Ancient Quiz

7/28/2019 Ancient Quiz

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00 years ago.

Role in the founding of Egyptian civilization

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that "Egypt was the gift of the Nile". An unending source of sustenance, itprovided a crucial role in the development of Egyptian civilization. Silt deposits from the Nile made the

surrounding land fertile because the river overflowed its banks annually. The Ancient Egyptians cultivated andtraded wheat, flax, papyrus and other crops around the Nile. Wheat was a crucial crop in the famine-plaguedMiddle East. This trading system secured Egypt's diplomatic relationships with other countries, and contributed toeconomic stability. Far-reaching trade has been carried on along the Nile since ancient times. The Ishango bone isprobably an early tally stick. It has been suggested that this shows prime numbers and multiplication, but this isdisputed. In the bookHow Mathematics Happened: The First 50,000 Years, Peter Rudman argues that thedevelopment of the concept of prime numbers could only have come about after the concept of division, which hedates to after 10,000 BC, with prime numbers probably not being understood until about 500 BC. He also writesthat "no attempt has been made to explain why a tally of something should exhibit multiples of two, primenumbers between 10 and 20, and some numbers that are almost multiples of 10."[26] It was discovered along theheadwaters of the Nile (near Lake Edward, in northeastern Congo) and was carbon-dated to 20,000 BC.

Water buffalo were introduced from Asia, and Assyrians introduced camels in the 7th century BC. These animals

were killed for meat, and were domesticated and used for ploughingor in the camels' case, carriage. Water wasvital to both people and livestock. The Nile was also a convenient and efficient means of transportation for peopleand goods. The Nile was an important part of ancient Egyptian spiritual life. Hapy was the god of the annualfloods, and both he and the pharaoh were thought to control the flooding. The Nile was considered to be acauseway from life to death and the afterlife. The east was thought of as a place of birth and growth, and the westwas considered the place of death, as the god Ra, the Sun, underwent birth, death, and resurrection each day as hecrossed the sky. Thus, all tombs were west of the Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter theafterlife, they had to be buried on the side that symbolized death.

As the Nile was such an important factor in Egyptian life, the ancient calendar was even based on the 3 cycles ofthe Nile. These seasons, each consisting of four months of thirty days each, were called Akhet, Peret, and Shemu.Akhet, which means inundation, was the time of the year when the Nile flooded, leaving several layers of fertilesoil behind, aiding in agricultural growth.[27]

Peret was the growing season, and Shemu, the last season, was the harvest season when there were no rains.[27]

00 years ago.

Code of Hammurabi

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Code of Hammurabi

Side view of the stele "fingertip".Created ~ 1750 BC

Author(s) Hammurabi

Purpose Legal code

Code on clay tabletCode on diorite steleThe Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonianlaw code, dating back to about 1772 BC. It is one ofthe oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted
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the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis)[1] as gradeddepending on social status, of slave versus free man.[2]

Nearly one-half of the Code deals with matters of contract, establishing, for example, the wages to be paid to an oxdriver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a

house that collapses, for example, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the codeaddresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity and sexualbehavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judgewho reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently. [3] A handful ofprovisions address issues related to military service.

One nearly complete example of the Code survives today, on a dioritestele in the shape of a huge index finger,[4]2.25-metre (7.4ft) tall (see images at right). The Code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiformscript carved into the stele. It is currently on display in The Louvre, with exact replicas in the Oriental Institute atthe University of Chicago, the library of the Theological University of the Reformed Churches (Dutch:Theologische Universiteit Kampen voor de Gereformeerde Kerken) in The Netherlands, the Pergamon Museumof Berlin and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran.

Contents

History

Hammurabi ruled for nearly 43 years, ca. 1792 to 1750 BC according to the Middle chronology. In the preface tothe law code, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared Marduk, thechief god of Babylon (The Human Record, Andrea & Overfield 2005), to bring about the rule in the land."[5] Onthe stone slab there are 44 columns and 28 paragraphs that contained over 282 laws.[6]

In 1901, Egyptologist Gustave Jquier, a member of an expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan, found the stele

containing the Code of Hammurabi in what is now Khzestn, Iran (ancient Susa, Elam), where it had been takenas plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC.

Law

Main article: Babylonian lawThe Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the ancient Near East.[7] The code of laws wasarranged in orderly groups, so that everyone who read the laws would know what was required of them.[8] Earliercollections of laws include the Code of Ur-Nammu, king ofUr (ca. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (ca. 1930BC) and the codex ofLipit-Ishtar ofIsin (ca. 1870 BC), while later ones include the Hittite laws, the Assyrianlaws, and Mosaic Law.[9] These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and theyhave passages which resemble each other.[10]

Figures at top ofstele "fingernail" above Hammurabi's code of laws.The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period. [11] The code has been seenas an early example of a fundamental law regulating a government i.e., a primitive constitution.[12][13] The codeis also one of the earliest examples of the idea ofpresumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both theaccused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[14] The occasional nature of many provisionssuggests that the Code may be better understood as a codification of Hammurabi's supplementary judicialdecisions, and that, by memorializing his wisdom and justice, its purpose may have been the self-glorification ofHammurabi rather than a modern legal code or constitution. However, its copying in subsequent generations
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indicates that it was used as a model of legal and judicial reasoning.[15]

Other copies

Hammurabi stele at American Museum of Natural History, New York, 2012Various copies of portions of the Code of Hammurabi have been found on baked clay tablets, some possibly olderthan the celebrated diorite stele now in the Louvre. The Prologue of the Code of Hammurabi (the first 305inscribed squares on the stele) is on such a tablet, also at the Louvre (Inv #AO 10237). Some gaps in the list ofbenefits bestowed on cities recently annexed by Hammurabi may imply that it is older than the famous stele (it iscurrently dated to the early 18th century BC).[16] Likewise, the Museum of the Ancient Orient, part of the IstanbulArchaeology Museums, also has a "Code of Hammurabi" clay tablet, dated to 1750 BC, in (Room 5, Inv # Ni2358).[17][18]

In July, 2010, archaeologists reported that a fragmentary Akkadian cuneiform tablet was discovered at Tel Hazor,Israel, containing a ca. 1700 BC text that was said to be partly parallel to portions of the Hammurabi code. TheHazor law code fragments are currently being prepared for publication by a team from the Hebrew University ofJerusalem.[19]

Laws coveredThis section requires expansion. (January 2012)

The laws covered the subjects of:

Religion Military service Trade Slavery The duties of workers Code of conduct Laws

One of the most well known of Hammurabi's laws is:

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.[20]

Hammurabi had many other punishments as well. If a boy struck his father they would cut off the boy's hand orfingers (translations vary).[20][21]

Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Eachziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised

platforms that date from the Ubaid period[1] during the fourth millennium BC. The earliest ziggurats began nearthe end of the Early Dynastic Period.[2] The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC. Built inreceding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top.Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings wereoften glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their namesengraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they hadshrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus.[3] Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp frombase to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Dynastic_Period_of_Sumer#Early_Dynastic_periodhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenniumhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubaid_periodhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyriahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_Empirehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-harper_translation-21http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-harper_translation-21http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-harper_translation-21http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-king_translation-20http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Code_of_Hammurabi&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-19http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-19http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-19http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_University_of_Jerusalemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_University_of_Jerusalemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Hazorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-18http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-18http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-18http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-17http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-17http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-17http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Archaeology_Museumshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Archaeology_Museumshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Museum_of_the_Ancient_Orient&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-16http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-16http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-16http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioritehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hammurabi_stele_amnh_ny.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hammurabi_stele_amnh_ny.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi#cite_note-15


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believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted onthe ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs.The priests were very powerful members ofSumerian society.

CAD rendering ofSialk's largest ziggurat based on archeological evidence.One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Chogha Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the

oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BC. Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases uponwhich a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and weretopped with a temple.

An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple ofUruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on

which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens,[citation needed] and provideaccess from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heavenand earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the Platform between Heavenand Earth".

An example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, or Etemenanki, of ancient Babylon.Unfortunately, not much of even the base is left of this massive structure, yet archeological findings and historicalaccounts put this tower at seven multicolored tiers, topped with a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is

thought to have been painted and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is known that therewere three staircases leading to the temple, two of which (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended halfthe ziggurat's height.

Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is Sumerian and means "The Foundation of Heaven and Earth". The dateof its original construction is unknown, with suggested dates ranging from the fourteenth to the ninth century BC,with textual evidence suggesting it existed in the second millennium.[4]

Interpretation and significance

According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines has survived.[1]One practical function of the ziggurats was a high place on which the priests could escape rising water thatannually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of miles, as for example the 1967 flood. [5]Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the shrine was accessible only by way of threestairways,[6] a small number of guards could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top ofthe ziggurat, such as cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of sacrificial animals. Each ziggurat waspart of a temple complex that included a courtyard, storage rooms, bathrooms, and living quarters, around which acity was built.[7]

See also

Ka (vital spark)

k! (D28)in hieroglyphs

The Ka (k!) was the Egyptian concept of vital essence, that which distinguishes the difference between a livingand a dead person, with death occurring when the ka left the body. The Egyptians believed that Khnum created thebodies of children on a potter's wheel and inserted them into their mothers' bodies. Depending on the region,Egyptians believed that Heket or Meskhenet was the creator of each person's Ka, breathing it into them at theinstant of their birth as the part of their soul that made them be alive. This resembles the concept ofspirit in other
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meskhenethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter%27s_wheelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khnumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-Crawford.2C_page_73-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat#cite_note-4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etemenankihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardukhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urukhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sialkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chogha_Zanbilhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sialkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_designhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SialkCAD.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SialkCAD.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_of_the_Ancient_Near_East


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religions.

The Egyptians also believed that the ka was sustained through food and drink. For this reason food and drinkofferings were presented to the dead, although it was the kau (k!w) within the offerings that was consumed, notthe physical aspect. The ka was often represented in Egyptian iconography as a second image of the king, leadingearlier works to attempt to translate ka as double.

Akh

Ancient Egyptians believed that death occurs when a person's ka leaves the body. Ceremonies conducted bypriests after death, including the "opening of the mouth (wp r)", aimed not only to restore a person's physicalabilities in death, but also to release a Ba's attachment to the body. This allowed the Ba to be united with the Ka inthe afterlife, creating an entity known as an "Akh" (!, meaning "effective one").

Egyptians conceived of an afterlife as quite similar to normal physical existence but with a difference. Themodel for this new existence was the journey of the Sun. At night the Sun descended into the Duat (the

underworld). Eventually the Sun meets the body of the mummified Osiris. Osiris and the Sun, re-energized byeach other, rise to new life for another day. For the deceased, their body and their tomb were their personal Osirisand a personal Duat. For this reason they are often addressed as "Osiris". For this process to work, some sort ofbodily preservation was required, to allow the Ba to return during the night, and to rise to new life in the morning.However, the complete Akhu were also thought to appear as stars.[7] Until the Late Period, non-royal Egyptiansdid not expect to unite with the Sun deity, it being reserved for the royals.[8]

The Book of the Dead, the collection of spells which aided a person in the afterlife, had the Egyptian name of theBook of going forth by day. They helped people avoid the perils of the afterlife and also aided their existence,containing spells to assure "not dying a second time in the underworld", and to "grant memory always" to aperson. In the Egyptian religion it was possible to die in the afterlife and this death was permanent.

The tomb of Paheri, an Eighteenth dynasty nomarch ofNekhen, has an eloquent description of this existence, and

is translated by James P. Allen as:Your life happening again, without your ba being kept away from your divine corpse, with your ba being togetherwith the akh ... You shall emerge each day and return each evening. A lamp will be lit for you in the night until thesunlight shines forth on your breast. You shall be told: "Welcome, welcome, into this your house of the living!"

Cuneiform


Jump to: navigation, searchThis article is about the writing system. For other uses, see Cuneiform (disambiguation).

Cuneiform

"""""

Sumerian inscription in monumental archaic style, c. 26th centuryBC

Type Logographic and syllabic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing#Proto-writinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luwian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eblaite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logographichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_26th_c_Adab.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_%28disambiguation%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#p-searchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#mw-navigationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P._Allenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nekhenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomarchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_book_of_the_deadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Period_of_ancient_Egypthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osirishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death


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LanguagesAkkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hattic, Hittite, Hurrian,Luwian, Sumerian, Urartian, Old Persian

Time

periodc. 34th century BC to 1st century AD

Parent

systems

(Proto-writing)

Cuneiform"""""

Child

systems

none;apparently inspired Old Persian,influenced shape ofUgaritic

ISO 15924 Xsux, 020

Direction Left-to-right

Unicode

aliasCuneiform

Unicode

range

U+12000 to U+123FF (Sumero-AkkadianCuneiform)

U+12400 to U+1247F (Numbers)Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

This article contains special characters. Without

proper rendering support, you may see question

marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Cuneiform script[1] is one of the earliest known systems of writing.[2] Emerging in Sumer in the late 4thmillennium BC (the Uruk IV period), cuneiform writing began as a system ofpictographs. In the thirdmillennium, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in usegrew smaller, from about 1,000 in the Early Bronze Age to about 400 in Late Bronze Age (Hittite cuneiform).

The original Sumerian script was adapted for the writing of the Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Luwian, Hattic,Hurrian, and Urartian languages, and it inspired the Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets. Cuneiform writing was

gradually replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and by the 2nd century AD, thescript had become extinct, all knowledge of how to read it forgotten until it began to be deciphered in the 19thcentury.

Cuneiform documents were written on clay tablets, by means of a blunt reed for a stylus. The impressions left bythe stylus were wedge shaped, thus giving rise to the name cuneiform "wedge shaped", from the Latin cuneus"wedge".

Content

s

HistoryThe cuneiform writing system was in use for more than 22 centuries, through several stages of development, fromthe 34th century BC down to the 2nd century AD.[3] It was completely replaced by alphabetic writing (in thegeneral sense) in the course of the Roman era and there are no Cuneiform systems in current use. For this reason,it had to be deciphered from scratch in 19th century Assyriology. Successful completion of decipherment is datedto 1857.

The system consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyriologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabetic_writinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_%28mechanical_device%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_tablethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Assyrian_Empirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_cuneiform_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luwian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eblaite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_cuneiformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruk_IVhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Special_charactershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Special_charactershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPAhttp://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U12400.pdfhttp://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U12000.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapping_of_Unicode_charactershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapping_of_Unicode_charactershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15924http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_cuneiform_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing#Proto-writinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luwian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eblaite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logographichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_26th_c_Adab.jpg


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The cuneiform script underwent considerable changes over a period of more than two millennia. The image belowshows the development of the sign SAG "head" (Borger nr. 184, U+12295").

Stages:

1. shows the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 BC2. shows the rotated pictogram as written around 2800 BC3. shows the abstracted glyph in archaic monumental inscriptions, from ca. 2600 BC4. is the sign as written in clay, contemporary to stage 35. represents the late 3rd millennium6. represents Old Assyrian ductus of the early 2nd millennium, as adopted into Hittite7. is the simplified sign as written by Assyrian scribes in the early 1st millennium, and until the script's

extinction.

Proto-literate period

The cuneiform script proper developed from pictographic proto-writing in the late 4th millennium BC.Mesopotamia's "proto-literate" period spans roughly the 35th to 32nd centuries. The first documentsunequivocally written in the Sumerian language date to ca. the 31st century, found at Jemdet Nasr.

Some ten or so millennia ago the Sumerians began using clay tokens to count their agricultural and manufacturedgoods. Later they began placing the tokens in large, hollow, clay containers (bulla) which were sealed; the quantityof tokens in each container came to be expressed by impressing, on the container's surface, one picture for eachinstance of the token inside. They next dispensed with the tokens, relying solely on symbols for the tokens, drawnon clay surfaces. To avoid making a picture for each instance of the same object (for example: 100 pictures of a hatto represent 100 hats), they 'counted' the objects by using various small marks. In this way the Sumerians added "asystem for enumerating objects to their incipient system of symbols". Thus writing began, during the Uruk periodc. 3300 BC.[4]

Originally, pictograms were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a pen made from a sharpenedreedstylus, or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic wedge shape of the strokes.

Certain signs to indicate names of gods, countries, cities, vessels, birds, trees, etc., are known as determinants, andwere the Sumerian signs of the terms in question, added as a guide for the reader. Proper names continued to beusually written in purely "logographic" fashion.

The earliest known Sumerian king whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets is Enmebaragesi ofKish. Surviving records only very gradually become less fragmentary and more complete for the following reigns,but by the end of the pre-Sargonic period, it had become standard practice for each major city-state to datedocuments by year-names commemorating the exploits of its lugal (king).

From about 2900 BC, many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have variousmeanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, andwriting became increasingly phonological. Determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. This

process is chronologically parallel to, and possibly not independent of,[citation needed] the development ofEgyptianhieroglyphic orthography.

Archaic cuneiform

Further information: Liste der archaischen KeilschriftzeichenLetter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king ofLagash (maybe Urukagina), informing him of his son's deathin combat, c. 2400 BC, found in Telloh (ancient Girsu).In the mid-3rd millennium BC, writing direction was changed to left to right in horizontal rows (rotating all of thepictograms 90 counter-clockwise in the process), and a new wedge-tipped stylus was used which was pushed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girsuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2400_BChttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urukaginahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagashhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_Luenna_Louvre_AO4238.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_Luenna_Louvre_AO4238.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_archaischen_Keilschriftzeichenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonologicalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enmebaragesihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruk_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulla_%28seal%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemdet_Nasrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-writinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SAG.svghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%8A%95


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into the clay, producing wedge-shaped ("cuneiform") signs; these two developments made writing quicker andeasier. By adjusting the relative position of the tablet to the stylus, the writer could use a single tool to make avariety of impressions.

Cuneiform tablets could be fired in kilns to provide a permanent record, or they could be recycled if permanencewas not needed. Many of the clay tablets found by archaeologists were preserved because they were fired when

attacking armies burned the building in which they were kept.The script was also widely used on commemorative stelae and carved reliefs to record the achievements of theruler in whose honour the monument had been erected.

The spoken language consisted of many similar sounds and in the beginning the words "Life" [ti] and"Arrow" [til] were described in writing by the same symbol. After the Semites conquered Southern Mesopotamia,some signs gradually changed from being pictograms to syllabograms, most likely to make things clearer inwriting. In that way the sign for the word "Arrow" would become the sign for the sound "ti". If a sound wouldrepresent many different words the words would all have different signs, for instance the syllable "gu" hadfourteen different symbols. When the words had similar meaning but very different sounds they were written withthe same symbol. For instance "tooth" [zu], "mouth" [ka] and "voice" [gu] were all written with the symbol for"voice". To be more accurate they started adding to signs or combine two signs to define the meaning. They usedeither geometrical patterns or another cuneiform sign.[4]

As time went by the cuneiform got very complex and the distinction between a pictogram and syllabogram becamevague. Several symbols had too many meanings to permit clarity. Therefore, symbols were put together to indicateboth the sound and the meaning of compound. The word "Raven" [UGA] had the same logogram as the words"soap" [NAGA] "name of a city" [ERESH] and "the patron goddess of Eresh" [NISABA]. Two phoneticcomplements were used to define the word [u] in front of the symbol and [gu] behind. Finally the symbol for"bird" [MUSHEN] was added to ensure proper interpretation. The written part of the Sumerian language wasused as a learned written language until the 1st century AD. The spoken language died out around the 18th centuryBC.[4]

Akkadian cuneiform

A list of Sumerian deities, ca. 2400 BCThe archaic cuneiform script was adopted by the Akkadians from ca. 2500 BC, and by 2000 BC had evolved intoOld Assyrian cuneiform, with many modifications to Sumerian orthography. The Semitic equivalents for manysigns became distorted or abbreviated to form new "phonetic" values, because the syllabic nature of the script asrefined by the Sumerians was unintuitive to Semitic speakers. At this stage, the former pictograms were reduced toa high level of abstraction, and were composed of only five basic wedge shapes: horizontal, vertical, two diagonalsand the Winkelhaken impressed vertically by the tip of the stylus. The signs exemplary of these basic wedges are

A (B001, U+12038)": horizontal; DI (B748, U+12079)": vertical; GE23, DIten (B575, U+12039)": downward diagonal;

GE22 (B647, U+1203A)": upward diagonal;

U (B661, U+1230B)": the Winkelhaken.Except for the Winkelhaken which is tail-less, the length of the wedges' tails could vary as required for signcomposition.

Signs tilted by (ca.) 45 degrees are called ten in Akkadian, thus DI is a vertical wedge and DIten a diagonalone. Signs modified with additional wedges are called gun, and signs crosshatched with additional Winkelhakenare called eig.

Cuneiform tablet from the Kirkor Minassian collection in the US Library of Congress, ca. 24th century BC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amarna_Akkadian_letter.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amarna_Akkadian_letter.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuneiform_script2.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuneiform_script2.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winkelhakenhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%8C%8Bhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%80%BAhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%80%B9http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%81%B9http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%80%B8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_MS2272_2400BC.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_MS2272_2400BC.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Lo-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiln


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One of the Amarna letters, 14th century BC.

Neo-Assyrian ligature KAxGUR7 ("); the KA sign (") was a Sumerian compound marker, and appears

frequently in ligatures enclosing other signs. GUR7 is itself a ligature of SG.A.ME.U, meaning "to pile up;

grain-heap" (Akkadian kamru; kar)."Typical" signs have usually in the range of about five to ten wedges, while complex ligatures can consist of

twenty or more (although it is not always clear if a ligature should be considered a single sign or two collated butstill distinct signs); the ligature KAxGUR7 consists of 31 strokes.

Most later adaptations of Sumerian cuneiform preserved at least some aspects of the Sumerian script. WrittenAkkadian included phonetic symbols from the Sumerian syllabary, together with logograms that were read aswhole words. Many signs in the script were polyvalent, having both a syllabic and logographic meaning. Thecomplexity of the system bears a resemblance to old Japanese, written in a Chinese-derived script, where some ofthese Sinograms were used as logograms, and others as phonetic characters.

Assyrian cuneiform

This "mixed" method of writing continued through the end of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, althoughthere were periods when "purism" was in fashion and there was a more marked tendency to spell out the words

laboriously, in preference to using signs with a phonetic complement. Yet even in those days, the Babyloniansyllabary remained a mixture of logographic and phonemic writing.

Hittite cuneiform is an adaptation of the Old Assyrian cuneiform of ca. 1800 BC to the Hittite language. When thecuneiform script was adapted to writing Hittite, a layer of Akkadian logographic spellings was added to the script,thus the pronunciations of many Hittite words which were conventionally written by logograms are nowunknown.

In the Iron Age (ca. 10th to 6th c. BC), Assyrian cuneiform was further simplified. From the 6th century, theAssyrian language was marginalized by Aramaic, written in the Aramaean alphabet, but Neo-Assyrian cuneiformremained in use in literary tradition well into Parthian times ( 250 BC-226 AD ). The last known cuneiforminscription, an astronomical text, was written in 75 AD.[5]

Derived scripts

The complexity of the system prompted the development of a number of simplified versions of the script. OldPersian was written in a subset of simplified cuneiform characters known today as Old Persian cuneiform. Itformed a semi-alphabetic syllabary, using far fewer wedge strokes than Assyrian used, together with a handful oflogograms for frequently occurring words like "god" and "king". The Ugaritic language was written using theUgaritic alphabet, a standard Semitic style alphabet (an abjad) written using the cuneiform method.

Decipherment

For centuries, travellers to Persepolis, in modern-day Iran, had noticed carved cuneiform inscriptions and wereintrigued.[6] Attempts at deciphering these Old Persian writings date back to Arabic/Persian historians of the

medieval Islamic world, though these early attempts at decipherment were largely unsuccessful.[7]

In the 15th century the Venetian Barbero explored the ancient ruins of Middle East and came back with news of avery odd writing he had found carved on the stones in the temples ofShiraz and on many clay tablets.

In 1625 the Roman traveler Pietro Della Valle, coming back from Mesopotamia and Persia, brought back a tabletwritten with cuneiform glyphs he had found in Ur, and also the copy of five characters he had seen in Persepolis.Della Valle understood that the writing had to be read from left to right, following the direction of wedges.However he didn't attempt to decipher the scripts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Della_Vallehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirazhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deciphermenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sociology_in_medieval_Islam&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_cuneiformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Sayce-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Sayce-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-Sayce-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_cuneiform_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaean_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittite_cuneiformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyriahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyloniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logogramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_ligaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_ligaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B063ellst.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B063ellst.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters


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Englishman Sir Thomas Herbert, in the 1634 edition of his travel book A relation of some yeares travaile,reported seeing at Persepolis carved on the wall a dozen lines of strange charactersconsisting of figures,obelisk, triangular, and pyramidal and thought they resembled Greek. In the 1664 edition he reproduced someand thought they were legible and intelligible and therefore decipherable. He also guessed, correctly, that theyrepresented not letters or hieroglyphics but words and syllables, and were to be read from left to right.[6] Herbertis rarely mentioned in standard histories of the decipherment of cuneiform.

Carsten Niebuhr brought the first reasonably complete and accurate copies of the inscriptions at Persepolis toEurope.[6] Bishop Frederic Munter of Copenhagen discovered that the words in the Persian inscriptions weredivided from one another by an oblique wedge and that the monuments must belong to the age ofCyrus and hissuccessors. One word, which occurs without any variation towards the beginning of each inscription, he correctlyinferred to signify "king".[6] By 1802 Georg Friedrich Grotefend had determined that two king's names mentionedwere Darius and Xerxes, and had been able to assign alphabetic values to the cuneiform characters whichcomposed the two names.[8][nb 1][6]

In 1836, the eminent French scholar, Eugne Burnoufdiscovered that the first of the inscriptions published byNiebuhr contained a list of the satrapies of Darius. With this clue in his hand, he identified and published analphabet of thirty letters, most of which he had correctly deciphered.[6][9][10]

A month earlier, Burnouf's friend and pupil, Professor Christian Lassen of Bonn, had also published a work on"The Old Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions of Persepolis".[10][11] He and Burnouf had been in frequentcorrespondence, and his claim to have independently detected the names of the satrapies, and thereby to have fixedthe values of the Persian characters, was in consequence fiercely attacked. According to Sayce, whatever hisobligations to Burnouf may have been, Lassen's "contributions to the decipherment of the inscriptions werenumerous and important. He succeeded in fixing the true values of nearly all the letters in the Persian alphabet, intranslating the texts, and in proving that the language of them was not Zend, but stood to both Zend and Sanskritin the relation of a sister".[6]

Meanwhile, in 1835 Henry Rawlinson, a British East India Company army officer, visited the BehistunInscriptions in Persia. Carved in the reign ofKing Darius of Persia (522486 BC), they consisted of identicaltexts in the three official languages of the empire: Old Persian, MesopotamianAramaic, and Elamite. The Behistuninscription was to the decipherment of cuneiform what the Rosetta Stone was to the decipherment ofEgyptianhieroglyphs.[12]

Rawlinson correctly deduced that the Old Persian was a phonetic script and he successfully deciphered it. In 1837he finished his copy of the Behistun inscription, and sent a translation of its opening paragraphs to the RoyalAsiatic Society. Before his article could be published, however, the works of Lassen and Burnouf reached him,necessitating a revision of his article and the postponement of its publication. Then came other causes of delay. In1847 the first part of the Rawlinson's Memoir was published; the second part did not appear till 1849. [13][nb 2] Thetask of deciphering the Persian cuneiform texts was virtually accomplished.[6]

After translating the Persian, Rawlinson and, working independently of him, the Irish AssyriologistEdwardHincks, began to decipher the others. (The actual techniques used to decipher the Akkadian language have neverbeen fully published; Hincks described how he sought the proper names already legible in the deciphered Persianwhile Rawlinson never said anything at all, leading some to speculate that he was secretly copying Hincks.[14])They were greatly helped by Paul mile Botta's discovery of the city ofNineveh in 1842. Among the treasuresuncovered by Botta were the remains of the great library of Assurbanipal, a royal archive containing tens ofthousands of baked clay tablets covered with cuneiform inscriptions.

By 1851, Hincks and Rawlinson could read 200 Babylonian signs. They were soon joined by two otherdecipherers: young German-born scholar Julius Oppert, and versatile British Orientalist William Henry FoxTalbot. In 1857 the four men met in London and took part in a famous experiment to test the accuracy of theirdecipherments. Edwin Norris, the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, gave each of them a copy of a recentlydiscovered inscription from the reign of the Assyrian emperor Tiglath-Pileser I. A jury of experts was empanelledto examine the resulting translations and assess their accuracy. In all essential points the translations produced by
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the four scholars were found to be in close agreement with one another. There were of course some slightdiscrepancies. The inexperienced Talbot had made a number of mistakes, and Oppert's translation contained a fewdoubtful passages which the jury politely ascribed to his unfamiliarity with the English language. But Hincks' andRawlinson's versions corresponded remarkably closely in many respects. The jury declared itself satisfied, and thedecipherment of Akkadian cuneiform was adjudged afait accompli.

In the early days of cuneiform decipherment, the reading of proper names presented the greatest difficulties.However, there is now a better understanding of the principles behind the formation and the pronunciation of thethousands of names found in historical records, business documents, votive inscriptions,literary productions andlegal documents. The primary challenge was posed by the characteristic use of old Sumerian non-phoneticlogograms in other languages that had different pronunciations for the same symbols. Until the exact phoneticreading of many names was determined through parallel passages or explanatory lists, scholars remained in doubt,or had recourse to conjectural or provisional readings. Fortunately, in many cases, there are variant readings, thesame name being written phonetically (in whole or in part) in one instance, and logographically in another.

Transliteration

Extract from the Cyrus Cylinder (lines 1521), giving the genealogy ofCyrus the Great and an account of hiscapture ofBabylon in 539 BC.Cuneiform has a specific format for transliteration. Because of the script's polyvalence, transliteration requirescertain choices of the transliterating scholar, who must decide in the case of each signal which of its severalposeable meanings is intended in the original thing. For example, the sign DINGIR in a Hittite text may representeither the Hittite syllable an or may be part of an Akkadian phrase, representing the syllable il, it may be aSumerogram, representing the original Sumerian meaning, 'god' or the determinative for a deity. In transliteration,a different rendition of the same glyph is chosen depending on its role in the present context.

Therefore, a text containing DINGIR and MU in succession could be construed to represent the words "ana","ila", god + "a" (the accusative ending), god + water, or a divine name "A" or Water. Someone transcribing thesigns would make the decision how the signs should be read and assemble the signs as "ana", "ila","Ila" ("god"+accusative case), etc. A transliteration of these signs, however, would separate the signs with dashes"il-a", "an-a", "DINGIR-a" or "Da". This is still easier to read than the original cuneiform, but now the reader isable to trace the sounds back to the original signs and determine if the correct decision was made on how to readthem. A transliterated document thus presents both the reading preferred by the transliterating scholar as well asthe opportunity to reconstruct the original text.

There are differing conventions for transliterating Sumerian, Akkadian (Babylonian) and Hittite (and Luwian)cuneiform texts. One convention that sees wide use across the different fields is the use of acute and grave accentsas an abbreviation for homophone disambiguation. Thus, u is equivalent to u1, the first glyph expressing phonetic

u. An acute accent, , is equivalent to the second, u2, and a grave accent to the third, u3 glyph in the series (while

the sequence of numbering is conventional but essentially arbitrary and subject to the history of decipherment). InSumerian transliteration, a multiplication sign 'x' is used to indicate ligatures. As shown above, signs as such arerepresented in capital letters, while the specific reading selected in the transliteration is represented in small letters.Thus, capital letters can be used to indicate a so-called Diri compound a sign sequence that has, in combination, areading different from the sum of the individual constituent signs (for example, the compound IGI.A "water" +

"eye" has the reading imhur, meaning "foam"). In a Diri compound, the individual signs are separated with dotsin transliteration. Capital letters may also be used to indicate a Sumerogram (for example, K.BABBAR Sumerian for "silver" being used with the intended Akkadian reading kaspum, "silver"), an Akkadogram, orsimply a sign sequence of whose reading the editor is uncertain. Naturally, the "real" reading, if it is clear, will bepresented in small letters in the transliteration: IGI.A will be rendered as imhur4.

Since the Sumerian language has only been widely known and studied by scholars for approximately a century,changes in the accepted reading of Sumerian names have occurred from time to time. Thus the name of a king ofUr, read Ur-Bau at one time, was later read as Ur-Engur, and is now read as Ur-Nammu or Ur-Namma; for
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Lugal-zaggisi, a king ofUruk, some scholars continued to read (??? missing word here???); and so forth. Also,with some names of the older period, there was often uncertainty whether their bearers were Sumerians orSemites. If the former, then their names could be assumed to be read as Sumerian, while, if they were Semites, thesigns for writing their names were probably to be read according to their Semitic equivalents, though occasionallySemites might be encountered bearing genuine Sumerian names. There was also doubt whether the signscomposing a Semite's name represented a phonetic reading or a logographic compound. Thus, e.g. when

inscriptions of a Semitic ruler of Kish, whose name was written Uru-mu-ush, were first deciphered, that namewas first taken to be logographic because uru mu-ush could be read as "he founded a city" in Sumerian, andscholars accordingly retranslated it back to the original Semitic asAlu-usharshid. It was later recognized that theURU sign can also be read as rand that the name is that of the Akkadian king Rimush.

Epic of Gilgamesh


Jump to: navigation, searchPart of a series on

Mesopotamian mythology

Mesopotamian religion

Primordial beings[show]

Seven gods who decree[show]

The great gods[show]

Demigods & heroes[hide]

Adapa

Enkidu

Enmerkar

Geshtinanna

Gilgamesh

Lugalbanda

Shamhat

Siduri

Tammuz

Atra-Hasis

Spirits & monsters[show]

Tales from Babylon[show]

Other traditions

Arabian

Levantine

Near Eastern religions
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v t e

Royal Epics ofUruk

a series in Sumerian Literature

Enmerkar of Uruk[hide]

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana

Lugalbanda of Uruk[hide]

Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave

Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird

Dumuzid and Gilgamesh of Uruk[hide]

Dumuzid of Uruk tablets Epic of Gilgamesh tablets

v t e

TheEpic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature.The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five independent Sumerian poems about 'Bilgamesh' (Sumerian forGilgamesh), king ofUruk. Four of these were used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. This firstcombined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit,Shtur eli sharr ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few fragments of it have survived. The later "StandardBabylonian" version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipitSha naqba muru ("Hewho Saw the Deep"). Fragments of approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been

recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian kingAshurbanipal.

The story centers on a friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Enkidu is a wild man created by the gods asGilgamesh's equal to distract him from oppressing the people ofUruk. Together, they journey to the CedarMountain to defeat Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtarsends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for these actions, the gods sentenceEnkidu to death.

The second half of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh's distress at Enkidu's death, and his quest for immortality. Inorder to learn the secret of eternal life, Gilgamesh undertakes a long and perilous journey. He learns that "The lifethat you are seeking you will never find. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life theyretained in their own keeping." This quote was originally attributed to Siduri in the Old Babylonian version of the

epic,[1] and then attributed to the immortal flood hero Utnapishtim in the Akkadian version of the epic.Nevertheless, Gilgamesh's fame lived on after his death, because of his great building projects, and his account ofwhat Utnapishtim told him happened during the flood. The story has been translated into many differentlanguages, and Gilgamesh has since become adapted in works of popular fiction.

Content

s
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History

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in AkkadianMany distinct sources exist from over a 2,000-year timeframe. The old Sumerian poems, followed by a laterAkkadian version, are important sources for modern translations, with the Sumerian version mainly used to fill inlacunae in the Akkadian version.

Although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete. [2]

The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct stories, rather than parts of a single epic.

[3]:45 They date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BC).[3]:41-42 The earliest Akkadian versions

are dated to the early second millennium,[3]:45 most probably in the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC, whenone or more authors drew upon existing literary material to create a single epic.[4] The "standard" Akkadianversion, consisting of twelve tablets, was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC, andwas found in the library ofAshurbanipal in Nineveh.

TheEpic of Gilgamesh was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853 and is now widely known. The centralcharacter of Gilgamesh was initially reintroduced to the world as "Izdubir", before the cuneiform logographs in

his name could be pronounced accurately. The first modern translation was published in the early 1870s byGeorge Smith.[5] Recent translations into English include one undertaken with the assistance of the Americannovelist John Gardner, and John Maier, published in 1984. In 2001, Benjamin Foster produced a translation in theNorton Critical Edition Series that uses new material to fill in many of the blanks in previous editions.

The most definitive translation is a two-volume critical work by Andrew George.[6] George discusses the state ofthe surviving material, and provides a tablet-by-tablet exegesis, with a dual language side-by-side translation. Thistranslation was published by Penguin Classics in 2000. Stephen Mitchell in 2004 supplied a controversialtranslation that takes many liberties with the text and includes modernized allusions and commentary relating to theIraq war of 2003.[7][8] The first direct Arabic translation from the original tablets was made in the 1960s by theIraqi archeologist Taha Baqir.

The discovery of artifacts (ca. 2600 BC) associated with Enmebaragesi ofKish, mentioned in the legends as the

father of one of Gilgamesh's adversaries, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.[3]:40-41

Versions of the epic

From the diverse sources found two main versions of the epic have been partially reconstructed: the StandardAkkadian version, orHe who saw the deep, and the Old Babylonian version, or Surpassing all other kings. Fiveearlier Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh have been partially recovered, some with primitive versions of specificepisodes in the Akkadian version, others with unrelated stories.

Standard Akkadian version

Book of the Dead


Jump to: navigation, searchFor other uses, see Book of the Dead (disambiguation).
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Book of Coming Forth by Day

in hieroglyphs

This detail scene, from the Papyrus ofHunefer (ca. 1275 B.C.), shows the scribe Hunefer's heart being weighedon the scale ofMaat against the feather of truth, by the jackal-headed Anubis. The Ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of thegods, records the result. If his heart equals exactly the weight of the feather, Hunefer is allowed to pass into theafterlife. If not, he is eaten by the waiting chimeric devouring creature Ammit composed of the deadly crocodile,lion, and hippopotamus. Vignettes such as these were a common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.TheBook of the Deadis an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom(around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE.[1] The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt mhrw[2] is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day".[3] Another translation would be "Book of emerging forthinto the Light". The text consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey throughtheDuat, or underworld, and into the afterlife.

TheBook of the Deadwas part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and CoffinTexts, which were painted onto objects, not papyrus. Some of the spells included were drawn from these olderworks and date to the 3rd millennium BCE. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to theThird Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BCE). A number of the spells which made up the Book continuedto be inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as had always been the spells from which they originated. TheBookof the Deadwas placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased.

There was no single or canonicalBook of the Dead. The surviving papyri contain a varying selection of religiousand magical texts and vary considerably in their illustration. Some people seem to have commissioned their owncopies of theBook of the Dead, perhaps choosing the spells they thought most vital in their own progression to theafterlife. TheBook of the Deadwas most commonly written in hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a papyrus scroll,and often illustrated with vignettes depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife.

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Development

Part of the Pyramid Texts, a precursor of theBook of the Dead, inscribed on the tomb ofTetiTheBook of the Deaddeveloped from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian OldKingdom. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5thdynasty, around 2400 BCE.[4] These texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, andwere exclusively for the use of the Pharaoh (and, from the 6th dynasty, the Queen). The Pyramid Texts werewritten in an unusual hieroglyphic style; many of the hieroglyphs representing humans or animals were leftincomplete or drawn mutilated, most likely to prevent them causing any harm to the dead pharaoh. [5] The purposeof the Pyramid Texts was to help the dead King take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him withhis divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described

in theBook of the Dead.[5] Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be an exclusivelyroyal privilege, and were adopted by regional governors and other high-ranking officials.

In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the Coffin Texts. The Coffin Texts used a newer version ofthe language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The Coffin Texts were most commonlywritten on the inner surfaces of coffins, though they are occasionally found on tomb walls or on papyri. [5] TheCoffin Texts were available to wealthy private individuals, vastly increasing the number of people who couldexpect to participate in the afterlife; a process which has been described as the "democratization of the afterlife". [6]

TheBook of the Deadfirst developed in Thebes towards the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, around
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intermediate_Periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,_Egypthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Kingdom_of_Egypthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-Taylor_2010.2C_p._54-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieroglyphhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_dynastyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_dynastyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_dynastyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hieroglyph_Text_from_Teti_I_pyramid.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hieroglyph_Text_from_Teti_I_pyramid.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcophagushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Intermediate_Periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_funerary_textshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thothhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huneferhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weighing_of_the_heart3.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weighing_of_the_heart3.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs


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1700 BCE. The earliest known occurrence of the spells included in the Book of the Deadis from the coffin ofQueen Mentuhotep, of the 13th dynasty, where the new spells were included amongst older texts known from thePyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells introduced at this time claim an older provenance; for instancethe rubric to spell 30B states that it was discovered by the Prince Hordjedef in the reign of King Menkaure, manyhundreds of years before it is attested in the archaeological record. [7]

By the 19th dynasty, theBook of the Deadhad become widespread not only for members of the royal family, butcourtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrappedaround the dead, though occasionally they are found written on coffins or on papyrus. [8]

The New Kingdom saw theBook of the Deaddevelop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the 'Weighing ofthe Heart', is first known from the reign ofHatshepsut and Tuthmose III, c.1475 BCE. From this period onwardtheBook of the Deadwas typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the19th dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, sometimes at the expense of the surrounding text.[9]

In the Third Intermediate Period, theBook of the Deadstarted to appear in hieratic script, as well as in thetraditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a cheaper version, lacking illustration apart from a singlevignette at the beginning, and were produced on sma

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