1. Writing Systems of the Ancient World
Cuneiform, Hieroglyphics, Sanskrit and
Ancient Chinese
Why do we need written records? What do you think the first written records were created to document?

2. Writing Systems
Pictograms – words represented by basic symbols that resembled the object
Ideograms – when a set of symbols represents a whole word
Phonograms – symbols that represent a sound
Eventually, this pictorial writing developed into a more abstract series of wedges and hooks. These wedges and hooks are the original cuneiform and represented in Sumerian entire words (this is called ideographic and the word symbols are called ideograms, which means "concept writing");
In Sumer, the original writing was pictographic ("picture writing"); individual words were represented by crude pictorial symbols that resembled in some way the object being represented,

3. Cuneiform latin: wedge shape
The Mesopotamians wrote on clay tablets with long reeds while the clay was still wet. The fresh clay then hardened and a permanent record was created. The original Mesopotamian writings were crude pictures of the objects being named, but the difficulty of drawing on fresh clay eventually produced the wedges and hooks unique to cuneiform. This writing would be formed by laying the length of the reed along the wet clay and moving the end nearest the hand from one side to another to form the hooks.

4. History of Cuneiform
Created by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia around 3300 B.C.
Symbols were wedge and hook shaped, made in wet clay with long reeds
Later adopted and modified by the Semitic peoples - Assyrians and Babylonians
Transition from Ideographic to Phonetic
Writing began as pictograms and became ideograms; this transition occurred when the writing system was adopted by the Semitic people.
The first pictograms were drawn in vertical columns with a pen made from a sharpened reed. Then two developments made the process quicker and easier: People began to write in horizontal rows, and a new type of pen was used which was pushed into the clay, producing "wedge-shaped" signs that are known as cuneiform writing.
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5. Hieroglyphics and Hieratic
Hieroglyphics were used in stone and other hard surfaces usually for ceremonial purposes
Hieratic was a more cursive – like, simpler form used on papyrus, leather or wood
Each hieroglyph represents a common object in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs could represent the sound of the object or they could represent an idea associated with the object.
Hieroglyphs were written with a reed brush and ink on papyrus, leather or wood, and on those surfaces it was harder to attain the crisp quality and detail of the signs as carved on stone. So cursive hieroglyphic was merely a simpler form of each hieroglyphic sign. A hieratic sign was not always as clear a counterpart to its hieroglyphic sign as was cursive hieroglyphic.

6. History of Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphic is a Greek word meaning: sacred drawings or writings
Began being used around 3100 B.C.
About 700 different symbols used singularly and in combination
Both pictographic and phonetic
Could be written vertically or horizontally
Began as a way to inventory the King’s possessions – scribes would draw a picture of an object and put a number next to it.
Over 2000 different symbols in all over the life of the written language which stopped being used around 500 AD
If written horizontally could be read left to write or write to left

7. Language of Harappa and Mohenjo - Daro
The language of Mohenjo -Daro and Harappa are still not translatable to date
It is a pictographic language
Over 400 different pictograms have been found

8. Vedic Sanskrit
Sanskrit linked to Greek and Latin – much debate over where the origin language started

9. Vedic Sanskrit Developed around 1500 B.C.
Oldest known text is the Rigveda – a collection of poems and hymns of the Hindu religion
Writing used mainly for transmission of religion
A later version of the language is still in limited use today primarily in a religious context
A phonetic language
the Rigveda, a collection of over a thousand Hindu hymns
Writing used to preserve the religious stories, poems, hymns of Hinduism – oral tradition within the vernacular for approximately 1000 years

10. Ancient Chinese Began as pictograms
Oracle Bones were used in the Shang dynasty at this point it is already an advanced system of writing
Zhou dynasty shows the use of writing on Bronze vessels generally for ritualistic purposes
Approximately 1500 BC – Shang dynasty writing only on bones which were used by diviners to record their divinations

11. The Start of Modern Chinese
Modern Chinese began to be seen as early as 500 BC
Language was now written on bamboo, silk and wood and began to document more than religious and ceremonial themes
Language largely remained unchanged until the 19th century AD
A major event in the history of Chinese script is the standardization of writing by the First Emperor of Qin who unified China in 221 BC.
Before that time, each of the many states in China had their own style and peculiarities which meant that, although mutually comprehensible, the scripts had many deviations. The First Emperor introduced the Qin script as the official writing and from there on all the unified states had to use it in their affairs. The calligraphic style of this period is the "clerical script" or lishu which is easily readable today even to the uninitiated.