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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. Writing System.
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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. Writing System
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:
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. Scribes
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. Cylinder Seals
This ancient cylinder seal has been rolled out onto modern modelling clay to show the impression.
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. Seals and Signatures
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.
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. Curriculum Tablet
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.
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. Contract and Envelope
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. Why were some tablets sealed in envelopes?
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. Writing Boards
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.
