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History of Written Language (view source)
Revision as of 03:49, January 4, 2010
, 03:49, January 4, 2010→Sumer
==Sumer==
==Sumer==
In the "fertile Crescent," which is modern-day Iraq, the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations developed a writing system known as cuneiform. Cuneiform appears to have developed as a tallying system developed for commercial trade. As the economy of the region diversified, it became necessary to keep track of transactions, as well as to write contracts and legal codes.
As the tallying system used by the early Sumerians became more complex, the cuneiform symbols began to represent individual sounds, which came from the first sound of the word they once represented.
One of the earliest complete documents we have is the Sumerian King List, which listed the kings of ancient Sumer. This list provides extra-biblical evidence of an ancient flood which covered the entire Earth.
By the 7th century BC, cuneiform was sufficiently complex to allow the writing of the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]], one of the earliest works of literature.
==Egypt==
==Egypt==
[[Image:EgyptianHieroglyphs.jpg|150px|thumb|Hieroglyphs from the Greco-Roman period.]]
[[Image:EgyptianHieroglyphs.jpg|150px|thumb|Hieroglyphs from the Greco-Roman period.]]