical development of “Head”

26th century BC Sumerian cuneiform script in Sumerian language, listing gifts to the high priestess of Adab on the occasion of her election. One of the earliest examples of human writing.

Pictographs were turned on their sides (2800 B.C.) and then developed into actual cuneiform symbols (2500 B.C.) -- as this clay tablet illustrates

A cuneiform table (c. 2100 B.C.) listing expenditures of grain and animals.

Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of Lagash (maybe Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC, found in Telloh (ancient Girsu).

Paper and Pens--input technologies. Sumerians' input technology was a stylus that could

scratch marks in wet clay. About 2600 B.C., the Egyptians wrote on the papyrus

plant

HEBREW 2000 BC== A magic spell to keep snakes away from the tombs of Egyptian kings, adopted from the Canaanites almost 5,000 years ago, could be the oldest Semitic text yet discovered.

Proto-Sinaitic HEBREW 1900 BC[The Invention of the Alphabet]

Luxor in upper Egypt, Egyptologists have found limestone inscriptions that they say are the earliest known examples of alphabetic writing, in a Semitic script with Egyptian influences, has been dated between 1900 and 1800 B.C. The first experiments with alphabet thus appeared to be the work of Semitic people living deep in Egypt

HEBREW 1000 BC flourished as a spoken language in Israel from the 10th century BC.Afterward Hebrew continued as a literary language until the Modern Era. when it was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century.

Phoenician was the immediate descendent of Proto-Sinaitic.

Excavations of the ancient city of Ugarit, modern Ras Shamra,  has produced texts in a cuneiform script that was also consonantal.  In the order of the Alef-Beyt:

Semitic languages

Northwest Semitic Northeast Semitic

Akkadian

Babylonian Assyrian

Southwest

Arabic

Southeast

Ethiopic

Aramaic Canaanite

Old Phoenician 10th-9th cent. BC

Moabite 850 BC

Early Aramaic 800 BC

Siloam Inscription 700 BC

Samaritan *

Lachish Ostraca 600. BC

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth Gen 1:1

Elephantine Payrus 5th cent. BCE

Nabataean Aramaic 1st cent. CE

Great Isaiah Scroll 200-100 BCE

Habakkuk Pesher 150-100 BCE

Codex Leningradensis 1010 CE.

Modern Hebrew

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth Gen 1:1

Ten Commandments in the ancient Hebrew script

of the time of Moses

1446 BC 2007 AD

The five periods of Aramaic

Old Aramaic 1000 BCE to 700 BCE.

Imperial (Official) Aramaic 700 BCE to 200 BCE.

Middle Aramaic 200 BCE to 200 CE.

Late Aramaic 200 CE to 700 CE.

Modern Aramaic 700 CE to present

Around 2000 B.C., Phoenicians created symbols that expressed single syllables and consonants (the first true alphabet). The Greeks later adopted the Phoenician alphabet and added vowels; the Romans gave the letters Latin names to create the alphabet we use today

Of Aramaic derivation or inspiration, it can be traced to the 8th or 7th century BC

GREEK 1450 BC

== The first known Greek writings date back to 1450 BC.

Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets in the 'Room of the Chariot Tablets', a LMII-context (c. 1500

BC) region of Knossos, in Crete

PERSIAN AVESTAN/VEDIC/PAHLAVI - 1000 BC

1) Old Persian (up to 300 BC) which used cuneiform script; (2) Middle Persian, also called the Pahlavi, (3rd century BC to 9th century AD) which used Aramaic alphabet for writing; and (3) Modern Persian which used Arabic alphabet

The Old Persian Script

Example of Avestan script

                                                                                                                                        Example of Pahlavi script

                                                                                                                                     Example of Old Persian script

PRAKRIT AND PALI 1000 BC – 500 BC

PALI is Magadhi, Magadhanirutti, Magadhikabhasa,

that is to say, the language of the region in which Buddhism had arisen.

PRAKRITVernacular Languages

Brajbuli dates to 1000 BC

The earliest recorded Prakrit is in Asoka's Inscriptions 500 BC

CHINESE 1200 - 600 BC

Oracle Boneslate Shang period

(ca. 1200 BC).

Bronze Inscriptions

Eastern Zhou dynasty (ca. 1150-771 BC)

Ideograms- One word, one idea

Combined Ideograms

TAMIL 1200- 800 BCThe earliest epigraphic records found date to around 300 BCE

and the Tolkappiyam, oldest known literary work in Tamil,

has been dated between 300 BC and 500 CE. written

in Tamil-BrahmiMore than 55% of epigraphical

inscriptions in India were found in Tamil language.

LATIN 900 BC

1st century BC to the 1st century AD Cicero, Virgil, Ovid,

Livy, and Caesar

legal and governmental language of the entire

Roman Empire

The Duenos inscription, from the 6th century BC

Development of Language led to Religious Systems

WHY IS IT THAT SO MANY GREAT RELIGIOUS LEADERS APPEARED AROUND 500 BCE?

Plato and Aristotle taught  ~400 BCE         Tao Te Ching  (by Lao Tze) composed  ~700 BCE         Kung Fu-Tze (Confucius)  lived ~600 BCE         Zoroaster's texts (Persia/Iran): ~600 BCE         Gautama Buddha - 550-480 BCE         Isaiah -  lived ~700 BCE, book of Isaiah written ~500 BCE         Jeremiah -  lived ~500 BCE

SO HUMAN HISTORY AND THE GREAT HUMAN RELIGIONS BOTH BEGAN WITH THE ONSET OF WRITING!

ARABIC 800 BCThe earliest Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North

Arabian, texts are the Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, from the 8th century BC,

in variants of the epigraphic South Arabian musnad.

ARABIC 600 BCThese are followed by 6th century BC

Lihyanite texts from southeastern Saudi Arabia and Thalmudic texts found in Arabia and Sinai

ARABIC 100 BCSafaitic inscriptions

beginning in the 1st century BC, written in Aramaic.

CLASSICAL SANSKRIT 150 AD

First Sanskrit Inscription : 150 AD - The earliest inscription in Sanskrit is by

the Saka

The oldest coin which bears an inscription in Sanskrit is a unique coin

of Satyad¤man, belonging to the western Kshatrapa dynasty, whose

approximate date is 200 A.D.( Rapson in the J. R. A. S. 1899. p. 379. )

All coins previous to this one bear legends either in Pali or in the vernacular

First century AD

The British Library / University of

Washington Early Buddhist Manuscripts

Project