Over the course of its history, cuneiform was adapted to write a number of languages in addition to Sumerian.Akkadian texts are attested from the 24th century BC onward and make up the bulk of the cuneiform record.[4][7] Akkadian cuneiform was itself adapted to write theHittite language in the earlysecond millennium BC.[4][8] The other languages with significant cuneiformcorpora areEblaite,Elamite,Hurrian,Luwian, andUrartian. TheOld Persian andUgaritic alphabets feature cuneiform-style signs; however, they are unrelated to the cuneiform logo-syllabary proper. The latest known cuneiform tablet, an astronomical almanac from Uruk, dates to AD 79/80.[9]
Numerical tablet, 3500–3350 BC (Uruk V phase),Khafajah
Pre-cuneiform tags, with drawing of goat or sheep and number (probably "10"),Al-Hasakah, 3300–3100 BC,Uruk culture[13][5]
A table illustrating the progressive simplification of cuneiform signs from archaic (vertical) script to Assyrian
Writing began after pottery was invented, during theNeolithic, when clay tokens were used to record specific amounts of livestock or commodities.[14] In recent years a contrarian view has arisen on the tokens being the precursor of writing.[15] These tokens were initially impressed on the surface of round clay envelopes (clay bullae) and then stored in them.[14] The tokens were then progressively replaced by flat tablets, on which signs were recorded with a stylus. Writing is first recorded inUruk, at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and soon after in various parts of theNear-East.[14]
An ancient Mesopotamian poem gives the first known story of theinvention of writing:
Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat [the message], the Lord ofKulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet. Until then, there had been no putting words on clay.
The cuneiform writing system was in use for more than three millennia, through several stages of development, from the 31st century BC down to the second century AD.[16] The latest firmly dateable tablet, from Uruk, dates to 79/80 AD.[9] Ultimately, it was completely replaced byalphabetic writing, in the general sense, in the course of theRoman era, and there are no cuneiform systems in current use. It had to be deciphered as a completely unknown writing system in 19th-centuryAssyriology. It was successfully deciphered by 1857.
The cuneiform script changed considerably over more than 2,000 years. The image below shows the development of the sign SAĜ "head" (Borger nr. 184, U+12295𒊕).
Evolution of the cuneiform sign SAG "head", 3000–1000 BC
Stages:
shows the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 BC
A tablet with proto-cuneiform pictographic characters, end of 4th millennium BC,Uruk III. This is thought to be a list of slaves' names, the hand in the upper left corner representing the owner.[5]
The cuneiform script was developed frompictographicproto-writing in the late 4th millennium BC, stemming from the near eastern token system used for accounting. The meaning and usage of these tokens is still a matter of debate.[17] These tokens were in use from the 9th millennium BC and remained in occasional use even late in the 2nd millenniumBC.[18] Early tokens with pictographic shapes of animals, associated with numbers, were discovered inTell Brak, and date to the mid-4th millennium BC.[19] It has been suggested that the token shapes were the original basis for some of the Sumerian pictographs.[20]
Mesopotamia's "proto-literate" period spans roughly the 35th to 32nd centuries BC. The first unequivocal written documents start with the Uruk IV period, from circa 3,300 BC, followed by tablets found in Uruk III,Jemdet Nasr, Early Dynastic IUr andSusa (inProto-Elamite) dating to the period until circa 2,900 BC.[21]
Originally, pictographs were either drawn onclay tablets in vertical columns with a sharpenedreedstylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic wedge shape of the strokes.[19] MostProto-Cuneiform records from this period were of an accounting nature.[22] The proto-cuneiform sign list has grown, as new texts are discovered, and shrunk, as variant signs are combined. The current sign list is 705 elements long with 42 being numeric and four considered pre-proto-Elamite.[23][24][25]
Certain signs to indicate names of gods, countries, cities, vessels, birds, trees, etc., are known asdeterminatives and were the Sumerian signs of the terms in question, added as a guide for the reader. Proper names continued to be usually written in purely "logographic" fashion.
This is the time when some pictographic element started to be used for their phonetic value, permitting the recording of abstract ideas or personal names.[29] Many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have various meanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, and writing became increasinglyphonological. Determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. Cuneiform writing proper thus arises from the more primitive system of pictographs at about that time, labeled theEarly Bronze Age II epoch by historians.
The earliest known Sumerian king, whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets, isEnmebaragesi of Kish (fl. c. 2600 BC).[30] Surviving records became less fragmentary for following reigns and by the arrival of Sargon, it had become standard practice for each major city-state to date documents by year-names, commemorating the exploits of its king.
A proto-cuneiform tablet, end of the 4th millennium BC.
Geoffrey Sampson stated thatEgyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little afterSumerian script, and, probably, [were] invented under the influence of the latter",[5] and that it is "probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia".[5][32] There are many instances ofEgypt-Mesopotamia relations at the time of the invention of writing, and standard reconstructions of thedevelopment of writing generally place the development of the Sumerianproto-cuneiform script before the development of Egyptian hieroglyphs, with the suggestion the former influenced the latter.[33] But given the lack of direct evidence for the transfer of writing, "no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt".[5]
A Sumerian inscription in monumental archaic style, c. 26th century BC
Early cuneiform inscriptions were made by using a pointed stylus, sometimes called "linear cuneiform".[5] Many of the early dynastic inscriptions, particularly those made on stone, continued to use the linear style as late as circa 2000 BC.[5]
In the mid-3rd millennium BC, a new wedge-tipped stylus was introduced which was pushed into the clay, producing wedge-shaped cuneiform. This development made writing quicker and easier, especially when writing on soft clay.[5] By adjusting the relative position of the stylus to the tablet, the writer could use a single tool to make a variety of impressions.[5] For numbers, a round-tipped stylus was initially used, until the wedge-tipped stylus was generalized.[5] The direction of writing was from top-to-bottom and right-to-left.[5] Cuneiform clay tablets could be fired inkilns to bake them hard, and so provide a permanent record, or they could be left moist and recycled if permanence was not needed.[5] Most surviving cuneiform tablets were of the latter kind, accidentally preserved when fires destroyed the tablets' storage place and effectively baked them, unintentionally ensuring their longevity.[5]
From linear to angular
Wedge-tipped stylus for cuneiform writing on clay tablets
The regnal name "Lugal-dalu" in archaic linear script circa 2500 BC, and the same name stylized with standard Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform (𒈗𒁕𒇻).
The script was widely used on commemorativestelae and carved reliefs to record the achievements of the ruler in whose honor the monument had been erected. The spoken language included manyhomophones and near-homophones, and in the beginning, similar-sounding words such as "life" [til] and "arrow" [ti] were written with the same symbol (𒋾). As a result, many signs gradually changed from being logograms to also functioning assyllabograms, so that for example, the sign for the word "arrow" would become the sign for the sound "ti".[34]
Syllabograms were used in Sumerian writing especially to express grammatical elements, and their use was further developed and modified in the writing of the Akkadian language to express its sounds.[34] Often, words that had a similar meaning but very different sounds were written with the same symbol. For instance the Sumerian words 'tooth' [zu], 'mouth' [ka] and 'voice' [gu] were all written with the original pictogram for mouth (𒅗).
A contract for the sale of a field and a house, in the wedge-shaped cuneiform adapted for clay tablets,Shuruppak, circa 2600 BC.
Words that sounded alike would have different signs; for instance, the syllable [ɡu] had fourteen different symbols.
The inventory of signs was expanded by the combination of existing signs into compound signs. They could either derive their meaning from a combination of the meanings of both original signs (e.g. 𒅗ka 'mouth' and 𒀀a 'water' were combined to form the sign for 𒅘nag̃ 'drink', formally KA×A; cf.Chinese compound ideographs), or one sign could suggest the meaning and the other the pronunciation (e.g. 𒅗ka 'mouth' was combined with the sign 𒉣nun 'prince' to express the word 𒅻nundum, meaning 'lip', formally KA×NUN; cf.Chinese phono-semantic compounds).[34]
Another way of expressing words that had no sign of their own was by so-called 'Diri compounds' – sign sequences that have, in combination, a reading different from the sum of the individual constituent signs (for example, the compound IGI.A (𒅆𒀀) – "eye" + "water" – has the readingimhur, meaning "foam").[34]
Several symbols had too many meanings to permit clarity. Therefore, symbols were put together to indicate both the sound and the meaning of a symbol. For instance, the word 'raven' (UGA) had the same logogram (𒉀) as the word 'soap' (NAGA), the name of a city (EREŠ), and the patron goddess ofEresh (NISABA). To disambiguate and identify the word more precisely, two phonetic complements were added – Ú (𒌑) for the syllable [u] in front of the symbol and GA (𒂵) for the syllable [ga] behind. Finally, the symbol for 'bird', MUŠEN (𒄷) was added to ensure proper interpretation. As a result, the whole word could be spelt 𒌑𒉀𒂵𒄷, i.e. Ú.NAGA.GAmušen (among the many variant spellings that the word could have).
For unknown reasons, cuneiform pictographs, until then written vertically, were rotated 90° counterclockwise, in effect putting them on their side. This change first occurred slightly before the Akkadian period, at the time of theUruk rulerLugalzagesi (r. c. 2294–2270 BC).[26][5] The vertical style remained for monumental purposes on stonestelas until the middle of the 2nd millennium.[5]
Written Sumerian was used as a scribal language until the first century AD. The spoken language died out between about 2100 and 1700 BC.
Left: Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform syllabary, used by early Akkadian rulers.[5] Right: Seal ofAkkadian Empire rulerNaram-Sin (reversed for readability), c. 2250 BC. The name of Naram-Sin (Akkadian:𒀭𒈾𒊏𒄠𒀭𒂗𒍪:DNa-ra-amDSîn,Sîn being written 𒂗𒍪 EN.ZU), appears vertically in the right column.[35] British Museum. These are some of the more important signs: thecomplete Sumero-Akkadian list of characters actually numbers about 600, with many more "values", or pronunciation possibilities.[36]
The archaic cuneiform script was adopted by theAkkadian Empire from the 23rd century BC (short chronology). TheAkkadian language beingEast Semitic, its structure was completely different from Sumerian.[19] The Akkadians found a practical solution in writing their language phonetically, using the corresponding Sumerian phonetic signs.[19] Still, many of the Sumerian characters were retained for their logographic value as well: for example the character for "sheep" was retained, but was now pronouncedimmerum, rather than the Sumerianudu.[19] Such retained individual signs or, sometimes, entire sign combinations with logographic value are known asSumerograms, a type ofheterogram.
The East Semitic languages employed equivalents for many signs that were distorted or abbreviated to represent new values because the syllabic nature of the script as refined by the Sumerians was not intuitive to Semitic speakers.[19] From the beginning of theMiddle Bronze Age (20th century BC), the script evolved to accommodate the various dialects of Akkadian: Old Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian.[19] At this stage, the former pictograms were reduced to a high level of abstraction, and were composed of only five basic wedge shapes: horizontal, vertical, two diagonals and theWinkelhaken impressed vertically by the tip of the stylus. The signs exemplary of these basic wedges are:
Babylonian tablets of the time of Hammurabi (circa 1750 BC).
Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, either in inscriptions or on clay tablets, continued to be in use throughout the 2nd millennium BC.
Except for theWinkelhaken, which has no tail, the length of the wedges' tails could vary as required for sign composition.
Signs tilted by about 45 degrees are calledtenû in Akkadian, thus DIŠ is a vertical wedge and DIŠtenû a diagonal one. If a sign is modified with additional wedges, this is calledgunû or "gunification"; if signs are cross-hatched with additionalWinkelhaken, they are calledšešig; if signs are modified by the removal of a wedge or wedges, they are callednutillu.
"Typical" signs have about five to ten wedges, while complexligatures can consist of twenty or more (although it is not always clear if a ligature should be considered a single sign or two collated, but 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 Sumeriansyllabary, together with logograms that were read as whole words. Many signs in the script were polyvalent, having both a syllabic and logographic meaning. The complexity of the system bears a resemblance toOld Japanese, written in a Chinese-derived script, where some of these Sinograms were used as logograms and others as phonetic characters.
This "mixed" method of writing continued through the end of theBabylonian andAssyrian empires, although there 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.[clarification needed] Yet even in those days, the Babylonian syllabary remained a mixture of logographic and phonemic writing.
Elamite cuneiform was a simplified form of the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, used to write theElamite language in the area that corresponds to modernIran from the 3rd millennium BC to the 4th century BC. Elamite cuneiform at times competed with other local scripts,Proto-Elamite andLinear Elamite. The earliest known Elamite cuneiform text is a treaty between Akkadians and the Elamites that dates back to 2200 BC.[37] Some believe it might have been in use since 2500 BC.[38] The tablets are poorly preserved, so only limited parts can be read, but it is understood that the text is a treaty between the Akkad kingNāramsîn and Elamite rulerHita, as indicated by frequent references like "Nāramsîn's friend is my friend, Nāramsîn's enemy is my enemy".[37]
The most famous Elamite scriptures and the ones that ultimately led to its decipherment are the ones found in the trilingualBehistun inscriptions, commissioned by theAchaemenid kings.[39] The inscriptions, similar to that of theRosetta Stone's, were written in three different writing systems. The first wasOld Persian, which was deciphered in 1802 byGeorg Friedrich Grotefend. The second,Babylonian cuneiform, was deciphered shortly after the Old Persian text. Because Elamite is unlike its neighboringSemitic languages, the script's decipherment was delayed until the 1840s.[37]
Elamite cuneiform appears to have used far fewer signs than its Akkadian prototype and initially relied primarily on syllabograms, but logograms became more common in later texts. Many signs soon acquired highly distinctive local shape variants that are often difficult to recognise as related to their Akkadian prototypes.[40]
Hittite cuneiform is an adaptation of the Old Assyrian cuneiform of c. 1800 BC to theHittite language and was used from the 17th until approximately the 13th century BC. More or less the same system was used by the scribes of theHittite Empire for two otherAnatolian languages, namelyLuwian (alongside the nativeAnatolian hieroglyphics) andPalaic, as well as for the isolateHattic language. When the cuneiform script was adapted to writing Hittite, a layer ofAkkadian logographic spellings, also known as Akkadograms, was added to the script, in addition to the Sumerian logograms, or Sumerograms, which were already inherent in the Akkadian writing system and which Hittite also kept. Thus the pronunciations of many Hittite words which were conventionally written by logograms are now unknown.
TheHurrian language (attested 2300–1000 BC) andUrartian language (attested 9th–6th century BC) were also written in adapted versions of Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. Although the two languages are related, their writing systems seem to have been developed separately. For Hurrian, there were even different systems in different polities (inMitanni, inMari, in the Hittite Empire). The Hurrian orthographies were generally characterised by more extensive use of syllabograms and more limited use of logograms than Akkadian. Urartian, in comparison, retained a more significant role for logograms.[40]
Left: Simplified cuneiform syllabary, in use during theNeo-Assyrian period.[5] The "C" before and after vowels stands for "Consonant". Right: Mesopotamian palace paving slab, c. 600 BC
In theIron Age (c. 10th to 6th centuries BC), Assyrian cuneiform was further simplified. The characters remained the same as those of Sumero-Akkadian cuneiforms, but the graphic design of each character relied more heavily on wedges and square angles, making them significantly more abstract:
"Assurbanipal King ofAssyria" Aššur-bani-habal šar mat AššurKI Same characters, in the classical Sumero-Akkadian script of circa 2000 BC (top), and in the Neo-Assyrian script of theRassam cylinder, 643 BC (bottom).[41]
Babylonian cuneiform was simplified along similar lines during that period, albeit to a lesser extent and in a slightly different way. From the 6th century, theAkkadian language was marginalized byAramaic, written in theAramaic alphabet, but Akkadian cuneiform remained in use in the literary tradition well into the times of theParthian Empire (250 BC–226 AD).[42] The last known cuneiform inscription, an astronomical text, was written in 75 AD.[43] The ability to read cuneiform may have persisted until the third century AD.[5][5]
The complexity of cuneiforms prompted the development of a number of simplified versions of the script.Old Persian cuneiform was developed with an independent and unrelated set of simple cuneiform characters, byDarius the Great in the 5th century BC. Most scholars consider this writing system to be an independent invention because it has no obvious connections with other writing systems at the time, such asElamite, Akkadian,Hurrian, andHittite cuneiforms.[44]
It formed a semi-alphabetic syllabary, using far fewer wedge strokes than Assyrian used, together with a handful of logograms for frequently occurring words like "god" (𐏎), "king" (𐏋) or "country" (𐏌). This almost purely alphabetical form of the cuneiform script (36 phonetic characters and 8 logograms), was specially designed and used by the early Achaemenid rulers from the 6th century BC down to the 4th century BC.[45]
Because of its simplicity and logical structure, the Old Persian cuneiform script was the first to be deciphered by modern scholars, starting with the accomplishments ofGeorg Friedrich Grotefend in 1802. Various ancient bilingual or trilingual inscriptions then permitted to decipher the other, much more complicated and more ancient scripts, as far back as to the 3rd millennium Sumerian script.
Between half a million[11] and two million cuneiform tablets are estimated to have been excavated in modern times, of which only approximately 30,000[46]–100,000 have been read or published. TheBritish Museum holds the largest collection (approx. 130,000 tablets), followed by theVorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, theLouvre, theIstanbul Archaeology Museums, theNational Museum of Iraq, theYale Babylonian Collection (approx. 40,000), andPenn Museum. Most of these have "lain in these collections for a century without being translated, studied or published",[11] as there are only a few hundred qualified cuneiformists in the world.[46]
The first cuneiform inscriptions published in modern times, both copied fromAchaemenid royal inscriptions inPersepolis in the early 17th century. Pietro Della Valle's inscription, today known as XPb, is from the Palace of Xerxes.[5]
The decipherment of cuneiform began with the decipherment ofOld Persian cuneiform in 1836.
The first cuneiform inscriptions published in modern times were copied from theAchaemenid royal inscriptions in the ruins ofPersepolis, with the first complete and accurate copy being published in 1778 byCarsten Niebuhr. Niebuhr's publication was used by Grotefend in 1802 to make the first breakthrough – the realization that Niebuhr had published three different languages side by side and the recognition of the word "king".[47]
The rediscovery and publication of cuneiform took place in the early 17th century, and early conclusions were drawn such as the writing direction and that the Achaemenid royal inscriptions are three different languages, with two different scripts. In 1620,García de Silva Figueroa dated the inscriptions of Persepolis to the Achaemenid period, identified them as Old Persian, and concluded that the ruins were the ancient residence of Persepolis. In 1621,Pietro Della Valle specified the direction of writing from left to right.
In 1762,Jean-Jacques Barthélemy found that an inscription in Persepolis resembled that found on a brick in Babylon.Carsten Niebuhr made the first copies of the inscriptions of Persepolis in 1778 and settled on three different types of writing, which subsequently became known as Niebuhr I, II and III. He was the first to discover the sign for a word division in one of the scriptures.Oluf Gerhard Tychsen was the first to list 24 phonetic or alphabetic values for the characters in 1798.
Actual decipherment did not take place until the beginning of the 19th century, initiated byGeorg Friedrich Grotefend in his study ofOld Persian cuneiform. He was followed byAntoine-Jean Saint-Martin in 1822 andRasmus Christian Rask in 1823, who was the first to decipher the name Achaemenides and the consonants m and n.Eugène Burnouf identified the names of various satrapies and the consonants k and z in 1833–1835.Christian Lassen contributed significantly to the grammatical understanding of the Old Persian language and the use of vowels. The decipherers used the short trilingual inscriptions from Persepolis and the inscriptions fromGanjnāme for their work.
Niebuhr inscription 1, with the suggested words for "King" (𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹) highlighted, repeated three times. Inscription now known to mean "Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, who built this Palace".[5] Today known asDPa, from the Palace of Darius in Persepolis, above figures of the king and attendants[48]
Niebuhr inscription 2, with the suggested words for "King" (𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹) highlighted, repeated four times. Inscription now known to mean "Xerxes the Great King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, an Achaemenian".[5] Today known asXPe, the text of fourteen inscriptions in three languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian) from the Palace of Xerxes in Persepolis.[49]
An extract from theCyrus Cylinder (lines 15–21), giving the genealogy ofCyrus the Great and an account of his capture ofBabylon in 539 BCThe cuneiform sign "EN", for "Lord" or "Master": the evolution from the pictograph of a throne circa 3000 BC, followed by simplification and rotation down to circa 600 BC.[51]
Antiochus I Soter with titles in Akkadian on the cylinder of Antiochus: "Antiochus, King, Great King, King of multitudes, King of Babylon, King of countries". Note that while the images above transcribe the Akkadian pronunciation of the text, the actual spelling is highly logographic and would be strictly transliterated as follows, with the logograms (Sumerograms) capitalised and the syllabograms (phonetic signs) italicised: 1.DIŠan-ti-ʾu-ku-us LUGAL GAL-ú 2. LUGALdan-nu LUGAL ŠÁR LUGAL E.KI LUGAL KUR-KUR 3.za-ni-in É.SAG.ÍLù É.ZI.DA[54] In Unicode: 1. 𒁹𒀭𒋾𒀪𒆪𒊻𒈗𒃲𒌑 2. 𒈗𒆗𒉡𒈗𒎗𒈗𒂊𒆠𒈗𒆳𒆳 3. 𒍝𒉌𒅔𒂍𒊕𒅍𒅇𒂍𒍣𒁕
Cuneiform has a specific format fortransliteration. Because of the script'spolyvalence, transliteration requires certain choices of the transliterating scholar, who must decide in the case of each sign which of its several possible meanings is intended in the original document. For example, the signdingir (𒀭) in a Hittite text may represent either the Hittite syllablean or may be part of an Akkadian phrase, representing the syllableil, it may be aSumerogram, representing the original Sumerian meaning, 'god' or thedeterminative for a deity. In transliteration, a different rendition of the same glyph is chosen depending on its role in the present context.[55]
Therefore, a text containing DINGIR (𒀭) and A (𒀀) in succession could be construed to represent the Akkadian words "ana", "ila", god + "a" (theaccusative case ending), god + water, or a divine name "A" or Water. Someone transcribing the signs 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, 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 is able to trace the sounds back to the original signs and determine if the correct decision was made on how to read them. A transliterated document thus presents the reading preferred by the transliterating scholar as well as an opportunity to reconstruct the original text.
There are differing conventions for transliterating different languages written with Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. The following conventions see wide use across the different fields:
To disambiguate between homophones, i.e. between signs pronounced identically, the letters that express the pronunciation of a sign are supplemented with subscript numbers. For example,u1 stands for the glyph 𒌋,u2 stands for 𒌑, andu3 stands for 𒅇, all thought to have been pronounced /u/. No. 1 is usually treated as the default interpretation and not indicated explicitly, sou is equivalent tou1. For the numbers 2 and 3, accentdiacritics are often used as well: anacute accent stands for no. 2 and agrave accent for no. 3. Thus,u is equivalent tou1 (𒌋),ú is equivalent tou2 (𒌑) andù tou3 (𒅇). The sequence of numbering is conventional but essentially arbitrary and a consequence of the history of decipherment.
As shown above, signsas such are represented incapital letters. 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, in which a sequence of signs does not stand for a combination of their usual readings, as in the spelling 𒅆𒀀 IGI.A for the wordimhur 'foam'given above. Capital letters may also be used to indicate a Sumerogram, for example, KÙ.BABBAR 𒆬𒌓 – Sumerian for "silver" – being used with the intendedAkkadian readingkaspum, "silver", or simply a sign sequence of whose reading the editor is uncertain. Naturally, the "real" reading, if it is clear, will be presented in small letters in the transliteration: IGI.A will be rendered as imhur4. An Akkadogram in Hittite is indicated by capital letters as well, but they areitalicised: e.g.ME-E transcribes the sign sequence𒈨𒂊 when the intended reading is Hittitewātar "water", based on Akkadianmê "water (accusative-genitive case)".
Another convention is thatdeterminatives are written in superscript: thus, the sequence 𒀕𒆠 (the name of the cityUruk) is transliterated asunugki to show that the second sign, KI, meaning "earth", isn't intended to be pronounced, but only specifies the type of meaning the former sign has. In this case, that it is a place name. A few common determinatives are transliterated with abbreviations: for example,d represents the sign 𒀭 DINGIR when it serves as an indicator that one or more following signs form the name of a deity, as seen in the transliteration of 𒀭𒂗𒆤 asden-líl "Enlil". 𒁹 DIŠ 'one' and 𒊩 MUNUS 'woman' as prefixed determinatives for male and female personal names, uncommon in Sumerian, but subsequently used for some other languages, are often rendered with the abbreviationsm andf for "masculine" and "feminine".
In Sumerian transliteration, a multiplication sign ('×') is used to indicatetypographic ligatures. For example, the sign 𒅻 NUNDUM, which stands for the wordnundum "lip", can also be designated as KA×NUN, which indicates that it is a compound of the signs 𒅗 KA "mouth" and 𒉣 NUN "prince".
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, 𒌨𒀭𒇉, readUr-Bau at one time,[citation needed] was later read asUr-Engur, and is now read asUr-Nammu or Ur-Namma; forLugal-zage-si (𒈗𒍠𒄀𒋛), a king ofUruk, some scholars continued to readUngal-zaggisi; and so forth. With some names of the older period, there was often uncertainty whether their bearers were Sumerians or Semites. If the former, then their names could be assumed to be read as Sumerian. If they were Semites, the signs for writing their names were probably to be read according to their Semitic equivalents. Though occasionally, Semites might be encountered bearing genuine Sumerian names.
There was doubt whether the signs composing 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 𒌷𒈬𒍑,Uru-mu-ush, were first deciphered, that name was first taken to be logographic becauseuru mu-ush could be read as "he founded a city" in Sumerian, and scholars accordingly retranslated it back to the original Semitic asAlu-usharshid. It was later recognized that the URU sign (𒌷) can also be read asrí and that the name is that of theAkkadian kingRimush.
The Sumerian cuneiform script had on the order of 1,000 distinct signs, or about 1,500 if variants are included. This number was reduced to about 600 by the 24th century BC and the beginning of Akkadian records. Not all Sumerian signs are used in Akkadian texts, and not all Akkadian signs are used in Hittite.
A. Falkenstein (1936) lists 939 signs used in the earliest period,late Uruk, 34th to 31st centuries. (See#Bibliography for the works mentioned in this paragraph.) With an emphasis onSumerian forms,Deimel (1922) lists 870 signs used in theEarly Dynastic II period (28th century,Liste der archaischen Keilschriftzeichen or "LAK") and for the Early Dynastic IIIa period (26th century,Šumerisches Lexikon or "ŠL").
Rosengarten (1967) lists 468 signs used in Sumerian (pre-Sargonian)Lagash. Mittermayer and Attinger (2006,Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der Sumerisch-Literarischen Texte or "aBZL") list 480 Sumerian forms, written inIsin-Larsa and Old Babylonian times. RegardingAkkadian forms, the standard handbook for many years was Borger (1981,Assyrisch-Babylonische Zeichenliste or "ABZ") with 598 signs used in Assyrian/Babylonian writing, recently superseded by Borger (2004,Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon or "MesZL") with an expansion to 907 signs, an extension of their Sumerian readings and a new numbering scheme. The introduction of a cursive script in the Old Babylonian period coincided with the expansion of literacy beyond institutional settings, leading to greater variation in writing styles. This shift may have influenced the increasing number of documented signs, as reflected in later sign lists. As writing adapted to new contexts—whether for administrative, literary, or private use—the need for expanded and specialized sign inventories became more apparent.[56]
Signs used inHittite cuneiform are listed by Forrer (1922), Friedrich (1960) and Rüster and Neu (1989,Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon or "HZL"). The HZL lists a total of 375 signs, many with variants (for example, 12 variants are given for number 123EGIR).
The Sumerians used abase-60 numerical system. A number, such as "70", would be represented with the digit for "60" (𒁹) and the digit for "10" (𒌋): 𒁹𒌋. It's important to mention that the number for "60" is the same as the number for "1";[5] the reason this number isn't read as "11" is because of the order of the numbers: 60 then 10, not 10 then 60.
Foundation tablet of kingShulgi (c. 2094–2047 BC), for the Temple ofNimintabba inUr. ME 118560British Museum.[13][5] Inscription "For his Lady Nimintabba, Shulgi the mighty man, King of Ur andKing of Sumer and Akkad, has built her Temple":[5] Traditional cuneiforms were written vertically, but modern transcription is based on the "rotated" script adopted in the 2nd millennium BC.
Cuneiform script was used in many ways in ancient Mesopotamia. Besides the well-known clay tablets and stone inscriptions, cuneiform was also written on wax boards.[58] One example from the 8th century BC was found atNimrud. The wax contained toxic amounts of arsenic.[59] It was used to record laws, like theCode of Hammurabi. It was also used for recording maps, compiling medical manuals, and documenting religious stories and beliefs, among other uses. In particular it is thought to have been used to prepare surveying data and draft inscriptions forKassite stonekudurru.[60][61] Studies by Assyriologists like Claus Wilcke[62] andDominique Charpin[63] suggest that cuneiform literacy was not reserved solely for the elite but was common for average citizens.
According to theOxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture,[64] cuneiform script was used at a variety of literacy levels: average citizens needed only a basic, functional knowledge of cuneiform script to write personal letters and business documents. Citizens with a higher degree of literacy put the script to more technical use, listing medicines and diagnoses and writing mathematical equations. Scholars held the highest literacy level of cuneiform and mostly focused on writing as a complex skill and an art form.
The final proposal for Unicode encoding of the script was submitted by two cuneiform scholars working with an experienced Unicode proposal writer in June 2004.[68] The base character inventory is derived from the list ofUr III signs compiled by theCuneiform Digital Library Initiative ofUCLA based on the inventories of Miguel Civil, Rykle Borger (2003) and Robert Englund. Rather than opting for a direct ordering by glyph shape and complexity, according to the numbering of an existing catalog, the Unicode order of glyphs was based on the Latin alphabetic order of their "last" Sumerian transliteration as a practical approximation. Once in Unicode, glyphs can be automatically processed into segmented transliterations.[69]
A map showing the locations of all knownprovenanced cuneiform inscriptions.Cuneiform Inscriptions Geographical Site Index v1.5, November 2022, fromUppsala University.
^Tablets from the site surfaced on the market as early as 1880, when three tablets made their way to European museums. By the early 1920s, the number of tablets sold from the site exceeded 4,000. While the site of Kültepe was suspected as the source of the tablets, and the site was visited several times, it was not until 1925 when Bedřich Hrozný corroborated this identification by excavating tablets from the fields next to the tell that were related to tablets already purchased.
^Jagersma, Abraham Hendrik (2010).A descriptive grammar of Sumerian(PDF) (Thesis). Leiden: Faculty of the Humanities, Leiden University. p. 15.In its fully developed form, the Sumerian script is based on a mixture of logographic and phonographic writing. There are basically two types of signs: word signs, or logograms, and sound signs, or phonograms.
^abcSara E. Kimball; Jonathan Slocum."Hittite Online".The University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center. Early Indo-European OnLine. 2 The Cuneiform Syllabary.Archived from the original on November 7, 2023.Hittite is written in a form of the cuneiform syllabary, a writing system in use in Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia by roughly 3100 B.C.E. and used to write a number of languages in the ancient Near East until the first century B.C.E.
^Huehnergard, John (2004)."Akkadian and Eblaite".The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 218.ISBN978-0-521-56256-0.Connected Akkadian texts appear c. 2350 and continue more or less uninterrupted for the next two and a half millennia...
^Archi, Alfonso (2015)."How the Anitta text reached Hattusa".Saeculum: Gedenkschrift für Heinrich Otten anlässlich seines 100. Geburtstags. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.ISBN978-3-447-10365-7.The existence of the Anitta text demonstrates that there was not a sudden and total interruption in writing but a phase of adaptation to a new writing.
^abHunger, Hermann, and Teije de Jong, "Almanac W22340a from Uruk: The latest datable cuneiform tablet.", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 104.2, pp. 182–194, 2014
^abc"Beginning in the pottery-phase of the Neolithic, clay tokens are widely attested as a system of counting and identifying specific amounts of specified livestock or commodities. The tokens, enclosed in clay envelopes after being impressed on their rounded surface, were gradually replaced by impressions on flat or plano-convex tablets, and these in turn by more or less conventionalized pictures of the tokens incised on the clay with a reed stylus. The transition to writing was completeW. Hallo; W. Simpson (1971).The Ancient Near East. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. p. 25.
^[1] Bennison-Chapman, Lucy E. "Reconsidering 'Tokens': The Neolithic Origins of Accounting or Multifunctional, Utilitarian Tools?." Cambridge Archaeological Journal 29.2 (2019): 233–259.
^Overmann, Karenleigh A.The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, New Jersey, US: Gorgias Press, 2019
^Denise Schmandt-Besserat, "An Archaic Recording System and the Origin of Writing." Syro Mesopotamian Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–32, 1977
^Denise Schmandt-Besserat, An Archaic Recording System in the Uruk-Jemdet Nasr Period, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 19–48, (Jan. 1979)
^[2] Robert K. Englund, "Proto-Cuneiform Account-Books and Journals", in MichaelHudson and Cornelia Wunsch, eds., Creating Economic Order: Record-keeping,Standardization and the Development of Accounting in the Ancient Near East (CDLPress: Bethesda, Maryland, USA) pp. 23–46, 2004
^Green, M. and H. J. Nissen (1987). Zeichenliste der Archaischen Texte aus Uruk. ATU 2. Berlin
^Englund, R. K. (1998). "Texts from the Late Uruk Period". In: Mesopotamien: Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdy-nastische Zeit (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 160/1). Ed. by P. Attinger and M. Wäfler. Fribourg, Switzerland / Göttingen, 15–217
^[3] Born, L., & Kelley, K. (2021). A Quantitative Analysis of Proto-Cuneiform Sign Use in Archaic Tribute. Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin, 006
^Frye, Richard N."History of Mesopotamia – Mesopotamia from c. 320 bce to c. 620 ce".Encyclopædia Britannica. RetrievedDecember 11, 2020.The use of cuneiform in government documents ceased sometime during the Achaemenian period, but it continued in religious texts until the 1st century of the Common era.
^Windfuhr, G. L.: "Notes on the old Persian signs", page 1. Indo-Iranian Journal, 1970.
^Schmitt, R. (2008), "Old Persian", in Roger D. Woodard (ed.),The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas (illustrated ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 77,ISBN978-0-521-68494-1
^abWatkins, Lee; Snyder, Dean (2003),The Digital Hammurabi Project(PDF), The Johns Hopkins University,archived(PDF) from the original on July 14, 2014,Since the decipherment of Babylonian cuneiform some 150 years ago museums have accumulated perhaps 300,000 tablets written in most of the major languages of the Ancient Near East – Sumerian, Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian), Eblaite, Hittite, Persian, Hurrian, Elamite, and Ugaritic. These texts include genres as variegated as mythology and mathematics, law codes and beer recipes. In most cases these documents are the earliest exemplars of their genres, and cuneiformists have made unique and valuable contributions to the study of such moderns disciplines as history, law, religion, linguistics, mathematics, and science. In spite of continued great interest in mankind's earliest documents it has been estimated that only about 1/10 of the extant cuneiform texts have been read even once in modern times. There are various reasons for this: the complex Sumero/Akkadian script system is inherently difficult to learn; there is, as yet, no standard computer encoding for cuneiform; there are only a few hundred qualified cuneiformists in the world; the pedagogical tools are, in many cases, non-optimal; and access to the widely distributed tablets is expensive, time-consuming, and, due to the vagaries of politics, becoming increasingly difficult.
^[4]Sayce, Rev. A. H., "The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions", Second Edition-revised, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, Brighton, New York, 1908 (Reprint –ISBN978-1-108-08239-6)
^"DPa".Livius. April 16, 2020. RetrievedMarch 19, 2023.
^"XPe".Livius. September 24, 2020. RetrievedMarch 19, 2023.
^Cf.The Cylinder of Antiochus I from the Ezida temple in Borsippa (BM 36277), p.4 by M. Stol and R.J. van der Spek andAntiochus I 01 by The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project. The transliteration here differs slightly from these sources by rendering the determinative for male personal names 𒁹 with the Sumerian reading of the signDIŠ, whereas it is more commonly transcribed with the conventional letterM today. The spellings 𒂍𒊕𒅍 (É.SAG.ÍL) and 𒂍𒍣𒁕 (É.ZI.DA) can also be read phonetically in Akkadian (as they are in the second source), because the names themselves have been borrowed into Akkadian with their Sumerian pronunciations. Conversely, the sign 𒆗, which may have the phonetic valuedan in Akkadian, was nevertheless originally a Sumerian logogram KAL 'strong'. Finally, 𒅇 (ù) was the word for 'and' not only in Akkadian, but also in Sumerian.
^Kudrinski, Maksim. "Hittite heterographic writings and their interpretation"Indogermanische Forschungen, vol. 121, no. 1, pp. 159–176, 2016
^Zimmermann, Lynn-Salammbô, "Knocking on Wood: Writing Boards in the Kassite Administration", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 177-237, 2023
^Cammarosano, Michele, Katja Weirauch, Feline Maruhn, Gert Jendritzki, and Patrick L. Kohl, "They Wrote on Wax. Wax Boards in the Ancient Near East", Mesopotamia, vol. 54, pp. 121‒180, 2019
^Zimmermann, Lynn-Salammbô. "Wooden Wax-Covered Writing Boards as Vorlage for kudurru Inscriptions in the Middle Babylonian Period" Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 2022
^"The World's Oldest Writing".Archaeology.69 (3). May 2016. Archived fromthe original on April 27, 2016. RetrievedSeptember 18, 2016 – via Virtual Library of Virginia.
^Wilcke, Claus (2000).Wer las und schrieb in Babylonien und Assyrien. München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.ISBN978-3-7696-1612-5.
^Charpin, Dominique. 2004. "Lire et écrire en Mésopotamie: Une affaire dé spécialistes?" Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: 481–501.
^"Our Logo | Liberty Fund".libertyfund.org. RetrievedMay 14, 2020.The cuneiform inscription that serves as Liberty Fund's logo and as a design element in our books is the earliest-known written appearance of the word 'freedom' (amagi), or 'liberty'. It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
^[5]"Cuneiform and Hieroglyphs", in The Unicode® Standard Version 16.0 – Core Specification, September 10, 2024
^[6] Robin Leroy, Anshuman Pandey, and Steve Tinney, "Archaic cuneiform numerals", L2/24-210R, 2024-10-23
^Gordin S, Gutherz G, Elazary A, Romach A, Jiménez E, Berant J, et al. (2020) "Reading Akkadian cuneiform using natural language processing".PLoS ONE 15(10): e0240511.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240511
^abcdefghiBertman, Stephen (2005).Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-518364-1.
^Ellermeier, Friedrich., and Margret. Studt.Sumerisches Glossar. Vol. 3, T. 6,Handbuch Assur / Friedrich Ellmermeier; Margret Studt. Hardegsen bei Göttingen: Selbstverl. Ellermeier, 2003. Print. Theologische und orientalistische Arbeiten aus Göttingen, 4.
Charvát, Petr. "Cherchez la femme: The SAL Sign in Proto-Cuneiform Writing". La famille dans le Proche-Orient ancien: réalités, symbolismes et images: Proceedings of the 55e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris, edited by Lionel Marti, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021, pp. 169–182
Robert K. Englund, Roger J. Matthews, "Proto-Cuneiform Texts from Diverse Collections", Berlin: Gebr. Mann 1996 ISBN 978-3786118756
Robert K. Englund and Rainer M.Boehmer, "Archaic Administrative Texts from Uruk – The Early Campaigns", (ATU Bd. 5), Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag 1994 ISBN 978-3786117452
A. Falkenstein,Archaische Texte aus Uruk, Berlin-Leipzig (1936)
E. Forrer,Die Keilschrift von Boghazköi, Leipzig (1922)
J. Friedrich,Hethitisches Keilschrift-Lesebuch, Heidelberg (1960)
Hayes, John L. (2000).A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts. Aids and Research Tools in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 5 (2d ed.). Malibu: Undena Publications.ISBN978-0-89003-197-1.
Heeren (1815) "Ideen über die Politik, den Verkehr und den Handel der vornehmsten Volker der alten Welt", vol. i. pp. 563 seq., translated into English in 1833.
DSpace Hershkovitz, Yehonatan, "The Adaptation Process of Cuneiform in the Old Babylonian Period", Dissertation, Harvard University, 2023
Kramer, Samuel Noah (1981). "Appendix B: The Origin of the Cuneiform Writing System".History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Man's Recorded History (3d revised ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 381–383.ISBN978-0-8122-7812-5.
Mittermayer, Catherine; Attinger, Pascal (2006).Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der Sumerisch-Literarischen Texte. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Vol. Special Edition. Academic Press Fribourg.ISBN978-3-7278-1551-5.
O. Neugebauer, A. Sachs (eds.),Mathematical Cuneiform Texts, New Haven (1945).
[7] Ouyang, Xiaoli, and Christine Proust, "Place-Value Notations in the Ur III Period: Marginal Numbers in Administrative Texts", Cultures of Computation and Quantification in the Ancient World: Numbers, Measurements, and Operations in Documents from Mesopotamia, China and South Asia. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 267–356, 2023
Patri, Sylvain (2009). "La perception des consonnes hittites dans les langues étrangères au XIIIe siècle."Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 99(1): 87–126.doi:10.1515/ZA.2009.003.
Philippe Quenet, "The Diffusion of the Cuneiform Writing System in Northern Mesopotamia: The Earliest Archaeological Evidence", Iraq, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 31–40, 2005
Rattenborg, Rune, Smidt, Gustav Ryberg, Johansson, Carolin, Melin-Kronsell, Nils and Nett, Seraina, "The Archaeological Distribution of the Cuneiform Corpus: A Provisional Quantitative and Geospatial Survey", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 178–205, 2003
Y. Rosengarten,Répertoire commenté des signes présargoniques sumériens de Lagash, Paris (1967)
Chr. Rüster, E. Neu,Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon (HZL), Wiesbaden (1989)
Nikolaus Schneider,Die Keilschriftzeichen der Wirtschaftsurkunden von Ur III nebst ihren charakteristischsten Schreibvarianten, Keilschrift-Paläographie; Heft 2, Rom: Päpstliches Bibelinstitut (1935).
Wolfgang Schramm,Akkadische Logogramme, Goettinger Arbeitshefte zur Altorientalischen Literatur (GAAL) Heft 4, Goettingen (2003),ISBN978-3-936297-01-0.
F. Thureau-Dangin,Recherches sur l'origine de l'écriture cunéiforme, Paris (1898).
Ronald Herbert Sack,Cuneiform Documents from the Chaldean and Persian Periods, (1994)ISBN978-0-945636-67-0
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![A proto-cuneiform tablet, Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3100–2900 BC. A dog on a leash is visible in the background of the lower panel.[31]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCuneiform_tablet-_administrative_account_of_barley_distribution_with_cylinder_seal_impression_of_a_male_figure%2c_hunting_dogs%2c_and_boars_MET_DT847.jpg)
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!["Assurbanipal King of Assyria" Aššur-bani-habal šar mat Aššur KI Same characters, in the classical Sumero-Akkadian script of circa 2000 BC (top), and in the Neo-Assyrian script of the Rassam cylinder, 643 BC (bottom).[41]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAssurbanipal_King_of_Assyria_(Sumero-Akkadian_and_Neo-Babylonian_scripts).jpg)
![Niebuhr inscription 1, with the suggested words for "King" (𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹) highlighted, repeated three times. Inscription now known to mean "Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, who built this Palace".[5] Today known as DPa, from the Palace of Darius in Persepolis, above figures of the king and attendants[48]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aNiebuhr_inscription_1_with_word_for_King.jpg)
![Niebuhr inscription 2, with the suggested words for "King" (𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹) highlighted, repeated four times. Inscription now known to mean "Xerxes the Great King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, an Achaemenian".[5] Today known as XPe, the text of fourteen inscriptions in three languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian) from the Palace of Xerxes in Persepolis.[49]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aNiebuhr_inscription_2_with_word_for_King.jpg)
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![Cuneiform ama-gi, literally "return to the mother", loosely translated as "liberty", is the logo of Liberty Fund.[65]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAma-gi.svg)
