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an essay on cuneiform
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an essay on cuneiform
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Cuneiform/Hieroglyphics- Cuneiform was a writing system used in ancient Mesopotamia. This style of writing was developed by the Sumerians around 3500 BCE. Cuneiform is considered the most significant of all the cultural contributions of the Sumerians and the greatest among the population of the city of Uruk, Uruk further advanced cuneiform in 3200 BCE. Mesopotamia then developed an advanced commerce and the merchants used cuneiform to keep records. Cuneiform was the influence to develop other written languages due to its success and many uses of aide. Hieroglyphs were a system that used pictures as characters, it was developed in ancient Egypt around 3000 BC. Hieroglyphs were used mostly by priests to record very important events such as wars
Cuneiform was the first ever form of writing. The Sumerians were the main inventors of this writing. The symbol as we know them now consist of lines and wedges. One of the
The Cosmopolitan Middle East consists of both Mesopotamia and Egypt, but when Mesopotamia was split into two zones, Babylonia conquered the south, while Assyria conquered the north. The Hittites, one of the states that came to Mesopotamia, they made good use of the copper, silver, and iron, to increase commerce with other states. The Hyksos, a strong foreign group who had lot of strength and intelligence, took over the kingdom of Egypt and changed Egypt into an aggressive state. But it was also a time of change with many rulers who held the throne of New Kingdom Egypt, such as Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and Ramesses II. Traveling and communication were necessities in international trading because metal was needed amongst different cities.
The Mesopotamians and Egyptians are among the first civilizations to make a valuable contribution to Western Civilization. Both Babylonians and Egyptians managed to produce written systems of communicating ideas. The Babylonians created wedge-shaped cuneiform, and the Egyptians made pictographic hieroglyphics. This invention even allowed for Hammurabi’s Code of law to be written and preserved through the ages. The Phoenicians took this concept another step forward and fashioned the alphabet. The ability to record history is an exceptional achievement. Another development of the Ancient Near East was architecture. The Egyptian pyramids, and the Babylonian ziggurats stand as testimony to their society’s technological and architectural achievements. The Assyrians left a lasting impact on civilization with the advent of the idea of conquest which they took to ruthlessly brutal ends. Later the Persians would add a degree of tolerance into the conquest equation. The concept of conquest would leave an indelible mark on the West, for better or worse. These developments still play a role in contemporary society.
To start out, the Sumerians invented cuneiform, which had a major impact on the future. It was invented 5,000 years ago (Doc. 1). They used it to keep records about their crops, business dealings, and occasionally love letters (OI). They also used cuneiform to write myths (OI). Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, then baked
Writing is perhaps the most important building block of communication - after verbal speech, of course. Writing, like most of human civilization, has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia. The first writing systems began in a style known as cuneiform (Cuneiform, 2013). These wedge-shaped markings have their roots in Sumerian culture and were used predominantly for record keeping and accounting. At the archaeological site of Uruk in what is modern day Iraq, a great wealth of knowledge has been gained from the artifacts located there. Uruk was a ceremonial site and is home to the world’s oldest known documented written documents (Price and Feinman, 2013). The documents discovered list quantities of goods that may have been stored at Uruk, leading archaeologists to believe that writing in this part of the world was developed primarily to keep lists of transactions and stockpiled quantities of goods located at the site.
Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the earliest civilizations founded. They have been dated back to between 3500 and 3000 B.C.E. They both were settled near rivers and have had a lasting impact on world history. Although they both share many similarities they also differ greatly. The foundation of their civilization, their culture, and their social structure can all be compared and differed.
Over the history of man, there have been many prosperous empires that ruled in different parts of the world. Babylon and Egypt are two of these empires that ruled almost 500 years apart, but had one thing in common, great artistic works. Wall paintings such as the Babylonian work Investiture of Zimrilim, and the Egyptian Queen Neferati Making an Offering to Isis are examples of the great works of their times. Both pieces are rich in meaning and background, share many similarities, but differences can be seen in their style due to the time periods.
82).” According to Walter Ong, the act of communication through writing heightens ones consciousness and begins to change the way in which the writer thinks. This in turn facilitates the development of increasingly sophisticated technological advancements. Early pictographs were typically monotone and very simplistic in nature. However, as the technology evolved, humankind developed multi-hued writing media that improved the visual accuracy of the images created and subsequently improved the complexity of the message delivered. Essentially more visual detail equals a more complex symbology and abstraction. Some major milestones in the evolution of communication technology include the simplification of earlier literal depictions in the late Paleolithic era, the development of the first “alphabets” as quasi-abstract symbols representing the basic sounds of spoken language. These early alphabets were extremely complex and cumbersome until the Phoenicians developed a “totally abstract and alphabetical system of twenty-two simple phonetic signs, replacing the formidable complexity of cuneiform and hieroglyphs (Higgins, 2003).” The inhabitants of Greece and Rome adopted this system of writing which was in effect by 1500 B.C. and later developed what we know as the
Both the early Egyptian and Indus civilizations have religious and geographical similarities and differences. A key similarity is in their choice to settle along river valleys for agricultural and security reasons. They were also isolated from the rest of the world, which is probably why they are unique and provide an interesting subject of discussion and study to
When discussing the topic of the development of early writing systems, one cannot do so without first thinking of the Mayans. The Mayans were the only ones to form the only writing system that was native to the Americas, and were also considered to be the masters of the art of mathematics. The Mayan writing system was often referred to as hieroglyphics, due to their resemblance to the method of Egyptian writing, although there is no relation. These symbols, called glyphs, were a combination of symbols used for the phonetic spelling of words today, and other characters. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World that can completely represent spoken language to the same degree as the written language of the old world. Translating the Maya writings has been a long, and very tedious process. Some parts of it were first translated in the late 19th and early 20th century (mostly the parts having to do with numbers, the calendar, and astronomy), but major developments started in the 1960s and 1970s and kept coming thereafter, and now, the majority of Mayan texts can be read almost completely in their original languages. During the translation of the Ma...
...ll. The Sumerians are the first known civilization to have a written language. The language known as cuneiform was written using cut reeds from the river imprints were made in fresh clay. The Sumerians recorded everything from transaction receipts to the Epic of Creation.
The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics, eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites (Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the area.
Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the world’s earliest city-based civilizations, creating the basis for Middle Eastern and Western history. Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations existed on the banks of major rivers. While Egyptian civilization thrived along the Nile, Mesopotamia settled between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although they shared this characteristic, it was also the cause of many of their differences in political systems, religions, and social stability.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is one the oldest and most interesting forms of written language developed. There is evidence of its use from before 3200 BCE and Egyptian hieroglyphs remained in use for over 3,500 years. The Egyptian name for hieroglyphs translates to “language of the gods,” although the term hieroglyph actually came from Greek words meaning “sacred carving,” which the Greeks used to define the writing found on Egyptian monuments and temples (Ancient Egypt, Hieroglyphics, n.d.).
Civilizations began specializing with ceramic pottery, metallurgy, and textiles. These crafts help discover new ways for communicating with the creation of cylindrical stone seals. The seals were engraved with images and rolled over wet clay to be reproduced. A more specific civilization existing within the Mesopotamian were the Sumerians. For several centuries’ Sumerian law, literature, art, science, and religion were the Mesopotamians primary practices. Cuneiform the Sumerian language was the more important advancement made by the civilization. During the Neopalatial period, Minoan trade networks extended across the eastern Mediterranean, and Minoan influence was widespread, especially in the Aegean Sea. This influence seems to have come