Languages

Old Persian Cuneiform

Darius I (550-486 BC) claims credit for the invention of Old Persian Cuneiform in an inscription on a cliff at Behistun in south-west Iran. The inscription dates from 520 BC and is in three languages - Elamite, Babylonian and Old Persian. Some scholars are sceptical about Darius' claims, others take them seriously, although they think that Darius p...

Read More

Cuneiform Tablets: Millikin University Archives

Nine Babylonian cuneiform tablets were obtained by Millikin University President A.E.Taylor for the university's library collection on Oct.12, 1922 from Edgar James Banks (1866-1945), archaeologist/Assyrologist and purveyor of Middle East artifacts. Mr. Banks, in a letter accompanying the collection, certified all nine tablets as being "the genuine...

Read More

Cuneiform Scripts

Sumerian is the first known written language. Its script, called cuneiform, meaning "wedge-shaped". The Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Created by the Sumerians in the late 4th millennium BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Over time, the pictorial representations became simplified and ...

Read More

Cuneiform

Ancient Scripts: Cuneiform The term "cuneiform" is very deceptive, in that it tricks people into thinking that it's some type of writing system. The truth is that cuneiform denotes not one but several kinds of writing systems, including logosyllabic, syllabic, and alphabetic scripts. In fact, "cuneiform" came from Latin cuneus, which means "wedge"...

Read More

ETCLS Cuneiform

Cuneiform writing was most probably invented in Uruk in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) about 3400 - 3300 BCE (Glassner 2003:45). It was invented to keep records of goods and services, and the language that was recorded was, as far as we can tell, Sumerian. The cuneiform script was later adopted by other people speaking languages as different as...

Read More

Cuneiform Tablet with Part of the Babylonian Chronicle

(605-594 B.C.) Neo-Babylonian, about 550-400 BC. From Babylon, southern Iraq. Nebuchadnezzar II's campaigns in the west. This tablet is one of a series that summarises the principal events of each year from 747 BC to at least 280 BC. Each entry is separated by a horizontal line and begins with a reference to the year of reign of the king in questio...

Read More

Proverbs in Sumerian Cuneiform

Cuneiform Inscriptions "" Translations/Transliterations...

Read More

Akkadian

Ancient Scripts: Akkadian While the cuneiform writing system was created and used at first only by the Sumerians, it did not take long before neighboring groups adopted it for their own use. By about 2500 BCE, the Akkadian, a Semitic-speaking people that dwelled north of the Sumerians, starting using cuneiform to write their own language. Howeve...

Read More

Sumerian Writing - Cuneiform

Sumerian is the first known written language. Its script, called cuneiform, meaning "wedge-shaped". The Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Created by the Sumerians in the late 4th millennium BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Over time, the pictorial representations became simplified and ...

Read More