Development and the Importance of Writing

1. Development and the Importance of Writing SSUSH 1d SSUSH1e

2. Writing of the Sumerians • The Sumerians are credited with inventing the oldest form of writing, cuneiform. • Cuneiform means wedge shaped. • Used primarily for record keeping • Texts of cuneiform used to train scribes • Scribes came to hold the most important positions in Sumerian society • The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian writing

3. Writing and Education • Writing in Egypt emerged around 3000 BCE • The Greeks called this earliest writing hieroglyphics, meaning sacred writings. • Eventually a simplified version called hieratic script came into being. • Written on stone and then papyrus • Scribes were the masters of the art of writing and its teaching. • At the age of 10, boys of upper classes went to schools run by scribes

5. The Phoenicians • Lived in the area of Palestine along the Mediterranean coast on a narrow band of land 120 miles long. • After the downfall of the Hittites and Egyptians the political independence of the Phoenicians helped them expand their trade.

6. The Phoenicians • Chiefcities- Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon- ports on the Eastern Mediterranean • Produced a number of goods including purple dye, glass, and lumber • Improved their ships, became great international sea traders and created a trade empire • Charted new routes and set up colonies in the Western Mediterranean • Carthage was their most famous colony.

7. The Phoenician Alphabet • The Phoenicians are best known for their alphabet. • They spoke a Semitic language • 22 different signs to represent the sounds of their speech • These characters, or letters, could be used to spell out all the words in the Phoenician language. • Eventually passed on to the Greeks. • From the Greek alphabet was derived the Roman alphabet we still use today.

8. Phoenician Alphabet Compared to Egyptian