Mesopotamians developed one of the earliest systems of writing known as cuneiform around 5,000 years ago. Pictograms evolved into the cuneiform script as scribes used wedge-shaped tools to press symbols into wet clay. Cuneiform was widely used by many cultures in the ancient Near East to record literature, trade, astronomy, and daily events. It was deciphered in the 19th century after being lost for over 1,500 years.

1. Professor Will Adams
Valencia College
Fall 2011

2. Over five thousand years ago,
people living in Mesopotamia
developed a form of writing to
record and communicate
different types of information.
The earliest writing was
based on pictograms.
Pictograms were used to
communicate basic
information about crops and
taxes.

3. Over time, the need for
writing changed and the
signs developed into a
script we call cuneiform.
Over thousands of years,
Mesopotamian scribes
recorded daily events,
trade, astronomy, and
literature on clay tablets.
Cuneiform was used by
people throughout the
ancient Near East to write
several different languages.

4. Around 3100 BCE, people
began to record amounts
of different crops. Barley
was one of the most
important crops in
southern Mesopotamia
and when it was first
drawn it looked like this.

5. Farmers brought their
barley to the temple stores.
A record was kept of how
much barley was received.
When some of the barley
was given to temple
workers, this was also
recorded on a tablet.
The barley sign usually had
a number next to it to show
how much barley was being
given in to the temple or
taken away.

6. The barley sign changed
shape when the scribes
used a writing tool with a
squared-off end instead
of a point.
The end of this tool was
used to press wedge
shapes like these into
clay tablets.

8. It is at this point that the signs
became what we call cuneiform.
The barley sign had to be written
using several wedges.

9. The Sumerian writing system
during the early periods was
constantly in flux. The original
direction of writing was from top
to bottom, but for reasons
unknown, it changed to left-to-
right very early on (perhaps
around 3000 BCE).
This also affected the orientation
of the signs by rotating all of
them 90° counterclockwise.
Another change in this early
system involved the "style" of the
signs. The early signs were more
linear in that the strokes making
up the signs were lines and
curves.
But starting after 3000 BCE,
these strokes started to evolve
into wedges, thus changing the
visual style of the signs from
linear to cuneiform.

12. Carved in the reign of King Darius of
Persia (522-486 BCE), they consisted
of identical texts in three languages:
Knowledge of cuneiform was Old Persian, Babylonian & Elamite.
lost until 1835 AD, when Henry
Rawlinson, an English army After translating the Persian,
officer, found some inscriptions Rawlinson began to decipher the
on a cliff at Behistun in Persia. others. By 1851 he could read 200
Babylonian signs.

13.  Literacy was a highly
valued skill
 Sumerians set up the first
institutions of formal
education that they called
edubbas.
 Education included writing
and mathematics
 Tuition paid for education
 Educated were privileged
elite: government officials,
scribes, etc.

14. This is known today
as a curriculum
tablet. It was used in
Mesopotamian
schools to teach
pupils about the
different types of
texts written by
scribes.

15. A cuneiform sign, which can be
read as nish, is repeated down
the left hand side. Other signs
are written beside it to make
different words. For example,
half way down this section the
signs read:
nish-gil
nish-gi-il
nish-shi-ish
nish-shish
Scribes practised writing the
same words in many ways
which helped them learn
different cuneiform signs.

16. Students worked very hard at
Sumerian schools, and the
school day lasted from early
morning until early evening.
The teachers strictly
regimented the students. For
example, a mistake on a clay
tablet could mean a beating.
All the forfeit and schooling was
worth it. Once a student
effectively finished twelve
years of school, he was an
official scribe, or writer. This
was a important position in
Sumerian culture. Scribes were
Sculptor unknown, Votive Statue of
very expensive in order to
the Scribe Indu, c. 2500 BCE continue and recover the
evidence keeping that the
Sumerians considered so very

17. Cylinder seals were small carved
cylinders made of stone or metal.
Scenes of gods, animals and men
were carved into the seal so when it
was rolled on the clay, it would leave
an impression. This would act like a
signature.
Some cylinder seals also had
cuneiform signs carved on them
which recorded the name and title of
the seal owner. Seals were rolled
over clay tablets which were nearly
dry.

18. This ancient cylinder seal has been rolled out onto modern
modelling clay to show the impression.

19. Other types of seals were also used. Stamp seals were small
pieces of carved stone or metal which were stamped into the
damp clay of a tablet.

20. Not everyone needed a seal, or could afford to have their own.
These people would use their fingernail to 'sign' a tablet.
This is an example of a tablet which has been 'signed' with a
person's fingernail mark.

21. Some clay tablets were
wrapped in an extra layer of
clay which acted like an
envelope. A version of the
information on the tablet was
sometimes written on the
envelope.
Part of this envelope has
broken off, showing the top
of the tablet inside.

22. Envelopes were for security. If important information
was written on a tablet, for example the amount of
silver being sent with a merchant, it was covered in an
clay envelope.
If somebody questioned the amount of silver, the
envelope could be broken and the tablet read.
It would not have been possible to change the
numbers on the tablet inside the envelope.

23. This envelope was
sealed with a
cylinder seal.

24. This tablet is a
multiplication table for the
number 13.
It was very important for
scribes to know and
understand the number
systems so they could work
out mathematical problems
and record numbers
properly.

25.  As a class, divide into groups of threes (there may be one
group of four).
 Each group will be given a quotation from a Classical
philosopher, written in standardized cuneiform.
 Using the key projected onto the screen, work together as
a group to translate your quotation.
 One person should act as the “scribe” for the group, and
write out the English version of the quotation as the other
two work to translate it.
 The group that finishes first wins a prize!
 All groups will have a maximum of 15 minutes to complete
this activity.

26. ◄ Lower-case characters
Upper-case characters ►