Transcript Mesopotamian Writing and Tablet Making

Mesopotamian Writing and
Tablet Making
MES-4
The Need for Writing
• Mesopotamians
needed to keep
track of their deals
• They began to make
lists
The Need for Writing
• To make lists, they
drew simple pictures
of an item
• They then used tally
marks to show how
many of an item were
traded
The Need for Writing
• This took a long
time
• Soon, expert
recorders, called
scribes, would be
used
Writing System
• As time passed,
drawings improved
• Pictures turned to
symbols that were
quicker to write
• Symbols now stood
for words and
sounds
Writing System
• The system of writing
was called Cuneiform
• (kyoo NEE uh form)
• Scribes used this system
of symbols to record
almost anything!
• It first started in the
southern part of
Mesopotamia called
Sumer
School
• Most people (even
kings) couldn’t read
at the time
• Most Mesopotamian
children did not go
to school
• Those who did had
wealthy parents
School
• Classes lasted a
long time
• First taught to make
clay tablets and
reed “pens”
• Then taught to write
with Cuneiform
Clay Tablets
• Scribes had to make
their own tablets
• When the clay dried, it
served as a
permanent record
• This is how historians
have learned so much
about Mesopotamia!