The History of Writing - Where the Story Begins - Extra History

Summary

This episode explores the history of writing, starting in ancient Sumer where writing began as a tool for recording temple inventories. The script explains how pictograms evolved into abstract symbols representing words and sounds, influenced by the Sumerian language's monosyllabic structure. The clay medium and writing direction also played a role in the development of cuneiform. The episode suggests that writing systems in Mesoamerica, China, the Indus Valley, and Egypt may have been inspired by Sumerian innovations.

Takeaways

• 📜 Writing is one of humanity's oldest technologies, dating back 5,600 years.
• 🌏 The first widespread use of writing originated in ancient Sumer.
• 🛕 Temples played a significant role in the development of writing due to their function as both religious centers and massive warehouses.
• 📊 Writing began as a means to keep records of goods, like grain, in temple complexes.
• 🖋️ Early writing involved making marks on clay tablets, with symbols representing items and later their corresponding sounds.
• 🔄 The Sumerian language, with its mono-syllabic words, facilitated the transition from pictorial symbols to abstract representations and sounds.
• 🐄 The symbol for 'cow' evolved to represent both the concept and the sound of the word, expanding the utility of writing.
• 🔄 The physical medium of clay influenced the direction of writing, which initially was vertical but shifted to horizontal to prevent smudging.
• 🔄 The rotation of characters by 90 degrees allowed for left-to-right reading while maintaining the original top-to-bottom orientation for those accustomed to it.
• 🌐 The writing system was later adopted and further abstracted by neighboring civilizations like the Akkadians and Elamites.
• 🔥 The preservation of clay tablets, especially in burned cities, has allowed us to study early writing systems.
• 🌐 Other regions like Mesoamerica and China developed writing independently, while the origins in the Indus Valley and Egypt are debated.

Q & A

What is considered one of mankind's most enduring technologies?

Writing is considered one of mankind's most enduring technologies, having allowed the transmission of thoughts over generations and the expression of ideas across space and time.

Why was the development of writing crucial in ancient Sumer?

In ancient Sumer, writing was crucial because it allowed the recording of transactions and the management of the vast wealth stored in temple complexes, which served as warehouses for the city's resources.

What was the primary purpose of the temples in Sumerian cities?

The temples in Sumerian cities primarily served as houses of worship and also functioned as enormous warehouses to store the city's wealth, ensuring the cities' functionality.

How did the Sumerians initially keep records of their economic activities?

The Sumerians initially kept records by making tally marks on clay tablets, which were then stored for priests to track the temple's inventory.

What was the significance of the clay tablet and the marks made on it?

The clay tablet was significant because it was the medium on which early writing was done. The marks, initially tally marks, evolved into more abstract symbols representing both the concept and the word for common goods.

How did the Sumerian language contribute to the development of writing?

The Sumerian language, with its predominantly mono-syllabic words and concept-building structure, facilitated the transition from pictorial symbols to abstract symbols representing sounds, which could then be combined to form words.

What was the 'happy accident' of linguistics that influenced the development of writing?

The 'happy accident' was the realization that symbols could represent not only the concept of an object but also the sound of the word, allowing for the creation of new words and concepts by combining sounds.

Why did the direction of writing change from top to bottom to left to right?

The direction of writing changed to left to right to reduce the risk of smudging wet clay while writing. This change was more efficient for scribes but initially less intuitive for readers accustomed to top-to-bottom reading.

How did the Sumerians address the issue of readability when changing the direction of writing?

To address the issue of readability, Sumerian scribes rotated all characters 90 degrees, allowing people to turn the tablet and read it from top to bottom as they were used to doing.

What was the impact of the clay medium on the evolution of writing?

The clay medium led to the development of cuneiform, a system of wedge-shaped impressions made by a stylus. This change in medium abstracted the writing further from the original pictorial representations.

How has the writing system developed from its origins in Sumer?

The writing system evolved from simple pictograms to a complex system capable of representing abstract concepts, eventually being adopted and further abstracted by neighboring cultures like the Akkadians and Elamites, who added determinatives to clarify parts of speech.

Why have clay tablets been so valuable for understanding the history of writing?

Clay tablets have been valuable because they are preserved when baked in fires, allowing historians to study the earliest examples of writing and trace the development of the written word.