Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Six other logo-syllabic writing systems most likely owe their speedy development to Cuneiform influences. The most significant of these is Egyptian Hieroglyphics, developed around 3000 BCE. The earliest Egyptian writing is seen on palettes, carved with scenes mainly of warfare. One specific example has rectangles representing the names of captured towns. In contrast to the Mesopotamians who used robust clay tablets, a difficult medium to inscribe detailed pictograms upon, Egyptians used papyrus as paper, allowing the Hieroglyphics to maintain its complexity. However, despite the use of papyrus, convenient, speedier forms were still demanded. The result was hieratic (circa 2000 BCE) and demotic (circa 1000 BCE). Hieratic was Egypt’s administrative and business script, employed to record documents of a literary, scientific and religious nature, such as to reproduce the Book of the Dead. Demotic was used for day-to-day purposes, for secular functions, such as writing letters or legal, administrative and commercial materials.
Chinese
Another logo-syllabic writing system existed in Shang China. Around 1500 BCE, the time when Chinese writing was invented, there were massive labor projects that would have demanded a written script. Examples include the 8 kilometer city wall at Cheng-Chou which would have taken the labor 10,000 laborers 12 years to construct, and the process of industrial scale bronze casting, which would have required the labor of hundreds of miners, woodsmen, haulers, ceramicists and foundrymen. These projects must have also required administration and record keeping in the form of the Chinese script. Furthermore, Chinese craft such as pottery and jade-working developed around 1500 BCE, requiring a system of measurement (or mensuration).
The Alphabet
The problem with the aforementioned forms of writing was its complexity. The Egyptian sign list had 400 signs and cuneiform had 600. Writing was a monopoly of the court, requiring years of training. The alphabet was developed around the 18th century B.C. because of these reasons. It offered breathtaking simplicity: 27 or 28 symbols, and later down to 22. The system was completely phonetic. A person could learn to read in a days or weeks. The development of the alphabet had little to do with economics.
Word Count: 640
Evaluation of Sources
Sumerian Records from Drehem by William M. Nesbit was published in 1966. The early publication date does not invalidate the contents as the contents originate from 3rd Millennium BCE Sumer. It integrates 30 authentic cuneiform tablets recovered from the city of Drehem. It shows a cross-section of daily life in Drehem which was the center for livestock. As Drehem was an economic center, economic findings from this source would be over-represented and might not accurately reflect the writings in the rest of Mesopotamia. Thus, the book does a poor job arguing both sides of the thesis question. William Marsiglia Nesbit (1881-1950), the author and the translator, completed his doctoral work at Columbia University, thus giving him merit. He presents each of these tablets in transliterated Sumerian, translated English, and as line drawings of the original documents. This source provided the majority of the evidence regarding cuneiform. However, it offers little explanation and analysis of the individual tablets. Nesbit may not have translated everything correctly. For the inaccurate representation of cuneiform and the limited explanations of tablets, the value of this source is quite limited.
Civilization before Greece and Rome by H.W.F. Saggs was published in 1989. The book summarizes writing, education, trade, law, medicine, religion and other aspects of the civilizations before Greece and Rome (3500-500BCE). This period of time is exactly the period of interest for early writing, thus making this book chronologically valuable. It is important to note that writing appears as a chapter to the larger work. It makes it an easy read, with only the key points and important details. However, the book’s greatest limitation is that it only gives an overview of writing and lacks the sophistication offered by books dedicated to writing. The book was excellent at showing how Hieroglyphics developed faster because of the Egyptian proximity to the Mesopotamians, who had cuneiform. It also gave an outstanding developmental timeline of both cuneiform and Hieroglyphics. H.W.F. Saggs graduated at King's College London and was an orientalist (study of Eastern cultures). His knowledge of the Near and Far East grants him credibility as the origins of writing tend to fall within his geographical expertise. His multitudinous works regarding Mesopotamia also grants him credibility. This secondary source has 25 illustrations, some of which are useful primary sources of writing. Finally, Saggs’ work argues both sides of the thesis question, and is therefore a very valuable source to this investigation.
Word Count: 403
Analysis
This investigation attempts to bridge economics with the developments of many early writings, which is why it would be useful to establish links between all five of the writing systems presented. There are three stages to the development of writing:
Firstly, the invention of the script, such as the invention of cuneiform and the invention of Chinese is caused by the economic need for record keeping. This produces a primitive numbering system, as seen with proto-cuneiform and then sophisticates into a logo-syllabic form. Up until this point, economics was the sole factor.
However, the maturity of a script is usually attributed to factors other than economics. The most significant of these factors must be religion. From the tablets recovered from Drehem, at least 6 have religious undertones. Furthermore, Hieratic was developed partly because scribes were required to reproduce religious texts. Religion advanced writing faster than economic because economics needs only numerals whereas religion requires words. This is seen particularly in cuneiform, where the most famous writings are the epic of Gilgamesh and the Code of Hammurabi, which are not economic texts. Along with religion, art and war must have advanced writing to some extent. The earliest hieroglyphics were artistic descriptions of battles, often combined with art. In addition, since the invention of Chinese script coincides with the flourishing of pottery and jade-working, one of the demands of Chinese script must have been the need for mensuration.
The final development, involves simplification. Simplification of a script is never likely to be changed by people who are fully proficient with them. Instead, the writing is changed by people who find it difficult to operate. An example of simplification is the alphabet, demotic and hieratic.
Therefore, the pattern established for ancient writing systems is: firstly, the invention due to economics, secondly, the maturation caused by sophisticated aspects of civilization such as religion, and finally, simplification, caused by people who find it difficult to operate.
One problem with this pattern is that Hieroglyphics does not fall into this very well. The first stage of the development of hieroglyphics often yielded artistic descriptions of battles, which had little to do with economics. A theory that can be used to explain this would be the proximity the Egyptians had with the Mesopotamians. Historians such as Saggs believe that the development of Egyptian Hieroglyphics was accelerated because of the contact the Egyptians established with Mesopotamia, who already had an existing script. Other historians such as Henry George Fischer, assert that there is no link between hieroglyphics and cuneiform. Even though hieroglyphics does not fall into the pattern, it does not invalidate the pattern since Hieroglyphics is less significant than cuneiform or Chinese due to possible influences from Mesopotamia.
This being the theoretical pattern of the investigation, it needs to be tested. The Incas, for example, never had a writing system. Instead, they used Quipu, or knotted ropes, for their accounting. The first step of the pattern is partially satisfied: numerical system created by economics. However, nothing develops afterwards because the ropes could not gain sophistication the way cuneiform did. Since the Incas solved the problem caused by economics in a comparatively primitive manner, subsequent developments could not occur. The Incan example verifies the pattern to a certain extent because it shows that later steps cannot occur without the first one being successful. It displays the importance of economics, because even the highly civilized Incan society could not develop a writing system because of their economic and accounting shortfalls.
The importance in understanding such a pattern resides in that it explores one of the most important inventions in terms of human progress. Not only does this investigation bridge economics and the development of writing, it links all the different writing developments witnessed throughout history. Regardless of geographic location, the majority of the scripts mentioned in this investigation follow a specific sequence of events, beginning with economic demand.
Word Count: 649
Conclusion
Although economics was the main reason for the invention of cuneiform, Chinese and partially, demotic and hieratic, their development is largely attributed to other factors. Influences such as religion advance writing faster than economics because religion is harder to represent in writing. Without religion, the development of early writing would be much slower. Therefore, religion, art and war are important factors in the development of writing. However, when comparing economics to religion, art and war, only one factor appears almost everywhere, in every time period; and that factor is economics. Without economics, all writings may be stuck in the state of the Incan Quipu, completely useless to modern society. Therefore, economics advanced the development of early writing to a great, but not fullest, extent.
Word Count: 124
Word Count: 2000
List of Sources
Fischer, Steven Roger. A History of Writing. London: Reaktion Books, 2001.
Hooker, J. T. Reading the Past. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Pres/British Museum, 1990.
Nesbit, William M. Sumerian Records from Drehem. Gorgias Press LLC, 1914.
Nissen, Hans J., Peter Damerow, and Robert K. Englund. Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East. Chicago and London: The Uniersity of Chicago Press, 1993.
Saggs, H. W. F. Civilization before Greece and Rome. . New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989.
Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
Senner, Wayne M, The Origins of Writing (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1989) 43.
Hooker, J. T, Reading the Past. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Pres/British Museum, 1990) 17.
Saggs, H. W. F, Civilization before Greece and Rome (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989) 215-216.
Drehem was a centre of finance
Nesbit, William M, Sumerian Records from Drehem (Gorgias Press LLC, 1914) 46.
Nissen, Hans J., et al., Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East (Chicago and London: The Uniersity of Chicago Press, 1993) 124.
A South American civilization, existing between the 13th and 16th centuries AD.
Fischer, Steven Roger, A History of Writing (London: Reaktion Books, 2001) 14-16.
