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Ecrire à Sumer: L'invention du cuneiforme
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304 pages, Paperback
Published April 26, 2000
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February 28, 2024
This book traces the origins of writing in ancient Mesopotamia and the its possible development into cuneiform script. Glassner first offers a short introduction to Mesopotamian history during the 4th millennium to then include the old Sumerian myth on the creation of writing known as “Enmerkar and the lord of Arata”. This story suggests that writing is a human invention, rather than a divine occurrence when compared to other civilisations.
Then, the book starts immersing in the story of Sumerian cuneiform. The author rejects previous theories regarding its development and origin, from Leroi-Gourhan's link of a pictogram system previous to the logogram script, to Schmandt-Besserat's thesis, also supported by Silvia Ferrara, where writing would have developed after a system of countability based on tokens. Glassner concludes that the cuneiform writing system is born out of a “mélange” of factual and abstract representations of the environment that surrounded the Sumerians, which would explain its metaphoric nature.
In the end, a brief analysis on the first uses of writing is offered, highlighting the role of public and royal administration in the development of such invention, until writing itself surpassed its initial goal and extended into other areas in both the public and private sphere.
Then, the book starts immersing in the story of Sumerian cuneiform. The author rejects previous theories regarding its development and origin, from Leroi-Gourhan's link of a pictogram system previous to the logogram script, to Schmandt-Besserat's thesis, also supported by Silvia Ferrara, where writing would have developed after a system of countability based on tokens. Glassner concludes that the cuneiform writing system is born out of a “mélange” of factual and abstract representations of the environment that surrounded the Sumerians, which would explain its metaphoric nature.
In the end, a brief analysis on the first uses of writing is offered, highlighting the role of public and royal administration in the development of such invention, until writing itself surpassed its initial goal and extended into other areas in both the public and private sphere.
Displaying 1 of 1 review