Cuneiform [note 1] is a logo - syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. [4] The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. [5] It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions ( Latin: cuneus) which form its signs.
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- (Proto-writing)Cuneiform
- Cuneiform
cuneiform, system of writing used in the ancient Middle East. The name, a coinage from Latin and Middle French roots meaning “wedge-shaped,” has been the modern designation from the early 18th century onward. Cuneiform was the most widespread and historically significant writing system in the ancient Middle East. Its active history comprised the last three millennia bce, its long ...
- Jaan Puhvel
Cuneiform was also used to write stories, myths, and personal letters. The latest known example of cuneiform is an astronomical text from 75 C.E. During its 3,000-year history, cuneiform was used to write around 15 different languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite, Urartian, and Old Persian.
- Why does is say "Hebrew BIble" instead of the Torah? or at least have "Torah" in parenthesize?"Torah" often refers specifically to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Sometimes it has other and broader meanings, but by saying "Hebrew B...
- Since the flood stories of Noah and Utnapishtim bear so many similarities what is the likelihood tha...A lot of cultures have flood stories. Actually, almost all cultures have flood stories. With some inconsistencies, they are all very similar. They...
- Where scribes very rich or poorly paidIn Mesopotamia, scribes are generally not 'wealthy' in a monetary sense. In Sumeria scribes are free men, yet belong to the lower class, usually re...
- Speaking of the planets and what not, was astronomy a large conception back then? I would suppose it...The Sumerians mark the beginning of the field of astronomy.
- did they have to memorize the Sumerian alphabet?The only people who had to memorize the Sumerian alphabet (if, indeed, it could be characterized as an alphabet) would have been those learning to...
- why did it say Hebrew Bible and why not Torah you and me both Hank Galvord"Hebrew Bible" is a larger category than merely the Torah. Yes, the Noah story is contained in the Torah, but that is only one part of the Hebrew B...
- How did they have the patients to do all that work in using cuneiform?Ask any writer and I bet they tell you it is the intellectual effort that is the challenging part, not physically forming the letters. I Imagine th...
- Why is Cuneiform so important?it would be very important to them. In temples they would have lots of animals taken in every day and it would be like: How many cows did we get to...
- DictionaryCu·ne·i·form/kyo͞oˈnēəˌfôrm/
adjective
- 1. denoting or relating to the wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Ugarit, surviving mainly impressed on clay tablets: "a cuneiform inscription"
noun
- 1. cuneiform writing: "a Mesopotamian script pre-dating cuneiform"
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- Early Cuneiform
- Development of Cuneiform
- Cuneiform Decipherment & Impact
- Conclusion
The earliest cuneiform tablets, known as proto-cuneiform, were pictorial, as the subjects they addressed were more concrete and visible (a king, a battle, a flood) and were developed in response to the need for long-distance communication in trade. Sophisticated compositions were unnecessary since all that was required was an understanding of the t...
One no longer had to struggle with the meaning of a pictograph; one now read a word-concept, which more clearly conveyed the meaning of the writer. The number of characters used in writing was also reduced from over 1,000 to 600 in order to simplify and clarify the written word. The best example of this is given by scholar PaulKriwaczek who notes t...
The great literary works of Mesopotamia such as the Atrahasis, The Descent of Inanna,The Myth of Etana, the Enuma Elish, and the famous Epic of Gilgameshwere all written in cuneiform and were completely unknown until the mid-19th century when men like George Smith, the Reverend Edward Hincks, Jules Oppert, and Rawlinson deciphered the language and ...
Along with other Assyriologists (among them, T. G. Pinches and Edwin Norris), Rawlinson spearheaded the development of Mesopotamian language studies, and his Cuneiform Inscriptions of Ancient Babylon and Assyria, along with his other works, became the standard reference on the subject following their publication in the 1860s and remain respected sc...
- Joshua J. Mark
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Jan 21, 2021 · Cuneiform is not a language but a proper way of writing distinct from the alphabet. It doesn't have 'letters' – instead it uses between 600 and 1,000 characters impressed on clay to spell words by dividing them up into syllables, like 'ca-at' for cat, or 'mu-zi-um' for museum. Other signs stood for whole words, like our '£' standing for ...
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- Cuneiform
Ancient writing system used for many languages, including Akkadian and Hittite
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions which form its signs. Cuneiform was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Cuneiform is t... Wikipedia
