Cuneiform: From trade lists to epic tales of gods

"Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia circa 3600/3500 BCE. It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians and the greatest among those of the Sumerian city of Uruk, which further developed and advanced cuneiform circa 3200 BCE and allowed for the creation of literature."

"In cuneiform, a carefully cut writing implement known as a stylus is pressed into soft clay to produce wedge-like imprints that represent word signs (pictographs) and, later, phonograms or word concepts (closer to a modern-day understanding of a word)."

"When the ancient cuneiform tablets of Mesopotamia were discovered and deciphered in the late 19th century, they would literally transform human understanding of history. Prior to their discovery, the Bible was considered the oldest and most authoritative book in the world, and nothing was known of the ancient Sumerian civilization."

"The brilliant scholar and translator George Smith (1840-1876), however, contributed significantly to the understanding of cuneiform with his translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh in 1872. This translation allowed other cuneiform tablets to be interpreted more accurately, which overturned the traditional understanding of the biblical version of history."

Cuneiform emerged as the first writing system in ancient Mesopotamia, created by the Sumerians circa 3600/3500 BCE and further refined by Uruk around 3200 BCE. The name derives from the Latin word cuneus, meaning wedge, reflecting its distinctive writing style. Writers used a stylus to press wedge-shaped marks into soft clay, initially representing pictographs and later phonograms. All major Mesopotamian civilizations employed cuneiform until abandoning it for alphabetic script after 100 BCE. The discovery and deciphering of cuneiform tablets in the late 19th century revolutionized historical knowledge, challenging the Bible's status as the oldest authoritative text. Scholars including Georg Friedrich Grotefend, Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, Jules Oppert, and George Smith contributed to decipherment, with Smith's 1872 translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh proving particularly transformative for accurate interpretation.

Read at World History Encyclopedia