Script Books
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Michael Wiese Productions (01 August 2005)Price: $16.47 -
Michael Wiese Productions (01 March 2008)Price: $11.53 -
Hippocrene Books (01 January 2004)Price: $21.33 -
Michael Wiese Productions (01 February 2008)Price: $17.79 -
Thames & Hudson (06 April 2009)Price: $21.74
Definition
In ancient Egypt the god Thoth (not surprisingly, the patron god of scribes) created script. Thoth “was not only the scribe and historian of the gods but also kept the calendar and invented art and science. In some Egyptian myths, Thoth is also portrayed as the creator of speech and possessing the power to transform speech into material objects. This ties in closely with the Egyptian belief that in order for a person to achieve immortality his or her name must be spoken or inscribed somewhere forever” (http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_origins.html).
In Greece writing begins with the Myceneaen Civilization and the as-yet undecipherable Linear B script. The alphabet of most modern languages originated in ancient Phoenicia and first came to Greece sometime before the 8th century, from whence it spread. Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, written around the 8th century, are early examples of Greek use of the Phoenician alphabet, as are the classics Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod.
Articles
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Phoenician is a Canaanite language closely related to Hebrew. Very little is known about the Canaanite language, except what can be gathered from the El-Amarna letters written by Canaanite kings to Pharaohs Amenhopis III (1402-1364 BC) and Akhenaton (1364-1347 BC). It appears that Phoenician language, culture, and writing was strongly influenced by Egypt (which controlled Phoenicia for a long time), as king Rib-Adda of Byblos admits in one of his letters to the pharaoh.
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Writing is undeniably one of humanity's most important inventions. The earliest forms of storing information on objects were numerical inscriptions on clay tablets, used for administration, accounting and trade. The first writing system dates back to around 3000 BC, when the Sumerians developed the first type script: hundreds of abbreviated pictograms that could be pressed into clay.
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Illustrations
