Reading for 2/6: The Invention of Writing

When Homo sapiens surfaced in history is unknown, but the earliest forms of human markings were found in Africa dating from over 200,000 years ago as cave paintings. Geometric symbols, man figures and animal symbols were used; later, these symbols were abbreviated to the bare minimum, mostly using just simple lines. As ancient cultures evolved and records had to be taken of crops, taxes, and much more, pictographic drawings and numerals were developed and used. Cuneiform writing (using a wedge-shaped tool) made writing faster and easier, and scribes began to expand the meaning of one pictograph into several ideas. Eventually, written symbols became signatures for people, and cylinder seals engraved with pictures were used on clay to indicate the writer’s or artisan’s identity. The abstract symbols, like the hieroglyphs found on the Rosetta Stone from 197-196 B.C., stumped scholars for ages until Jean-Francois Champollion made a breakthrough in 1822. The Egyptians also made skilled use of papyrus, which gave rise to many manuscripts that we hold in historical reverence today, such as the Book of the Dead. By using our knowledge of hieroglyphs and their meaning, as well as the many clay tablets and papyrus forms of writing, we have been able to unlock the secrets of ancient nations that were long silent legends.

In the reading, I found Jean-Francois Champollion to be the most interesting figure. It took about 2000 years for anyone to break through the hieroglyphs' meanings, and that he was the man to do it automatically catches my attention. I don’t know how long he had to study the Rosetta Stone to find the names “Ptolemy” and “Cleopatra” but I can only imagine it took unnumbered hours of frustrating, fruitless analysis. Not only did his discoveries help to uncover information about the Egyptians, but it also gave rise to information about the cultures and people that preceded the Egyptians, as well as probably shed some light onto what happened following the Egyptians reign.

Although many languages may use the same letterforms, Chinese and English symbols greatly differ, as well as Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and more. One question I still have is what path written language took to form the different symbols of different languages.