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Typographic Historical Survey 1
The document describes several ancient writing systems including Cuneiform invented by the Sumerians in 3150 BC using wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, hieroglyphics developed by the Egyptians around 2500 BC using pictographs and phonograms carved in stone and written with reed brushes, the Phoenician alphabet from 1500 BC which defined a system of letters and was used in the Mediterranean, and the Greek alphabet inspired by Phoenician which further defined vowels and consonants and the miniscule and majuscule forms and led to the Roman letters used today by 50 BC.
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Typographic Historical Survey 1
- 1. Ancient Scripts, Alphabetsand Letters
- 2. Cuneiform early writing system 3150BC wedge shaped marks clay tablets invented by Sumariens
- 3. Hieroglyphics carved in stone about2500 BC pictograph/phonogram invented by Egyptians transition into writing
- 4. Hieratics reed brush andink for scribes and kings faster to write religious writings
- 5. Phoenician Alphabet written with stylus usedin the Mediterranean 1500 BC defined system of letters
- 6. Greek Alphabet inspired by Phoenician furtherdefined system vowels and consonants miniscule majuscule 750BC
- 7.
- 8.
- 9. Uncial Script majuscule script from romancursive broad form but curved parchment Ornamental 200 AD
Editor's Notes
- #3 Kyoo[Q] ni form is one of the earliest writing forms used for different languages. It consists of wedges shaped marks impressed into clay tables. It is written that this script was created by the Sumerians (one of our early societal groupings in the middle east.)
- #4 Hieroglyphics are similar to the earlier writing forms as it is definitely derived from the Cuneiform but it is typically carved into stone These are seen as early as 2500 BC. With this script as we all know uses images to tell the story of the written language these could be considered pictographs or phonograms. The Egyptians would however transition their script to being written, scribed by stylus as we’re all used to today.
- #5 Hieratics was a script that was developed alongside hieroglyphics. It was written with a brush and ink and reserved for pharaohs and scribes. It much was faster to write and more efficient to produce religious texts.
- #6 This alphabet created by the Phoenicians was written with a stylus although it is very angular. This was spread mostly through commerce in the Mediterranean so this alphabet was pretty widely used. The systematic approach to writing language was Phoenicians greatest contribution to civilization.
- #7 The very popular Greek alphabet is directly derived from the Phoenician alphabet. The system became more complex through development with consonants, vowels and numbers as well. It was also the first to elaborate miniscule (lowercase) as well as majuscule (uppercase) letters
- #8 This alphabet was derived from Greek by the early Romans (Etruscans) then the Roman Empire to the Latin derivatives that we know of, Celtic, Slavic, Germanic to the letters that we use today all the way from 50 years before Christ.
- #9 The roman cursive version was used by the working romans. Merchants, school children in a fast and informal format. This is when handwriting becomes a style of its own an less of a shorthand version of normal letters.
- #10 The Uncial is a majuscule script that was derived from the old roman cursive handwriting. The letterform is broader and utilizes rounded shape made easy by developments of parchment paper made from animal skins. The exaggeration of the letterform lent to more ornamental swooshes of the form.