Transcript write cuneiform - Portia Placino

Writing System
Over five thousand years ago,
people living in Mesopotamia
developed a form of writing to
record and communicate
different types of information.
The earliest writing was based
on pictograms. Pictograms
were used to communicate
basic information about crops
and taxes.
Over time, the need for
writing changed and the
signs developed into a
script we call cuneiform.
Over thousands of years,
Mesopotamian scribes
recorded daily events,
trade, astronomy, and
literature on clay tablets.
Cuneiform was used by
people throughout the
ancient Near East to write
several different languages.
Around 3100 B.C. people
began to record amounts
of different crops. Barley
was one of the most
important crops in
southern Mesopotamia
and when it was first
drawn it looked like this.
Farmers brought their barley
to the temple stores. A
record was kept of how
much barley was received.
When some of the barley
was given to temple workers
this was also recorded on a
tablet.
The barley sign usually had a
number next to it to show
how much barley was being
given in to the temple or
taken away.
The barley sign
changed shape when
the scribes used a
writing tool with a
squared-off end instead
of a point.
The end of this tool was
used to press wedge
shapes like these into
clay tablets.
It is at this point that the
signs became what we
call cuneiform.
The barley sign had to
be written using several
wedges.
You can write any language using cuneiform.
For example, let's use the word for sheep:
Sumerian
Akkadian
English
Udu
Seni
Sheep
Udu
Si-e-ni
She-ep
Scribes
Scribes were very important people. They
were trained to write cuneiform and
record many of the languages spoken
in Mesopotamia.
Without scribes, letters would not have
been written or read, royal monuments
would not have been carved with
cuneiform, and stories would have been
told and then forgotten.
Scribes wrote on different shaped objects
depending on the type of information
they wanted to record.
Cylinder Seals
Cylinder seals were small carved cylinders
made of stone or metal.
Scenes of gods, animals and men were
carved into the seal so when it was rolled
on the clay, it would leave an impression.
This would act like a signature.
Some cylinder seals also had cuneiform
signs carved on them which recorded the
name and title of the seal owner. Seals
were rolled over clay tablets which were
nearly dry.
This ancient cylinder seal has been rolled out onto
modern modelling clay to show the impression.
Seals and Signatures
Other types of seals were also used. Stamp seals
were small pieces of carved stone or metal which
were stamped into the damp clay of a tablet.
Not everyone needed a seal, or could afford to have
their own. These people would use their fingernail to
'sign' a tablet.
This is an example of a tablet which has been 'signed'
with a person's fingernail mark.
A reed stylus was the main writing tool used by
Mesopotamian scribes.
Scribes created the
wedge shapes which
made cuneiform signs by
pressing the stylus into a
clay or wax surface.
Curriculum Tablet
This is known today as a
'curriculum tablet'. It
was used in
Mesopotamian schools to
teach pupils about the
different types of texts
written by scribes.
This part of the tablet is a spelling
exercise.
A cuneiform sign, which can be read as
'nish', is repeated down the left hand
side. Other signs are written beside it
to make different words. For example,
half way down this section the signs
read:
nish-gil
nish-gi-il
nish-shi-ish
nish-shish
Scribes practised writing the same
words in many ways which helped them
learn different cuneiform signs.
This part of the tablet says:
Sargon, mighty king, king of Agade, am I.
My mother was a high priestess, my father I knew not;
My father's brothers live in the mountains;
My city is Azupiranu, situated on the banks of the Euphrates
My mother, the high priestess, conceived me, in secret she bore me;
She placed me in a basket of rushes, she sealed the lid with bitumen;
She cast me into the river which did not rise over me;
The river bore me up and carried me to Aqqi, the water-drawer.
Aqqi, the water-drawer, lifted me out as he dipped his bucket;
Aqqi, the water-drawer, adopted me, brought me up;
Aqqi, the water-drawer, set me up as his gardener.
As a gardener, Ishtar, loved me;
For 55 years I ruled as king.
Contract and Envelope
Some clay tablets were
wrapped in an extra layer
of clay which acted like an
envelope. A version of the
information on the tablet
was sometimes written on
the envelope.
Part of this envelope has
broken off, showing the
top of the tablet inside.
Why were some tablets sealed in
envelopes?
Envelopes were for security. If important
information was written on a tablet, for example
the amount of silver being sent with a merchant,
it was covered in an clay envelope.
If somebody questioned the amount of silver, the
envelope could be broken and the tablet read.
It would not have been possible to change the
numbers on the tablet inside the envelope.
This envelope was
sealed with a cylinder
seal.
Writing Boards
Scribes sometimes used
cuneiform on writing
boards. These boards were
made of wood or ivory with
a writing surface covered
with wax. The wax could be
melted and reused.
This is an ivory writing
board from about 715 B.C.
It was found in a well at
Nimrud.
This tablet is a
multiplication table for the
number 13.
It was very important for
scribes to know and
understand the number
systems so they could
work out mathematical
problems and record
numbers properly.