Cuneiform / Irving Finkel and Jonathan Taylor

Object Details

author

Finkel, Irving L.

Taylor, Jonathan 1973-

Includes Cuneiform code chart (pages 102-103)

Contents

1, Looking backwards and forwards -- 2. Going to school -- 3. Who used cuneiform writing? -- 4. How do we understand it, anyway? -- 5. The scribe revealed -- 6. What happened to cuneiform? -- 7. How did it work? -- 8. Counting days -- 9. Why study cuneiform?

Summary

Cuneiform script on tablets of clay is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The choice of clay as writing medium in ancient Mesopotamia meant that records of all kinds could survive down to modern times, preserving fascinating documents from ancient civilization, written by a variety of people and societies. From reading these tablets we can understand not only the history and economics of the time but also the beliefs, ideas and superstitions. This work will bring the world in which the cuneiform was written to life for the non-expert reader, revealing how ancient inscriptions can lead to a new way of thinking about the past.

2015

Type

Books

Physical description

110 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color map ; 21 cm

Smithsonian Libraries

Topic

Cuneiform inscriptions

Cuneiform tablets

Record ID

siris_sil_1048624

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0