Tags
ancient history, ancient scripts, ancient writing, cuneiform, hieratic, hieroglyphs, history of writing, linear b, palaeography, Sumerian language, unu, uruk, warka, warqa, writing, writing system
Some of my recent reading in things ancient has been on the invention and history of writing. The first known writing is cuneiform, dating back some 8,000 years ago and first developed by the Sumerians for accounting purposes, as an aid in commerce and governance, and developed over time into using logograms, then phonetic elements. Eventually Sumerian cuneiform was adapted to other languages, such as Akkadian.
If a person can have favorite writing systems one of mine would be cuneiform, especially Sumerian and Old Persian. But I find many other ancient writings fascinating as well, including Egyptian hieroglyphs and Hieratic, Linear B, the Phoenician alphabet.
Hieratic & hieroglyphs
Linear b tablet of Pylos
Linear b
One of my favorite sites to wander around in is Ancient Scripts – it’s a great place to find all sorts of information on ancient writing. I find the timeline particularly interesting.
In other news, apparently Uruk, ancient Sumerian city-state, is now known as Warka. Or Warqa. Also Uruk-Warka and Uruk-Warqa – in a 2007 World Archaeology article about the city.
I think I would have some trouble letting go use of the name Uruk. And that’s not even it’s first name as it’s Akkadian – the Sumerian name was Unu. So perhaps it should be Unu-Uruk-Warka. I’m sure there’s even more names than these three attached to a site with over 5,000 years of occupation.
White Temple of Uruk
(Previous post on cuneiform)
words on 
Wonderful work! I am very impressed with the tablets and with the scripts you are displaying here, especially Linear B, in which I am deeply interested. You may find my own blog, Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae, to your liking. Keep up the good work!
Richard Vallance