The Art of Cuneiform
December 30th, 2009 Posted in Recent ArticlesA writing style comprised of wedge-shaped markings that have been inscribed on various surfaces such as wax, clay, stone, or metal, Cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus, which meant “wedge”) is deemed to be one of the oldest writing styles known to man. It traces its roots to Southern Mesopotamia in the ancient land of Sumer in approximately 3000 BC, although its earlier manifestations go as far back as the Uruk IV period of the latter part of the fourth millennium.
In the aforementioned earlier manifestations of this particular writing style, Cuneiform consisted of pictographs with approximately 1,000 individual characters in the early stages of the Bronze Age, and was whittled down to roughly 400 characters by the end of the said age.
Despite having roots in Sumerian culture, having originated in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia, Cuneiform was later used as a writing style for the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Akkadian languages as well. It was similarly applied to many local languages throughout the Sumerian culture, like Elbaite in Syria; Urartian in Armenia; as well as Hittite, Palaic, Luwian, and Hattic in Asia Minor; Hurrian in Mesopotamia. This particular writing style gained prominence as the dominant style in the Middle East, along with Ugaritic, old Persian symbols, and the Egyptian hieroglyphic style of writing.
The Cuneiform’s Structure and Use
The Cuneiform as a writing style was originally based on pictographs. However, due to practical considerations, it later on evolved into a system of straight lines that were meant to serve as representations of the objects they originally stood for. Primarily, each character was meant to represent one specific word, but difficulties arose when despite this, many words still lacked their own unique symbols. For example, a symbol that was meant to stand for “foot” was also used to stand for the words “to stand” or “to go.”
Another change that the cuneiform writing system underwent was its change in orientation. In the 3rd millennium, it deviated from the original orientation of being written from top to bottom from left to right. The symbols were likewise turned onto their sides, and morphed into a combination of syllables and logograms, enabling a single sign to have more multiple variations of how it was to be pronounced, and therefore similarly have multiple variations of its meaning.
Once it evolved into a fully developed writing system, the cuneiform was made out of 600 signs. It was evenly divided into two: the first half consisting of an amalgamation of logograms and syllables, with the other consisting purely of logograms. It was only in the cuneiform’s latest stages, when it was incorporated into Old Persian and Ugaritic, did cuneiform symbols morph into alphabetic signs.
Finally, when Aramaic became prevalent and was considered to be the lingua franca in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE, the cuneiform was slowly and gradually replaced with Phoenician script, with the last recorded samples of cuneiform writing dating to 75 CE.
Understanding and Translating Cuneiform
All knowledge of this form of writing was lost to man until early 1600 AD, an Englishman by the name of Sir Thomas Herbert came across a wall in Persepolis covered in the script. Scholars and professors all over the world attempted to decipher the mysterious language, but it was only until 1835 AD,when an English army officer by the name of Henry Rawlinson, discovered a cliff in Behistun, Persia, that was covered with this mysterious writing. However, as the text was accompanied with identical texts written in Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian, Rawlinson was able to translate the other inscriptions with his knowledge of the latter. The discovery of the Behistun inscriptions likewise led to the partial translation Elamite and Old Babylonian texts as well.
A writing style comprised of wedge-shaped markings that have been inscribed on various surfaces such as wax, clay, stone, or metal, Cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus, which meant “wedge”) is deemed to be one of the oldest writing styles known to man. It traces its roots to Southern Mesopotamia in the ancient land of Sumer in approximately 3000 BC, although its earlier manifestations go as far back as the Uruk IV period of the latter part of the fourth millennium.
In the aforementioned earlier manifestations of this particular writing style, Cuneiform consisted of pictographs with approximately 1,000 individual characters in the early stages of the Bronze Age, and was whittled down to roughly 400 characters by the end of the said age.
Despite having roots in Sumerian culture, having originated in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia, Cuneiform was later used as a writing style for the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Akkadian languages as well. It was similarly applied to many local languages throughout the Sumerian culture, like Elbaite in Syria; Urartian in Armenia; as well as Hittite, Palaic, Luwian, and Hattic in Asia Minor; Hurrian in Mesopotamia. This particular writing style gained prominence as the dominant style in the Middle East, along with Ugaritic, old Persian symbols, and the Egyptian hieroglyphic style of writing.
The Cuneiform’s Structure and Use
The Cuneiform as a writing style was originally based on pictographs. However, due to practical considerations, it later on evolved into a system of straight lines that were meant to serve as representations of the objects they originally stood for. Primarily, each character was meant to represent one specific word, but difficulties arose when despite this, many words still lacked their own unique symbols. For example, a symbol that was meant to stand for “foot” was also used to stand for the words “to stand” or “to go.”
Another change that the cuneiform writing system underwent was its change in orientation. In the 3rd millennium, it deviated from the original orientation of being written from top to bottom from left to right. The symbols were likewise turned onto their sides, and morphed into a combination of syllables and logograms, enabling a single sign to have more multiple variations of how it was to be pronounced, and therefore similarly have multiple variations of its meaning.
Once it evolved into a fully developed writing system, the cuneiform was made out of 600 signs. It was evenly divided into two: the first half consisting of an amalgamation of logograms and syllables, with the other consisting purely of logograms. It was only in the cuneiform’s latest stages, when it was incorporated into Old Persian and Ugaritic, did cuneiform symbols morph into alphabetic signs.
Finally, when Aramaic became prevalent and was considered to be the lingua franca in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE, the cuneiform was slowly and gradually replaced with Phoenician script, with the last recorded samples of cuneiform writing dating to 75 CE.
Understanding and Translating Cuneiform
All knowledge of this form of writing was lost to man until early 1600 AD, an Englishman by the name of Sir Thomas Herbert came across a wall in Persepolis covered in the script. Scholars and professors all over the world attempted to decipher the mysterious language, but it was only until 1835 AD,when an English army officer by the name of Henry Rawlinson, discovered a cliff in Behistun, Persia, that was covered with this mysterious writing. However, as the text was accompanied with identical texts written in Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian, Rawlinson was able to translate the other inscriptions with his knowledge of the latter. The discovery of the Behistun inscriptions likewise led to the partial translation Elamite and Old Babylonian texts as well.