#13: Cuneiform: The earliest form of writing appeared in ca. 3500B.C.E, it is called Cuneiform and the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia can be credited for it. It was invented as a record keeping script for transactions, educational purposes, and for procedures. The Cuneiform symbols vary from region and time. Cuneiform originated from the Latin word cuneus meaning wedge so as long as a writing system has individual signs with wedges it can be called Cuneiform. Cuneiform denotes logo syllabic, syllabic, and alphabetic scripts and was first used in the late 4th millennium b.c.e. Unlike older writing systems cuneiform functioned phonetically and semantically making it more complex then the average picture representing an object. This allowed news to be reach distant places without relying on a messenger’s memory. The epic of Gilgamesh was written in Cuneiform.
#14: HIEROGLYPHICS: Hieroglyphs are the second oldest writing system following Cuneiform. Hieroglyphs were developed around 3200 B.C.E in Egypt and was first used in art traditions. In fact hieroglyphs were first seen in pottery before a writing system. In its earlier times it was used for business and administrative purposes then for religion, stories, mathematics and poetry. In Egypt only the more educated scribes, priests, and royals could read hieroglyphs. Egyptians would write on the walls of the tombs of royals with hieroglyphs to help guide them on their after life.
#15: Pictographs: Pictographs are the basis of most ancient writing systems; they are simple pictorial symbols that were used to describe everything. Pictographs are symbols of the pictorial graph system and dates back to over 5000 B.C.E. They were used to help narrate ancient Chinese and Egyptian stories. Even in 25,000 – 30,000 B.P humans painted symbols telling stories on cave walls. Without pictographs ancient writing would not have been developed and no written record of them would exist.
#16: Alphabets:The first to develop, learn, and write an alphabet in Europe were the Greeks. At around 1500 b.c and 1200 B.C. an early Greek tribe the Mycenaean’s used Minoan syllabify to write an early form of Greek but the pronunciation of words remained unclear this is why by the 9th century B.C.E Phoenician was adopted by the Greeks. The Greek alphabet varied depending on local dialect and the loaning alphabet was eventually used by all of the Greeks.