HINDSIGHT NEED CORRECTIVE LENSES

• Mesopotamia record keeping


  Literacy in Near East and rest of the world
• Mesopotamia record keeping

  1. Keep track of trades

  2. Keep track of temple

  3. Keep track of religious activities
• Cuneiform


  Writing system used in Mesopotamia from 3200 BC, written on clay tablets in a 'wedge shaped' script
• Cuneiform

  • Pictograms - syllables and words to represent words & concepts
  • No vowels
• Clay tokens


  Used for receipts or like money today
• Phoenician alphabet


  Replaced cuneiform, close to modern alphabet, 22 consonants
• Abjad


  Writing system that only represents consonants (e.g. Hebrew & Arabic)
• Cuneiform was not known to the general public, only for priests and scribes chosen by God
• Law Code of Hammurabi


  282 laws from Hammurabi & priests, written in Akkadian cuneiform and preserved on clay
• Epic of Gilgamesh and Descent of Inanna


  • Depicting a superhero and a young woman claiming her godhood
• Writing in Mesopotamia


  Used for law, politics, and honouring the gods
• Babylonian "Enuma Elis" and Sumerian "Atra-Hasis"


  • Two characters from these writings
• Babylonian astronomical tablets (MUL.APIN)


  Used for tracking planet motion, time, and omens<|>Contained zodiac signs, the ecliptic, and Earth's rotation
• Babylonian astronomical tablets

  1000 BC, later editions 300 BC
• Deciphering cuneiform

  1. Using Avestan and Old Persian scripts

  2. With the Behistun Inscription
• Behistun Inscription


  Contained history of Darius the Great's coronation, old age, lineage, and customs<|>Written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian
• The Behistun Inscription was used to translate and decipher Akkadian
• • The Behistun Inscription (in West Iran, Kermanshah) - Darius the Great
  • history of coronation, his old age, his lineage, & customs.
  • Looking up to Faravaha represents Ahura Mazda god
  • written on cliff In old Persian, Elamite (anicent Persian cuneiform), Babylonian
• Cuneiform epresented whole syllables while hieroglyphic represent consonants only