Cuneiform: 6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the world’s oldest writing system Distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, cuneiform script is the oldest form of writing in the world, first appearing even earlier than Egyptian hieroglyphics Tuesday 26th May 2015 Submitted by: Emma Mason A counting of goats and rams in cuneiform script, ancient Ngirsu, Iraq, 2360 BC. Now, the curators of the world’s largest collection of cuneiform tablets – housed at the British Museum – have written a book exploring the history of cuneiform. Here, Irving Finkel and Jonathan Taylor share six lesser-known facts about cuneiform… 1) Cuneiform is not a language The cuneiform writing system is also not an alphabet, and it doesn’t have letters. The two main languages written in Cuneiform are Sumerian and Akkadian (from ancient Iraq), although more than a dozen others are recorded. 2) Cuneiform was first used in around 3,400 BC The first stage used elementary pictures that were soon also used to record sounds. 3) All you needed to write cuneiform was a reed and some clay
Dig it Up: The Vikings (link sotto l'immagine) Benvenuti - L'archeologia dei ragazzi Che cos'è l'archeologia? Se sei schizzinoso e ti dà fastidio sporcarti i vestiti, le mani e i capelli non è sicuramente il lavoro per te! L’archeologia è una scienza strana, a volte un po’ macabra, si occupa, infatti, di studiare chi viveva nel passato, come viveva, cosa faceva e ovviamente si tratta di studiare la vita di persone morte! Ma non spaventarti! Armati di coraggio e vieni a scoprire tante cose interessanti e curiose sugli archeologi! Devi ricordarti che per diventare bravi archeologi bisogna studiare e scavare molto. Un archeologo non è una talpa, non fa buchi e non vuole arrivare al centro della terra ma scava il terreno strato per strato, documentando ogni sua azione con schede, disegni, fotografie e strumentazione informatica, per raccogliere il maggior numero di informazioni possibili. E adesso tutti al lavoro, non con cazzuola e piccone, ma belli comodi e armati di mouse!!!
GEOGRAPHY, LAND AND WEATHER MESOPOTAMIA Baylonian maps Strategically situated in the heart of the Near East and northeastern part of the Middle East, Mesopotamia was located south of Persia (Iran) and Anatolia (Turkey), east of ancient Egypt and the Levant (Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Syria) and east of the Persian Gulf. Almost completely landlocked, its only outlet to sea is the Fao peninsula, a small chunk of land wedged between modern-day Iran and Kuwait, which opens to the Persian Gulf, which in turn opens into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Much of the agricultural land is in the fertile valleys and plains between the Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries. Much of the agricultural land was irrigated. Deserts, semideserts and steppes cover about two thirds of modern Iraq. Iraq's mountains are found primarily in the north and northeast along the borders of Turkey and Iran and to a lesser extent Syria. Iraq also has some large lakes. Tigris and Euphrates Marshes of Eastern Mesopotamia Environment in Mesopotamia
Les Sumériens Ce qui caractérise l'organisation politique sumérienne, c'est son organisation 'à la grecque'. En effet, tout comme beaucoup plus tard la Grèce antique, le pays de Sumer était subdivisé en zones d'influence se structurant autour de quelques villes-phares, telles que Ur, Eridu, Lagash, etc...Ainsi, la société sumérienne reflétait une organisation où les villages se concentraient autour de villes plus grandes. Ces regroupements constituaient des zones d'influence ou cités-Etats. Chacune de ces villes possédait sa propre ziggourat. Celle-ci contenait des administrations gouvernementales, ainsi qu'un temple. Ce dernier se situait au dernier étage, c'est à dire sur la plus haute plate-forme de la ziggourat.En règle générale, ces villes étaient dirigées par un conseil de sénateurs ou de soldats. A) Introduction : B) L'histoire du sumérien et de son écriture : - Les plus vieux exemples d'écriture sumérienne datent d'environ 3000av JC (fin de l'époque proto-littéraire).
Dig it Up: The Romans (link sotto l'immagine) Dirt Detective Hammurabi's Code: An Eye for an Eye "Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred the law, am I." "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes back to ancient Mesopotamian culture that prospered long before the Bible was written or the civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered. "An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi's Code, a collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar. The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa, which is in modern-day Iran. Hammurabi is the best known and most celebrated of all Mesopotamian kings. A Need for Justice Hammurabi keenly understood that, to achieve this goal, he needed one universal set of laws for all of the diverse peoples he conquered. Oldest Code Known The oldest known evidence of a law code are tablets from the ancient city Ebla (Tell Mardikh in modern-day Syria). The Laws Hammurabi's Law Code Go Jump in a River!
Slideshow / The Epic of Gilgamesh / Invitation to World Literature This image of Gilgamesh comes from Assyria. It shows Gilgamesh subduing a lion, a common pose for the great warrior-king. His long hair and beard also show his strength, as well as his physical perfection. David Damrosch talks about this image This image of Gilgamesh and Enkidu by modern-day artist Neil Dalrymple is inspired by ancient images of the two friends; notice Enkidu is part-animal, and smaller than the king whom he loves and serves. These ceramic relief tablets were designed and hand sculpted by Neil Dalrymple, Ceramic Sculptor, UK. The beauty and terror of the greatest of Sumerian goddesses come through in this ancient statue. Peter Willi / Getty Images Humbaba's demonic face was a popular subject for sculptors; this ancient Assyrian representation follows the usual practice of depicting the creature's face as one swirling line. The Schoyen Collection, MS 4573/1 Soft clay tablets were pierced with small, flat-edged wooden writing sticks to create cuneiform writing.