History of writing: Difference between revisions
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| title = History of writing |
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| image = [[File:Historical Writing Systems.jpg|260px|alt=Historical Writing Systems Template Image]] |
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| caption = Six major historical writing systems (left to right, top to bottom: [[Cuneiform#Sumerian pictographs (circa 3300 BC)|Sumerian pictographs]], [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], [[Chinese characters|Chinese syllabograms]], [[Old Persian cuneiform]], [[Roman alphabet]], [[Devanagari|Indian Devanagari]]) |
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[[File:Writing system survey.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Survey of eight prominent scripts (left to right, top to bottom): [[Sumerian cuneiform]], [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], [[Chinese characters]], [[Maya script]], [[Devanagari]], [[Latin alphabet]], [[Arabic alphabet]], [[Braille]]]] |
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{{Human history}} |
{{Human history}} |
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The '''history of writing''' traces the development of [[writing system]]s{{sfnp|Daniels|1996|p=3}} and how their use transformed and was transformed by different societies. The use of writing prefigures various social and psychological consequences associated with [[literacy]] and literary culture. |
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Each historical invention of writing emerged from systems of [[proto-writing]] that used [[ideographic]] and [[mnemonic]] symbols but were not capable of fully recording spoken language. ''True writing'', where the content of linguistic [[utterance]]s can be accurately reconstructed by later readers, is a later development. As proto-writing is not capable of fully reflecting the grammar and lexicon used in languages, it is often difficult or impossible to deduce what the author intended to communicate. |
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The '''history of writing''' traces the development of expressing language by systems and techniques of markings{{sfn|Daniels|1996|loc="The Study of Writing Systems", p. 3}} and how these markings were used for various purposes in different societies, thereby transforming social organization. Writing systems are the foundation of [[literacy]] and literacy learning, with all the social and psychological consequences associated with literacy activities. |
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Early uses of writing included documenting agricultural transactions and contracts, but it was soon used in the areas of finance, religion, government, and law. Writing allowed the spread of these social modalities and their associated knowledge, and ultimately the further centralization of political power.{{sfnp|Goody|1986|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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In the history of how [[writing system]]s have evolved in human [[civilization]]s, more complete writing systems were preceded by ''[[proto-writing]]'', systems of [[ideographic]] or early [[mnemonic]] symbols (symbols or letters that make remembering them easier). ''True writing'', in which the content of a [[linguistic utterance]] is encoded so that another reader can reconstruct, with a fair degree of accuracy, the exact utterance written down, is a later development. It is distinguished from proto-writing, which typically avoids encoding [[grammatical words]] and [[affix]]es, making it more difficult or even impossible to reconstruct the exact meaning intended by the writer unless a great deal of context is already known in advance. |
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== Terminology == |
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The earliest uses of writing in [[Sumer]] were to document agricultural produce and create contracts, but soon writing became used for purposes of finances, religion, government, and law. These uses supported the spread of these social activities, their associated knowledge, and the extension of centralized power.<ref name=":5">{{cite book |last=Goody |first=J. |date=1986 |title=The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> Writing then became the basis of knowledge institutions such as [[Library|libraries]], [[school]]s, [[University|universities]] and [[Science|scientific]] and disciplinary [[research]]. These uses were accompanied by the proliferation of [[Genre studies|genres]], which typically initially contained markers or reminders of the social situations and uses, but the social meaning and implications of genres often became more implicit as the social functions of these genres became more recognizable in themselves, as in the examples of [[money]], [[currency]], [[financial instrument]]s, and now [[digital currency]]. |
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{{Main|Writing system}} |
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Writing systems typically satisfy three criteria. Firstly, the writing must have some purpose or meaning to it, and a point must be communicated by the text. Secondly, writing systems make use of specific symbols which may be recorded on some [[writing medium]]. Thirdly, the symbols used in writing generally correspond to elements of spoken language.{{sfnp|Fischer|2003|pp=15–16}} In general, systems of [[symbolic communication]] like signage, painting, maps, and mathematics are distinguished from writing systems, which require knowledge of an associated spoken language to read a text. |
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The norms of writing generally evolve more slowly than those of speech; as a result, linguistic features are frequently preserved in the written form of a language after they cease to appear in the corresponding spoken language.{{sfnp|Fischer|2003|p=8}} |
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== Writing systems == |
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{{Main|Writing system}} |
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== Emergence == |
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{{multiple image |
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{{See also|List of languages by first written account}} |
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| [[File:Cities of Sumer (en).svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Population centres of [[Sumer]] in southern [[Mesopotamia]]]] |
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| [[File:Tableta con trillo.png|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Kish tablet]], bearing what is possibly the earliest known writing{{snd}}Sumer ({{circa|3500 BC}}), from the [[Ashmolean Museum]]]] |
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| header = [[Accounting token]]s |
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| image1 = Accountancy clay envelope Louvre Sb1932.jpg |
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| caption1 = [[Bulla (seal)|Clay bulla]] and tokens, 4000–3100 BCE, [[Susa]] |
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| image2 = Numerical tablet Khafaje OIM A21310.jpg |
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| caption2 = [[History of ancient numeral systems#Proto-cuneiform|Numerical tablet]], 3500-3350 BCE (Uruk V phase), [[Khafajah]] |
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| image3 = Pre-cuneiform tags, Sumer.jpg |
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| caption3 = Pre-cuneiform tags, with drawing of goat or sheep and number (probably "10"), [[Al-Hasakah]], 3300–3100 BCE, [[Uruk period|Uruk culture]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Image gallery: tablet / cast |url=https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=232611001&objectId=327223&partId=1 |website=[[British Museum]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=C. B. F. |title=Cuneiform |date=1987 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-06115-6 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPHj37r09EMC&pg=PA9 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> |
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Before the 20th century, most scholarly theories of the origins of writing involved some form of [[Monogenesis (linguistics)|monogenesis]],{{sfnmp|1a1=Olson|1a2=Torrance|1y=2009|1p=59|2a1=Condorelli|2y=2022|2p=19}} the assumption that writing had been invented only once as [[cuneiform]] in ancient [[Sumer]], and spread across the world from there via [[cultural diffusion]].{{sfnp|Olson|Torrance|2009|p=59}} According to these theories, writing was such a particular technology that exposure through activities like trade was a much more likely means of acquisition than independent reinvention. Specifically, many theories were dependent on a literal account of the [[Book of Genesis]], including the emphases it placed on [[Mesopotamia]].{{sfnp|Daniels|1996|p=24}} Over time, greater awareness of the systems of pre-Columbian [[Mesoamerica]] conclusively established that writing had been independently invented multiple times. Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognized{{sfnp|Condorelli|2022|p=19}}—in Mesopotamia ({{circa|3400–3100 BC}}), Egypt ({{circa|3250 BC|lk=no}}),{{sfnp|Regulski|2016}}{{sfnp|Wengrow|2011|pp=99–103}}{{sfnp|Olson|Torrance|2009|p=59}} China (before {{circa|1250 BC|lk=no}}),{{sfnp|Boltz|1994|p=31}} and Mesoamerica (before {{circa|1 AD|lk=no}}).{{sfnp|Fagan|Beck|Michaels|Scarre|1996|p=762}} |
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Sumerian cuneiform and [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]] both gradually evolved from proto-writing between 3400 and 3100 BC. The [[Proto-Elamite script]] is also believed to have been in use during this period.{{sfnp|Walker|1989|pp=7-9}} Regarding Egyptian hieroglyphs,{{sfnp|Regulski|2016}}{{sfnp|Baines|2004}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dreyer |first=Günter |title=Umm el-Qaab I. Das prädynastische Königsgrab U-j und seine frühen Schriftzeugnisse |publisher=Philip von Zabern |year=1998 |isbn=978-3-8053-2486-1 |location=Mainz |language=de |trans-title=Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb U-j and its early written evidence}}</ref> scholars point to very early differences with Sumerian cuneiform "in structure and style" as to why the two systems "(must) have developed independently," and if any "stimulus diffusion" of writing did occur, it only served to transmit the bare idea of writing between cultures.{{sfnp|Regulski|2016}}{{sfnp|Woods|2010|pp=15–25}} Due to the lack of direct evidence for the transfer of writing, "no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt."{{sfnp|Krebs|Krebs|2003|p=91}} |
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Writing systems typically satisfy three criteria: firstly, writing must be complete with a purpose or some sort of meaning to it, and a point must be made or communicated in the text; secondly, all writing systems must have a set of symbols which can be made on some sort of [[writing material]], whether physical or digital; thirdly, the symbols used in the writing system usually mimic spoken word/speech in order for communication to be possible.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A History of Reading |last1=Fischer |first1=Steven R. |isbn=9781789140682 |oclc=1101969075 |date=March 2018|publisher=Reaktion Books }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}} [[Symbolic communication|Symbolic communication system]]s are distinguished from [[writing system]]s. With writing systems, one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. In contrast, symbolic systems, such as [[information sign]]s, [[painting]], [[map]]s, and [[mathematics]], often do not require prior knowledge of a spoken language. |
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During the 1990s, symbols originally inscribed between 3400 and 3200 BC were discovered at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], which shed some doubt on the previous notion that the Mesopotamian sign system predated the Egyptian one.<ref name="Mitchell1999" /> However, scholars have noted that the attestation at Abydos is singular and sudden, while the gradual evolution of the Mesopotamian system is lengthy and well-documented, with its predecessor token system used in agriculture and accounting attested as early as 8000 BC.{{sfnmp|Schmandt-Besserat|1992a|1p=7|Condorelli|2022|2p=21}} |
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[[File:Proto-cuneiform sexagesimal type Sa.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|Early [[Proto-cuneiform]] (4th millennium BCE) and [[cuneiform]] signs for the [[sexagesimal]] system (60, 600, 3600, etc.).]] |
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As there is no evidence of contact between the Chinese [[Shang dynasty]] ({{circa|1600|1050 BC|lk=no}}) and the literate civilizations of the Near East,{{sfnp|Keightley|Barnard|1983|pp=415–416}} and the methods of [[logographic]] and [[phonetic]] representation in [[Chinese characters]] are distinct from those used in cuneiform and hieroglyphs, [[written Chinese]] is considered to be an independent development.{{sfnp|Condorelli|2022|p=19}} |
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Every human community possesses language; although the [[origin of language]] is disputed, it is often regarded as an innate and defining condition of humanity. However, the development of writing systems and their partial replacement of traditional [[Orality|oral]] systems of communication have been sporadic, uneven, and slow. Once established, writing systems on the whole change more slowly than their spoken counterparts and often preserve features and expressions that no longer exist in the spoken language. The greatest benefit of writing is that it provides the tool by which society can record information consistently and in greater detail, something that could not be achieved as well previously by spoken word. Writing allows societies to transmit information and to share and preserve knowledge. |
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=== |
=== Proto-writing === |
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{{Main| |
{{Main|Proto-writing}} |
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{{mim |perrow=2/1|total_width=280|align=right|caption_align=center |
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| header = [[Accounting token]]s |
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| image1 = Accountancy clay envelope Louvre Sb1932.jpg |
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| caption1 = Clay [[Bulla (seal)|bulla]] and tokens{{snd}}[[Susa]] {{nwr|(4000–3100 BC)}} |
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| image2 = Numerical tablet Khafaje OIM A21310.jpg |
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| caption2 = [[History of ancient numeral systems#Proto-cuneiform|Numerical tablet]]{{snd}}[[Khafajah]], Uruk V {{nwr|(3500–3350 BC)}} |
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| image3 = Pre-cuneiform tags, Sumer.jpg |
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| caption3 = Pre-cuneiform tags depicting a goat or sheep alongside a numeral, likely "10"{{snd}}[[Al-Hasakah]] (3300–3100 BC)<ref>{{Cite object |title=Cast; tablet |id=C.206 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_C-206 |museum=[[British Museum]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=C. B. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPHj37r09EMC&pg=PA9 |title=Cuneiform |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-520-06115-6 |page=9 |via=Google Books}}</ref> |
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}} |
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[[File:Tortoise shell engraved symbol (Jiahu; cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Turtle plastron inscribed with an eye-like symbol{{snd}}[[Jiahu]], China {{nwr|({{circa|6000 BC|lk=no}})}}]] |
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In each case where writing was invented independently, it emerged from systems of [[proto-writing]], which used [[ideographic]] and [[mnemonic]] symbols to communicate information, but did not record human language directly. Historically, most proto-writing systems did not produce writing systems; the earliest writing dates to the [[Early Bronze Age]] (3300–2100 BC), but proto-writing is attested as early as the 7th millennium BC. Examples of proto-writing during the Neolithic and Bronze Age include: |
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* The [[Jiahu symbols]] carved into tortoise shells, found in 24 [[Neolithic]] graves excavated at [[Jiahu]] in northern China and dated to the 7th millennium BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=12 June 2003 |title=Archaeologists Rewrite History |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |url-status=live |journal=China Daily |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026123513/http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |archive-date=26 October 2018 |access-date=21 August 2006}}</ref> The majority of the signs uncovered were inscribed individually or in small groups on different shells.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pilcher |first=Helen R. |date=30 April 2003 |title=Earliest Handwriting Found? Chinese Relics Hint at Neolithic Rituals |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/news030428-7 |quote=Symbols carved into tortoise shells more than 8,000 years ago ... unearthed at a mass-burial site at Jiahu in the Henan Province of western China}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Li |first=X. |last2=Harbottle |first2=G. |last3=Zhang |first3=J. |last4=Wang |first4=C. |year=2003 |title=The Earliest Writing? Sign Use in the Seventh Millennium BCE at Jiahu, Henan Province, China |journal=Antiquity |volume=77 |issue=295 |pages=31–44 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00061329 |s2cid=162602307}}</ref> Most archaeologists consider the Jiahu symbols as not directly linked to the emergence of true writing.{{sfnp|Houston|2004|pp=245–246}} |
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* The [[Vinča symbols]] found on artefacts of the [[Vinča culture]] of central and southeastern Europe, dated to the 6th–5th millennia BC.{{sfnp|Haarmann|2002|loc=ch. 10: 5300–3200 BC}} |
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* The [[Indus script]] attested in short inscriptions between 2600 and 2000 BC.{{sfnp|Sproat|2010|p=110}} |
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Later examples include [[quipu]], a system of knotted cords used as mnemonic devices within the [[Inca Empire]] (15th century AD).{{sfnp|Coulmas|2002|p=20}} |
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[[File:Lascaux 04 (with circle).jpg|thumb|Art of [[Lascaux]], with painted animal, and four dots, a possible notation for [[Lunar month]]s.<ref name="CAJ"/>]] |
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Some notational signs, used next to images of animals, may have appeared as early as the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] in Europe circa 35,000 BCE, and may be the earliest proto-writing: several symbols were used in combination as a way to convey seasonal behavioural information about hunted animals.<ref name="CAJ">{{cite journal |last1=Bacon |first1=Bennett |last2=Khatiri |first2=Azadeh |last3=Palmer |first3=James |last4=Freeth |first4=Tony |last5=Pettitt |first5=Paul |last6=Kentridge |first6=Robert |title= An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar |journal=[[Cambridge Archaeological Journal]] |date=5 January 2023 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/an-upper-palaeolithic-protowriting-system-and-phenological-calendar/6F2AD8A705888F2226FE857840B4FE19 1–19] |doi=10.1017/S0959774322000415 |s2cid=255723053|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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=== Recording history === |
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The origins of writing are more generally attributed to the start of the [[Late Neolithic|pottery-phase of the Neolithic]], when clay tokens were used to record specific amounts of livestock or commodities.<ref name="ANE25" /> These tokens were initially impressed on the surface of [[History of ancient numeral systems#Clay token|round clay envelopes]] and then stored in them.<ref name="ANE25" /> The tokens were then progressively replaced by flat tablets, on which signs were recorded with a stylus. Actual writing is first recorded in [[Uruk]], at the end of the 4th millennium BCE, and soon after in various parts of the Near East.<ref name="ANE25">"Beginning in the pottery-phase of the Neolithic, clay tokens are widely attested as a system of counting and identifying specific amounts of specified livestock or commodities. The tokens, enclosed in clay envelopes after being impressed on their rounded surface, were gradually replaced by impressions on flat or plano-convex tablets, and these in turn by more or less conventionalized pictures of the tokens incised on the clay with a reed stylus. That final step completed the transition to full writing, and with it the consequent ability to record contemporary events for posterity".{{cite book |title=The Ancient Near East |first1=W. |last1=Hallo |first2=W. |last2=Simpson |location=New York |publisher=Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich |year=1971 |page=25}}</ref> |
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{{Main|Recorded history|Ancient literature}} |
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The origins of writing are more generally attributed to the start of the [[Late Neolithic]], when clay tokens were used to record specific amounts of livestock or commodities. These tokens were initially impressed on the surface of [[History of ancient numeral systems#Clay token|round clay envelopes]] and then stored in them. The tokens were then progressively replaced by flat tablets, on which signs were recorded with a stylus. Actual writing is first recorded in [[Uruk]] (modern Iraq), at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and soon after in various parts of the Near East.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hallo |first=William W. |title=The Ancient Near East |last2=Simpson |first2=William Kelly |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-15-502755-8 |location=New York |page=25 |quote=Beginning in the pottery-phase of the Neolithic, clay tokens are widely attested as a system of counting and identifying specific amounts of specified livestock or commodities. The tokens, enclosed in clay envelopes after being impressed on their rounded surface, were gradually replaced by impressions on flat or plano-convex tablets, and these in turn by more or less conventionalized pictures of the tokens incised on the clay with a reed stylus. That final step completed the transition to full writing, and with it the consequent ability to record contemporary events for posterity}}</ref> |
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An ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n poem gives the first known story of the invention of writing: |
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[[File:Tableta con trillo.png|thumb|upright=1.2|left|The [[Kish tablet]] from [[Sumer]], with pictographic writing. This may be the earliest known writing, 3500 BCE.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} [[Ashmolean Museum]]]] |
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{{Blockquote|Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat (the message), the Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet. Until then, there had been no putting words on clay.|Sumerian epic poem ''[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]''. {{Circa|1800 BCE}}.{{sfn|Daniels|1996|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ospMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 45]}}<ref name="Boudreau 2004 p71">{{harvnb|Boudreau|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC&pg=PA71 71]}}</ref>}} |
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Scholars make a reasonable distinction between [[prehistory]] and [[history]] of early writing<ref name="Shotwell1922">{{cite book |last=Shotwell |first=James Thomson |title=An Introduction to the History of History: Records of civilization, sources and studies |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |date=1922}}</ref> but have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became "true writing". The definition is largely subjective.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smail |first=Daniel Lord |title=On Deep History and the Brain: An Ahmanson foundation book in the humanities |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=2008}}</ref> Writing, in its most general terms, is a method of recording information and is composed of [[grapheme]]s, which may, in turn, be composed of [[glyph]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bricker |first1=Victoria Reifler |last2=Andrews |first2=Patricia A. |title=Epigraphy: Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, v. 5. |location=Austin |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |date=1992}}</ref> |
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The emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary [[inscription]]s. Historians mark the "historicity" of a culture by the presence of coherent texts in the culture's writing system(s).<ref name="Shotwell1922" /> |
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=== Inventions of writing === |
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{{See also|List of languages by first written accounts}} |
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[[File:Cities of Sumer (en).svg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Sumer]], an ancient civilization of southern [[Mesopotamia]], is believed to be the place where [[written language]] was first invented around 3200 BCE]] |
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Writing was long thought to have been invented in a single civilization, a theory named "[[Monogenesis (linguistics)|monogenesis]]".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TyOC9nqEokC&pg=PA59 |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy |last1=Olson |first1=David R. |last2=Torrance |first2=Nancy |date=16 February 2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521862202 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Scholars believed that all writing originated in ancient [[Sumer]] (in [[Mesopotamia]]) and spread over the world from there via a process of [[cultural diffusion]].<ref name=":1" /> According to this theory, the concept of representing language by written marks, though not necessarily the specifics of how such a system worked, was passed on by traders or merchants traveling between geographical regions.{{efn|More recent examples of this include [[Cherokee syllabary]] and [[Pahawh Hmong]], scripts devised by persons who were themselves illiterate, but familiar with the concept of written language.}}{{sfn|Daniels|1996|loc="The First Civilizations", p. 24}} |
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However, non-Mesoamerican scholars eventually learned of the scripts of ancient [[Mesoamerica]], far away from Middle Eastern sources, proving to them that writing had been invented more than once. Scholars now recognize that writing may have independently developed in at least four ancient civilizations: [[Mesopotamia]] (between 3400 and 3100 BCE), [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] (around 3250 BCE),<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Regulski |first=Ilona |date=2 May 2016 |title=The Origins and Early Development of Writing in Egypt |journal=Oxford Handbooks Online |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.013.61 |isbn=978-0-19-993541-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite contribution |last1=Wengrow |first1=David |author-link=David Wengrow |title=The Invention of Writing in Egypt |work=Before the Pyramids: Origin of Egyptian Civilization |editor1-last=Teeter |editor1-first=Emily |publisher=Oriental Institute, [[University of Chicago]] |year=2011 |pages=99–103}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> [[Ancient China|China]] (1200 BCE),<ref>{{cite book |last=Boltz |first=William |year=1994 |title=The origin and early development of the Chinese writing system |publisher=[[American Oriental Society]] |page=31}}</ref> and lowland areas of [[Mesoamerica]] (by 500 BCE).<ref name="FaganBeck1996">{{cite book |chapter=Writing: Introduction |title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507618-9 |editor1-last=Fagan |editor1-first=Brian M. |editor2-last=Beck |editor2-first=Charlotte |editor3-last=Michaels |editor3-first=George |editor4-last=Scarre |editor4-first=Chris |editor5-last=Silberman |editor5-first=Neil Asher |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA762 |page=762 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195076189.001.0001 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> |
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Regarding ancient Egypt, it was once believed the Egyptians had learned the idea of writing from Sumerians.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/definition/hieroglyphics/|title=Hieroglyphics|website=New Scientist|access-date=September 11, 2023}}</ref> However, several scholars<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Baines|2004}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dreyer |first1=G. |year=1998 |title=Umm el-Qaab I. Das prädynastische Königsgrab U-j und seine frühen Schriftzeugnisse |trans-title=Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb U-j and its early written evidence |location=Mainz, Germany |publisher=Philip von Zabern |language=de}}</ref> have argued that "the earliest solid evidence of Egyptian writing differs in structure and style from the Mesopotamian and must therefore have developed independently. The possibility of [[Egypt–Mesopotamia relations|'stimulus diffusion' from Mesopotamia]] remains, but the influence cannot have gone beyond the transmission of an idea."<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Woods |first=Christopher |chapter=Visible language: the earliest writing systems |title=Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond |publisher=The Oriental Institute of the [[University of Chicago]] |location=Chicago |year=2010 |pages=15–25}}</ref> |
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Regarding China, it is believed that [[Oracle bone script|ancient Chinese characters]] are an independent invention because there is no evidence of contact between ancient China and the literate civilizations of the Near East,<ref>{{cite book |first1=David N. |last1=Keightley |first2=Noel |last2=Barnard |title=The Origins of Chinese civilization |date=January 1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-vdP2aZWhUC&pg=PA415 |pages=415–416 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520042292 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and because of the distinct differences between the Mesopotamian and Chinese approaches to [[logogram|logography]] and [[Phonetics|phonetic]] representation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Gwendolyn |title=Sex and eroticism in Mesopotamian literature |date=1994 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |isbn=9780203462751 |page=3}}</ref> |
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Debate surrounds the [[Indus script]] of the [[Bronze Age]] [[Indus Valley civilisation]], the [[Rongorongo]] script of [[Easter Island]], and the [[Vinča symbols]] dated around 5500 BCE. All are [[Undeciphered writing systems|undeciphered]], and so it is unknown if they represent authentic writing, [[proto-writing]], or something else. |
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The [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] archaic (pre-[[cuneiform]]) writing and [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]] are generally considered the earliest true writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3100 BCE, with earliest coherent texts from about [[26th century BC|2600 BCE]]. The [[Proto-Elamite|Proto-Elamite script]] is also dated to the same approximate period.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=.C. |title=Reading The Past Cuneiform |date=1989 |publisher=[[British Museum]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/Walker.C.ReadingThePastCuneiform/page/n15 7]-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/Walker.C.ReadingThePastCuneiform |language=en}}</ref> |
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=== Developmental stages === |
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{{needs additional citations|section|date=December 2023}} |
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[[File:Development of writing.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Standard reconstruction of the development of writing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barraclough |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Stone |first2=Norman |title=The Times Atlas of World History |date=1989 |publisher=Hammond Incorporated |isbn=9780723003045 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780723003045/page/53 53] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780723003045 |url-access=registration |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Senner |first1=Wayne M. |title=The Origins of Writing |date=1991 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |isbn=9780803291676 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kc4xAlunCSEC&pg=PA77 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> There is a possibility that the [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian script]] was invented independently from the [[Mesopotamian script]].<ref name="Boudreau 2004 p71"/> This diagram excludes the writing systems found in Mesoamerica by 500 BCE.]] |
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[[File:Comparative evolution of Cuneiform, Egyptian and Chinese characters.svg|thumb|Comparative evolution from pictograms to abstract shapes, in [[Cuneiform|Mesopotamian Cuneiform]], [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] [[hieroglyph]]s and [[Chinese characters]]]] |
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A conventional "proto-writing to true writing" system follows a general series of developmental stages: |
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*''Picture writing system'': glyphs (simplified pictures) directly represent objects and concepts. In connection with this, the following substages may be distinguished: |
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** Mnemonic: glyphs primarily as a reminder. |
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** Pictographic: glyphs directly represent an object or a concept such as (A) chronological, (B) notices, (C) communications, (D) totems, titles, and names, (E) religious, (F) customs, (G) historical, and (H) biographical. |
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** Ideographic: graphemes are abstract symbols that directly represent an idea or concept. |
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*''Transitional system'': graphemes refer not only to the object or idea that it represents but to its name as well. |
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*''Phonetic system'': graphemes refer to sounds or spoken symbols, and the form of the grapheme is not related to its meanings. This resolves itself into the following substages: |
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** Verbal: grapheme ([[logogram]]) represents a whole word. |
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** Syllabic: grapheme represents a syllable. |
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** Alphabetic: grapheme represents an elementary sound. |
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The best known picture writing system of [[ideogram|ideographic]] or early [[mnemonic]] symbols are: |
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* [[Jiahu symbols]], carved on [[tortoise]] [[Animal shell|shells]] in [[Jiahu]], {{circa|6600 BCE}} |
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* [[Vinča symbols]] ([[Tărtăria tablets]]), {{circa|5300 BCE|lk=no}}{{sfn|Haarmann|2002|p=20}} |
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* Early [[Indus script]], {{circa|3100 BCE|lk=no}} |
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In the Old World, true writing systems developed from [[neolithic]] writing in the [[Early Bronze Age]] ([[4th millennium BC|4th millennium BCE]]). |
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=== Locations and timeframes === |
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[[File:Jiahu writing.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|Examples of the [[Jiahu symbol]]s, markings found on [[tortoise]] [[Animal shell|shells]], dated around 6000 BCE. Most of the signs were separately inscribed on different shells.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Helen R. |last=Pilcher |title=Earliest handwriting found? Chinese relics hint at Neolithic rituals |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=30 April 2003 |doi=10.1038/news030428-7 |quote=Symbols carved into tortoise shells more than 8,000 years ago ... unearthed at a mass-burial site at Jiahu in the Henan Province of western China}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=X. |last2=Harbottle |first2=G. |last3=Zhang |first3=J. |last4=Wang |first4=C. |title=The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BCE at Jiahu, Henan Province, China |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |volume=77 |pages=31–44 |date=2003|issue=295 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00061329 |s2cid=162602307}}</ref>]] |
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==== Proto-writing ==== |
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{{main|Proto-writing}} |
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{{Further|Prehistoric counting}} |
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{{See also|History of communication}} |
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The first [[writing system]]s of the [[Early Bronze Age]] were not a sudden invention. Rather, they were a development based on earlier traditions of [[symbol]] systems that cannot be classified as proper writing, but have many of the characteristics of writing. These systems may be described as "proto-writing". They used [[ideogram|ideographic]] or early [[mnemonic]] symbols to convey information, but it probably directly contained no [[natural language]]. |
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These systems emerged in the early [[Neolithic]] period, as early as the [[7th millennium BC|7th millennium BCE]], and include: |
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* The [[Jiahu symbols]] found carved in [[tortoise]] shells in 24 Neolithic graves excavated at [[Jiahu]], [[Henan]] province, northern China, with [[radiocarbon date]]s from the 7th millennium BCE.<ref name="China">{{Cite journal |journal=China Daily |date=12 June 2003 |title=Archaeologists Rewrite History |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |access-date=21 August 2006 |archive-date=26 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026123513/http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66806.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Most archaeologists consider these are not directly linked to the earliest true writing.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen D. |last=Houston |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2004 |pages=245–246 |isbn=978-0-521-83861-0}}</ref> |
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* [[Vinča symbols]], sometimes called the "Danube script", are a set of symbols found on [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic era]] (6th to 5th millennia BCE) artifacts from the [[Vinča culture]] of [[Central Europe]] and [[Southeast Europe]].{{sfn|Haarmann|2002|loc=ch. 10: 5300–3200 BC}} |
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* The [[Dispilio Tablet]] of the late 6th millennium may also be an example of proto-writing. |
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* The [[Indus script]], which from 3500 BCE to 1900 BCE was used for extremely short inscriptions. |
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Even after the Neolithic, several cultures went through an intermediate stage of proto-writing before they used proper writing. The [[quipu]] of the [[Incas]] (15th century CE), sometimes called "talking knots", may have been such a system. Another example is the pictographs invented by [[Uyaquk]] before the development of the [[Yugtun script|Yugtun syllabary]] for the Central Alaskan [[Yup'ik language]] in about 1900. |
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==== Bronze Age writing ==== |
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{{further|History of the alphabet}} |
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An ancient Sumerian poem gives the first known story of the invention of writing: |
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Writing emerged in many different cultures in the [[Bronze Age]]. Examples are the [[cuneiform]] writing of [[Sumer]], [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], [[Cretan hieroglyphs]], Chinese logographs, [[Indus script]], and the [[Olmec hieroglyphs]] of [[pre-Columbian era]] Mesoamerica. [[Chinese characters]] likely developed independently of the Middle Eastern scripts around 1600 BCE. The [[Mesoamerican writing systems]] (including Olmec and the [[Maya script]]) are also generally believed to have had independent origins. |
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{{blockquote|Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat (the message), the Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet. Until then, there had been no putting words on clay.|''[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]'' ({{circa|1800 BC|lk=no}}){{sfnp|Daniels|1996|p=45}}{{sfnp|Boudreau|2004|p=71}}}} |
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The emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary [[inscription]]s. Historians mark the "historicity" of a culture by the presence of coherent texts written by the culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shotwell |first=James Thomson |title=An Introduction to the History of History: Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1922 |location=New York}}</ref> Scholars have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became true writing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smail |first=Daniel Lord |title=On Deep History and the Brain: An Ahmanson Foundation Book in the Humanities |publisher=University of California Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-520-25812-9 |location=Berkeley}}</ref> |
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It is thought that the first true alphabetic writing was developed around 2000 BCE for [[Semitic languages|Semitic-speaking]] workers in the [[Sinai Peninsula]] by giving Egyptian [[Hieratic]] letters Semitic values (see [[history of the alphabet]] and [[Proto-Sinaitic script]]). The [[Geʽez script]] of [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]] is an evolution of the [[Ancient South Arabian script]], in which early [[Geʽez]] texts were originally written.<ref>Rodolfo Fattovich, "Akkälä Guzay" in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C''. Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz, 2003, p. 169.</ref> |
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== Bronze Age == |
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Most other alphabets in the world today either descended from this one innovation, many via the [[Phoenician alphabet]], or were directly inspired by its design. In Italy, about 500 years passed from the early [[Old Italic scripts]] to [[Plautus]] ({{circa|750–250 BCE|lk=no}}), and in the case of the [[Germanic peoples]], the corresponding time span is again similar, from the first [[Elder Futhark]] inscriptions to early texts like the ''[[Abrogans]]'' ({{circa|200–750 CE|lk=no}}). |
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=== Cuneiform === |
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[[File:P1150884 Louvre Uruk III tablette écriture précunéiforme AO19936 rwk.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Tablet with proto-cuneiform pictographic characters (end of 4th millennium BCE), [[Uruk period|Uruk III]]]] |
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{{Main|Cuneiform}} |
{{Main|Cuneiform}} |
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[[File:P1150884 Louvre Uruk III tablette écriture précunéiforme AO19936 rwk.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Tablet with proto-cuneiform pictographs{{snd}}[[Uruk period|Uruk III]] (late 4th millennium BC)]] |
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Sumerian writing evolved from a [[History of ancient numeral systems|system of clay tokens]] used to represent commodities. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, which recorded numbers using a round stylus pressed into the clay at different angles. This system was gradually augmented with [[pictographic]] marks indicating what was being counted, which were made using a sharp stylus. By the 29th century BC, writing used a wedge-shaped stylus and included phonetic elements representing syllables of the [[Sumerian language]], and gradually replaced round-stylus and sharp-stylus markings during the 27th and 26th centuries BC.{{sfnp|Schmandt-Besserat|1992a|pp=55–71}} Finally, cuneiform became a general-purpose writing system with logograms, syllables, and numerals. From the 26th century BC, the system was adapted to write the [[Akkadian language]], and from there to others, such as [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] and [[Hittite language|Hittite]]. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] and [[Old Persian]]. |
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=== Egyptian hieroglyphs === |
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The original Sumerian writing system derives from a [[History of writing ancient numbers#Clay tokens|system of clay tokens]] used to represent commodities. By the end of the [[4th millennium BC|4th millennium BCE]], this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, using a round-shaped stylus impressed into soft clay at different angles for recording numbers. This was gradually augmented with [[pictographic]] writing by using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted. By the 29th century BCE, writing, at first only for [[logogram]]s, using a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term [[cuneiform script|cuneiform]]) developed to include phonetic elements, gradually replacing round-stylus and sharp-stylus writing by around 2700–2500 BCE. About 2600 BCE, cuneiform began to represent syllables of the [[Sumerian language]]. Finally, cuneiform writing became a general purpose writing system for logograms, syllables, and numbers. From the 26th century BCE, this script was adapted to the [[Akkadian language]], and from there to others, such as [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] and [[Hittite language|Hittite]]. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] and [[Old Persian language|Old Persian]]. |
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==== Egyptian hieroglyphs ==== |
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[[File:Design of the Abydos token glyphs dated to 3400-3200 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Designs on some of the labels or tokens from [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], carbon-dated to circa 3400–3200 BCE and among the earliest form of writing in Egypt.<ref name="CS">{{cite book |last1=Scarre |first1=Chris |last2=Fagan |first2=Brian M. |title=Ancient Civilizations |date=2016 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781317296089 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAy4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell1999Quote" /> They are remarkably similar to contemporary clay tags from [[Uruk]], [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conference |first1=William Foxwell Albright Centennial |title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference |date=1996 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9780931464966 |pages=24–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC&pg=PA24 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>]] |
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{{Main|Egyptian hieroglyphs}} |
{{Main|Egyptian hieroglyphs}} |
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[[File:Design of the Abydos token glyphs dated to 3400-3200 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Designs on tokens bearing similarities to contemporary clay tags from [[Uruk]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC&pg=PA24 |title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-931464-96-6 |pages=24–25 |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{snd}}[[Abydos, Egypt]] (3400{{nbnd}}3200 BC)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scarre |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAy4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |title=Ancient Civilizations |last2=Fagan |first2=Brian M. |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-29608-9 |page=106 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell1999" />]] |
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[[Geoffrey Sampson]] states that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and, probably [were], invented under the influence of the latter",{{sfnp|Sampson|1990|p=78}} and that it is "probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1995 |title=Writing |encyclopedia=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&pg=PA1150 |last=Bromiley |first=Geoffrey W. |page=1150 |isbn=978-0-8028-3784-4 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1970 |edition=3rd |pages=43–44}}</ref>{{sfnp|Krebs|Krebs|2003|p=91}} However, more recent scholars have held that the evidence for direct influence is sparse. During the 1990s, the discovery of glyphs at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] dated between 3400 and 3200 BC has challenged the hypothesis that writing diffused from Mesopotamia to Egypt, pointing instead to the independent development of writing within Egypt. The Abydos glyphs, found in tomb U-J, are written on ivory and are likely labels for other goods found in the grave.{{sfnp|Baines|2007|p=118}} While sign usage in Mesopotamian tokens is attested {{circa|8000 BC}}, Egyptian writing appears suddenly in the late 4th millennium BC.<ref name="Mitchell1999">{{Cite magazine |last=Mitchell |first=Larkin |date=March–April 1999 |title=Earliest Egyptian Glyphs |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/newsbriefs/egypt.html |magazine=Archaeology |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |quote=The seal impressions, from various tombs, date even further back, to 3400 B.C. These dates challenge the commonly held belief that early logographs, pictographic symbols representing a specific place, object, or quantity, first evolved into more complex phonetic symbols in Mesopotamia.}}</ref>{{sfnp|Boudreau|2004|p=71}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=James P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF78Max-h8MC&q=recent+discoveries+indicate+writing |title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-48635-4 |page=2 |quote=Although it was once thought that the idea of writing came to Egypt from Mesopotamia, recent discoveries indicate that writing arose first in Egypt. |via=Google Books}}</ref> |
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[[Frank J. Yurco]] states that depictions of pharaonic iconography such as the royal crowns, Horus falcons and victory scenes were concentrated in the [[Upper Egypt]]ian [[Naqada culture|Naqada]] and [[A-Group culture|A-Group]] cultures. He further elaborates that "Egyptian writing arose in Naqadan Upper Egypt and A-Group [[Nubia]], and not in the Delta cultures, where the direct Western Asian contact was made, [which] further vitiates the Mesopotamian-influence argument".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1996 |title=The Origin and Development of Ancient Nile Valley Writing |encyclopedia=Egypt in Africa |publisher=[[Indianapolis Museum of Art]] |last=Yurco |first=Frank J. |editor-last=Celenko |editor-first=Theodore |pages=34–35 |isbn=0-936260-64-5}}</ref> |
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Writing was very important in maintaining the Egyptian empire, and [[literacy]] was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes like some other civilizations.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train as scribes, in the service of temple, royal ([[Pharaoh|pharaonic]]), and military authorities. |
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Geoffrey Sampson stated that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after [[Sumerian script]], and, probably [were], invented under the influence of the latter",<ref name="b1">{{cite book |first=Geoffrey |last=Sampson |title=Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVcdNRvwoDkC&pg=PA78 |access-date=31 October 2011 |date=1 January 1990 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8047-1756-4 |pages=78ff |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and that it is "probable that the general idea of touching kids |
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of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian [[Mesopotamia]]".<ref>{{cite book |first=Geoffrey W. |last=Bromiley |title=The international standard Bible encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&pg=PA1150 |access-date=31 October 2011 |date=June 1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-3784-4 |pages=1150ff |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen |last=Edwards |others=et al. |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |edition=3d |date=1970 |pages=43–44}}</ref> Despite the importance of early Egypt–Mesopotamia relations, given the lack of direct evidence "no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Robert E. |last1=Krebs |first2=Carolyn A. |last2=Krebs |title=Groundbreaking scientific experiments, inventions, and discoveries of the ancient world |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0H0fjBeseVEC&pg=PA91 |access-date=31 October 2011 |date=December 2003 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-313-31342-4 |pages=91ff |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Instead, it is pointed out and held that "the evidence for such direct influence remains flimsy" and that "a very credible argument can also be made for the independent development of writing in Egypt".<ref>{{cite book |first=Simson |last=Najovits |title=Egypt, Trunk of the Tree: A Modern Survey of an Ancient Land |publisher=Algora |date=2004 |pages=55–56}}</ref> |
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Since the 1990s, the discoveries of [[Scorpion I|glyphs]] at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], dated to between 3400 and 3200 BCE, may challenge the classical notion according to which the Mesopotamian symbol system predates the Egyptian one, although Egyptian writing does make a sudden appearance at that time, while on the contrary Mesopotamia has an evolutionary history of sign usage in tokens dating back to circa 8000 BCE.<ref name="Mitchell1999Quote">{{cite web |last=Mitchell |first=Larkin |title=Earliest Egyptian Glyphs |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/newsbriefs/egypt.html |work=Archaeology |publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]] |access-date=29 February 2012 |quote=The seal impressions, from various tombs, date even further back, to 3400 BCE. These dates challenge the commonly held belief that early logographs, pictographic symbols representing a specific place, object, or quantity, first evolved into more complex phonetic symbols in Mesopotamia. |archive-date=17 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217005732/https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/newsbriefs/egypt.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Boudreau 2004 p71" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF78Max-h8MC&q=recent+discoveries+indicate+writing |last=Allen |first=James P. |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2010 |page=2 |isbn=9781139486354 |quote=Although it was once thought that the idea of writing came to Egypt from Mesopotamia, recent discoveries indicate that writing arose first in Egypt. |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816051240/https://books.google.com/books?id=lF78Max-h8MC&q=recent+discoveries+indicate+writing |url-status=live }}</ref> These glyphs, found in tomb U-J at Abydos are written on ivory and are likely labels for other goods found in the grave.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Visual and Written Culture in Ancient Egypt |url=https://archive.org/details/visualwrittencul00bain_364 |url-access=limited |last=Baines |first=J. |author-link=John Baines (Egyptologist) |year=2007 |location=Oxford |page=[https://archive.org/details/visualwrittencul00bain_364/page/n136 118] |isbn=978-0-19-815250-7}}</ref> |
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[[Frank Yurco]] stated that depictions of pharaonic iconography such as the royal crowns, Horus falcons and victory scenes were concentrated in the [[Upper Egypt]]ian [[Naqada culture]] and [[A-Group culture|A-Group Nubia]]. He further elaborated that "Egyptian writing arose in Naqadan Upper Egypt and A-Group Nubia, and not in the Delta cultures, where the direct [[Western Asia]]n contact was made, [which] further vitiates the Mesopotamian-influence argument".<ref>{{cite contribution |first1=Frank J. |last1=Yurco |title=The Origin and Development of Ancient Nile Valley Writing |work=Egypt in Africa |editor1-first=Theodore |editor1-last=Celenko |date=1996 |publisher=Indianapolis Museum of Art |location=Indianapolis, Ind. |isbn=0-936260-64-5 |pages=34–35}}</ref> |
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Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar argued that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African" and in "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality" although he acknowledged the geographical location of Egypt made it a receptacle for many influences.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient Civilizations of Africa Vol 2 (Unesco General History of Africa (abridged)) |date=1990 |publisher=J. Currey |location=London [England] |isbn=0852550928 |pages=11–12 |edition=Abridged}}</ref> |
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==== Elamite script ==== |
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{{Main|Proto-Elamite script}} |
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The undeciphered Proto-Elamite script emerges from as early as 3100 BCE. It is believed to have evolved into [[Linear Elamite]] by the later 3rd millennium and then replaced by [[Elamite Cuneiform]] adopted from Akkadian. |
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Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar argues that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African" and in "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality", although he acknowledges the geographical location of Egypt made it a receptacle for many influences.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Civilizations of Africa |publisher=UNESCO |year=1990 |isbn=0-85255-092-8 |editor-last=Mokhtar |editor-first=G. |edition=Abridged |series=UNESCO General History of Africa |volume=2 |location=London |pages=11–12}}</ref> |
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==== Indus script ==== |
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{{Main|Indus script}} |
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Writing was of political importance to the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipson |first=Carol S. |title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |editor-last=Lipson |editor-first=Carol S. |chapter=Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric: It All Comes Down to Maat |editor-last2=Binkley |editor-first2=Roberta A.}}</ref> Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train as scribes, in the service of temple, royal, and military authorities. |
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[[File:Indus_script_recovered_from_Khirsara,_Indus_Valley_Civilization.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Indus script]] tablet recovered from [[Khirasara]], Indus Valley Civilization]] |
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Markings and symbols found at various sites of the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] have been labelled as the [[Indus script]] citing the possibility that they were used for transcribing the [[Harappan language]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Indus Script |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Indus_Script/ |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |language=en |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424233625/https://www.worldhistory.org/Indus_Script/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Whether the script, which was in use from about 3500–1900 BCE, constitutes a Bronze Age writing script (logographic-syllabic) or [[proto-writing]] symbols is debated as it has not yet been deciphered. It is analyzed to have been written from [[right-to-left script|right-to-left]] or in [[boustrophedon]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Harappan Sscript |url=https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/4729912 |website=[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]] |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326140939/https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/4729912 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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=== Early Semitic alphabets === |
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{{Main| |
{{Main|Proto-Sinaitic script}} |
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{{Further|History of the alphabet}} |
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The first alphabetic writing was developed by workers in the [[Sinai Peninsula]] to write [[Semitic languages]] {{circa|2000 BC|lk=no}}. This script worked by giving Egyptian [[hieratic]] letters Semitic sound values. The [[Geʽez script]] native to [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]] descends from the [[Ancient South Arabian script]], which had initially been used to write early [[Geʽez]] texts.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2003 |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica |publisher=Harrassowitz |location=Wiesbaden |last=Fattovich |first=Rodolfo |editor-last=Uhlig |editor-first=Siegbert |volume=A–C |page=169 |isbn=978-3-447-04746-3 |editor2-last=Bausi |editor2-first=Alessandro}}</ref> |
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Most alphabetic writing systems presently in use either descended from Proto-Sinaitic—usually via the [[Phoenician alphabet]]—or were directly inspired by its descendants. In Italy, about 500 years separated the early [[Old Italic scripts]] from the time of [[Plautus]] ({{circa|750|250 BC|lk=no}}), and in the case of the [[Germanic peoples]], the corresponding time span is again similar, from the first [[Elder Futhark]] inscriptions to early texts like the ''[[Abrogans]]'' ({{circa|200–750 AD|lk=no}}). These early [[abjad]]s remained of marginal importance for several centuries, and it is only towards the end of the Bronze Age that forms of [[Proto-Sinaitic script]] split into the [[Proto-Canaanite alphabet]] ({{circa|1400 BC|lk=no}}), the undeciphered [[Byblos syllabary]], and the [[South Arabian alphabet]] ({{circa|1200 BC|lk=no}}). Proto-Canaanite, which was probably influenced by the Byblos syllabary, in turn inspired the [[Ugaritic alphabet]] ({{circa|1300 BC|lk=no}}). |
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=== Anatolian hieroglyphs === |
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{{Main|Anatolian hieroglyphs}} |
{{Main|Anatolian hieroglyphs}} |
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Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous script native to western [[Anatolia]], used to record the [[Hieroglyphic Luwian]] language. It first appeared on [[Luwian hieroglyphs|Luwian]] royal seals from the 13th century BC.{{sfnp|Cammarosano|2024|p=170}} |
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=== Chinese characters === |
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Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous hieroglyphic script native to western [[Anatolia]], used to record the [[Hieroglyphic Luwian]] language. It first appeared on [[Luwian hieroglyphs|Luwian]] royal seals from the 14th century BCE. |
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==== Chinese writing ==== |
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{{Main|Written Chinese|Chinese characters}} |
{{Main|Written Chinese|Chinese characters}} |
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The earliest attested Chinese writing comprise the body of inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze vessels dating to the [[Late Shang]] period ({{circa|1200|1050 BC|lk=no}}), with the earliest of these dated {{circa|1250 BC|lk=no}}.{{sfnp|Bagley|2004|p=190}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boltz |first=William G. |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-47030-8 |editor-last=Loewe |editor-first=Michael |editor-link=Michael Loewe |page=108 |chapter=Language and Writing |editor-last2=Shaughnessy |editor-first2=Edward L. |editor-link2=Edward L. Shaughnessy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC&q=The+Origin+and+Early+Development+of+the+Chinese+Writing+System.&pg=PA108 |via=Google Books}}</ref> |
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=== Aegean systems === |
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The earliest confirmed evidence of the Chinese script yet discovered is the body of inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze from the late Shang dynasty. The earliest of these is dated to around 1200 BCE.<ref name="Bagley">{{cite book |first1=Robert |last1=Bagley |author-link1=Robert Bagley |editor1-last=Houston |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-link=Stephen D. Houston |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |date=2004 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521838610 |page=190 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC&q=The+first+writing+:+script+invention+as+history+and+process |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en |chapter=Anyang writing and the origin of the Chinese writing system |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Boltz">{{cite book |first1=William G. |last1=Boltz |editor1-last=Loewe |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Shaughnessy |editor2-first=Edward L. |editor1-link=Michael Loewe |editor2-link=Edward L. Shaughnessy |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC |date=1999 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521470308 |page=108 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC&q=The+Origin+and+Early+Development+of+the+Chinese+Writing+System.&pg=PA108 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en |chapter=Language and Writing |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> |
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Several syllabic and logographic writing systems were used in the Bronze Age [[Aegean civilization]]s (the [[Mycenaean civilization]] on the [[Greek mainland]] and the [[Minoan civilization]] on [[Crete]]), which ultimately fell out of use and were forgotten centuries prior to the introduction of the alphabet to the region by the Phoenicians:{{sfnp|Salgarella|2023|p=396}}{{sfnp|Olivier|1986|p=377}} |
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* [[Cretan hieroglyphs]] ({{circa|2100−1700 BC|lk=no}}), on Crete |
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* [[Linear A]] ({{circa|1800−1450 BC|lk=no}}), yet to be deciphered—on Crete, [[Aegean Islands]], and [[Laconia]] |
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* [[Linear B]] ({{circa|1450−1200 BC|lk=no}}), in [[Knossos]] on Crete, [[Pylos]], [[Mycenae]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and [[Tiryns]] on the Greek mainland |
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=== Mesoamerican systems === |
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There have recently been discoveries of tortoise-shell carvings dating back to {{circa|6000 BCE|lk=no}}, like [[Jiahu Script]], [[Banpo Script]], but whether or not the carvings are complex enough to qualify as writing is under debate.<ref name="China" /> At [[Damaidi]] in the [[Ningxia|Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region]], 3,172 cliff carvings dating to {{circa|6000–5000 BCE|lk=no}} have been discovered, featuring 8,453 individual characters, such as the sun, moon, stars, gods, and scenes of hunting or grazing. These pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese. If it is deemed to be a written language, writing in China will predate Mesopotamian cuneiform, long acknowledged as the first appearance of writing, by some 2,000 years; however it is more likely that the inscriptions are rather a form of [[proto-writing]], similar to the contemporary European [[Vinca script]]. |
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==== Cretan and Greek scripts ==== |
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{{Main|Cretan hieroglyphs|Linear A|Linear B}} |
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Cretan hieroglyphs are found on artifacts of [[Crete]] (early-to-mid-2nd millennium BCE, MM I to MM III, overlapping with Linear A from MM IIA at the earliest). Linear B, the writing system of the [[Mycenaean Greeks]],{{sfn|Olivier|1986|pp=377f.}} has been deciphered while Linear A has yet to be deciphered. The sequence and the geographical spread of the three overlapping, but distinct, writing systems can be summarized as follows:{{efn|The beginning date refers to first attestations, the assumed origins of all scripts lie further back in the past.}}{{sfn|Olivier|1986|pp=377f.}} |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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|- |
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! Writing system |
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! Geographical area |
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! Time span |
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|- |
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|[[Cretan hieroglyphs|Cretan Hieroglyphic]] |
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|[[Crete]] (eastward from the Knossos-Phaistos axis) |
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|{{circa|2100−1700 BCE|lk=no}} |
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|- |
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|[[Linear A]] |
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|Crete (except extreme southwest), [[Aegean Islands]] ([[Kea (island)|Kea]], [[Kythera]], [[Melos]], [[Santorini|Thera]]), and [[Greek mainland]] ([[Laconia]]) |
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|{{circa|1800−1450 BCE|lk=no}} |
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|- |
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|[[Linear B]] |
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|Crete ([[Knossos]]), and mainland ([[Pylos]], [[Mycenae]], [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]], [[Tiryns]]) |
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|{{circa|1450−1200 BCE|lk=no}} |
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|} |
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==== Mesoamerica ==== |
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{{Main|Mesoamerican writing systems}} |
{{Main|Mesoamerican writing systems}} |
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Of several symbol systems used in pre-Columbian [[Mesoamerica]], the [[Maya script]] appears to be the best developed, and has been fully deciphered. The earliest inscriptions identifiable as Maya date to the 3rd century BC, and writing was in continuous use from the 1st century AD until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1989|pp=50, 121–128}} |
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== Iron Age == |
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A stone slab with 3,000-year-old writing, the [[Cascajal Block]], was discovered in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and is an example of the oldest script in the Western Hemisphere, preceding the oldest [[Zapotec writing]] dated to about 500 BCE.<ref>{{cite news |title=Writing May Be Oldest in Western Hemisphere. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/science/15writing.html |quote=A stone slab bearing 3,000-year-old writing previously unknown to scholars has been found in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and archaeologists say it is an example of the oldest script ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2006-09-15 |access-date=2008-03-30 |archive-date=27 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727145612/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/science/15writing.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Oldest' New World writing found |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5347080.stm |quote=Ancient civilisations in Mexico developed a writing system as early as 900 BC, new evidence suggests. |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2006-09-14 |access-date=2008-03-30 |archive-date=3 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403005953/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5347080.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Oldest Writing in the New World |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5793/1610 |quote=A block with a hitherto unknown system of writing has been found in the Olmec heartland of Veracruz, Mexico. Stylistic and other dating of the block places it in the early first millennium before the common era, the oldest writing in the New World, with features that firmly assign this pivotal development to the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica. |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |access-date=2008-03-30 |archive-date=30 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330052802/http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5793/1610 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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{{Further|History of the alphabet}} |
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[[File:Interpretation of Queen Maya's dream.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A sculpture depicting three soothsayers interpreting a dream of Queen [[Maya (mother of Buddha)|Maya]], mother of [[The Buddha]], for King [[Suddhodana]]. Below them, a seated scribe records the interpretation. From [[Nagarjunakonda]], 2nd century AD]] |
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Of several [[pre-Columbian]] scripts in [[Mesoamerica]], the one that appears to have been best developed, and has been fully deciphered, is the [[Maya script]]. The earliest inscriptions which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE, and writing was in continuous use until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century CE. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs: a combination somewhat similar to modern Japanese writing. |
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The [[Phoenician alphabet]] is the continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet into the [[Iron Age]]; it in turn gave rise to the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] alphabets. To date, most of the writing systems used throughout Afro-Eurasia descend from either Aramaic or Greek. The Greek alphabet was the first to introduce letters representing vowel sounds.{{sfnp|Millard|1986|p=396}} It and its descendant in the Latin alphabet gave rise to several European scripts in the first several centuries AD, including the [[runic alphabets|runic]], [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]], and [[Cyrillic]] alphabets. The Aramaic alphabet evolved into the [[Brahmic scripts]] of India, as well as the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] abjads—with descendants spread as far as the [[Mongolian script]]. The [[South Arabian alphabet]] gave rise to the [[Geʽez abugida]].{{sfnp|Salomon|1996|loc=Brahmi and Kharoshthi}} |
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==== Iron Age writing ==== |
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[[File:Interpretation of Queen Maya's dream.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The sculpture depicts a scene where three soothsayers are interpreting to King [[Suddhodana]] the dream of Queen [[Maya (mother of Buddha)|Maya]], mother of [[Gautama Buddha]]. Below them is seated a scribe recording the interpretation. From [[Nagarjunakonda]], 2nd century CE. [[:File:Child learning Brahmi Alphabets, Shunga era 2nd Century BCE, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg|A child learning the Brahmi Alphabet]] is also known from the 2nd century BCE in [[Srughna]].]] |
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{{Main|History of the alphabet}} |
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The [[Phoenician alphabet]] is simply the Proto-Canaanite alphabet as it was continued into the [[Iron Age]] (conventionally taken from a cut-off date of 1050 BCE).{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} This alphabet gave rise to the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] alphabets. These in turn led to the writing systems used throughout regions ranging from Western Asia to Africa and Europe. For its part the Greek alphabet introduced for the first time explicit symbols for vowel sounds.{{sfn |Millard|1986|p=396}} The Greek and Latin alphabets in the early centuries of the Common Era gave rise to several European scripts such as the [[Runes]] and the [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] alphabets while the Aramaic alphabet evolved into the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] abjads, of which the latter spread as far as [[Mongolian script]]. The [[South Arabian alphabet]] gave rise to the [[Ge'ez abugida]]. The [[Brahmic family]] of [[Indian subcontinent|India]] is believed by some scholars to have derived from the Aramaic alphabet as well.<ref name="Salomon 1996">{{cite book |last=Salomon |first= Richard |chapter=Brahmi and Kharoshthi |title=The World's Writing Systems |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937}}</ref> |
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==== Grakliani Hill writing ==== |
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A previously unknown script was discovered in 2015 in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], over the [[Grakliani Hill]] just below a temple's collapsed altar to a fertility goddess from the seventh century BCE. These inscriptions differ from those at other temples at Grakliani, which show animals, people, or decorative elements.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/150916-caucasus-writing-republic-of-georgia-grakliani-iron-age |title=Ancient Script Spurs Rethinking of Historic 'Backwater' |date=16 September 2015 |website=History |access-date=9 September 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909123727/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/150916-caucasus-writing-republic-of-georgia-grakliani-iron-age |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://agenda.ge/en/news/2016/1803|title=Rewriting history: 3000-yr-old script uncovered in Georgia|website=Agenda.ge|access-date=|archive-date=16 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716141354/https://agenda.ge/en/news/2016/1803|url-status=live|date = 25 July 2016 }}</ref> The script bears no resemblance to any alphabet currently known, although its letters are conjectured to be related to ancient [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Aramaic]].<ref name="auto" /> The inscription appears to be the oldest native alphabet to be discovered in the whole Caucasus region,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/996/Archaeologists-Thrilled-by-Historic-Script-Discovery-in-Georgia |title=Archaeologists Thrilled by Historic Script Discovery in Georgia |website=Georgia Today on the Web |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629125004/http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/996/Archaeologists-Thrilled-by-Historic-Script-Discovery-in-Georgia |url-status= live }}</ref> In comparison, the earliest [[Armenian script|Armenian]] and [[Georgian script]] date from the fifth century CE, just after the respective cultures converted to Christianity. By September 2015, an area of 31 by 3 inches of the inscription had been excavated.<ref name="auto" /> |
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According to Vakhtang Licheli, head of the Institute of Archaeology of the State University, "The writings on the two altars of the temple are really well preserved. On the one altar several letters are carved in clay while the second altar's pedestal is wholly covered with writings."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://agenda.ge/en/news/2015/613 |title=Ancient Georgian site granted cultural heritage status |website=Agenda.ge |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629125003/https://agenda.ge/en/news/2015/613 |url-status=live }}</ref> The finding was made by unpaid students.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} In 2016 [[Grakliani Hill]] inscriptions were taken to [[Miami|Miami Laboratory]] for [[Radiocarbon dating|Beta analytic radiocarbon dating]] which found that the inscriptions were made in {{circa|1005|950 BCE|lk=no}}.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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==== Writing in the Greco-Roman civilizations ==== |
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[[File:NAMA Alphabet grec.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]] |
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==== Greek scripts ==== |
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{{further|Archaic Greek alphabets}} |
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=== Greek alphabets === |
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The [[history of the Greek alphabet]] began in at least the early 8th century BCE when the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet for use with their own language.<ref name="McCarter, P. Kyle 1974 page 62">{{Cite journal |last=McCarter |first=P. Kyle |title=The Early Diffusion of the Alphabet |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=37 |number=3 |date=September 1974 |pages=54–68 |doi=10.2307/3210965 |jstor=3210965 |s2cid=126182369}}</ref>{{rp|62}} The letters of the Greek alphabet are more or less the same as those of the Phoenician alphabet, and in modern times both alphabets are arranged in the same order.<ref name="McCarter, P. Kyle 1974 page 62" /> The adapter(s) of the Phoenician system added three letters to the end of the series, called the "supplementals". Several varieties of the Greek alphabet developed. One, known as [[Cumae alphabet|Western Greek or Chalcidian]], was used west of [[Athens]] and in [[southern Italy]]. The other variation, known as [[History of the Greek alphabet|Eastern Greek]], was used in present-day [[Turkey]] and by the Athenians, and eventually the rest of the world that spoke Greek adopted this variation. After first writing right to left, like the Phoenicians, the Greeks eventually chose to write from left to right. Occasionally however, the writer would start the next line where the previous line finished, so that the lines would read alternately left to right, then right to left, and so on. This was known as "boustrophedon" writing, which imitated the path of an ox-drawn plough, and was used until the sixth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |title=Books: a Living History |publisher=Getty Publications |year=2011 |isbn=9781606060834 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=24}}</ref> |
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{{Further|Archaic Greek alphabets}} |
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[[File:NAMA Alphabet grec.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Inscriptions on [[black-figure pottery]] using the Early Greek alphabet{{snd}}[[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]] |
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The [[history of the Greek alphabet]] began as early as the 8th century BC, when the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet for their own use.{{sfnp|McCarter|1974|p=62}} The letters of the Greek alphabet generally visually correspond to those of the Phoenician alphabet, and both came to be arranged using the same [[alphabetical order]].{{sfnp|McCarter|1974|p=62}} Those adapting the Phoenician system added three letters to the end of the series, called the "supplementals". Several varieties of the Greek alphabet developed. One, known as the [[Cumae alphabet]], was used west of [[Athens]] and in southern Italy. The other variation, known as Eastern Greek, was used in present-day Turkey and by the Athenians, and eventually the rest of the world that spoke Greek adopted this variation. After first writing right to left, like the Phoenicians, the Greeks eventually chose to write from left to right. Occasionally however, the writer would start the next line where the previous line finished, so that the lines would read alternately left to right, then right to left, and so on. This is known as [[boustrophedon]] writing, which imitated the path of an ox-drawn plough, and was used until the 6th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |title=Books: A Living History |publisher=Getty |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-60606-083-4 |location=Los Angeles |page=24}}</ref> |
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=== Italic and Latin alphabets === |
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[[File:Cippo perugino, con iscrizione in lingua etrusca su un atto giuridico tra le famiglie dei velthina e degli afuna, 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0. |
[[File:Cippo perugino, con iscrizione in lingua etrusca su un atto giuridico tra le famiglie dei velthina e degli afuna, 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Cippus Perusinus]], a stone tablet inscribed with 46 lines of written Etruscan near [[Perugia]], Italy]] |
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{{further|History of the Latin script}} |
{{further|History of the Latin script}} |
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Greek is |
The Greek alphabet is the progenitor of each script currently used to write the [[languages of Europe]].{{sfnp|Fischer|2001|p=131}} The most widespread descendant of Greek is the [[Latin script]], named for the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]], a central Italian people who came to dominate Europe with the rise of Rome. Around the 5th century BC, the Romans adopted writing from the [[Etruscan civilization]], who wrote in a number of Italic scripts derived from the western Greeks. Due to the cultural dominance of the Roman state, the other [[Old Italic scripts]] have not survived in any great quantity, and the Etruscan language is mostly lost.{{sfnp|Fischer|2001|pp=137–144}} |
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== Medieval era and modernity == |
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After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, the production and transmission of literature that had previously been widespread across the Roman world became largely confined to the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] empires, where the primary literary languages were [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] respectively—though other languages such as [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and [[Coptic language|Coptic]] were also important.{{sfnp|Condorelli|2022|pp=27–28}} |
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The |
The [[spread of Islam]] in the 7th century brought about the rapid establishment of [[Arabic]] as a major literary language in much of the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Arabic and Persian quickly began to overshadow Greek's role as a language of scholarship. [[Arabic script]] was adopted to write the Persian and [[Old Turkic]] languages. This script also heavily influenced the development of the [[cursive]] scripts of Greek, the [[Slavic languages]], [[Latin]], and other languages.{{sfnp|Condorelli|2022|p=27}} The influence of Arabic writing during the [[Crusades]] also resulted in the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] being adopted throughout Europe.{{sfnp|Fischer|2001|p=250}} By the 11th century, the city of [[Córdoba, Andalusia]] in what is now southern Spain had become one of the world's foremost intellectual centres, and was the site of the largest library in Europe.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2009 |title=Cordoba |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York |last=Campo |first=Juan Eduardo |page=168 |isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 |last2=Melton |first2=J. Gordon}}</ref> |
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By the 14th century, the [[Renaissance]] in Europe led to a revival of the importance of Greek, as well as of Latin as a significant literary language.{{sfnp|Condorelli|2022|p=27}} A similar though smaller emergence occurred in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia. At the same time Arabic and Persian began a slow decline in importance as the [[Islamic Golden Age]] ended. The revival of literacy development in Western Europe led to many innovations in the Latin alphabet and the diversification of the alphabet to codify the spoken forms of the various languages. |
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==== Renaissance and the modern era ==== |
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By the 14th century a rebirth, or ''[[renaissance]]'', had emerged in Western Europe, leading to a temporary revival of the importance of Greek, and a slow revival of Latin as a significant literary language. A similar though smaller emergence occurred in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia. At the same time Arabic and Persian began a slow decline in importance as the [[Islamic Golden Age]] ended. The revival of literacy development in Western Europe led to many innovations in the Latin alphabet and the diversification of the alphabet to codify the phonologies of the various languages. |
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== Technology and materials == |
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The nature of writing has been constantly evolving, particularly due to the development of new technologies over the centuries. The [[pen]], the [[printing press]], the [[computer]] and the [[mobile phone]] are all technological developments which have altered what is written, and the medium through which the written word is produced. Particularly with the advent of digital technologies, namely the computer and the mobile phone, characters can be formed by the press of a button, rather than making a physical motion with the hand. |
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{{Further|Writing material}} |
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The mediums, materials, and technologies used by literate societies for writing help determine how writing systems work, what writing is used for, and what social impact it has.{{sfnp|Piquette|Whitehouse|2013|pp=2–5}} For example, the physical durability of the materials used directly determines what historical examples of writing have survived for later analysis: while bodies of [[inscriptions]] in stone, bone, or metal are attested from each ancient literate society, much [[manuscript]] culture is attested only indirectly.<ref>{{Harvc |in1=Betrò |in2=Friedrich |in3=Michel |year=2024 |last=Friedrich |first=Michael |c=Introduction: Towards a Holistic Study of Written Artefacts in Ancient History |pp=12–13}}</ref>{{sfnp|Subačius|2023|p=305}} |
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The common materials in the Mesopotamian world were the tablet and the roll, the former probably having a [[Chaldea]]n origin, the latter an Egyptian. The tablets of the Chaldeans are small pieces of clay, somewhat crudely shaped into a form resembling a pillow, and thickly inscribed with cuneiform characters. Similar use has been seen in hollow cylinders, or prisms of six or eight sides, formed of fine [[terracotta]], sometimes glazed, on which the characters were traced with a small stylus, in some specimens so minutely as to require the aid of a magnifying glass.<ref name="McClintock1885">{{Cite book |last=McClintock |first=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-oXAAAAYAAJ |title=Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature: Supplement |last2=Strong |first2=J. |publisher=Harper |year=1885 |location=New York |pages=990–997 |via=Google Books}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> |
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== Writing materials == |
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{{Main|Writing material}} |
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In Egypt the principal writing material was of quite a different sort. Wooden tablets are found pictured on the monuments, while [[papyrus]] was also used as early as the 4th millennium BC.{{sfnp|Morenz|2020|p=465}} The papyrus reed grew chiefly in [[Lower Egypt]] and had various economic means for writing. The pith was taken out and divided by a pointed instrument into the thin pieces of which it is composed; it was then flattened by pressure, and the strips glued together, other strips being placed at right angles to them, so that a roll of any length might be manufactured. Writing seems to have become more widespread with the invention of papyrus in Egypt. That this material was in use in Egypt from a very early period is evidenced by still existing papyrus of the earliest Theban dynasties.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Egyptian Papyrus |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Papyrus/ |last=Mark |first=Joshua J.}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> |
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There is no very definite statement as to the material which was in most common use for the purposes of writing at the start of the early writing systems.<ref name="McClintock1885">{{cite book |last1=McClintock |first1=J. |last2=Strong |first2=J. |date=1885 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-oXAAAAYAAJ |title=Cyclopedia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature: Supplement |location=New York |publisher=Harper |pages=990–997 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In all ages it has been customary to engrave on stone or metal, or other durable material, with the view of securing the permanency of the record. Metals, such as stamped [[coin]]s, are mentioned as a material of writing; they include lead,{{efn|Although whether to writing on lead, or filling up the hollow of the letters with lead, is not certain.}} brass, and gold. There are also references to the engraving of gems, such as with seals or signets.<ref name="McClintock1885" /> |
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As the papyrus, being in great demand, and exported to all parts of the world, became very costly, other materials were often used instead of it, among which is mentioned leather, a few leather mills of an early period having been found in the tombs.<ref name="McClintock1885" /> [[Parchment]], using sheepskins left after the wool was removed for cloth, was sometimes cheaper than papyrus, which had to be imported outside Egypt. With the invention of [[wood-pulp paper]], the cost of writing material began a steady decline. Efforts to improve the bond strength of wood-pulp paper fibres through the 20th century, with two areas of examination being "dry strength of paper" and "wet web strength".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lindström |first=Tom |year=2005 |title=On the Nature of Joint Strength in paper-A Review of Dry and Wet Strength Resins Used in Paper Manufacturing. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267385974 |journal=13th Fundamental Research Symposium |volume=1 |pages=457–562 |via=ResearchGate}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> The former involves examination of the physical properties of the paper itself, while the latter involves using additives to improve strength. |
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The common materials of writing were the tablet and the roll, the former probably having a Chaldean origin, the latter an Egyptian. The tablets of the Chaldeans are small pieces of clay, somewhat crudely shaped into a form resembling a pillow, and thickly inscribed with cuneiform characters.{{efn|These documents have been in general enveloped, after they were baked, in a cover of moist clay, upon which their contents have been again inscribed, so as to present externally a duplicate of the writing within; and the tablet in its cover has then been baked afresh. The same material was largely used by the Assyrians, and many of their clay tablets still remain. They are of various sizes, ranging from nine inches long by six and a half wide, to an inch and a half by an inch wide, and even less. Some thousands of these have been recovered; many are historical, some linguistic, some geographical, some astronomical.}} Similar use has been seen in hollow cylinders, or prisms of six or eight sides, formed of fine [[terracotta]], sometimes glazed, on which the characters were traced with a small stylus, in some specimens so minutely as to require the aid of a magnifying-glass.<ref name="McClintock1885" /> |
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== Uses and applications == |
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In Egypt the principal writing material was of quite a different sort. Wooden tablets are found pictured on the monuments; but the material which was in common use, even from very ancient times, was the [[papyrus]], having recorded use as far back as 3,000 BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa92 |title=History of Writing Materials |last=Gascolgne |first=Arthur Bamber |access-date=2019-02-18 |archive-date=19 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019231622/http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa92 |url-status=live }}</ref> This reed, found chiefly in Lower Egypt, had various economic means for writing. The pith was taken out and divided by a pointed instrument into the thin pieces of which it is composed; it was then flattened by pressure, and the strips glued together, other strips being placed at right angles to them, so that a roll of any length might be manufactured. Writing seems to have become more widespread with the invention of papyrus in Egypt. That this material was in use in Egypt from a very early period is evidenced by still existing papyrus of the earliest Theban dynasties.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Papyrus/ |title=Egyptian Papyrus |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417133708/https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Papyrus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As the papyrus, being in great demand, and exported to all parts of the world, became very costly, other materials were often used instead of it, among which is mentioned leather, a few leather mills of an early period having been found in the tombs.<ref name="McClintock1885" /> [[Parchment]], using sheepskins left after the wool was removed for cloth, was sometimes cheaper than papyrus, which had to be imported outside Egypt. With the invention of [[wood-pulp paper]], the cost of writing material began a steady decline. Wood-pulp paper is still used today, and in recent times efforts have been made in order to improve bond strength of fibers. Two main areas of examination in this regard have been "dry strength of paper" and "wet web strength".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lindström |first=Tom |date=Summer 2005 |title=On the nature of joint strength in paper-A review of dry and wet strength resins used in paper manufacturing. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267385974 |journal=13th Fundamental Research Symposium |volume=1 |pages=457–562 |via=Researchgate}}</ref> The former involves examination of the physical properties of the paper itself, while the latter involves using additives to improve strength. |
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=== Commerce === |
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== Uses and implications of writing == |
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According to [[Denise Schmandt-Besserat]], writing had its origins in the counting, cataloguing, and trade of agricultural produce.{{sfnp|Schmandt-Besserat|1992b}} Government tax rolls followed thereafter. Written documents became essential for the accumulation and accounting of wealth by individuals, the state, and religious organizations as well as the transactions of trade, loans, inheritance, and documentation of ownership.<ref>{{Harvc|last=van de Mieroop |first=M. |year=2005 |c=The invention of interest: Sumerian loans |in1=Goetzmann |in2=Rouwenhorst|pp=17–30}}</ref> With such documentation and accounting larger accumulations of wealth became more possible, along with the power that accompanied wealth, most prominently to the benefit of royalty, the state, and religions. Contracts and loans supported the growth of long-distance international trade with accompanying networks for import and export, supporting the rise of capitalism.{{sfnp|Goody|2004|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} [[Paper money]] was first used in China during the 11th century;<ref>{{Harvc|last=Glahn |first=R. |year=2005 |c=The origins of paper money in China |in1=Goetzmann |in2=Rouwenhorst|pp=65–89}}</ref> it and other financial instruments relied on writing, initially in the form of letters and later as specialized [[Genre studies|genres]] designed to facilitate specific types of transactions and guarantees of value between individuals, banks, or governments.<ref>{{Harvc|last=Pezzolo |first=L. |year=2005 |c=Bonds and government debt in Italian city-states, 1250–1650 |in1=Goetzmann |in2=Rouwenhorst|pp=145–163}}</ref> With the growth of economic activity in late Medieval and Renaissance Europe, sophisticated methods of accounting and calculating value emerged, with such calculations both carried out in writing and explained in manuals.<ref>{{Harvc|last=Goetzmann |first=William N. |year=2005 |c=Fibonacci and the financial revolution |in1=Goetzmann |in2=Rouwenhorst|pp=123–143}}</ref> The creation of corporations then proliferated documents surrounding organization, management, the distribution of shares, and [[records management]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yates |first=JoAnne |title=Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8018-4613-7 |location=Baltimore |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> |
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During the late 18th century, [[François Quesnay]] and [[Adam Smith]] developed systematic theories of economics for the first time. The works of Quesnay, Smith, and their colleagues introduced the concept of an economy as such—as well as the concept of a national economy.{{sfnp|Smart|2008}} Economics has since developed as a field with many authors contributing texts to the professional literature, and governments collecting data, instituting policies and creating institutions to manage and advance their economies. [[Deirdre McCloskey]] has examined the rhetorical strategies and discursive construction of modern economic theory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCloskey |first=Deirdre N. |title=The Rhetoric of Economics |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-299-10380-4 |location=Madison |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCloskey |first=Deirdre N. |title=The Writing of Economics |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-02-379520-6 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCloskey |first=Deirdre N. |title=If You're So Smart: The Narrative of Economic Expertise |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-226-55670-3 |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> Graham Smart has examined in depth how the Bank of Canada uses writing to cooperatively produce policies based on economic data and then to communicate strategically with relevant publics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smart |first=Graham |title=Writing the Economy: Activity, Genre And Technology in the World of Banking |publisher=Equinox |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84553-066-2 |location=London |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> |
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=== Writing and the economy === |
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According to [[Denise Schmandt-Besserat]] writing had its origins in the counting and cataloguing of agricultural produce, and then economic transactions involving the produce.<ref>Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1992). ''Before Writing'' (2 vols). University of Texas Press.</ref> Government tax rolls followed thereafter. Written documents became essential for the accumulation and [[accounting]] of wealth by individuals, the state, and religious organizations as well as the transactions of trade, loans, inheritance, and documentation of ownership.<ref>van de Mieroop, M. (2005). The invention of interest: Sumerian loans. In W. Goetzmann & G. Rouwenhorst (Eds.), The origins of value: The financial innovations that created modern capital markets (pp. 17–30). New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> With such documentation and accounting larger accumulations of wealth became more possible, along with the power that accompanied wealth, most prominently to the benefit of royalty, the state, and religions. [[Contract]]s and [[loan]]s supported the growth of long-distance international trade with accompanying networks for import and export, supporting the rise of capitalism.<ref>Goody, J. (2004). Capitalism and modernity: The great debate. Cambridge, England: Polity.</ref> [[Banknote|Paper money]] (initially appearing in China in the 11th century CE)<ref>von Glahn, R. (2005). "The origins of paper money in China." In W. Goetzmann & G. Rouwenhorst (Eds.), ''The origins of value: The financial innovations that created modern capital markets'' (pp. 65–89). New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> and other financial instruments relied on writing, initially in the form of letters and then evolving into specialized [[Genre studies|genres]], to explain the transactions and guarantees (from individuals, banks, or governments) of value inhering in the documents.<ref>Pezzolo, L. (2005). "Bonds and government debt in Italian city-states, 1250–1650." In W. Goetzmann & G. Rouwenhorst (Eds.), ''The origins of value: The financial innovations that created modern capital markets'' (pp. 145–163). New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> With the growth of economic activity in late Medieval and Renaissance Europe, sophisticated methods of accounting and calculating value emerged, with such calculations both carried out in writing and explained in manuals.<ref>Goetzmann, W. (2005). "Fibonacci and the financial revolution." In W. Goetzmann & G. Rouwenhorst (Eds.), ''The origins of value: The financial innovations that created modern capital markets'' (pp. 123–143). New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> The creation of [[corporation]]s then proliferated documents surrounding organization, management, the distribution of [[Stock|shares]], and [[Records management|record-keeping]].<ref>Yates, J. (1989). ''Control through communication: The rise of system in American management''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.</ref> |
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=== Law, governance, and journalism === |
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Economic theory itself only began to be developed in the latter eighteenth century through the writings of such theorists as [[François Quesnay|Francois Quesnay]] and [[Adam Smith]]. Even the concepts of an economy and a national economy were established through their texts and the texts of their colleagues.<ref>Smart, Graham (2008). Writing and the Social Formation of Economy. ''Handbook of Research on Writing: History, Society, School, Individual, Text,'' New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc, 99-108.</ref> Since then economics has developed as a field with many authors contributing texts to the professional literature, and governments collecting data, instituting policies and creating institutions to manage and advance their economies. [[Deirdre McCloskey|Diedre McCloskey]] has examined the rhetorical strategies and discursive construction of modern economic theory.<ref>McCloskey, D. (1985). ''The rhetoric of economics''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McCloskey|first= D. |date= 1987|title=The Writing of Economics|location= London|publisher= Macmillan|isbn = 9780023795206}}</ref><ref>McCloskey, D. (1990). ''If you’re so smart: The narrative of economic expertise.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</ref> Graham Smart has examined in depth how the Bank of Canada uses writing to cooperatively produce policies based on economic data and then to communicate strategically with relevant publics.<ref>Smart, G. (2006). ''Writing the economy: Activity, genre and technology in the world of banking.'' London: Equinox.</ref> |
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Private legal documents for the sale of land appeared in Mesopotamia in the early 3rd millennium BC, not long after the appearance of cuneiform writing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellickson |first=Robert |last2=Thorland |first2=Charles |year=1995 |title=Ancient Land Law: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel |journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review |volume=71 |pages=328–331 |hdl=20.500.13051/3557}}</ref> The first [[codes of law]] were written in Mesopotamia {{circa|2100 BC|lk=no}}, exemplified in the [[Code of Hammurabi]] ({{circa|1750 BC|lk=no}}) that was inscribed on stone stelae throughout the [[Old Babylonian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=VerSteeg |first=Russ |title=Early Mesopotamian Law |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-89089-977-9 |location=Durham, NC |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> While the ancient Egyptian state did not codify its laws, legal documents such as official decrees and private contracts were used during the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] {{circa|2150 BC|lk=no}}. The [[Torah]], comprising the first five books of the [[Hebrew Bible]], codified the laws of Ancient Israel. Laws were frequently codified in ancient Greek and Roman polities, with Roman law ultimately serving as a model for both church [[canon law]] and secular law used throughout much of Europe during the Middle Ages.{{sfnp|Tiersma|2008|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Meyer|2004|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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In China, the earliest evidence for the codification of laws or punishments are [[bronze inscriptions]] made in 536 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bodde |first=Derk |title=Law in Imperial China: Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases, With Historical, Social, and Juridical Commentaries |last2=Morris |first2=Clarence |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-674-73319-0 |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674733213 |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> The earliest law codes to be preserved in their entirety were those of the [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] and [[Western Han]] dynasties (221–9 BC), which articulated a full system of social control and governance, with criminal procedures and accountability for both government officials and citizens. These laws required complex reporting and documenting procedures to facilitate hierarchical supervision from the village up to the imperial centre.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barbieri-Low |first=Anthony J. |title=Law, state, and society in early imperial China: a study with critical edition and translation of the legal texts from Zhangjiashan tomb no. 247 |last2=Yates |first2=Robin D. S. |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-29283-3 |series=Sinica Leidensia |volume=126 |location=Leiden |pages=1084–1085}}</ref> |
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=== Writing and religion === |
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The identification of [[Religious text|sacred religious texts or scriptures]], often claimed to be of divine origin, codified distinct belief systems associated with particular divine texts, and became the basis of the modern concept of religion.<ref name=":5" /> The reproduction and spread of these texts became associated with these scriptural religions and their spread, and thus were central to proselytizing.<ref name=":5" /> These sacred books created obligations of believers to read, or to follow the teachings of [[Priest|priests]] or [[Priestly caste|priestly castes]] charged with the reading, interpretation and application of these texts. Well-known examples of such scriptures are the [[Torah]], the [[Bible]] (with its many different compilations of books of the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament|New Testaments]]), the [[Quran]], the [[Vedas]], the [[Bhagavad Gita|Bhaghavad Gita]], and the [[Sutra|Sutras]], but there are far more [[List of religious texts|religious texts]] through the histories of different religions with many still in current use. These texts, because of their spread, tended to foster generalized guides for moral and ethical behavior, at least for all members of the religious community, but often these guidelines were considered applicable to all humans, as in the [[Ten Commandments|ten commandments.]] |
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While [[common law]] developed in a mostly oral environment in England after the Roman period, with the return of the church and the [[Norman conquest]], customary law began to be inscribed as were precedents of the courts; however, many elements remained oral, with documents only memorializing public oaths, wills, land transfers, court judgements, and ceremonies. During the late medieval period, however, documents gained authority for agreements, transactions, and laws.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tiersma |first=Peter M. |title=Legal Language |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-226-80302-9 |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> |
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=== Writing and the law === |
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Private legal documents for the sale of land appeared in Mesopotamia in the early third millennium BCE, not long after the initial appearance of cuneiform writing.<ref>Ellickson, R., & Thorland, C. (1995). Ancient land law: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel. ''Chicago-Kent Law Review'', 71, 321–411.</ref> The first written legal codes followed shortly thereafter around 2100 BCE, with the most well known being the Code of Hammurabi, inscribed on stone stellae throughout Babylon circa 1750 BCE.<ref>VerSteeg, R. (2000). ''Early Mesopotamian la''w. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.</ref> While Ancient Egypt did not have codified laws, legal decrees and private contracts did appear in the Old Kingdom around 2150 BCE. The [[Torah]], or the first five books of the [[Hebrew Bible]], particularly [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] and [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deutoronomy]], codified the laws of Ancient Israel. Many other codes were to follow in Greece and Rome, with Roman law to serve as a model for church canon law and secular law throughout much of Europe during later periods.<ref>Tiersma, P. (2008). Writing, Text, and the Law. ''Handbook of Research on Writing: History, Society, School, Individual, Text,'' New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. pp. 125-137.</ref><ref>Meyer, E. A. (2004). Legitimacy and law in the Roman world: Tabulae in Roman belief and practice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.</ref> |
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Writing has been central to expanding many of the core functions of governance through law, regulation, taxation, and documentary surveillance of citizens; all dependent on growth of bureaucracy which elaborates and administers rules and policies and maintains records. These developments which rely on writing increase the power and extent of states.{{sfnp|Goody|1986|pp=92–93}} At the same time writing has increased the ability of citizens to become informed about the operations of the state, to become more organized in expressing needs and concerns, to identify with regions and states, and to form constituencies with particular views and interests; the [[history of journalism]] is closely linked to citizen information, regional and national identity, and expression of interests. These changes have greatly influenced the nature of states, increasing the visibility of people and their views no matter what the form of governance is. |
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In [[China]] the earliest indications of written codifications of law or books of punishments are inscriptions on bronze vessels in 536 BCE.<ref>Bodde, D., & Morris, C. (1973). Law in imperial China. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.</ref> The earliest extant full set of laws dates back to the [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] and [[Han dynasty|Han]] Dynasties, which set out a full system of social control and governance, with criminal procedures and accountability for both government officials and citizens. These laws required complex reporting and documenting procedures to facilitate hierarchical supervision from the village up to the imperial center.<ref>Barbieri-Low, A. & Yates, R. (2015). Law, state, and society in early Imperial China: Study and translation of the legal texts from Zhangjiashan Tomb no. 247. Leiden: Brill.</ref> |
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Extensive bureaucracies arose in the ancient Near East{{sfnp|Goody|1986|pp=89–92}} and China{{sfnp|Connery|1998|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Lewis|1999|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} which relied on a literate class of scribes and bureaucrats. In the Ancient Near East this was carried out through the formation of scribal schools;{{sfnp|Radner|Robson|2011|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} in China, this led to the institution of written [[imperial examinations]] based on classic texts that effectively defined [[History of education in China|traditional Chinese education]] for millennia.<ref name="Lee2000" /> Literacy was associated with the government bureaucracy; following its emergence, printing was tightly controlled by the government, with texts written in vernacular Chinese being comparatively rare until the [[written vernacular Chinese]] movement that followed the end of the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912).<ref name="HKCUP1998" /> In ancient Greece and Rome, class distinctions between citizen and slave, wealthy and poor limited education and participation. During the Middle Ages and early modern period, the church dominated education in Europe, reflecting the central role religious life had in the maintenance of state power and bureaucracy.{{sfnp|Stock|1987|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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While [[Common law|Common Law]] developed in a mostly oral environment in [[England]] after the Romans left, with the return of the church and then the [[Norman Conquest|Norman invasion]], customary law began to be inscribed as were precedents of the courts; however, many elements remained oral, with documents only memorializing public oaths, wills, land transfers, court judgments, and ceremonies. During the late Medieval period, however, documents gained authority for agreements, transactions, and laws. With the founding of the [[United States]] laws were created as statutes within written codes and controlled by central documents, including the [[Constitution of the United States|federal]] and [[State constitution (United States)|state]] [[Constitution]]s, with all such legislative documents printed and distributed.<ref>Surrency, E. C. (1990). A history of American law publishing. New York: Oceana.</ref> Also court judgments were presented in written opinions which then were published and served as precedents for reasoning in consequent judgments in states and nationally. [[Appellate court|Courts of Appeals]] in the United States only consider documents relating to records of prior proceedings and judgements and do not take new testimony.<ref>Tiersma, P. (1999). Legal language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</ref> |
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In Europe and its American colonies, the introduction of the printing press and decreasing cost of paper and printing allowed for greater access of ordinary citizens to gain information about the government and conditions in other regions within the jurisdictions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chartier |first=Roger |title=The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe Between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8047-2266-7 |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> The [[Reformation]]'s emphasis on the individual reading of sacred texts eventually increased the spread of literacy beyond the ruling classes, and opened the door to a wider awareness and criticism of government policy. Growing divisions along confessional and political lines in English society during 16th and 17th centuries culminated in the [[English Civil War]] that resulted in the sovereignty of Parliament being prioritized over the prerogatives of the British monarchy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Christopher |title=The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas during the English Revolution |publisher=Viking |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-670-78975-7 |location=New York |page=3}}</ref> The conflict featured [[pamphlet wars]] where opposing political factions attempted to utilize the medium of print to shape opinion among the general public for the first time. |
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=== Writing and government, states, bureaucracy, citizenship, and journalism === |
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Writing has been central to expanding many of the core functions of governance through law, regulation, taxation, and documentary surveillance of citizens; all dependent on growth of bureaucracy which elaborates and administers rules and policies and maintains records. These developments which rely on writing increase the power and extent of states.<ref name=":5" /> At the same time writing has increased the ability of citizens to become informed about the operations of the state, to become more organized in expressing needs and concerns, to identify with regions and states, and to form constituencies with particular views and interests; the [[History of journalism|rise and fate of journalism]] is closely linked to citizen information, regional and national identity, and expression of interests. These changes have greatly influenced the nature of states, increasing the visibility of people and their views no matter what the form of governance is. |
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[[History of newspaper publishing|Newspaper publishing]] and [[History of journalism|journalism]], having origins in commercial information, soon was to offer political information and was instrumental to the formation of a public sphere.{{sfnp|Habermas|1999|pp=187–189}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Benedict Richard O'Gorman |author-link=Benedict Anderson |title=Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism |title-link=Imagined Communities |publisher=[[Verso Books|Verso]] |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-86091-059-6 |edition=Rev. |location=London |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> Newspapers were instrumental in the spread of information, fostering discussion and the formation of political identities in the [[American Revolution]]. During the late 19th century, the circulation of regional newspapers encouraged adoption and articulation of urban or localized identities by readers. A focus on national news that followed telegraphy and the emergence of newspapers with national circulation along with scripted national radio and television news broadcasts also created horizons of attention through the 20th century, with both benefits and costs.{{sfnp|Starr|2004|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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Extensive bureaucracies arose in the ancient Near East<ref name=":5" /> and China<ref>Connery, L. C. (1998). ''The empire of the text: Writing and authority in early imperial China.'' Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.</ref><ref>Lewis, M. E. (1999). Writing and authority in early China. Albany: State University of New York Press.</ref> which relied on the formation of literate classes to be scribes and bureaucrats. In the Ancient Near East this was carried out through the formation of scribal schools,<ref name=":6" /> while in China this led to a series of [[Imperial examination|written imperial examinations]] based on classic texts which in effect regulated education over millennia.<ref name=":7" /> Literacy remained associated with rise in the government bureaucracy, and printing as it emerged was tightly controlled by the government, with vernacular texts only emerging later and then being limited in their range up through the early twentieth century and the fall of the Ching dynasty.<ref name=":8" /> In ancient Greece and Rome, class distinctions of citizen and slave, wealthy and poor limited education and participation. In Medieval and early modern Europe church dominance of education, both before and for a time after the reformation, expressed the importance of religion in the control of the state and state bureaucracies.<ref>Stock, B. (1983). The implications of literacy: Written language and models of interpretation in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.</ref> |
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== Literary culture == |
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In Europe and the colonies in the Americas the introduction of the printing press and decreasing cost of paper and printing allowed for greater access of ordinary citizens to gain information about the government and conditions in other regions within the jurisdictions.<ref>Chartier, R. (1994). ''The order of books: Readers, authors, and libraries in Europe between fourteenth and eighteenth centuries''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.</ref> The [[Reformation]] with an emphasis on individual reading of sacred texts, eventually increased the spread of literacy beyond the governing classes and opened the door to wider knowledge and criticism of government actions. Divisions in English society during the sixteenth century, the [[English Civil War|Civil War]] of the seventeenth century, and the increased role of parliament that followed, along with the splitting of political religious control<ref>Hill, C. (1972). ''The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution''. Viking Press.</ref> were accompanied by [[pamphlet wars]]. |
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Much of what is considered [[knowledge]] is inscribed in written text and is the result of communal processes of production, sharing, and evaluation among social groups and institutions bound together with the aim of producing and disseminating knowledge-bearing texts; the contemporary world identifies such social groups as disciplines and their products as disciplinary literatures. The invention of writing facilitated the sharing, comparing, criticizing, and evaluating of texts, resulting in knowledge becoming a more communal property across wider geographic and temporal domains. [[Religious text]]s formed the common knowledge of scriptural religions, and knowledge of those sacred scriptures became the focus of institutions of religious belief, interpretation, and schooling.{{sfnp|Bazerman|2004|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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Scholars have disagreed concerning when written record-keeping became more like literature, but the oldest surviving literary texts date from a full millennium after the invention of writing. The earliest literary author known by name is [[Enheduanna]], who is credited as the author of a number of works of Sumerian literature, including ''Exaltation of Inanna'', in the [[Sumerian language]] during the 24th century BC.{{sfnp|Lipson|Binkley|2012}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salami |first=Minna |title=Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach For Everyone |publisher=Amistad |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-06-287706-2 |chapter=Of Liberation}}</ref> The next earliest named author is [[Ptahhotep]], who is credited with authoring ''[[The Maxims of Ptahhotep]]'', an instructional book for young men in [[Old Egyptian]] composed in the 23rd century BC.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1SRnjwEACAAJ |title=The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World |publisher=Martino Fine |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-61427-930-3 |page={{page needed|date=December 2024}} |via=Google Books}}</ref> The ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' is a notable early poem, but it can also be seen as a political glorification of the historical King [[Gilgamesh]] of Sumer whose natural and supernatural accomplishments are recounted. |
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[[History of newspaper publishing|Newspapers]] and [[History of journalism|journalism]], having origins in commercial information, soon was to offer political information and was instrumental to the formation of a public sphere.<ref>Habermas, J. (1989). ''The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society'' (T. Burger & F. Lawrence, Trans.). Cambridge: MA: [[MIT Press]].</ref><ref>Anderson, B. (1991). ''Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism.'' London: Verso.</ref> [[History of American journalism|Newspapers were instrumental]] in the sharing of information, fostering discussion, and forming political identities in the [[American Revolution|American revolution]], and then the new nation. [[History of American newspapers|The circulation of newspapers]] also created urban, regional, and state identification in the latter nineteenth century and after. A focus on national news that followed telegraphy and the emergence of newspapers with national circulation along with scripted national radio and television news broadcasts also created horizons of attention through the twentieth century, with both benefits and costs.<ref>Starr, P. (2004). The creation of the media: Political origins of modern communications. New York: Basic Books.</ref> |
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The identification of sacred [[religious text]]s codified distinct belief systems, and became the basis of the modern concept of religion.{{sfnp|Goody|1986|pp=3–4, 12}} The reproduction and spread of these texts became associated with these scriptural religions and their spread, and thus were central to proselytizing.{{sfnp|Goody|1986|pp=5, 12}} Their status created expectations that believers either read or otherwise respect their contents; priests charged with reading, interpretation and application of texts were especially vital in societies prior to the advent of mass literacy. |
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One of the earliest known examples of a named person in writing is [[Kushim (Uruk period)|Kushim]], from the [[Uruk period]].<ref name=Harari>{{cite book|title=[[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]|chapter=Signed, Kushim|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sapiensbriefhist0000hara/page/122/mode/2up|chapter-url-access=registration|page=123|last=Harari|first=Yuval Noah|author-link=Yuval Noah Harari|isbn=978-0-7710-8351-8|year=2014|edition=Signal paperback|publisher=[[Penguin Random House Canada]]}}</ref> |
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=== Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Mesoamerica === |
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In Mesopotamia and Egypt, scribes became important for roles beyond the initiating roles in the economy, governance and law. They became the producers and stewards of astronomy and calendars, divination, and literary culture. Schools developed in tablet houses, which also archived repositories of knowledge.{{sfnp|Radner|Robson|2011}} In ancient India, the Brahman caste became stewards of texts that aggregated and codified oral knowledge.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perrett |first=Roy W. |year=1999 |title=History, Time, and Knowledge in Ancient India |journal=History and Theory |volume=38 |pages=307–321 |doi=10.1111/0018-2656.00094 |number=3}}</ref> Those texts then became the authoritative basis for a continuing tradition of oral education. A case in point is the work of [[Pāṇini]], a linguist who analysed and codified knowledge of [[Sanskrit]] syntax, prosody, and grammar. Mathematics, astronomy, and medicine were also subjects of classic Indian learning and were codified in classic texts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mookerji |first=Radha Kumud |title=Ancient Indian education: brahmanical and Buddhist |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1998 |isbn=978-81-208-0423-4 |location=Delhi |orig-date=1951 |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> Less is known about Mayan, Aztec, and other Mesoamerican learning because of the destruction of texts by the [[conquistador]]s, but it is known that scribes were revered, elite children attended schools, and the study of astronomy, map making, historical chronicles, and genealogy flourished.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boone |first=Elizabeth Hill |title=Stories in Red and Black |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-292-70876-1 |location=Austin |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Berdan |first=Frances F. |title=The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-534-62728-7 |location=Belmont, CA |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> |
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=== China === |
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In China, after the [[Qin dynasty]] attempted to remove all traces of the competing [[Confucian]] tradition, the [[Han dynasty]] made [[philological]] knowledge the qualification for the government bureaucracy, so as to restore knowledge that was in danger of vanishing. The [[imperial examination]] system for the civil service functioned for two millennia, and consisted of a written exam based on knowledge of classical texts. To support students obtaining government positions through the written examination, schools focused on those same texts and the associated philological knowledge.<ref name="Lee2000">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Thomas H. C. |title=Education in Traditional China: A History |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-90-04-10363-4 |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies |volume=13 |location=Leiden |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> These texts covered philosophical, religious, legal, astronomical, hydrological, mathematical, military, and medical knowledge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bodde |first=Derk |title=Chinese Thought, Society, and Science: The Intellectual and Social Background of Science and Technology in Pre-Modern China |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8248-1334-5 |location=Honolulu |pages=213–214}}</ref> [[History of printing|Printing]] as it emerged largely served the knowledge needs of the bureaucracy and the monastery, with substantial vernacular printing only emerging around the 15th century.<ref name="HKCUP1998">{{Cite book |publisher=Hong Kong City University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-962-937-032-9 |editor-last=Luo |editor-first=Shubao |editor-mask=Luo Shubao (罗树宝); |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}} |language=zh |script-title=zh:中国古代印刷史图册 |trans-title=An Illustrated History of Printing in Ancient China |editor-last2=Chan |editor-first2=Sin-Wai |editor-mask2=Chan Sin-Wai (陈善伟)}}</ref> |
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Much of what we consider knowledge is inscribed in written text and is the result of communal processes of production, sharing, and evaluation among social groups and institutions bound together with the aim of producing and disseminating knowledge-bearing texts; the contemporary world identifies such social groups as disciplines and their products as disciplinary literatures. The invention of writing facilitated the sharing, comparing, criticizing, and evaluating of texts, resulting in knowledge becoming a more communal property across wider geographic and temporal domains. [[Religious text|Sacred scriptures]] formed the common knowledge of scriptural religions, and knowledge of those sacred scriptures became the focus of institutions of religious belief, interpretation, and schooling, as discussed in the section on writing and religion in this article. Other sections in this article are devoted to knowledge specific to the economy, the law, and governance. This section is devoted to the development of secular knowledge and its related social organizations, institutions, and educational practices in other domains. |
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=== Ancient Greece and Rome === |
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While [[Socrates]] thought writing an inferior means of transmission of learning (recounted in the [[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]), we know of his works through [[Plato]]'s written accounts of his dialogues. Havelock also connects the philosophical work of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle with literacy, as it enabled the development of critical thinking via the analysis of permanent texts written both by the author and their peers.{{sfnp|Havelock|1963|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Havelock|1978|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Havelock|1981|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} [[Aristotle]] wrote treatises and lectures which were the core of education at the [[Lyceum (classical)|Lyceum]], along with the may volumes collected in the Lyceum's library. The [[Stoics]] and [[Epicureans]] also wrote and taught during the same period in Athens, although we now have only fragments of their works. |
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In Mesopotamia and Egypt, scribes became important for roles beyond the initiating roles in the economy, governance and law. They became the producers and stewards of astronomy and calendars, divination, and literary culture. Schools developed in tablet houses, which also archived repositories of knowledge.<ref name=":6">{{cite book |editor1-last=Radner |editor1-first=K. |editor2-last=Robson |editor2-first=E. |date=2011 |title=The Oxford handbook of cuneiform culture |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> In ancient India, the Brahman caste became stewards of texts that aggregated and codified oral knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Perrett |first=R. W. |date=1999 |title=History, time, and knowledge in Ancient India |journal=[[History and Theory]] |volume=38 |number=3 |pages=307–321 |doi=10.1111/0018-2656.00094}}</ref> Those texts then became the authoritative basis for a continuing tradition of oral education. A case in point is the work of [[Pāṇini]] the linguist, who analyzed and codified knowledge of [[Sanskrit]] syntax, [[Sanskrit Prosody|prosody]] and [[Sanskrit grammar|grammar]]. [[Indian mathematics|Mathematics]], [[Indian astronomy|astronomy]] and [[Indian Medicine|medicine]] were also subjects of classic Indian learning and were codified in classic texts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mookerji |first=K. R. |date=1969 |title=Ancient Indian education: Brahmanical and Buddhist |location=London |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> Less is known about Mayan, Aztec, and other Mesoamerican learning because of the destruction of texts by the [[Conquistador|conquistadors]], but it is known that scribes were revered, elite children attended schools, and the study of astronomy, map making, historical chronicles, and genealogy flourished. <ref>{{cite book |last=Boone |first=E. |date=2000 |title=Stories in red and black |location=Austin |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Berdan |first=F. |date=2005 |title=The Aztecs of central Mexico: An imperial society |location=Belmont, CA |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth}}</ref> |
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Greek writers were the founders of many other fields of knowledge. [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]], who wrote during the 5th century BC in Athens, are considered founders of the Western historiographical tradition, incorporating genealogy and mythic accounts into systematic investigations of events. Thucydides developed a more critical, neutral history through greater examination of documents, transcription of speeches, and interviews.<ref>{{multiref | {{Cite book |last=Boedeker |first=Deborah |title=The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Beginnings to AD 600 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-921815-8 |editor-last=Feldherr |editor-first=Andrew |volume=1 |pages=122, 134–135 |chapter=Early Greek Poetry as/and History |editor-last2=Hardy |editor-first2=Grant}} | {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=William V. |title=Ancient Literacy |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-674-03837-0 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=80–81}} }}</ref> During the same period, [[Hippocrates]] authored several works codifying what was known within the field of [[medicine]]. The works of [[Galen]], a Greek physician living in Rome during the 2nd century AD, were important in European medical practice through the Renaissance. Hellenized writers in Egypt also produced compendia of knowledge using the resources of the [[Library of Alexandria]], such as ''[[Euclid's Elements]]'', which remains a standard reference work in geometry. [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Almagest]]'', an astronomy treatise, was used throughout the Middle Ages. |
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==== China ==== |
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In China, after the [[Qin dynasty]] attempted to remove all traces of the competing [[Confucianism|Confucian]] tradition, the [[Han dynasty]] made [[Philology|philological]] knowledge the qualification for the government bureaucracy, so as to restore knowledge that was in danger of vanishing. The [[Imperial examination|Imperial civil service examination system]], which was to last for two millennia, consisted of a written exam based on knowledge of classical texts. To support students obtaining government positions through the written examination, schools focused on those same texts and the associated philological knowledge.<ref name=":7">{{cite book |last=Lee |first=T. H. C. |date=2000 |title=Education in traditional China: A history |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies |volume=13 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]}}</ref> These texts covered philosophical, religious, legal, astronomical, hydrological, mathematical, military, and medical knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bodde |first=D. |date=1991 |title=Chinese thought, society, and science: The intellectual and social background of science and technology in pre-modern China |location=Honolulu |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]}}</ref> [[History of printing|Printing]] as it emerged largely served the knowledge needs of the bureaucracy and the monastery, with substantial vernacular printing only emerging around the fifteenth century CE.<ref name=":8">{{cite book |last=Luo |first=S. |date=1998 |title=An illustrated history of printing in ancient China |location=Hong Kong |publisher=City University Press}}</ref> |
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Roman scholars continued the practice of writing compendia of knowledge, including [[Varro]], [[Pliny the Elder]], and [[Strabo]]. While much of Roman accomplishment was in material culture of construction, [[Vitruvius]] documented much of the contemporary practice to influence design until today. Agriculture also became an important area for manuals, such as [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius|Palladius]]'s compendium. Numerous manuals of rhetoric and rhetorical education that were to influence future generations also appeared, such as the anonymous ''{{lang|la|[[Rhetorica ad Herennium]]}}'', [[Cicero]]'s ''{{lang|la|[[De Oratore]]}}'' and [[Quintilian]]'s ''{{lang|la|[[Institutio Oratoria]]}}''. |
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==== Ancient Greece and Rome ==== |
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Ancient Greece gave rise to much written knowledge that influenced western learning for two millennia.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Brunschwig |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Lloyd |editor2-first=G. D. |date=2000 |title=Greek thought: Guide to classical knowledge |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}</ref> Although [[Socrates]] thought writing an inferior means of transmission of learning (recounted in the [[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]), we know of his works through [[Plato]]'s written accounts of his dialogues. Havelock, as well, has seen the philosophic works of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle as arising from literacy and the ability to compare accounts from different regions and to develop systematic critical reasoning through the inspection of documents and writing coherent accounts.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Havelock |first=E. |date=1978 |title=The Greek concept of justice: From its shadow in Homer to its substance in Plato |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> [[Aristotle]] wrote treatises and lectures which were the core of education at the [[Lyceum (classical)|Lyceum]], along with the may volumes collected in the Lyceum's library. Other philosophers such as the [[Stoicism|Stoics]] and [[Epicurus|Epicureans]] also wrote and taught during the same period in Athens, although we now have only fragments of their works. |
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=== Islamic world === |
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Greek writers were the founding writers of many other fields of knowledge. [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]] writing during the fifth century BCE in Athens are considered the founders of history, transforming genealogy and mythic accounts into systematic investigations of events. Thucydides developed a more critical, neutral history through the examination of documents, transcription of speeches, and interviews. [[Hippocrates]] during the same period authored several major works of medicine codifying and advancing the knowledge of this field. In the second century CE the Greek trained physician [[Galen]] went to Rome where he wrote numerous works that dominated European medicine through the Renaissance. Hellenized writers in Egypt also produced compendia of knowledge using the resources of the [[Library of Alexandria|great library at Alexandria]], such as [[Euclid]] whose ''Elements'' of geometry remains a standard reference to today. [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Almagest|work on astronomy]] dominated through the Middle Ages. |
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With the fall of Rome, the Middle East became the crossroads for learning, with knowledge bearing texts from the West and East meeting in Constantinople, [[Damascus]], and then Baghdad. The [[House of Wisdom]] with a large library was founded, where Greek works of medicine, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy were translated into Arabic, along with Indian works on mathematics and therapeutics.{{sfnp|Makdisi|1981}} To these texts, philosophers such as [[Al-Kindi]] and [[Avicenna]] and astronomers such as [[Al-Farghani]] made new contributions. [[Al-Khwarizmi]] authored the first work on algebra, drawing on both Greek and Indian resources. The centrality of the [[Quran]] within Islam also led to growth of [[Arabic linguistics]].{{sfnp|Versteegh|1995}} From Baghdad, knowledge and texts were to flow back to South Asia and down through Africa, with a large collection of books and an educational center around the [[Sankoré Madrasah]] in [[Timbuktu]], the seat of the [[Songhai Empire]]. During this period the deposed Abbasid Caliphate moved its seat of power and learning to [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], now in Spain, where they founded a major library which reintroduced many of the classic texts back into Europe along with texts of Arab learning. |
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=== Early universities in Europe === |
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Scholars in Rome continued the practice of writing compendia of knowledge, including [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], [[Pliny the Elder]], and [[Strabo]]. While much of Roman accomplishment was in material culture of construction, [[Vitruvius]] documented much of the contemporary practice to influence design until today. Agriculture also became an important area for manuals, such as [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius|Palladius]]' compendium. Numerous manuals of rhetoric and rhetorical education that were to influence future generations also appeared, such as the anonymous ''[[Rhetorica ad Herennium]]'', [[Cicero]]'s ''[[de Oratore]]'' and [[Quintilian]]'s ''[[Institutio Oratoria]].'' |
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The reintroduction of classical texts into Europe through the library and intercultural intellectual culture in Córdoba, including the classical Greek canon, as well as Arabic texts by Avicenna and Al-Khwarizmi, created a need for interpretation and scholarship to make those works more accessible to scholars in monasteries and urban centres. During the 12th century, universities emerged from clusters of scholars in Italy at [[University of Bologna|Bologna]], in Spain at [[University of Salamanca|Salamanca]], in France at [[University of Paris|Paris]] and in England at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]].{{sfnp|Verger|1992|pp=47–54}}{{sfnp|Ridder-Symoens|1992a|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} By 1500, there were at least 60 universities throughout Europe{{sfnp|Verger|1992|p=57}} enrolling at least 750,000 students.{{sfnp|Schwinges|1992|p=188}} Each of the four faculties—liberal arts, [[theology]], law, and medicine—was oriented around transmission of and commentary on classical texts, rather than the production of new knowledge. This form of [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] education continued well into the 17th century in some locations and disciplines.{{sfnp|Verger|1992|pp=41–44}}{{sfnp|Leff|1992|p=307}}{{sfnp|North|1992|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Garcia|1992|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Siraisi|1992|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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=== Printing in Europe === |
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[[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s introduction of the moveable type [[printing press]] to Europe {{circa|1450|lk=no}} created new opportunities for the production and widespread distribution of books, fostering much new writing, with particular consequences for the development of knowledge, as documented by [[Elizabeth Eisenstein]].{{sfnp|Eisenstein|1979|p=3}} The production and distribution of knowledge was no longer tied to monasteries or universities with their libraries and collections of scribal copies. In the ensuing centuries a politically and increasingly religiously divided Europe, no single authority was able to censor or control the production of books. While universities remained attached to disseminating traditional texts, publishing houses became the new centres of knowledge production, and publishing houses in different jurisdictions led to a diversity of ideas becoming available as books moved across borders and scholars came to see themselves as citizens of the [[Republic of Letters]].{{sfnp|Bazerman|Rogers|2008|pp=190–191}} |
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With the fall of Rome, the Middle East became the crossroads for learning, with knowledge bearing texts from the West and East meeting in [[Byzantium]], [[Damascus]], and then Baghdad. In Baghdad a research institute (or [[House of Wisdom]]) with a large library was founded, where Greek works of medicine, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy were translated into Arabic, along with Indian works on mathematics and therapeutics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Makdisi |first=G. |date=1981 |title=The rise of colleges: Institutions of learning in Islam and the West |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]}}</ref> To these texts, philosophers such as [[Al-Kindi]] and [[Avicenna]] and astronomers such as [[Al-Farghani|Al-Farqhani]] made new contributions. [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi|Al-Kharazami]] authored the first work on algebra, drawing on both Greek and Indian resources. The centrality of the [[Quran]] to the new Islamic religion also led to growth of [[Arabic grammar|Arabic Linguistics]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Versteegh |first=K. |date=1995 |title=Landmarks in linguistic thought: III. The Arabic linguistic tradition |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]]}}</ref> From Baghdad knowledge and texts were to flow back to South Asia and down through Africa, with a large collection of books and an educational center around the [[Sankore Madrasah|Sankhore Mosque]] in [[Timbuktu]], the seat of the [[Songhai Empire]]. During this period the deposed Abbasid Caliphate moved its seat of power and learning to [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], now in Spain, where they founded a major library which reintroduced many of the classic texts back into Europe along with texts of Arab learning. |
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The comparison of multiple editions of traditional texts led to improved textual scholarship.{{sfnp|Grafton|1991|pp=226–227}} The ability to share and compare results from many regions and enlist more people into the production of science soon led to the development of early modern science.{{sfnp|Eisenstein|1979|pp=269–277}} Books of medicine began to incorporate observations from contemporary surgery and dissections, including printed plates providing illustrations, to improve knowledge of anatomy.{{sfnmp|Pedersen|1996|1pp=453–454|Eisenstein|1979|2pp=566–573}} With many copies of traditional books and new books appearing, debates arose over the value of each in what became known as the "battle of the books".{{sfnp|Jones|1965|page={{pn|date=November 2024}}}} Maps and discoveries of exploration and colonization also were recorded in books and governmental records,{{sfnp|Ruegg|1996|pp=3–4}} often with the purpose of economic exploitation as in the [[General Archive of the Indies]] in Seville but also to satisfy curiosity about the world.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The origins of museums: the cabinet of curiosities in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe |publisher=Clarendon |year=1985 |isbn=0-19-952108-5 |editor-last=Impey |editor-first=O. |location=Oxford |page={{pn |date=November 2024}} |editor-last2=MacGregor |editor-first2=A.}}</ref> |
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==== Early universities in Europe ==== |
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The reintroduction of classic texts into Europe through the library and intercultural intellectual culture in Córdoba, including works of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and Galen, along with Arabic texts such as by Avicenna and Al-Kharazami created a need for interpretation, lectures, and scholarship to make those works more accessible to scholars in monasteries and urban centers. During the twelfth century universities emerged from these clusters of scholars in Italy at [[University of Bologna|Bologna]]; in Spain at [[University of Salamanca|Salamanca]], in France at [[University of Paris|Paris]] and in England at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ridder-Symoens |first=H. |date=1991 |chapter=Mobility |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=280–304 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> By 1500 there were at least sixty universities throughout Europe<ref>{{cite book |last=Verger |first=J. |date=1991 |chapter=Patterns |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=35–74 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> enrolling at least three quarters of a million students.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwinges |first=R. C. |date=1991 |chapter=Admission |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=171–194 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> Each of the four faculties (Liberal Arts, Theology, Law, and Medicine) was devoted to the transmission of classic texts rather than the production of fresh knowledge beyond lectures and commentaries. This form of scholastic education continued well into the seventeenth century and beyond in some locations and disciplines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Verger |first=J. |date=1991 |chapter=Patterns |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=35–74 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Leff |first=G. |date=1991 |chapter=The trivium and the three philosophies |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=307–336 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=North |first=J. |date=1991 |chapter=The Quadrivium. |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=337–359 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Garcia |first=A. |date=1991 |chapter=The faculties of law |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=388–408 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Siraisi |first=N. |date=1991 |chapter=The faculty of medicine |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=1 |pages=360–387 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> |
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Printing also made possible the invention and development of scientific journals, with the {{lang|fr|[[Journal des sçavans]]}} appearing in France and the [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] in England, both in 1665.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steinberg |first=S. H. |author-link=S. H. Steinberg |title=Five Hundred Years of Printing |publisher=Dover |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-486-81445-2 |location=Mineola, NY |page=168 |orig-date=1955}}</ref> Over the years, these journals proliferated and became the basis of disciplines and disciplinary literature.{{sfnp|Kronick|1976|pp=44–45}} Genres reporting experiments and other scientific observations and theories developed over the ensuing centuries to produce modern practices of disciplinary publication with the extensive [[Intertextuality|intertexts]] which represent the collective pursuits of disciplinary knowledge. The availability of scientific and disciplinary books and journals also facilitated the development of modern practices of scientific reference and [[citation]]. These developments from the impact of printing on the growth of knowledge contributed to the [[Scientific Revolution]], [[science in the Renaissance]] and during the [[science in the Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. |
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'''Printing and the growth of knowledge in Europe''' |
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=== Modern academia === |
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[[Johannes Gutenberg]]’s European introduction of the moveable type [[printing press]] around 1450 created new opportunities for the production and widespread distribution of books, fostering much new writing, with particular consequences for the development of knowledge, as documented by [[Elizabeth Eisenstein]].<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last=Eisenstein |first=E. |date=1979 |title=The Printing Press as an Agent of Change |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> The production and distribution of knowledge was no longer tied to monasteries or universities with their libraries and collections of scribal copies. In the ensuing centuries a politically and increasingly religiously divided Europe, no single authority was able to censor or control the production of books. While universities remained attached to disseminating traditional texts, publishing houses became the new centers of knowledge production, and publishing houses in different jurisdictions led to a diversity of ideas becoming available as books moved across borders and scholars came to see themselves as citizens of the [[Republic of Letters]]. |
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In the 18th century, dissident Scottish and English universities began offering practical instruction in rhetoric and writing to enable non-elite students to influence contemporary events. Only in the 19th century did the universities in some countries begin making place for the writing of new knowledge, turning them in the ensuing years from primarily disseminating knowledge through the reading of classical texts to becoming institutions devoted to both reading and writing. The creation of research seminars and the associated seminar papers in history and philology in German universities were a significant starting point for the reform of the university.{{sfnp|Kruse|2006|pp=331–334}} Professorships in philology, history, economy, theology, psychology, sociology, mathematics and the sciences were to emerge over the century, and the German model of disciplinary research university was to influence the organization of universities in England and the United States, with another model developing in France. Both emphasized production of new knowledge by faculty and acquisition thereof by students. In elite British universities, writing instruction was supported by the [[tutorial system]] with weekly writing by students for their tutors, while in the [[Teaching writing in the United States|United States regular courses in writing]] were often required starting in the late 19th century, with [[writing across the curriculum]] becoming an increasing focus, particularly towards the end of the 20th century. |
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== Psychological implications == |
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The comparison of multiple editions of traditional texts led to improved textual scholarship.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grafton |first=A. |date=1991 |title=Defenders of the text: The traditions of scholarship in an age of science, 1450–1800 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}</ref> The ability to share and compare results from many regions and enlist more people into the production of science soon led to the development of early modern science.<ref name=":4" /> Books of medicine began to incorporate observations from contemporary surgery and dissections, including printed plates providing graphic displays, to improve knowledge of anatomy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pedersen |first=O. |date=1996 |chapter=Tradition and innovation |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=2 |pages=451–488 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> With many copies of traditional books and new books appearing, debates arose over the value of each in what became known as the battle of the books.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=R. F. |date=1965 |title=Ancients and moderns: A study of the background of the battle of the books |edition=2nd |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[University of California Press]]}}</ref> Maps and discoveries of exploration and colonization also were recorded in books and governmental records,<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruegg |first=W. |date=1996 |chapter=Themes |editor-first=H. de |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |title=A history of the university |volume=2 |pages=3–4 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> often with the purpose of economic exploitation as in the [[General Archive of the Indies|Archives of the Indies]] in Seville but also to satisfy curiosity about the world.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Impey |editor1-first=O. |editor2-last=MacGregor |editor2-first=A. |date=1985 |title=The origins of museums: The cabinet of curiosities in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe |location=Oxford, England |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> |
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[[Walter J. Ong]], [[Jack Goody]], and [[Eric A. Havelock]] were among the earliest to systematically argue for the psychological and intellectual consequences of literacy. Ong argued that the introduction of writing changed the form of human consciousness from sensing the immediacy of the spoken word to the critical distance and systematization of words, which could be graphically displayed and ordered,{{sfnp|Ong|1977}}{{sfnp|Ong|1982}} such as in the works of [[Petrus Ramus]].{{sfnp|Ong|2004}} Havelock attributed the emergence of Greek philosophic thought to the use of the written word which allowed the comparison of beliefs and belief systems and the critical examination of concepts.{{sfnp|Havelock|1963}}{{sfnp|Havelock|1981}} Jack Goody argued that written language fostered such practices as [[categorization]], making lists, following formulas, developing recipes and prescriptions, and ultimately making and recording experiments. These practices changed the intellectual and psychological orientation of those who engaged with them.{{sfnp|Goody|1975|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}{{sfnp|Goody|1977|page={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} |
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While recognizing the possibilities of all these psychological and intellectual changes that accompanied these literate practices, [[Sylvia Scribner]] and [[Michael Cole (psychologist)|Michael Cole]] argued that these changes did not come universally or automatically with literacy, but rather were dependent on the social uses made of literacy in their local contexts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scribner |first=Sylvia |author-link=Sylvia Scribner |title=The Psychology of Literacy |last2=Cole |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Cole (psychologist) |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-674-72114-2 |location=Cambridge, MA |page={{page needed |date=August 2024}}}}</ref> They carried out field observation and experiments among the [[Vai people]] of West Africa, for whom the psychological impacts of literacy vary due to the three different contexts in which locals learn to read and write the [[Vai language]], English, and Arabic—practical skills, secular education, and religious education, respectively. European literacy was associated with European-style schooling, and fostered among other things syllogistic reasoning and logical problem solving. Arabic literacy was associated with the religious training of [[madrasa]]s and fostered, among other things, heightened rote memory. Literacy in the written forms of Vai associated with daily practices of making requests and explaining tasks, increased anticipation of audience knowledge and needs along with rebus solving (as the written language used rebus-like icons). |
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Printing also made possible the invention and development of scientific journals, with the {{lang|fr|[[Journal des sçavans]]}} appearing in France and [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] in England both in 1665. Over the years these journals proliferated and became the basis of disciplines and disciplinary literatures.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kronick |first=D. A. |date=1976 |title=A history of scientific & technical periodicals: The origins and development of the scientific and technical press, 1665–1790 |location=Metuchen, NJ |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]}}</ref> Genres reporting experiments and other scientific observations and theories developed over the ensuing centuries to produce modern practices of disciplinary publication with the extensive [[Intertextuality|intertexts]] which represent the collective pursuits of disciplinary knowledge. The availability of scientific and disciplinary books and journals also facilitated the development of modern practices of scientific reference and [[citation]]. These developments from the impact of printing on the growth of knowledge contributed to the [[Scientific Revolution|scientific revolution]], [[science in the Renaissance]] and [[science in the Age of Enlightenment]]. |
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== See also == |
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==== Modern research university and writing ==== |
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* [[History of numbers]] |
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In the eighteenth century a few Scottish and English dissident universities began offering some more practical and contemporary studies offered instruction in rhetoric and writing to enable their non-elite students to influence contemporary events.<ref>Smith, A. ([1762] 1985). ''Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres'' [1762]. vol. IV of the Glasgow Edition of the ''Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith'' (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1984). </ref><ref>J. Priestley. ''A Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism''. London, 1777. Ed. V. M. Bevilacqua & R. Murphy. Carbondale: [[Southern Illinois University Press]], 1965.</ref> Only in the nineteenth century, however, did universities in some countries begin creating place for the writing of new knowledge, turning them in the ensuing years from primarily disseminating classic knowledge through the reading of classic texts to becoming institutions devoted to both reading and writing. The creation of research seminars and the associated seminar papers in history and philology in German Universities were a significant starting point for the reform of the university.<ref>Kruse, O. (2006). The origins of writing in the disciplines. ''Written Communication'', 23(3), 331–352.</ref> Professorships in philology, history, economy, theology, psychology, sociology, mathematics and the sciences were to emerge over the century, and the German model of disciplinary research university was to influence the organization of universities in England and the United States, with another model developing in France. Both, however, prized the production of new knowledge by faculty and to be learned by students. In elite British universities writing instruction was supported by the [[tutorial system]] with weekly writing by students for their tutors, while in the [[Teaching writing in the United States|United States regular courses in writing]] were often required starting in the late nineteenth century, with [[writing across the curriculum]] becoming an increasing focus, particularly towards the end of the twentieth century. |
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* [[History of art]] |
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* [[List of writing systems]] |
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==== Military knowledge and classified documents ==== |
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* [[History of newspaper publishing]] |
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Military knowledge of strategies and devices date back to the ancient worlds of Egypt, India, China, Greece, and Rome, with both historical accounts and manuals for conducting war. After printing was introduced in the West, manuals for construction of fortifications and battle strategies were widely reproduced, as nations frequently were in conflict. With the growth of chemistry and other sciences, however, knowledge of new weaponry was frequently restricted to [[Secrecy|secret documents]]. Other documents also of limited distribution developed around policies, production, and distribution of the new weaponry.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gillispie |first=C. C. |date=1992 |title=Science and secret weapons development in revolutionary France, 1792–1804 |journal=Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences |volume=23 |pages=35–152 |doi=10.2307/27757692 |jstor=27757692}}</ref> By World War I, both the Allied and Axis powers applied new technologies based on scientific advances to military uses, particularly [[Chemical weapons in World War I|chemical weapons]], with over 5000 scientists engaged in developing and producing weaponry, while attempting to limit access to the information in secret documents.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haber |first=L. F. |date=1986 |title=The poisonous cloud: Chemical warfare in the First World War |location=Oxford, England |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=T. P. |date=1989 |title=American genesis: A century of invention and technological enthusiasm |location=New York |publisher=Viking Penguin}}</ref> The drive towards secret knowledge, including novel research and not just applications of prior knowledge, became especially intense with the race to develop [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear weapons]] in [[World War II]] as in the U.S. [[Manhattan Project]]. Aviation, rocketry, radar, encryption, and computing were also the subject of [[Classified information|classified documents]]. This system of classification of knowledge continued after WWII ended as the [[Cold War]] ensued. The tension between the needs for military secrecy, open scientific research, and citizen deliberation over military policy led in the United States led to the [[Atomic Energy Act of 1946]], which created civilian control, but through a continuing regime of classified knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=A. K. |date=1965 |title=A Peril and a hope: The Scientist's Movement in America, 1945-1947 |location=Chicago |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hogerton |first=J. F. |date=1963 |title=The atomic energy deskbook |location=New York |publisher=Reinhold}}</ref> |
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* [[History of knowledge]] |
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* [[History of science]] |
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=== Literature and writing === |
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The [[history of literature]] followed after the development of writing in Sumer, which was initially used for accounting purposes. The very first writings from ancient [[Sumer]] by any reasonable definition do not constitute literature. The same is true of some of the early [[Egyptian hieroglyphics]] and the thousands of ancient Chinese government records. Scholars have disagreed concerning when written record-keeping became more like [[literature]], but the oldest surviving literary texts date from a full millennium after the invention of writing. The earliest literary author known by name is [[Enheduanna]], who is credited as the author of a number of works of Sumerian literature, including ''Exaltation of Inanna'', in the [[Sumerian language]] during the [[24th century BC|24th century BCE]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Binkley |first=Carol S. Lipson Roberta A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVt7c3UX-zMC |title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |date=2012-02-01 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8503-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Salami |first=Minna |title=Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach For Everyone |publisher=Amistad |year=2020 |isbn=9780062877062 |chapter=Chapter 2: Of Liberation}}</ref> The next earliest named author is [[Ptahhotep]], who is credited with authoring ''[[The Maxims of Ptahhotep]]'', an instructional book for young men in [[Old Egyptian language|Egyptian]] composed in the [[23rd century BC|23rd century BCE]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ptahhotep |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1SRnjwEACAAJ |title=The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World |date=2016-02-08 |publisher=Martino Fine Books |isbn=978-1-61427-930-3 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] is an early notable poem, but it can also be seen as a political glorification of the historical King [[Gilgamesh]] of Sumer whose natural and supernatural accomplishments are recounted. |
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=== Psychological implications of writing === |
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[[Walter J. Ong|Walter Ong]], [[Jack Goody]], and [[Eric A. Havelock|Eric Havelock]] were among the earliest to systematically argue for the psychological and intellectual consequences of literacy. Ong argued that the introduction of writing changed the form of human consciousness from sensing the immediacy of the spoken word to the critical distance and systematization of words, which could be graphically displayed and ordered,<ref>Ong, W. J. (1977). ''Interfaces of the Word''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.</ref><ref>Ong, W. J. (1982). ''Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word''. Metheun.</ref> such as in the works of [[Petrus Ramus|Peter Ramus]].<ref>Ong. W. J. (1958). ''Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> Havelock attributed the emergence of Greek philosophic thought to the use of the written word which allowed the comparison of beliefs and belief systems and the critical examination of concepts.<ref name=":2">Havelock, E. A. (1963). ''Preface to Plato''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.</ref><ref name=":3">Havelock, E. A. (1981). ''The Literate Revolution in Greece and its Cultural Consequences''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.</ref> Jack Goody argued that written language fostered such practices as categorization, making lists, following formulas, developing recipes and prescriptions, and ultimately making and recording experiments. These practices changed the intellectual and psychological orientation of those who engaged with them.<ref>Goody, J. Ed. (ed.) (1968). ''Literacy in Traditional Societies''. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Goody, J. Ed. (1977). ''The Domestication of the Savage Mind'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press</ref> |
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While recognizing the possibilities of all these psychological and intellectual changes that accompanied these literate practices, [[Sylvia Scribner]] and [[Michael Cole (psychologist)|Michael Cole]] argued that these changes did not come universally or automatically with literacy, but rather were dependent on the social uses made of literacy in their local contexts.<ref>Scribner, S. & Cole, M. (1981). The Psychology of Literacy. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> They carried out field observation and experiments among the [[Vai people]] of West Africa, for whom the psychological impacts of literacy vary due to the three different contexts in which locals learn to read and write the [[Vai language]], English, and Arabic--practical skills, secular education, and religious education, respectively. European language literacies were associated with European style schooling, and fostered among other things syllogistic reasoning and logical problem solving. Arabic literacy was associated with the religious training of [[Madrasa]]s and fostered, among other things, heightened rote memory. Literacy in the written forms of Vai associated with daily practices of making requests and explaining tasks, increased anticipation of audience knowledge and needs along with rebus solving (as the written language used rebus-like icons). |
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Following a different line of Inquiry, James Pennebaker and colleagues have carried out many experiments establishing that writing about traumas can relieve anxiety, improve mental well-being, and improve physical health measures and outcomes.<ref>Pennebaker, J.W. & Chung, C.K. (2007). Expressive writing, emotional upheavals, and health. In H. Friedman and R. Silver (Eds.), ''Handbook of health psychology'' (pp. 263-284). New York: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>Singer, Jessica and George H.S. Singer (2008). "Writing as Physical and Emotional Healing: Findings from Clinical Research" Handbook of Research on Writing: History, Society, School, Individual, Text, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc, 485-498.</ref> |
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==See also== |
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{{Columnslist|colwidth=30em| |
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*[[History of numbers]] |
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*[[History of art]] |
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*[[List of writing systems]] |
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*[[History of journalism]] |
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*[[History of newspaper publishing]] |
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*[[History of knowledge]] |
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*[[History of science]] |
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}} |
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== Notes == |
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{{Notelist|45em}} |
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== References == |
== References == |
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=== Citations === |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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=== |
=== Works cited === |
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{{Refbegin|30em}} |
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* {{harvc|last=Baines|first=John|author-link=John Baines (Egyptologist)|chapter=The earliest Egyptian writing: Development, context, purpose|pages=150–189|in=Boudreau|year=2004}} |
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* {{ |
* {{Cite book |last=Baines |first=John |author-link=John Baines (Egyptologist) |title=Visual and Written Culture in Ancient Egypt |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-815250-7 |page=118}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Bagley |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Bagley |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-83861-0 |editor-last=Houston |editor-first=Stephen |editor-link=Stephen D. Houston |chapter=Anyang writing and the origin of the Chinese writing system |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC&q=The+first+writing+:+script+invention+as+history+and+process |via=Google Books}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Daniels |first=Peter T. |author-link=Peter T. Daniels |editor1-last=Daniels |editor1-first=Peter T. |editor2-last=Bright |editor2-first=William |title=The World's Writing Systems |date=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195079937}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2024 |isbn=978-3-11-135902-1 |editor-last=Betrò |editor-first=Marilina |series=Studies in Manuscript Cultures |volume=37 |location=Berlin |issn=2365-9696 |editor-last2=Friedrich |editor-first2=Michael |editor-last3=Michel |editor-first3=Cécile}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Haarmann |first=Harald |author-link=Harald Haarmann |title=Geschichte der Schrift |language=de |trans-title=History of Writing |publisher=C. H. Beck |year=2002 |isbn=3-406-47998-7}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Cammarosano |first=Michele |year=2024 |in1=Betrò |in2=Friedrich |in3=Michel |c=Writing on Wood in Hittite Anatolia |pages=165–206}} |
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* {{cite journal |last=Millard |first=A. R. |doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979978 |year=1986 |title=The Infancy of the Alphabet |journal=[[World Archaeology]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=390–398}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Boltz |first=William G. |author-link=William G. Boltz |title=The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System |publisher=[[American Oriental Society]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-940490-78-9 |location=New Haven, CT}} |
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* {{cite journal |last=Olivier |first=J.-P. |doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979977 |title=Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C |journal=[[World Archaeology]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |year=1986 |pages=377–389 |url=https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/248436/4/53a239ae-5319-44a5-b013-69ca027964b7.txt}} |
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* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-83861-0 |editor-last=Boudreau |editor-first=Vincent |via=Google Books}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Baines |first=John |author-link=John Baines (Egyptologist) |chapter=The earliest Egyptian writing: Development, context, purpose |pages=150–189 |in=Boudreau |year=2004}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Bazerman |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Bazerman |title=What Writing Does and How It Does It |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum |year=2004 |isbn=0-8058-3805-8 |editor-last=Bazerman |editor-first=Charles |location=Mahwah, NJ |pages=309–339 |chapter=Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and People |editor-last2=Prior |editor-first2=Paul A.}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=Handbook of Research on Writing |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8058-4870-0 |editor-last=Bazerman |editor-first=Charles |editor-mask=3 |chapter=Writing, Text, and the Law}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Bazerman |first=Charles |last2=Rogers |first2=Paul |year=2008 |in=Bazerman |c=Writing and Secular Knowledge Outside Modern European Institutions |pages=138–189 |author-mask=3}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Smart |first=Graham |year=2008 |in=Bazerman |c=Writing and the Social Formation of Economy |pages=123–135}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Tiersma |first=Peter |year=2008 |in=Bazerman |c=Writing, Text, and the Law |pages=156–170}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Condorelli |first=Marco |title=Introducing Historical Orthography |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-00-910073-1}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-108-48731-3 |editor-last=Condorelli |editor-first=Marco |editor-mask=3 |series=Cambridge handbooks in language and linguistics |editor-last2=Rutkowska |editor-first2=Hanna}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Salgarella |first=Ester |year=2023 |in1=Condorelli |in2=Rutkowska |c=Reconstructing a Prehistoric Writing System |pages=395–416}} |
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** {{Harvc |last=Subačius |first=Giedrius |year=2023 |in1=Condorelli |in2=Rutkowska |c=Materiality of Writing |pages=305–324}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Connery |first=Christopher Leigh |title=The Empire of the Text: Writing and Authority in Early Imperial China |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8476-8738-1 |location=Lanham, MD}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Routledge Handbook of the English Writing System |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-315-67000-3 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Vivian |location=London |editor-last2=Ryan |editor-first2=Des}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Coulmas |first=Florian |author-link=Florian Coulmas |title=Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-78217-3}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=Peter T. |author-link=Peter T. Daniels |title=The World's Writing Systems |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7 |editor-last=Daniels |editor-first=Peter T. |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=DeFrancis |first=John |author-link=John DeFrancis |title=Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi Press]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8248-1207-2 |location=Honolulu}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Eisenstein |first=Elizabeth |title=The Printing Press as an Agent of Change |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-1-107-39290-8}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507618-9 |editor-last=Fagan |editor-first=Brian M. |chapter=Writing: Introduction |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195076189.001.0001 |editor-last2=Beck |editor-first2=Charlotte |editor-last3=Michaels |editor-first3=George |editor-last4=Scarre |editor-first4=Chris |editor-last5=Silberman |editor-first5=Neil Asher}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Fischer |first=Steven Roger |author-link=Steven Roger Fischer |title=A History of Writing |publisher=Reaktion |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-86189-101-3 |series=Globalities}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Goody |first=Jack |author-link=Jack Goody |title=The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-511-62159-8 |author-mask=3}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Havelock |first=E. |title=The Greek Concept of Justice: From Its Shadow in Homer to Its Substance in Plato |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1978 |isbn=0-674-36220-9 |location=Cambridge, MA |author-mask=3}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Havelock |first=Eric A. |title=The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Consequences |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-691-00026-8 |author-mask=3}} |
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* {{Cite journal |last=Kruse |first=Otto |year=2006 |title=The Origins of Writing in the Disciplines: Traditions of Seminar Writing and the Humboldtian Ideal of the Research University |journal=Written Communication |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=331–352 |doi=10.1177/0741088306289259 |issn=0741-0883}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Mark Edward |title=Writing and Authority in Early China |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7914-4113-8 |location=Albany}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Lipson |first=Carol S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVt7c3UX-zMC |title=Rhetoric Before and Beyond the Greeks |last2=Binkley |first2=Roberta A. |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7914-8503-3 |via=Google Books}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Makdisi |first=George |title=The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-85224-375-6}} |
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* {{Cite journal |last=McCarter |first=P. Kyle |year=1974 |title=The Early Diffusion of the Alphabet |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=37 |pages=54–68 |jstor=3210965 |s2cid=126182369 |number=3}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Meyer |first=Elizabeth A. |title=Legitimacy and Law in the Roman World: Tabulae in Roman Belief and Practice |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-49701-5 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511482861}} |
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* {{Cite journal |last=Millard |first=A. R. |year=1986 |title=The Infancy of the Alphabet |journal=[[World Archaeology]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=390–398 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979978}} |
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* {{Cite journal |last=Olivier |first=J.-P. |year=1986 |title=Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C |journal=[[World Archaeology]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=377–389 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979977 |url=https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/248436/4/53a239ae-5319-44a5-b013-69ca027964b7.txt}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Olson |first=David R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TyOC9nqEokC |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy |last2=Torrance |first2=Nancy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-86220-2 |via=Google Books}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-955730-1 |editor-last=Radner |editor-first=Karen |editor-last2=Robson |editor-first2=Eleanor}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Regulski |first=Ilona |title=Archaeology |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-993541-3 |chapter=The Origins and Early Development of Writing in Egypt |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.013.61 |via=Oxford Handbooks Online}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=Universities In The Middle Ages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-521-36105-7 |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |editor-first=Hilde |series=A History of the University in Europe |volume=1}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=Garcia |pages=388–408 |c=The Faculties of Law}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=North |first=J. |pages=337–359 |c=The Quadrivium}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=Ridder-Symoens |first=Hilde |c=Mobility |pages=280–304 |anchor-year=1992a}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=Schwinges |pages=171–194 |c=Admission}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=Siraisi |first=N. |pages=360–387 |c=The Faculty of Medicine}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1992 |last=Verger |first=J. |pages=35–74 |c=Patterns}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=Universities In Early Modern Europe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-36106-4 |editor-last=Ridder-Symoens |editor-first=Hilde |editor-mask=3 |series=A History of the University in Europe |volume=2}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1996 |last=Pedersen |first=O. |c=Tradition and Innovation |pages=451–488}} |
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** {{Harvc |in=Ridder-Symoens |year=1996 |last=Ruegg |first=W. |c=Themes |pages=3–4}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Salomon |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937 |title=The World's Writing Systems |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7 |chapter=Brahmi and Kharoshthi}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Sampson |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Sampson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVcdNRvwoDkC |title=Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8047-1756-4 |via=Google Books}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium |publisher=Ubiquity |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-909188-24-2 |editor-last=Piquette |editor-first=Kathryn E. |doi=10.5334/bai |editor-last2=Whitehouse |editor-first2=Ruth D. |doi-access=free}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Schmandt-Besserat |first=Denise |author-link=Denise Schmandt-Besserat |title=How Writing Came About |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-292-77704-0 |location=Austin |ref={{sfnref|Schmandt-Besserat|1992a}} |orig-year=1992a}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Schmandt-Besserat |first=Denise |title=Counting to Cuneiform |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1992b |isbn=978-0-292-70783-2 |series=Before Writing |volume=1 |location=Austin |author-mask=3}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Sproat |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Sproat |title=Language, Technology, and Society |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-954938-2}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Starr |first=Paul |title=The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-465-08193-6 |location=New York}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Stock |first=Brian |title=The Implications of Literacy: Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-691-10227-6 |edition=Repr.}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Versteegh |first=Kees |title=The Arabic Linguistic Tradition |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-415-15757-5 |series=Landmarks in Linguistic Thought |volume=3 |location=London}} |
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* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2011 |title=The Invention of Writing in Egypt |encyclopedia=Before the Pyramids: Origin of Egyptian Civilization |publisher=Oriental Institute, University of Chicago |last=Wengrow |first=David |author-link=David Wengrow |editor-last=Teeter |editor-first=Emily |isbn=978-1-885923-82-0}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Walker |first=C. B. F. |url=https://archive.org/details/Walker.C.ReadingThePastCuneiform |title=Cuneiform: Reading The Past |publisher=British Museum |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-7141-8059-5}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Woods |first=Christopher |title=Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond |publisher=[[University of Chicago]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-885923-76-9 |editor-last=Woods |editor-first=Christopher |series=Oriental Institute Museum Publications |volume=32 |pages=15–25 |chapter=Visible language: the earliest writing systems |editor-last2=Teeter |editor-first2=Emily |editor-last3=Emberling |editor-first3=Geoff}} |
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{{Refend}} |
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== Further reading == |
== Further reading == |
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{{Refbegin}}<!-- By publication date; reverse chronological order --> |
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<!-- Items listed by dates; newest to oldest--> |
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* {{Cite book |last=Ferrara |first=Silvia |title=The Greatest invention: a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts |publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-374-60162-1 |location=New York |translator-last=Portnowitz |translator-first=Todd |orig-date=2019}} |
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; 21st century sources |
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* {{Cite book |last=Lambert |first=J. L. F. |title=Termcraft: The Emergence of Terminology Science from the Vin ANS and Sumerians to Aristotle |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4602-1665-1}} |
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* {{ill|Silvia Ferrara|it|lt=Ferrara, Silvia}} (2022) [2019]. ''The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. {{ISBN|978-0-374-60162-1}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |isbn=978-90-04-21545-0 |editor-last=Voogt |editor-first=Alexander J. de |location=Leiden |editor-last2=Quack |editor-first2=Joachim Friedrich}} |
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* Lambert, J. L. F. (2014–2017). Termcraft: The emergence of terminology science from the Vinčans and Sumerians to Aristotle. Lulu Press. {{ISBN|978-1-7751129-2-1}}. |
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* {{Cite book |last=Powell |first=Barry B. |title=Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4051-6256-2 |location=Chichester}} |
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* ''The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders.'' Edited by [[Alex de Voogt]], [[Joachim Friedrich Quack]]. BRILL, 9 Dec 2011. |
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* |
* {{Cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Joel |title=In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language |publisher=New York University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8147-3654-8}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Glassner |first=Jean-Jacques |title=The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8018-7389-8 |location=Baltimore |translator-last=Bahrani |translator-first=Zainab |translator-last2=Van de Mieroop |translator-first2=Marc |translator-link=Zainab Bahrani}} |
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* [[Steven R. Fischer]] (2005). ''A History of Writing'', Reaktion Books CN136481 |
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* {{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Andrew |title=The Story of Writing |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-500-28156-7 |location=London |orig-date=1995}} |
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* Hoffman, Joel M. (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=momIk7nVNdkC ''In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language.''] New York University Press. Chapter 3. |
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* {{Cite book |last=Nissen |first=Hans Jörg |title=Archaic bookkeeping: early writing and techniques of economic administration in the ancient Near East |last2=Damerow |first2=Peter |last3=Englund |first3=Robert K. |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-226-58659-5}} |
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* [[Jean-Jacques Glassner]] (2003). ''The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer.'' Johns Hopkins University Press. {{ISBN|0801873894}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Saggs |first=Henry W. F. |title=Civilization before Greece and Rome |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-300-05031-8 |location=New Haven, CT}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Norman |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist) |title=Chinese |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-521-29653-6}} |
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; Late 20th century sources |
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* {{Cite book |last=Diringer |first=David |author-link=David Diringer |title=Writing |publisher=Praeger |year=1962 |location=New York |oclc=308353}} |
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* [[W. Andrew Robinson|Andrew Robinson]], ''The Story of Writing.'' Thames & Hudson 1995 (second edition: 1999). {{ISBN|0-500-28156-4}} |
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{{Refend}} |
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* Hans J. Nissen, P. Damerow, R. Englund, ''Archaic Bookkeeping'', University of Chicago Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-500-01665-8}} |
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* [[Denise Schmandt-Besserat]], ''Before Writing, Vol. I: From Counting to Cuneiform.'' University of Texas Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0292707835}} |
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* Denise Schmandt-Besserat, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110709092412/https://webspace.utexas.edu/dsbay/index.html Home page], ''How Writing Came About'', University of Texas Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-292-77704-3}}. |
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* Saggs, H., 1991. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300050313 ''Civilization Before Greece and Rome'']. Yale University Press. Chapter 4. |
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* {{cite book|first=Jerry|last=Norman|author-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist)|title=Chinese|year=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-29653-6|ref=none}} |
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* [[Jack Goody]], ''The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society''. Cambridge University Press, 1986 |
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; Earlier 20th century sources |
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* [[David Diringer]] ''Writing.'' New York: Praeger. 1962. |
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* [[Otto E. Neugebauer]], Abraham Joseph Sachs, [[Albrecht Götze]]. ''Mathematical Cuneiform Texts.'' Pub. jointly by the American Oriental Society and the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1945. |
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* Smith, William Anton. [https://archive.org/details/readingprocess01smitgoog ''The Reading Process'']. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922. |
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* [[Hugh Chisholm|Chisholm, Hugh]]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. vol. 28, pp. 852–853. Cambridge, England: University Press, 1911. [[s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Writing|"Writing"]]. |
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* [[Edward Clodd|Clodd, Edward]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-b89AAAAYAAJ ''The Story of the Alphabet'']. Library of useful stories. D. Appleton, 1910. |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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* [https://www.worldswritingsystems.org/ The World's Writing Systems]{{snd}}all 294 known writing systems, each with a typographic reference glyph and Unicode status |
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; [[Cuneiform]] |
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* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/ Cracking the Maya Code]{{snd}}[[Nova (American TV series)|NOVA]], [[Public Broadcasting Service]] |
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* [http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=start cdli:wiki]: Assyriological tools for specialists in cuneiform studies |
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; General |
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* [http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm History of Writing]. historian.net |
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* [https://www.worldswritingsystems.org The World's Writing Systems], all 294 known writing systems, each with a typographic reference glyph and Unicode status |
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*[[Denise Schmandt-Besserat]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110709092412/https://webspace.utexas.edu/dsbay/index.html HomePage] |
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*[http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/c5/index.htm Children of the Code: A Brief History of Writing – Online Video] |
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; Broadcasts |
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*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/ Cracking the Maya Code]. [[Nova (American TV series)|NOVA]], [[Public Broadcasting Service]]. ([https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/time-flash.html Timeline (flash)]) |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm BBC on tortoise shells discovered in China] |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/334517.stm Fragments of pottery discovered in modern Pakistan] |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/235724.stm Egyptian hieroglyphs c. 3000 BCE] |
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{{-}} |
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{{Writing}} |
{{Writing}} |
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{{Writing systems}} |
{{Writing systems}} |
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{{List of writing systems}} |
{{List of writing systems}} |
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{{World history}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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{{Portal bar|Writing|History}} |
{{Portal bar|Writing|History}} |
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[[Category:History of writing| ]] |
[[Category:History of writing| ]] |
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[[Category:History by topic]] |
Latest revision as of 02:50, 22 December 2024
This article cites its sources but its page reference ranges are too broad or incorrect. (July 2024) |
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The history of writing traces the development of writing systems[1] and how their use transformed and was transformed by different societies. The use of writing prefigures various social and psychological consequences associated with literacy and literary culture.
Each historical invention of writing emerged from systems of proto-writing that used ideographic and mnemonic symbols but were not capable of fully recording spoken language. True writing, where the content of linguistic utterances can be accurately reconstructed by later readers, is a later development. As proto-writing is not capable of fully reflecting the grammar and lexicon used in languages, it is often difficult or impossible to deduce what the author intended to communicate.
Early uses of writing included documenting agricultural transactions and contracts, but it was soon used in the areas of finance, religion, government, and law. Writing allowed the spread of these social modalities and their associated knowledge, and ultimately the further centralization of political power.[2]
Terminology
[edit]Writing systems typically satisfy three criteria. Firstly, the writing must have some purpose or meaning to it, and a point must be communicated by the text. Secondly, writing systems make use of specific symbols which may be recorded on some writing medium. Thirdly, the symbols used in writing generally correspond to elements of spoken language.[3] In general, systems of symbolic communication like signage, painting, maps, and mathematics are distinguished from writing systems, which require knowledge of an associated spoken language to read a text.
The norms of writing generally evolve more slowly than those of speech; as a result, linguistic features are frequently preserved in the written form of a language after they cease to appear in the corresponding spoken language.[4]
Emergence
[edit]Before the 20th century, most scholarly theories of the origins of writing involved some form of monogenesis,[5] the assumption that writing had been invented only once as cuneiform in ancient Sumer, and spread across the world from there via cultural diffusion.[6] According to these theories, writing was such a particular technology that exposure through activities like trade was a much more likely means of acquisition than independent reinvention. Specifically, many theories were dependent on a literal account of the Book of Genesis, including the emphases it placed on Mesopotamia.[7] Over time, greater awareness of the systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica conclusively established that writing had been independently invented multiple times. Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognized[8]—in Mesopotamia (c. 3400–3100 BC), Egypt (c. 3250 BC),[9][10][6] China (before c. 1250 BC),[11] and Mesoamerica (before c. 1 AD).[12]
Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs both gradually evolved from proto-writing between 3400 and 3100 BC. The Proto-Elamite script is also believed to have been in use during this period.[13] Regarding Egyptian hieroglyphs,[9][14][15] scholars point to very early differences with Sumerian cuneiform "in structure and style" as to why the two systems "(must) have developed independently," and if any "stimulus diffusion" of writing did occur, it only served to transmit the bare idea of writing between cultures.[9][16] Due to the lack of direct evidence for the transfer of writing, "no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt."[17]
During the 1990s, symbols originally inscribed between 3400 and 3200 BC were discovered at Abydos, which shed some doubt on the previous notion that the Mesopotamian sign system predated the Egyptian one.[18] However, scholars have noted that the attestation at Abydos is singular and sudden, while the gradual evolution of the Mesopotamian system is lengthy and well-documented, with its predecessor token system used in agriculture and accounting attested as early as 8000 BC.[19]
As there is no evidence of contact between the Chinese Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC) and the literate civilizations of the Near East,[20] and the methods of logographic and phonetic representation in Chinese characters are distinct from those used in cuneiform and hieroglyphs, written Chinese is considered to be an independent development.[8]
Proto-writing
[edit]In each case where writing was invented independently, it emerged from systems of proto-writing, which used ideographic and mnemonic symbols to communicate information, but did not record human language directly. Historically, most proto-writing systems did not produce writing systems; the earliest writing dates to the Early Bronze Age (3300–2100 BC), but proto-writing is attested as early as the 7th millennium BC. Examples of proto-writing during the Neolithic and Bronze Age include:
- The Jiahu symbols carved into tortoise shells, found in 24 Neolithic graves excavated at Jiahu in northern China and dated to the 7th millennium BC.[23] The majority of the signs uncovered were inscribed individually or in small groups on different shells.[24][25] Most archaeologists consider the Jiahu symbols as not directly linked to the emergence of true writing.[26]
- The Vinča symbols found on artefacts of the Vinča culture of central and southeastern Europe, dated to the 6th–5th millennia BC.[27]
- The Indus script attested in short inscriptions between 2600 and 2000 BC.[28]
Later examples include quipu, a system of knotted cords used as mnemonic devices within the Inca Empire (15th century AD).[29]
Recording history
[edit]The origins of writing are more generally attributed to the start of the Late Neolithic, when clay tokens were used to record specific amounts of livestock or commodities. These tokens were initially impressed on the surface of round clay envelopes and then stored in them. The tokens were then progressively replaced by flat tablets, on which signs were recorded with a stylus. Actual writing is first recorded in Uruk (modern Iraq), at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and soon after in various parts of the Near East.[30]
An ancient Sumerian poem gives the first known story of the invention of writing:
Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat (the message), the Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet. Until then, there had been no putting words on clay.
The emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary inscriptions. Historians mark the "historicity" of a culture by the presence of coherent texts written by the culture.[33] Scholars have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became true writing.[34]
Bronze Age
[edit]Cuneiform
[edit]Sumerian writing evolved from a system of clay tokens used to represent commodities. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, which recorded numbers using a round stylus pressed into the clay at different angles. This system was gradually augmented with pictographic marks indicating what was being counted, which were made using a sharp stylus. By the 29th century BC, writing used a wedge-shaped stylus and included phonetic elements representing syllables of the Sumerian language, and gradually replaced round-stylus and sharp-stylus markings during the 27th and 26th centuries BC.[35] Finally, cuneiform became a general-purpose writing system with logograms, syllables, and numerals. From the 26th century BC, the system was adapted to write the Akkadian language, and from there to others, such as Hurrian and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for Ugaritic and Old Persian.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
[edit]Geoffrey Sampson states that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and, probably [were], invented under the influence of the latter",[38] and that it is "probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia".[39][40][17] However, more recent scholars have held that the evidence for direct influence is sparse. During the 1990s, the discovery of glyphs at Abydos dated between 3400 and 3200 BC has challenged the hypothesis that writing diffused from Mesopotamia to Egypt, pointing instead to the independent development of writing within Egypt. The Abydos glyphs, found in tomb U-J, are written on ivory and are likely labels for other goods found in the grave.[41] While sign usage in Mesopotamian tokens is attested c. 8000 BC, Egyptian writing appears suddenly in the late 4th millennium BC.[18][32][42]
Frank J. Yurco states that depictions of pharaonic iconography such as the royal crowns, Horus falcons and victory scenes were concentrated in the Upper Egyptian Naqada and A-Group cultures. He further elaborates that "Egyptian writing arose in Naqadan Upper Egypt and A-Group Nubia, and not in the Delta cultures, where the direct Western Asian contact was made, [which] further vitiates the Mesopotamian-influence argument".[43]
Egyptian scholar Gamal Mokhtar argues that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African" and in "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality", although he acknowledges the geographical location of Egypt made it a receptacle for many influences.[44]
Writing was of political importance to the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes.[45] Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train as scribes, in the service of temple, royal, and military authorities.
Early Semitic alphabets
[edit]The first alphabetic writing was developed by workers in the Sinai Peninsula to write Semitic languages c. 2000 BC. This script worked by giving Egyptian hieratic letters Semitic sound values. The Geʽez script native to Ethiopia and Eritrea descends from the Ancient South Arabian script, which had initially been used to write early Geʽez texts.[46]
Most alphabetic writing systems presently in use either descended from Proto-Sinaitic—usually via the Phoenician alphabet—or were directly inspired by its descendants. In Italy, about 500 years separated the early Old Italic scripts from the time of Plautus (c. 750 – c. 250 BC), and in the case of the Germanic peoples, the corresponding time span is again similar, from the first Elder Futhark inscriptions to early texts like the Abrogans (c. 200–750 AD). These early abjads remained of marginal importance for several centuries, and it is only towards the end of the Bronze Age that forms of Proto-Sinaitic script split into the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (c. 1400 BC), the undeciphered Byblos syllabary, and the South Arabian alphabet (c. 1200 BC). Proto-Canaanite, which was probably influenced by the Byblos syllabary, in turn inspired the Ugaritic alphabet (c. 1300 BC).
Anatolian hieroglyphs
[edit]Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous script native to western Anatolia, used to record the Hieroglyphic Luwian language. It first appeared on Luwian royal seals from the 13th century BC.[47]
Chinese characters
[edit]The earliest attested Chinese writing comprise the body of inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze vessels dating to the Late Shang period (c. 1200 – c. 1050 BC), with the earliest of these dated c. 1250 BC.[48][49]
Aegean systems
[edit]Several syllabic and logographic writing systems were used in the Bronze Age Aegean civilizations (the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland and the Minoan civilization on Crete), which ultimately fell out of use and were forgotten centuries prior to the introduction of the alphabet to the region by the Phoenicians:[50][51]
- Cretan hieroglyphs (c. 2100−1700 BC), on Crete
- Linear A (c. 1800−1450 BC), yet to be deciphered—on Crete, Aegean Islands, and Laconia
- Linear B (c. 1450−1200 BC), in Knossos on Crete, Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, and Tiryns on the Greek mainland
Mesoamerican systems
[edit]Of several symbol systems used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the Maya script appears to be the best developed, and has been fully deciphered. The earliest inscriptions identifiable as Maya date to the 3rd century BC, and writing was in continuous use from the 1st century AD until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs.[52]
Iron Age
[edit]The Phoenician alphabet is the continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet into the Iron Age; it in turn gave rise to the Aramaic and Greek alphabets. To date, most of the writing systems used throughout Afro-Eurasia descend from either Aramaic or Greek. The Greek alphabet was the first to introduce letters representing vowel sounds.[53] It and its descendant in the Latin alphabet gave rise to several European scripts in the first several centuries AD, including the runic, Gothic, and Cyrillic alphabets. The Aramaic alphabet evolved into the Brahmic scripts of India, as well as the Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac abjads—with descendants spread as far as the Mongolian script. The South Arabian alphabet gave rise to the Geʽez abugida.[54]
Greek alphabets
[edit]The history of the Greek alphabet began as early as the 8th century BC, when the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet for their own use.[55] The letters of the Greek alphabet generally visually correspond to those of the Phoenician alphabet, and both came to be arranged using the same alphabetical order.[55] Those adapting the Phoenician system added three letters to the end of the series, called the "supplementals". Several varieties of the Greek alphabet developed. One, known as the Cumae alphabet, was used west of Athens and in southern Italy. The other variation, known as Eastern Greek, was used in present-day Turkey and by the Athenians, and eventually the rest of the world that spoke Greek adopted this variation. After first writing right to left, like the Phoenicians, the Greeks eventually chose to write from left to right. Occasionally however, the writer would start the next line where the previous line finished, so that the lines would read alternately left to right, then right to left, and so on. This is known as boustrophedon writing, which imitated the path of an ox-drawn plough, and was used until the 6th century.[56]
Italic and Latin alphabets
[edit]The Greek alphabet is the progenitor of each script currently used to write the languages of Europe.[57] The most widespread descendant of Greek is the Latin script, named for the Latins, a central Italian people who came to dominate Europe with the rise of Rome. Around the 5th century BC, the Romans adopted writing from the Etruscan civilization, who wrote in a number of Italic scripts derived from the western Greeks. Due to the cultural dominance of the Roman state, the other Old Italic scripts have not survived in any great quantity, and the Etruscan language is mostly lost.[58]
Medieval era and modernity
[edit]After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the production and transmission of literature that had previously been widespread across the Roman world became largely confined to the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, where the primary literary languages were Greek and Persian respectively—though other languages such as Syriac and Coptic were also important.[59]
The spread of Islam in the 7th century brought about the rapid establishment of Arabic as a major literary language in much of the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Arabic and Persian quickly began to overshadow Greek's role as a language of scholarship. Arabic script was adopted to write the Persian and Old Turkic languages. This script also heavily influenced the development of the cursive scripts of Greek, the Slavic languages, Latin, and other languages.[60] The influence of Arabic writing during the Crusades also resulted in the Hindu–Arabic numeral system being adopted throughout Europe.[61] By the 11th century, the city of Córdoba, Andalusia in what is now southern Spain had become one of the world's foremost intellectual centres, and was the site of the largest library in Europe.[62]
By the 14th century, the Renaissance in Europe led to a revival of the importance of Greek, as well as of Latin as a significant literary language.[60] A similar though smaller emergence occurred in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia. At the same time Arabic and Persian began a slow decline in importance as the Islamic Golden Age ended. The revival of literacy development in Western Europe led to many innovations in the Latin alphabet and the diversification of the alphabet to codify the spoken forms of the various languages.
Technology and materials
[edit]The mediums, materials, and technologies used by literate societies for writing help determine how writing systems work, what writing is used for, and what social impact it has.[63] For example, the physical durability of the materials used directly determines what historical examples of writing have survived for later analysis: while bodies of inscriptions in stone, bone, or metal are attested from each ancient literate society, much manuscript culture is attested only indirectly.[64][65]
The common materials in the Mesopotamian world were the tablet and the roll, the former probably having a Chaldean origin, the latter an Egyptian. The tablets of the Chaldeans are small pieces of clay, somewhat crudely shaped into a form resembling a pillow, and thickly inscribed with cuneiform characters. Similar use has been seen in hollow cylinders, or prisms of six or eight sides, formed of fine terracotta, sometimes glazed, on which the characters were traced with a small stylus, in some specimens so minutely as to require the aid of a magnifying glass.[66]
In Egypt the principal writing material was of quite a different sort. Wooden tablets are found pictured on the monuments, while papyrus was also used as early as the 4th millennium BC.[67] The papyrus reed grew chiefly in Lower Egypt and had various economic means for writing. The pith was taken out and divided by a pointed instrument into the thin pieces of which it is composed; it was then flattened by pressure, and the strips glued together, other strips being placed at right angles to them, so that a roll of any length might be manufactured. Writing seems to have become more widespread with the invention of papyrus in Egypt. That this material was in use in Egypt from a very early period is evidenced by still existing papyrus of the earliest Theban dynasties.[68]
As the papyrus, being in great demand, and exported to all parts of the world, became very costly, other materials were often used instead of it, among which is mentioned leather, a few leather mills of an early period having been found in the tombs.[66] Parchment, using sheepskins left after the wool was removed for cloth, was sometimes cheaper than papyrus, which had to be imported outside Egypt. With the invention of wood-pulp paper, the cost of writing material began a steady decline. Efforts to improve the bond strength of wood-pulp paper fibres through the 20th century, with two areas of examination being "dry strength of paper" and "wet web strength".[69] The former involves examination of the physical properties of the paper itself, while the latter involves using additives to improve strength.
Uses and applications
[edit]Commerce
[edit]According to Denise Schmandt-Besserat, writing had its origins in the counting, cataloguing, and trade of agricultural produce.[70] Government tax rolls followed thereafter. Written documents became essential for the accumulation and accounting of wealth by individuals, the state, and religious organizations as well as the transactions of trade, loans, inheritance, and documentation of ownership.[71] With such documentation and accounting larger accumulations of wealth became more possible, along with the power that accompanied wealth, most prominently to the benefit of royalty, the state, and religions. Contracts and loans supported the growth of long-distance international trade with accompanying networks for import and export, supporting the rise of capitalism.[72] Paper money was first used in China during the 11th century;[73] it and other financial instruments relied on writing, initially in the form of letters and later as specialized genres designed to facilitate specific types of transactions and guarantees of value between individuals, banks, or governments.[74] With the growth of economic activity in late Medieval and Renaissance Europe, sophisticated methods of accounting and calculating value emerged, with such calculations both carried out in writing and explained in manuals.[75] The creation of corporations then proliferated documents surrounding organization, management, the distribution of shares, and records management.[76]
During the late 18th century, François Quesnay and Adam Smith developed systematic theories of economics for the first time. The works of Quesnay, Smith, and their colleagues introduced the concept of an economy as such—as well as the concept of a national economy.[77] Economics has since developed as a field with many authors contributing texts to the professional literature, and governments collecting data, instituting policies and creating institutions to manage and advance their economies. Deirdre McCloskey has examined the rhetorical strategies and discursive construction of modern economic theory.[78][79][80] Graham Smart has examined in depth how the Bank of Canada uses writing to cooperatively produce policies based on economic data and then to communicate strategically with relevant publics.[81]
Law, governance, and journalism
[edit]Private legal documents for the sale of land appeared in Mesopotamia in the early 3rd millennium BC, not long after the appearance of cuneiform writing.[82] The first codes of law were written in Mesopotamia c. 2100 BC, exemplified in the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC) that was inscribed on stone stelae throughout the Old Babylonian Empire.[83] While the ancient Egyptian state did not codify its laws, legal documents such as official decrees and private contracts were used during the Old Kingdom c. 2150 BC. The Torah, comprising the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, codified the laws of Ancient Israel. Laws were frequently codified in ancient Greek and Roman polities, with Roman law ultimately serving as a model for both church canon law and secular law used throughout much of Europe during the Middle Ages.[84][85]
In China, the earliest evidence for the codification of laws or punishments are bronze inscriptions made in 536 BC.[86] The earliest law codes to be preserved in their entirety were those of the Qin and Western Han dynasties (221–9 BC), which articulated a full system of social control and governance, with criminal procedures and accountability for both government officials and citizens. These laws required complex reporting and documenting procedures to facilitate hierarchical supervision from the village up to the imperial centre.[87]
While common law developed in a mostly oral environment in England after the Roman period, with the return of the church and the Norman conquest, customary law began to be inscribed as were precedents of the courts; however, many elements remained oral, with documents only memorializing public oaths, wills, land transfers, court judgements, and ceremonies. During the late medieval period, however, documents gained authority for agreements, transactions, and laws.[88]
Writing has been central to expanding many of the core functions of governance through law, regulation, taxation, and documentary surveillance of citizens; all dependent on growth of bureaucracy which elaborates and administers rules and policies and maintains records. These developments which rely on writing increase the power and extent of states.[89] At the same time writing has increased the ability of citizens to become informed about the operations of the state, to become more organized in expressing needs and concerns, to identify with regions and states, and to form constituencies with particular views and interests; the history of journalism is closely linked to citizen information, regional and national identity, and expression of interests. These changes have greatly influenced the nature of states, increasing the visibility of people and their views no matter what the form of governance is.
Extensive bureaucracies arose in the ancient Near East[90] and China[91][92] which relied on a literate class of scribes and bureaucrats. In the Ancient Near East this was carried out through the formation of scribal schools;[93] in China, this led to the institution of written imperial examinations based on classic texts that effectively defined traditional Chinese education for millennia.[94] Literacy was associated with the government bureaucracy; following its emergence, printing was tightly controlled by the government, with texts written in vernacular Chinese being comparatively rare until the written vernacular Chinese movement that followed the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).[95] In ancient Greece and Rome, class distinctions between citizen and slave, wealthy and poor limited education and participation. During the Middle Ages and early modern period, the church dominated education in Europe, reflecting the central role religious life had in the maintenance of state power and bureaucracy.[96]
In Europe and its American colonies, the introduction of the printing press and decreasing cost of paper and printing allowed for greater access of ordinary citizens to gain information about the government and conditions in other regions within the jurisdictions.[97] The Reformation's emphasis on the individual reading of sacred texts eventually increased the spread of literacy beyond the ruling classes, and opened the door to a wider awareness and criticism of government policy. Growing divisions along confessional and political lines in English society during 16th and 17th centuries culminated in the English Civil War that resulted in the sovereignty of Parliament being prioritized over the prerogatives of the British monarchy.[98] The conflict featured pamphlet wars where opposing political factions attempted to utilize the medium of print to shape opinion among the general public for the first time.
Newspaper publishing and journalism, having origins in commercial information, soon was to offer political information and was instrumental to the formation of a public sphere.[99][100] Newspapers were instrumental in the spread of information, fostering discussion and the formation of political identities in the American Revolution. During the late 19th century, the circulation of regional newspapers encouraged adoption and articulation of urban or localized identities by readers. A focus on national news that followed telegraphy and the emergence of newspapers with national circulation along with scripted national radio and television news broadcasts also created horizons of attention through the 20th century, with both benefits and costs.[101]
Literary culture
[edit]Much of what is considered knowledge is inscribed in written text and is the result of communal processes of production, sharing, and evaluation among social groups and institutions bound together with the aim of producing and disseminating knowledge-bearing texts; the contemporary world identifies such social groups as disciplines and their products as disciplinary literatures. The invention of writing facilitated the sharing, comparing, criticizing, and evaluating of texts, resulting in knowledge becoming a more communal property across wider geographic and temporal domains. Religious texts formed the common knowledge of scriptural religions, and knowledge of those sacred scriptures became the focus of institutions of religious belief, interpretation, and schooling.[102]
Scholars have disagreed concerning when written record-keeping became more like literature, but the oldest surviving literary texts date from a full millennium after the invention of writing. The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, who is credited as the author of a number of works of Sumerian literature, including Exaltation of Inanna, in the Sumerian language during the 24th century BC.[103][104] The next earliest named author is Ptahhotep, who is credited with authoring The Maxims of Ptahhotep, an instructional book for young men in Old Egyptian composed in the 23rd century BC.[105] The Epic of Gilgamesh is a notable early poem, but it can also be seen as a political glorification of the historical King Gilgamesh of Sumer whose natural and supernatural accomplishments are recounted.
The identification of sacred religious texts codified distinct belief systems, and became the basis of the modern concept of religion.[106] The reproduction and spread of these texts became associated with these scriptural religions and their spread, and thus were central to proselytizing.[107] Their status created expectations that believers either read or otherwise respect their contents; priests charged with reading, interpretation and application of texts were especially vital in societies prior to the advent of mass literacy.
Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Mesoamerica
[edit]In Mesopotamia and Egypt, scribes became important for roles beyond the initiating roles in the economy, governance and law. They became the producers and stewards of astronomy and calendars, divination, and literary culture. Schools developed in tablet houses, which also archived repositories of knowledge.[108] In ancient India, the Brahman caste became stewards of texts that aggregated and codified oral knowledge.[109] Those texts then became the authoritative basis for a continuing tradition of oral education. A case in point is the work of Pāṇini, a linguist who analysed and codified knowledge of Sanskrit syntax, prosody, and grammar. Mathematics, astronomy, and medicine were also subjects of classic Indian learning and were codified in classic texts.[110] Less is known about Mayan, Aztec, and other Mesoamerican learning because of the destruction of texts by the conquistadors, but it is known that scribes were revered, elite children attended schools, and the study of astronomy, map making, historical chronicles, and genealogy flourished.[111][112]
China
[edit]In China, after the Qin dynasty attempted to remove all traces of the competing Confucian tradition, the Han dynasty made philological knowledge the qualification for the government bureaucracy, so as to restore knowledge that was in danger of vanishing. The imperial examination system for the civil service functioned for two millennia, and consisted of a written exam based on knowledge of classical texts. To support students obtaining government positions through the written examination, schools focused on those same texts and the associated philological knowledge.[94] These texts covered philosophical, religious, legal, astronomical, hydrological, mathematical, military, and medical knowledge.[113] Printing as it emerged largely served the knowledge needs of the bureaucracy and the monastery, with substantial vernacular printing only emerging around the 15th century.[95]
Ancient Greece and Rome
[edit]While Socrates thought writing an inferior means of transmission of learning (recounted in the Phaedrus), we know of his works through Plato's written accounts of his dialogues. Havelock also connects the philosophical work of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle with literacy, as it enabled the development of critical thinking via the analysis of permanent texts written both by the author and their peers.[114][115][116] Aristotle wrote treatises and lectures which were the core of education at the Lyceum, along with the may volumes collected in the Lyceum's library. The Stoics and Epicureans also wrote and taught during the same period in Athens, although we now have only fragments of their works.
Greek writers were the founders of many other fields of knowledge. Herodotus and Thucydides, who wrote during the 5th century BC in Athens, are considered founders of the Western historiographical tradition, incorporating genealogy and mythic accounts into systematic investigations of events. Thucydides developed a more critical, neutral history through greater examination of documents, transcription of speeches, and interviews.[117] During the same period, Hippocrates authored several works codifying what was known within the field of medicine. The works of Galen, a Greek physician living in Rome during the 2nd century AD, were important in European medical practice through the Renaissance. Hellenized writers in Egypt also produced compendia of knowledge using the resources of the Library of Alexandria, such as Euclid's Elements, which remains a standard reference work in geometry. Ptolemy's Almagest, an astronomy treatise, was used throughout the Middle Ages.
Roman scholars continued the practice of writing compendia of knowledge, including Varro, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo. While much of Roman accomplishment was in material culture of construction, Vitruvius documented much of the contemporary practice to influence design until today. Agriculture also became an important area for manuals, such as Palladius's compendium. Numerous manuals of rhetoric and rhetorical education that were to influence future generations also appeared, such as the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero's De Oratore and Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria.
Islamic world
[edit]With the fall of Rome, the Middle East became the crossroads for learning, with knowledge bearing texts from the West and East meeting in Constantinople, Damascus, and then Baghdad. The House of Wisdom with a large library was founded, where Greek works of medicine, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy were translated into Arabic, along with Indian works on mathematics and therapeutics.[118] To these texts, philosophers such as Al-Kindi and Avicenna and astronomers such as Al-Farghani made new contributions. Al-Khwarizmi authored the first work on algebra, drawing on both Greek and Indian resources. The centrality of the Quran within Islam also led to growth of Arabic linguistics.[119] From Baghdad, knowledge and texts were to flow back to South Asia and down through Africa, with a large collection of books and an educational center around the Sankoré Madrasah in Timbuktu, the seat of the Songhai Empire. During this period the deposed Abbasid Caliphate moved its seat of power and learning to Córdoba, now in Spain, where they founded a major library which reintroduced many of the classic texts back into Europe along with texts of Arab learning.
Early universities in Europe
[edit]The reintroduction of classical texts into Europe through the library and intercultural intellectual culture in Córdoba, including the classical Greek canon, as well as Arabic texts by Avicenna and Al-Khwarizmi, created a need for interpretation and scholarship to make those works more accessible to scholars in monasteries and urban centres. During the 12th century, universities emerged from clusters of scholars in Italy at Bologna, in Spain at Salamanca, in France at Paris and in England at Oxford.[120][121] By 1500, there were at least 60 universities throughout Europe[122] enrolling at least 750,000 students.[123] Each of the four faculties—liberal arts, theology, law, and medicine—was oriented around transmission of and commentary on classical texts, rather than the production of new knowledge. This form of scholastic education continued well into the 17th century in some locations and disciplines.[124][125][126][127][128]
Printing in Europe
[edit]Johannes Gutenberg's introduction of the moveable type printing press to Europe c. 1450 created new opportunities for the production and widespread distribution of books, fostering much new writing, with particular consequences for the development of knowledge, as documented by Elizabeth Eisenstein.[129] The production and distribution of knowledge was no longer tied to monasteries or universities with their libraries and collections of scribal copies. In the ensuing centuries a politically and increasingly religiously divided Europe, no single authority was able to censor or control the production of books. While universities remained attached to disseminating traditional texts, publishing houses became the new centres of knowledge production, and publishing houses in different jurisdictions led to a diversity of ideas becoming available as books moved across borders and scholars came to see themselves as citizens of the Republic of Letters.[130]
The comparison of multiple editions of traditional texts led to improved textual scholarship.[131] The ability to share and compare results from many regions and enlist more people into the production of science soon led to the development of early modern science.[132] Books of medicine began to incorporate observations from contemporary surgery and dissections, including printed plates providing illustrations, to improve knowledge of anatomy.[133] With many copies of traditional books and new books appearing, debates arose over the value of each in what became known as the "battle of the books".[134] Maps and discoveries of exploration and colonization also were recorded in books and governmental records,[135] often with the purpose of economic exploitation as in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville but also to satisfy curiosity about the world.[136]
Printing also made possible the invention and development of scientific journals, with the Journal des sçavans appearing in France and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in England, both in 1665.[137] Over the years, these journals proliferated and became the basis of disciplines and disciplinary literature.[138] Genres reporting experiments and other scientific observations and theories developed over the ensuing centuries to produce modern practices of disciplinary publication with the extensive intertexts which represent the collective pursuits of disciplinary knowledge. The availability of scientific and disciplinary books and journals also facilitated the development of modern practices of scientific reference and citation. These developments from the impact of printing on the growth of knowledge contributed to the Scientific Revolution, science in the Renaissance and during the Enlightenment.
Modern academia
[edit]In the 18th century, dissident Scottish and English universities began offering practical instruction in rhetoric and writing to enable non-elite students to influence contemporary events. Only in the 19th century did the universities in some countries begin making place for the writing of new knowledge, turning them in the ensuing years from primarily disseminating knowledge through the reading of classical texts to becoming institutions devoted to both reading and writing. The creation of research seminars and the associated seminar papers in history and philology in German universities were a significant starting point for the reform of the university.[139] Professorships in philology, history, economy, theology, psychology, sociology, mathematics and the sciences were to emerge over the century, and the German model of disciplinary research university was to influence the organization of universities in England and the United States, with another model developing in France. Both emphasized production of new knowledge by faculty and acquisition thereof by students. In elite British universities, writing instruction was supported by the tutorial system with weekly writing by students for their tutors, while in the United States regular courses in writing were often required starting in the late 19th century, with writing across the curriculum becoming an increasing focus, particularly towards the end of the 20th century.
Psychological implications
[edit]Walter J. Ong, Jack Goody, and Eric A. Havelock were among the earliest to systematically argue for the psychological and intellectual consequences of literacy. Ong argued that the introduction of writing changed the form of human consciousness from sensing the immediacy of the spoken word to the critical distance and systematization of words, which could be graphically displayed and ordered,[140][141] such as in the works of Petrus Ramus.[142] Havelock attributed the emergence of Greek philosophic thought to the use of the written word which allowed the comparison of beliefs and belief systems and the critical examination of concepts.[143][144] Jack Goody argued that written language fostered such practices as categorization, making lists, following formulas, developing recipes and prescriptions, and ultimately making and recording experiments. These practices changed the intellectual and psychological orientation of those who engaged with them.[145][146]
While recognizing the possibilities of all these psychological and intellectual changes that accompanied these literate practices, Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole argued that these changes did not come universally or automatically with literacy, but rather were dependent on the social uses made of literacy in their local contexts.[147] They carried out field observation and experiments among the Vai people of West Africa, for whom the psychological impacts of literacy vary due to the three different contexts in which locals learn to read and write the Vai language, English, and Arabic—practical skills, secular education, and religious education, respectively. European literacy was associated with European-style schooling, and fostered among other things syllogistic reasoning and logical problem solving. Arabic literacy was associated with the religious training of madrasas and fostered, among other things, heightened rote memory. Literacy in the written forms of Vai associated with daily practices of making requests and explaining tasks, increased anticipation of audience knowledge and needs along with rebus solving (as the written language used rebus-like icons).
See also
[edit]- History of numbers
- History of art
- List of writing systems
- History of newspaper publishing
- History of knowledge
- History of science
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Further reading
[edit]- Ferrara, Silvia (2022) [2019]. The Greatest invention: a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts. Translated by Portnowitz, Todd. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-60162-1.
- Lambert, J. L. F. (2014). Termcraft: The Emergence of Terminology Science from the Vin ANS and Sumerians to Aristotle. ISBN 978-1-4602-1665-1.
- Voogt, Alexander J. de; Quack, Joachim Friedrich, eds. (2012). The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-21545-0.
- Powell, Barry B. (2009). Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-6256-2.
- Hoffman, Joel (2004). In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3654-8.
- Glassner, Jean-Jacques (2003). The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer. Translated by Bahrani, Zainab; Van de Mieroop, Marc. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-7389-8.
- Robinson, Andrew (2000) [1995]. The Story of Writing. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28156-7.
- Nissen, Hans Jörg; Damerow, Peter; Englund, Robert K. (1993). Archaic bookkeeping: early writing and techniques of economic administration in the ancient Near East. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-58659-5.
- Saggs, Henry W. F. (1989). Civilization before Greece and Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05031-8.
- Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29653-6.
- Diringer, David (1962). Writing. New York: Praeger. OCLC 308353.
External links
[edit]- The World's Writing Systems – all 294 known writing systems, each with a typographic reference glyph and Unicode status
- Cracking the Maya Code – NOVA, Public Broadcasting Service