Sumerian cuneiform signs. Sumerian writing
~3300 BC e. - 75 AD e.
Initially from right to left, in columns, then from left to right in rows (from 2400-2350 BC for handwritten texts; from the 2nd millennium BC for monumental inscriptions)
300 - 900 characters for syllabic and ideographic systems; About 30 letters for phonetic adaptation to east coast Mediterranean Sea; 36 letters for the Old Persian syllabary alphabet.
The oldest known documents are tablets with administrative documents of the Sumerian kingdom.
Original writing
| Ancient Mesopotamia |
|---|
 |
| Assyriology |
| Regions and states |
| City-states of Sumer · Upper Mesopotamian states · Akkad · Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom · Isin · Amorite kingdoms · Babylonia · Assyria · Subartu · Primorye |
| Population |
| Aborigines of Mesopotamia · Sumerians · Akkadians · Babylonians · Assyrians · Amorites · Arameans · Kassites · Kutians · Lullubei · Subareans · Chaldeans · Hurrians |
| Writing and languages |
| Cuneiform |
| Sumerian Akkadian Proto-Euphratian languages Proto-Tigrid (banana) languages Hurrian |
| Sumerian-Akkadian mythology |
| Periodization |
| Prehistoric Mesopotamia |
| Uruk era - Jemdet-Nasr |
| Early Dynastic period |
| Early despotisms |
| Old Babylonian/ Old Assyrian periods |
| Middle Babylonian/ Middle Assyrian periods |
| Neo-Assyrian period |
| Neo-Babylonian kingdom |
Cuneiform- the earliest of known systems letters. The form of the letter was largely determined by the writing material - a clay tablet, on which, while the clay was still soft, signs were squeezed out with a wooden writing stick or a pointed reed; hence the “wedge-shaped” strokes.
Story
Mesopotamia
The oldest monument of Sumerian writing is the tablet from Kish (about 3500 BC). It is followed in time by documents found at the excavations of the ancient city of Uruk, dating back to 3300 BC. e. The appearance of writing coincides with the development of cities and the accompanying complete restructuring of society. At the same time, the wheel and the knowledge of copper smelting appear in Mesopotamia.
Since the 2nd millennium BC. e. Cuneiform writing spread throughout the Middle East, as evidenced by the Amarna Archive and the Boghazköy Archive.
Gradually, this recording system is being replaced by other language recording systems emerging by that time.
Decoding cuneiform
The tables in the corresponding articles provide sets of syllabograms used in the corresponding type of cuneiform. The row headings indicate the intended consonant phoneme (or allophone), and the column headings indicate the following or preceding vowels. In the cells corresponding to the intersection of a consonant and a vowel, the standard transliteration of a given syllable is indicated - and the value closest to the intended phonetic sound is selected. For example, the sign
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Synonyms:See what “Cuneiform” is in other dictionaries:
Cuneiform... Spelling dictionary-reference book
Cuneiform- Cuneiform. Development of cuneiform characters. Cuneiform, writing, the signs of which consist of groups of wedge-shaped dashes (the signs were extruded on damp clay). It originated in the 4th millennium BC in Sumer and was later adapted for... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
A writing system that originated in Mesopotamia and became widespread in the 3rd 1st millennium BC. throughout the Middle East. Cuneiform looks like elongated triangular icons, pressed on clay tablets with split reeds.... ... Financial Dictionary
Cuneiform, writing, the signs of which consist of groups of wedge-shaped dashes (the signs were extruded on damp clay). Originated in the 4th millennium BC in Sumer and was later adapted for Akkadian, Elamite, Hurrian, Hetto... ... Modern encyclopedia
Writing, the signs of which consist of groups of wedge-shaped dashes (the signs were extruded on damp clay). Appeared approx. 3000 BC e. in Sumer and was later adapted for Akkadian, Elamite, Hittite, Urartian and other languages. By… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Writings, writing Dictionary of Russian synonyms. cuneiform noun, number of synonyms: 2 letters (3) ... Synonym dictionary
Cuneiform- (cuneiform), writing (more precisely, a group of writings) created in Bl. East. Split reed sticks and damp clay tablets were used for writing. The signs extruded with a stick (stylosome) were groups of wedge-shaped... ... The World History
Cuneiform, cuneiform, female. (philol.). 1. units only An alphabet whose letters are combinations of wedge-shaped strokes carved on stone or extruded on clay tablets (used by the ancient Persians, Assyrians, etc.... ... Dictionary Ushakova
Cuneiform, and, female. (specialist.). Scripts of lines connected in the form of wedges, used by the Assyrian Babylonians, ancient Persians and certain other ancient peoples. | adj. cuneiform, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu.... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
The invention of writing by the Sumerians was of world-historical significance. The Sumerians began writing at the end of 4 thousand BC, that is, much earlier than the Egyptians. In the Red Temple of Uruk, dated to around 3300 BC, a tablet was discovered with text using about 700 characters. This tablet is, apparently, the world's first monument of written culture.
Before the advent of writing, there were cylinder seals on which miniature images were carved, and then the seal was rolled over clay. These round seals represented one of the greatest achievements of Mesopotamian art.
Writing arose as a practical necessity for trading activities, business records and calculations. The earliest writings were made in the form of pictograms, or primitive drawings made with a reed stick on tablets of wet clay. Then the clay “tablets” were dried in the sun or fired in a kiln (if the designations were especially important and intended for long-term storage). The first such tablets are memorial notes, lists of goods, recipes (notes of an economic nature). Guess the meaning of most of the pictograms used around 3300 BC. e., not difficult. The radiant star denoted the sky or, in the future, a deity. The cup undoubtedly conveyed the word “food.” In some cases, combinations of symbols can be easily deciphered: the pictograms “big” and “man” standing together mean “king”.
The first step towards abstract symbols was made at the beginning of 2 thousand BC. e., when the pictographs began to “lie on their edges,” which could be due to the fact that Sumerian scribes began to turn the tablets over in order to be able to write from left to right, and not from top to bottom, as before. But whatever the real reasons for this “revolution,” the fact itself suggests that the symbols gradually began to lose their connection with the specific object depicted.
Written characters underwent even more dramatic changes when scribes changed from a sharpened reed stick for drawing on soft clay to a wedge-shaped style, leading to a change in writing that was called "cuneiform" from the Latin. “cuneus”, which means “wedge”. Ancient scribes made every effort to ensure that their drawings resembled the depicted object as closely as possible, and for this purpose they used all kinds of wedge-shaped impressions. Then all the wedges used to represent the sign were divided into several classes: vertical, horizontal and oblique.
This is how it arose cuneiform writing on clay tablets. It spread throughout Western Asia, and for more than two thousand years it was used by peoples who spoke various languages. Cuneiform was used especially productively in Babylonian and early Persian writing.
Around 1800 BC scribes simplified the writing of many cuneiform symbols, replacing them with even more conventional signs that bore only a vague resemblance to the previous pictograms.
*Slides: Using the example of selected Sumerian signs on the table on the right, you can trace the evolution of Sumerian writing over 1500 years - the transformation of early pictograms into a system of abstract symbols.
The instructions in the lower right corner read: “Pass through a sieve and then stir in the crushed tortoiseshells, naga-shi sprouts, salt and mustard. Then wash the damaged areas with good quality beer and hot water and rub the mixture in. Wait a little and rub with oil again, then apply a poultice of crushed pine bark.”
Epic of Gilgamesh
Thanks to the invention of writing, many aspects of the past were revealed to historians. Because samples of literature are preserved in written sources; a historian can judge the mentality of people of that time.
The greatest monument of ancient Sumerian literature is the Tale of Gilgamesh. It is preserved on cuneiform tablets, one of which comes from Nippur. Gilgamesh is said to have been a king and successful general from Uruk around 2700 BC.
The cycle of epic songs about Gilgamesh is associated mainly with the idea of human immortality, and throughout the poem Gilgamesh desperately tries to defeat death. Gilgamesh is endowed with strength and courage, which ensured his victory in the fight with the lion. Together with your companion Enkidu Gilgamesh travels to the cedar forest to fight the forest ruler Humbaba. But his main goal is the search for wisdom, happiness, immortality. The Akkadian epic also contains a description of Gilgamesh's journey beyond life to achieve immortality. He was looking for Utnapishtim, who survived the flood. Floods often occurred in Sumer, when both rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates - overflowed widely. Perhaps a catastrophic flood, when both rivers closed with each other, is called a flood in popular memory. In Dilmun, the Sumerian paradise, Utnapishtim helped Gilgamesh find the “plant (pearl?) of eternal youth” that gives immortality, but on his way back home he lost this precious root and accepts the inevitability of his fate.
Sumerian religion
By about 2250 B.C. in Sumer a whole pantheon of gods had already developed, personifying various elements and elemental forces. This pantheon was the basis of the Sumerian religion. This is how theology was born.
According to Sumerian beliefs, the earth was ruled by gods, and people were created to serve them. This motif of the Sumerian epic was reflected much later in the Bible, in the Old Testament. Initially, each city had its own god. This was probably due to political changes in relations between cities, but in the end the gods organized themselves into a kind of hierarchy.
Each of the gods was assigned its own role and its own area of activity: there was the god of air, the god of water, and the god of agriculture. The goddess Inanna (among the Akkadians Ishtar) was the goddess of carnal love and fertility, but at the same time the goddess of war, the personification of the planet Venus. At the head of the hierarchy were 3 highest male gods:
· Anu – father of the gods, god of the sky;
· Enlil (among the Akkadians Ellil, White) – the god of air;
· Enki (among the Akkadians Eil, Ea) – the god of wisdom and fresh water, he was the teacher who gives life (water = life), and maintained the order created by Enlil.
Since the harvest, especially grain, was constantly threatened by drought, flood, or locust, and these troubles occurred, according to beliefs, by the will of the gods, the Sumerians sought to appease them. This purpose was served by the most complex ritual of worship in their temples - the earthly dwellings of the gods. Done ritual worship of the king and the main gods of the Sumerian pantheon. Each of the deities had its own temple, which became the center of the city-state. In Sumer they were founded and established main features of the temple architecture of Mesopotamia.
Fall of Sumer
Amorite Invasion. Marie. After 2000 BC e. in the battle with the Elamites who came from Persia, the powerful state of the Sumerians fell. This was followed by an invasion of Semitic tribes - the Amorites - from northern Syria. The Amorites settled in Mesopotamia and built rich, thriving city-states.
Of all the cities, the large Amorite city especially stood out. city of Mari, built in the middle reaches of the Euphrates. As a result of excavations, a city with a strict, close to modern layout- long avenues, palaces in squares, perpendicularly intersecting streets, beautiful sculptures, rich cemeteries, walls decorated with frescoes.
Grand Palace of Marie
The Great Palace of Zimri-Lima, who ruled Mari from 1780 to 1760. BC, was built before 2100 BC. and after several centuries it was reconstructed. It consisted of more than 260 rooms and courtyards on the ground floor, the rest were above.
The centerpiece of the palace was a double throne room, dating back to the time of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad, who died in 1780 BC, however, the main components of the palace were laid out under Zimri-Lim.
Along with public spaces and private living rooms, the palace contained numerous craft workshops, where linen, woolen clothing, blankets and draperies were spun and made, things were made from leather, cabinetmakers inlaid wood with alabaster and mother-of-pearl. A significant number of workers in these workshops were slaves.
In addition, the palace had a royal treasury and other storage facilities.
The most important discovery at Marie was the archive, which contained more than 20,000 tablets. The texts written on them are related to various aspects of city life. Among them are numerous documents on official business, diplomatic and private correspondence, for example, about the health of members of the royal family.
Hammurabi
At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. a new unification of Mesopotamia emerged with its center in the city Babylon. Babylon is located on the banks of the Euphrates, 90 km south of modern Baghdad. The name of the city translates as “gate of the gods.”
After the fall of the state of Ur in 2000. BC. Babylon is ruled by the Amorite (Western Semites) dynasty. Under Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), Babylon became the political and religious capital of southern Mesopotamia.
Originally a vassal of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I, through superior diplomatic maneuvers and successful military campaigns with rival city-states (Uruk, Issin, Larsa, Eshnuna and Mari), Hammurabi established Babylon as the dominant power of the Mesopotamian plain and the regions further north (Mari and Ashur). Due to the fact that during the era of Hammurabi the characteristic features of Babylonian culture took shape, in the history of Babylon it was called classical. In addition, many temples and canals were built under Hammurabi. His influence towards the end of his life (he died in 1750 BC) increases so much that Babylon receives the status of the natural capital of southern Mesopotamia.
Laws of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was the greatest lawgiver in human history. Like the prophet Moses, he gave his people and at the same time humanity a code of laws. It was carved on a stone stele that was found in Susa (now kept in the Louvre).
*Slide: On top of the monolith, where the laws of Hammurabi are engraved, there is an image of the king himself. The king stands in a respectful pose, listening to what the god of justice, Shamash, tells him. Shamash sits on his throne and holds right hand attributes of power, and flames shine around his shoulders. Shamash commands Hammurabi to do his will in exactly the same way as Yahweh commands Moses in the Bible.
The Code of Hammurabi amazes with the level of legal thought that existed 15 centuries before the advent of Roman law. The 282 sections of Hammurabi's famous code of laws contain laws on various topics: slavery, property, trade, family, wages, divorce, medical care and much more.
Many laws were borrowed from the Sumerians, but the application and interpretation of legal rules were more detailed and more legally developed.
Even such special cases were stipulated: “If a man, during an attack or invasion, was captured or taken to distant countries and stayed there for a long time, and in the meantime another man took his wife and she bore him a son, then if the husband returns, he gets his wife back.” Or the law on providing for wives:
“If a husband turns his face away from his first wife... and she does not leave the house, then the woman he took as his mistress will be his second wife. He must continue to support his first wife as well.”
According to the Code of Hammurabi, many crimes - theft, adultery, false accusation, perjury - were punishable by death. Strict punishments were provided, for example, in the following cases: if a patient lost one eye due to the carelessness or inability of the doctor, the doctor’s hand was cut off; if the house collapsed; then its builder was sentenced to death or a large fine.
Hammurabi carried out religious reform. The Sumerian gods continued to be revered, but by order of the king he became the main Babylonian god Marduk.( Marduk, in Sumerian-Akkadian mythology, the central deity of the Babylonian pantheon, the main god of the city of Babylon, the son of Ey (Enki) and Domkina (Damgalnun). Written sources report on the wisdom of Marduk, his healing arts and spell power; God is called "judge of the gods", "lord of the gods" and even "father of the gods"). He was the god of the entire empire of Hammurabi.
Rise of Assyria.
After Hammurabi's death, his empire fell apart. Babylon itself became a victim of the predatory raid of the Hittites, then of the Kassites who came from Persia. They ruled over Babylon until its conquest by the Assyrians, a Semitic people who lived from ancient times in the upper reaches of the Tigris.
The rise of Assyria began, whose trade in the north of the country had been restrained and controlled by the Hittites for a long time. But in 1200 BC. e. The Hittite kingdom collapsed. Assyria entered the Mediterranean and captured lands right up to the territory of modern Turkey. The success of Assyria's conquests was facilitated by use of iron weapons, in which the Assyrians were far superior to all neighboring peoples, and high level of military art, ensured by the special maneuverability of troops. The Assyrian invasions were cruel and bloody. The Old Testament says that they used special machines for the siege of fortress walls and “assault goats”.
The Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BC) built a new majestic capital - Dur-Sharrukin (now Khorsabad), which means Sargon's Fortress. The palace stood on a high artificially raised hill. In 713 BC. e. Sargon II, during the construction of his capital, Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq), surrounded the city with a solid brick wall, leaving seven passages (gates) in it. On the sides at the entrance to the palace there were huge statues of winged bulls with human heads. These are the shedu - the guards guarding the palace gates; they seem to be keeping a watchful eye on those passing by. Everyone who approached the palace could already see the head, chest and two legs from afar. As soon as you walked further and looked at the shad from the side, it began to seem that the bull had stepped forward, moving its front leg. The Assyrian sculptor achieved this by making the bull... five legs! Therefore, two legs are visible from the front, and four from the side. And if not for the fifth leg, then in profile the bull would appear to be tripodal.
But perhaps the most interesting and truly artistic works of art were the Assyrian reliefs that adorned the walls of the palaces. Assyria was a powerful military power; there was no end to campaigns and conquests, which is why the palace reliefs depict mainly military scenes glorifying the king-commander. All scenes are conveyed so vividly, with such skill that one does not immediately notice either the conventional image of the human figure (always in profile), or the identical facial features of almost all people, or the overly emphasized muscles of the arms and legs (by this the artist wanted to show the power Assyrian army). Many reliefs depict royal hunts, mainly lions. Animals are depicted surprisingly accurately and truthfully.
Sargon's son Sennacherib (705-680 BC) moved the capital of the state to Nineveh. Here archaeologists discovered numerous sculptures, including winged bulls, and found frescoes and stone reliefs depicting the battles of Sennacherib with his enemies. Sennacherib sacked, burned and destroyed Babylon in 689 BC. This event is reported on a stele covered in cuneiform writing.
Son of Sennacherib - Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) - in 671 he captured Egypt and restored Babylon to its former greatness. Numerous new monuments of Assyrian culture appeared, but the previous ones, Sumerian and Babylonian, were irretrievably lost.
In 701 BC. Assyrian troops besieged Jerusalem, and the Jewish king Hiskiel was forced to pay tribute. This is reported in the Old Testament. Inscriptions on the palace of Sennacherib glorify the Assyrian king as a victor who supposedly locked the king of the Jews “like a bird in a cage.” However, in reality, Sennacherib failed to conquer and plunder rich Jerusalem: the plague epidemic that broke out there prevented him from doing so.
Simultaneously with their campaigns of conquest, the Assyrians paid a lot of attention construction and art. The reliefs in the palaces depicting hunting and battle scenes are extremely expressive. The Assyrians were also excellent civil engineers. Built by them plumbing, palaces, equipment for besieging cities, interior decoration of palaces, many sculptures- all this amazed the imagination.
To decorate the interiors of the palace of Ashurbanippal in Nineveh (7th century BC), gold and ivory from Egypt, silver from Syria, azure and semi-precious stones from Persia, and cedar wood from Lebanon were specially delivered.
*Slide: At the bottom of the fragment, on a triumphal chariot under an umbrella, stands the powerful king Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC). Traditionally, the figure of the king is larger than all other characters. The king holds an unopened bud in his hand as part of an Assyrian court ceremony.
After the death of Ashurbanipal, his great empire lasted only fifteen years. The reasons for her crash was
Inability to protect the vast state borders,
Uprisings of enslaved peoples, as well as
The moral decay of a huge army engaged in robbery. In the Old Testament, the prophet Nahum foreshadows the destruction of Nineveh: “Woe to the city of blood! It is all full of deception and murder; robbery does not cease in him” (Old Testament. Book of the Prophet Nahum, 8:1.). The prophecy came true. IN 612 BC e. the capital of Assyria, Nineveh, fell under the onslaught of the Babylonians and Indians. The Assyrian Empire was divided between the two victors. A new era of the rise of Babylon and the spread of its culture began.
Neo-Babylonian kingdom .
A new flowering of Babylon has occurred during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II(605-562 BC). A thousand years after Hammurabi, he made an attempt to equal him in greatness. And he partially succeeded. The ruins of Babylon still amaze with their grandiose size.
The Greek historian Herodotus described Babylon in his “History” as a city that surpassed all cities in the world in wealth and luxury. What struck his imagination the most was city wall of Babylon. According to Herodotus, its width was such that two chariots drawn by four horses could easily pass each other! For more than two thousand years, these words of Herodotus were considered an exaggeration and were confirmed only in 1899 during the excavations of Babylon undertaken by the German archaeologist R. Koldewey. He dug up double fortress walls 7 m wide and 18 km long, surrounding the city center. The space between the walls was filled with earth. Four horses could ride here! Watchtowers were attached to the walls every 50 m.
Ishtar Gate
Of the eight gates dedicated to the main gods revered in Babylon, the most magnificent were double gates of the goddess of love Ishtar. The "processional road" passed through them - an important thoroughfare that connects the temple of Marduk and the temple of the New Year's festival in the outer part of the city.
*Slide: At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. German archaeologists dug up a large number of fragments of the city wall, using which they were able to completely restore the historical appearance of the Ishtar Gate, which was reconstructed (life-size) and is now exhibited in State museums Berlin. The gate was double, connecting both defensive walls of the inner city and reaching a height of 23 m. The entire structure is covered with glazed bricks with relief images of the sacred animals of the god Marduk - the bull and the fantastic creature sirrush (Babylonian dragon). This last character (also called the Babylonian dragon) combines the characteristics of four representatives of the fauna: an eagle, a snake, an unidentified quadruped and a scorpion. Thanks to the delicate and sophisticated color scheme (yellow figures on a blue background), the monument looked light and festive. Strictly maintained intervals between animals tuned the viewer to the rhythm of the solemn procession.
They were rebuilt three times under Nebuchadnezzar II, and only during the last rebuilding were they decorated with images of these animals. During this period, the bricks were covered with glaze. The animals were colored yellow and white, while the background was bright blue. In addition, the gates were guarded by powerful colossi in the form of bulls and dragons.
From the gates of Ishtar began Sacred road reserved for festive processions. It was believed that the god Marduk himself walked along this path. The procession road was paved with large slabs. Reaching a width of 16 m, the Processional Road for 200 meters was surrounded by walls of glazed brick, from which 120 lions depicted on a blue background looked down at the procession participants.
The road led to the sanctuary of Marduk - Esagile, majestic temple complex, in the center of which rose a colossal 90-meter ziggurat of Etemenanki(the cornerstone of earth and heaven), famous Tower of Babel, consisting of seven terraces painted in different colors. At the top stood the temple of Marduk, lined with blue bricks.
Etemenanki was shrine and pride of the state And embodied the daring thoughts of people striving to get closer to heaven. It is with him that the biblical legend of the Babylonian pandemonium. It tells how God, having seen the city and the tower that the sons of men were building, realized that people speaking the same language and doing something together would not have any obstacles. Angry, he descended to earth and confused languages, so that people ceased to understand each other and were scattered throughout the entire earth. Even the ruins of Etemenanka, destroyed in the 4th century. BC e. troops of the Persian king Xerxes, shocked Alexander the Great with their greatness.
The glory of Babylon was composed and colorful palace of Nebuchadnezzar II with the famous "Hanging Gardens". Even in ancient times, the gardens were called the miracle of the world. They were artificial terraces made of mud bricks of various sizes and resting on stone ledges. They placed earth with different exotic trees. The Hanging Gardens were a feature of the palace of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC). It is a pity that they have not survived to this day. spread out on vaulted terraces connected to a system of wells and drains.
The Babylonians were a trading people: they sailed not only along their rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates - but also crossed the Persian Gulf, delivered lapis lazuli, fabrics, food from India, and traded with Asia Minor, Persia, and Syria. Thousands of tablets with promissory notes and various invoices and contractual documents (for example, for the charter of ships) have been preserved.
One of the greatest achievements of Babylonian and Assyrian culture was creation of libraries and archives.
Even in the ancient cities of Sumer - Ur and Nippur, for many centuries, scribes (the first educated people and the first officials) collected literary, religious, scientific texts and created repositories, private libraries. One of the largest libraries of that period - library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal(669 - ca. 633 BC), containing about 25 thousand clay tablets recording the most important historical events, laws, literary and scientific texts. It was really a library: the books were placed in a certain order, the pages were numbered. There were even unique index cards that outlined the contents of the book, indicating the series and number of tablets of each series of texts.
Babylonian scientists and priests knew astronomy, made maps of the starry sky, observed the movement of the planets, and were able to predict solar and lunar eclipses.
In 539 BC. e. Babylon fell under the onslaught of the Persians. The biblical prophet Daniel talks about how King Belshazzar (son of Nebuchadnezzar II) feasted in a palace drowning in wealth and luxury, and at that time the archers of King Cyrus managed to divert the waters of the Euphrates, walk along the shallow bed into the city and break into the palace. As the prophet narrates, in the large royal palace, the words inscribed by a mysterious hand suddenly appeared on the inner wall: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Uparsin.” Soon it was all over. The palace was captured by Cyrus's troops. His governors were appointed to govern Mesopotamia. Although the Persians did not destroy Babylon, but turned it into their capital, part of the city's population was killed and the rest were dispersed. Persian rule lasted almost 200 years.
In 321 BC. e. Alexander the Great defeated the Persian troops. He set the goal of giving Babylon a new brilliant life, but due to his sudden death, this plan remained unfulfilled. The city fell into decay and the inhabitants left it.
The surviving ruins of the majestic Babylon still remind us of that civilization in the center of Mesopotamia, which over the course of three millennia created cultural values that formed the basis of many subsequent civilizations. It was there that a school appeared for the first time in history, the first calendar in human history was compiled, and the first written language was created. Many sciences arose - astronomy, algebra, medicine. A majestic epic appeared. The first legend of the resurrection from the dead was born. The first love song was composed, the first fables were written. The first system of legality was developed in Mesopotamia. In a word, the spiritual life of humanity began here.
Instructions
During excavations of the city of Uruk, clay tablets were found around 3300 BC. This allowed scientists to conclude that writing contributed to the rapid development of cities and complete societies. There was the kingdom of Elam, and between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was the Sumerian kingdom. These two states conducted trade, and therefore there was an urgent need for writing. Elam used pictographs, which the Sumerians adapted.
In Elam and Sumer, tokens were used - clay chips of various shapes that denoted single objects (one goat or one ram). Somewhat later, symbols began to be applied to tokens: serifs, imprints, triangles, circles and other shapes. Tokens were placed in containers with . To find out about the contents, it was necessary to break the container, count the number of chips and determine their shape. Subsequently, the container itself began to indicate what tokens it contained. Soon these chips lost their purpose. The Sumerians were content with only their imprint on the container, which turned from a ball into a flat tablet. Using corners and circles on such plates, the type and quantity of items or objects were indicated. By definition, all signs were pictograms.
Over time, the combinations of pictograms became stable. Their meaning was made up of a combination of images. If the sign was drawn with an egg, then it was about fertility and procreation as an abstract concept. Pictograms became ideograms (symbolic representations of an idea).
After 2-3 centuries, the style of Sumerian writing changed dramatically. To make it easier to read, the symbols were divided into wedges - small segments. In addition, all symbols used began to be depicted inverted 90 degrees counterclockwise.
The styles of many words and concepts are standardized over time. Now you can put not only administrative letters on the tablets, but also literary treatises. In II BC, Sumerian cuneiform was already used in the Middle East.
The first attempt to decipher Sumerian writing was made by Grotefend in the mid-19th century. His work was later continued by Rawlinson. The subject of his study was the Behistun manuscript. The scientist found that the tablets that came into his hands were written in three languages and represented the Elamite and Akkadian scripts - direct descendants of the Sumerian script. By the end of the 19th century, later forms of cuneiform were finally deciphered thanks to dictionaries and archives found in Nineveh and Babylon. Today, scientists are trying to understand the principle of proto-Sumerian writing - the prototypes of the cuneiform writing of the Sumerians.
According to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the creator of writing and the calendar was the god of the moon and wisdom, Thoth, or Djehuti. In Egyptian myths, he acts as an assistant to the sun god Ra. Thoth was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, holding papyrus and a writing instrument. The cult of this deity was already known during the Old Kingdom; the Greeks identified him with Hermes, since the attributes of these gods were very similar.
According to scientists, ancient Egyptian writing developed in the Nile Valley at the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. In the ancient Egyptian language, writing was called “medet necher”, that is, “divine speech”. In Greek it sounds like “hieroglyphs”, “sacred signs”. The Egyptian language, together with the Ceptian language derived from it, form a separate branch of the Afroasiatic language family.
Hieroglyphic inscription from the temple in Luxor (Egypt)
It was not immediately possible to unravel the ancient inscriptions that archaeologists found during excavations. Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered in 1822 by the French Egyptologist J. F. Champollion.
Scientists have been able to establish that writing existed among the ancient Egyptians already during the period of the Old Kingdom, in the XXXII–XXVIII centuries BC. e. The system of iconic symbols was quite complex and extensive: it included about 700 signs, the writing of which allowed various options. All symbols of the ancient Egyptian language can be divided into two large groups: phonograms, which denoted the sounds of the language, and ideograms, which denoted entire concepts.
Phonograms conveyed one or more consonant sounds (maximum four). There were no symbols denoting vowel sounds in ancient Egyptian writing, as in many other related languages. Phonograms, like ideograms, were images of specific objects. Several phonograms could be used to write one word.
The ideogram conveyed the entire concept. Ideograms were usually placed after the phonogrammatic spelling of a word in order to more accurately indicate the category of objects or phenomena in question. For example, after a phonogram indicating a profession, a hieroglyph depicting a person was placed; the image of the legs indicated movement. Some ideograms were used without prior phonogrammatic designation. Then a vertical line was placed next to the symbol. An example of such an ideogram is the symbol that the ancient Egyptians used to designate the sun.
There are three known types of ancient Egyptian writing, each of which was used to record texts of different categories: hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic writing.
Hieroglyphic writing consisted of sign-drawings and was usually used for inscriptions on monumental structures made of stone or metal products. It became the basis for the development of hieratic writing, which was formed approximately in the 28th century BC. e. The symbols have become simpler and more schematic. Inscriptions in hieratic symbols have been found both on stone and ceramic products, and on papyrus scrolls. There is a distinction between book hieratic, which is characterized by detailed drawing of symbols, and italic hieratic, which was used for documents.
Gradually, hieroglyphic and hieratic symbols, due to their complexity, are replaced by simplified demotic writing. The displacement of more sophisticated signs from everyday use dates back to approximately the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e.
Letter samples: top down - hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic
However, hieroglyphic and hieratic writing continued to exist along with demotic. They were used on special occasions. The latest hieroglyphic and hieratic records date back to the 3rd–4th centuries AD. e. Demotic writing is characterized by special italics and the continuous writing of many characters, which significantly complicates the decoding of texts. The last demotic inscription dates back to the middle of the 5th century AD. e.
Palette of King Narmer. Around 3100 BC e.
The most ancient Egyptian inscriptions known to science date back to the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. They are drawings that resemble puzzles. Most ancient hieroglyphs do not convey sounds, but symbolize some concepts. The most famous of these monuments is the so-called pallet (slab) of King Narmer. This mortuary slate slab, 62 centimeters high, is kept in the Cairo Museum. It was made more than 5000 years ago - at the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. The superb Narmer Slab marks the transition from the Predynastic period to the Old Kingdom. Narmer's palette is a relief. The figures depicted on it are given in a certain totality - this is how they are perceived.
One can only guess that the images tell about the victories of this king in the wars that he waged, trying to unite Egypt. Thus, the image of a falcon probably symbolizes the king himself; the six lotus stalks on which he sits and the human head held by the bird may mean the capture of 6 thousand prisoners by the ruler's troops. But even in this ancient inscription there are already phonogram signs with which the names of the kings are written.
Numerous inscriptions on the walls of the royal tombs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, which date back to the Old Kingdom, are called the Pyramid Texts. The Pyramid Texts include various magical and ritual formulas that were intended to ensure the well-being of the dead in the afterlife.
In 1799, a French expedition near the year of Rosetta discovered a stone slab with inscriptions, which provided the key to deciphering Egyptian writing. The Rosetta Stone contains a decree from 196 BC. BC, dating back to the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes and written in hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek. Thanks to the inscription in Greek, scientists were able to decipher the ancient Egyptian writing.
In addition to stone and clay, papyrus, a plant common on the banks of water bodies, was used as a material for writing in Egypt. The core was extracted from the cut papyrus stems, dissected into thin long strips, laid out in two layers lengthwise and crosswise, moistened with Nile water, leveled and compacted with blows of a wooden hammer. Thin and durable strips of light yellow or dark yellow color, dried in the sun, were glued together and quite long panels were obtained. Sheets of papyrus were not sewn into books, but rolled into scrolls and stored in special cases.
The Egyptians began using papyrus for writing during the Old Kingdom. Thanks to the amazing properties of this writing material, some papyrus scrolls have survived to this day. The writings were usually written on strips of papyrus, but there are also documents on which the writings in Demotic script run the length of the scroll. The period of the Middle Kingdom includes papyri with the recording of “The Tale of Sinuha”, “Adventures on Snake Island”, etc. There are also many papyri from the era of the New Kingdom: notes of scribes, legal and other documents, letters, artistic and religious works, including texts "Books of the Dead".
Most of the literary works of the Old Kingdom have not survived or have come down to us in fragments. From some works only their titles remain, for example, “The Teachings of Ptahhotep.”
It should be noted that the works of art found by researchers from the period of the Old Kingdom were, as a rule, anonymous. The only exceptions are works written in the genre of teaching, which is very common in Egypt and other countries of the East.
During the Middle Kingdom, in addition to teachings, other genres of literature were widely distributed - fairy tales, stories about wanderings, and prophecies. In the literature of the Middle Kingdom, the motives of pessimism and wariness associated with a series of political unrest at the end of the Old Kingdom are clearly expressed. Among the works belonging to the period of the Middle Kingdom, one can name “The Tale of the Eloquent Villager”, “The Tale of Sinuhe”, “The Instruction of the King of Heracleopolis to his heir Merikara”, “The Instruction of King Amenemhet”, “The Prophecy of Neferti” and “The Sayings of Ipuver”, and also scientific treatises on mathematics (“Rind Papyrus”, “Moscow Mathematical Papyrus”) and medicine (“Ebers Papyrus”, “Smith Papyrus”, etc.).
One of the most significant literary works of the New Kingdom era is the “Hymn to Aten,” dedicated to the sun god, whose cult flourished during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Among the literary monuments of the New Kingdom, one should also mention the “Poem of Pentaur” carved on the walls of temples in Karnak, Luxor and some others, dedicated to the victory of Pharaoh Ramses II over the Hittite troops in the battle of Kadesh.
The literature of Egypt also reflected the gradual weakening of the once powerful state. A striking example is the story “The Journey of Unamon to Byblos,” dating back to the 10th century BC. e. It tells how the hero of the story goes to Lebanon for cedar logs on behalf of the ruler of Thebes. The ruler of Byblos, although he agrees to hand them over to the envoy, notes that the power of Egypt does not extend to Lebanon, therefore representatives of the Egyptian rulers have no right to demand anything for free.
Another literary monument of the ancient Egyptians is the “Book of the Dead,” which combines religious texts that were placed in tombs with mummies to ensure a happy life for the deceased in the other world. These texts were written on papyrus, decorated with colored drawings. The beginning of the compilation of the “Book of the Dead” dates back to approximately XVI century BC e.; it continued until the conquest of Egypt by the Romans in the 1st century BC. e. However, the title “Book of the Dead” is often understood to mean earlier texts of similar content and purpose, compiled during the periods of the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms: “Texts of the Pyramids” (XXVI–XXIII centuries BC) and “Texts of Sarcophagi” (XXI–XVIII century BC). Most Egyptian myths have survived to this day in the texts of the Book of the Dead.
Sumerian cuneiform
Sumerian writing, which is known to scientists from surviving cuneiform texts of the 29th–1st centuries BC. e., despite active study, still largely remains a mystery. The fact is that the Sumerian language is not similar to any of the known languages, therefore it was not possible to establish its relationship with any language group.
Initially, the Sumerians kept records using hieroglyphs - drawings that denoted specific phenomena and concepts. Subsequently, the sign system of the Sumerian alphabet was improved, which led to the formation of cuneiform in the 3rd millennium BC. e. This is due to the fact that records were kept on clay tablets: for ease of writing, hieroglyphic symbols were gradually transformed into a system of wedge-shaped strokes applied in different directions and in various combinations. One cuneiform symbol represented a word or syllable. The writing system developed by the Sumerians was adopted by the Akkadians, Elamites, Hittites and some other peoples. That is why Sumerian writing survived much longer than the Sumerian civilization itself existed.
According to research, a unified writing system in the states of Lower Mesopotamia was used already in the 4th–3rd millennia BC. e. Archaeologists have managed to find many cuneiform texts. These are myths, legends, ritual songs and hymns of praise, fables, sayings, debates, dialogues and edifications. Initially, the Sumerians created writing for economic needs, but soon fiction began to appear. The earliest cult and artistic texts date back to the 26th century BC. e. Thanks to the works of Sumerian authors, the genre of tale-argument developed and spread, which became popular in the literature of many peoples of the Ancient East.
It is believed that Sumerian writing spread from one place, which at that time was an authoritative cultural center. Many data obtained in the course of scientific work suggest that this center could be the city of Nippur, in which there was a school for scribes.
Archaeological excavations of the ruins of Nippur first began in 1889. Many valuable finds were made during excavations that took place shortly after the Second World War. As a result, the ruins of three temples and a large cuneiform library with texts on a variety of issues were discovered. Among them was the so-called “school canon of Nippur” - a work intended for study by scribes. It included tales about the exploits of the great heroes-demigods Enmesharra, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, as well as other literary works.
Sumerian cuneiform: above - stone tablet from the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal; at the bottom - fragment of a diorite stele on which the code of laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi is written
Extensive cuneiform libraries were found by archaeologists in the ruins of many other cities of Mesopotamia - Akkad, Lagash, Nineveh, etc.
One of the important monuments of Sumerian writing is the “Royal List”, found during the excavations of Nippur. Thanks to this document, the names of the Sumerian rulers have reached us, the first of whom were the heroic demigods Enmesharr, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, and legends about their deeds.
Legends tell of a dispute between Enmesharr and the ruler of the city of Aratta, located far in the East. Legend connects the invention of writing with this dispute. The fact is that the kings took turns asking each other riddles. No one was able to remember one of Enmesharr's ingenious riddles, which is why the need arose for a method of transmitting information other than oral speech.
The key to deciphering cuneiform texts was found completely independently of each other by two amateur researchers G. Grotenfend and D. Smith. In 1802, Grotenfend, analyzing copies of cuneiform texts found in the ruins of Persepolis, noticed that all cuneiform signs have two main directions: from top to bottom and from left to right. He came to the conclusion that texts should not be read vertically, but horizontally, from left to right.
Since the texts he studied were funerary inscriptions, the researcher suggested that they could begin in much the same way as later inscriptions in Persian: “So-and-so, the great king, the king of kings, the king of such and such places, the son of the great king ... “As a result of analyzing the available texts, the scientist came to the conclusion that the inscriptions distinguish between those groups of signs that should, according to his theory, convey the names of the kings.
In addition, there were only two options for the first two groups of symbols that could mean names, and in some texts Grotenfend found both options.
Further, the researcher noticed that in some places the initial formula of the text does not fit into its hypothetical scheme, namely, in one place there is no word denoting the concept of “king”. The study of the arrangement of signs in the texts made it possible to make the assumption that the inscriptions belong to two kings, father and son, and the grandfather was not a king. Since Grotenfend knew that the inscriptions referred to Persian kings (according to the archaeological research during which these texts were discovered), he concluded that they were most likely talking about Darius and Xerxes. By correlating the Persian spelling of names with the cuneiform, Grotenfend was able to decipher the inscriptions.
No less interesting is the history of the study of the Epic of Gilgamesh. In 1872, an employee of the British Museum, D. Smith, was deciphering cuneiform tablets found during the excavations of Nineveh. Among the tales about the exploits of the hero Gilgamesh, who was two-thirds a deity and only one-third a mortal man, the scientist was especially interested in a fragment of the legend of the Great Flood:
I will reveal, Gilgamesh, the secret word,
And I will tell you the secret of the gods.
Shuruppak is a city that you know
What lies on the banks of the Euphrates;
This city is ancient, the gods are close to it.
Their hearts inclined the great gods to arrange a flood... -
This is what Utnapishtim says to the hero, who survived the flood and received immortality from the gods. However, later in the story there began to be gaps, a piece of text was clearly missing.
In 1873, D. Smith went to Kuyundzhik, where the ruins of Nineveh had previously been discovered. There he was lucky enough to find the missing cuneiform tablets.
After studying them, the researcher came to the conclusion that Utnapishtim is none other than the biblical Noah.
The story of the ark, or ship, which Utnapishtim ordered on the advice of the god Ea, the description of a terrible natural disaster that struck the earth and destroyed all life except those who boarded the ship, surprisingly coincides with the biblical story of the Great Flood. Even the dove and raven, which Utnapishtim releases after the end of the rain to find out whether the waters have subsided or not, are also in the biblical legend. According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Enlil made Utnapishtim and his wife like gods, that is, immortal. They live across the river that separates the human world from the other world:
Hitherto Utnapishtim was a man,
From now on, Utnapishtim and his wife are like us, gods;
Let Utnapishtim live at the mouths of rivers, in the distance!
Gilgamesh, or Bilga-mes, whose name is often translated as “ancestor-hero,” the hero of the Sumerian epic, was considered the son of the hero Lugalbanda, the high priest of Kulaba, ruler of the city of Uruk, and the goddess Ninsun.
According to the “Royal List” from Nippur, Gilgamesh ruled Uruk for 126 years in the 27th–26th centuries BC. e.
Gilgamesh with a lion. VIII century BC e.
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of the first dynasty, to which his father Lugalbanda and Dumuzi, the husband of the goddess of love and war Inanna, belonged. For the Sumerians, Gilgamesh is not just a king, but a demigod possessing superhuman qualities, therefore his deeds and the duration of his life significantly exceed the corresponding characteristics of the subsequent rulers of Uruk.
The name of Gilgamesh and the name of his son Ur-Nungal were found in the list of rulers who took part in the construction of the general Sumerian temple of Tummal in Nippur. The construction of a fortress wall around Uruk is also associated with the activities of this legendary ruler.
There are several ancient tales about the exploits of Gilgamesh. The tale “Gilgamesh and Agga” tells about real events of the late 27th century BC. e., when the warriors of Uruk defeated the troops of the city of Kish.
The tale “Gilgamesh and the Mountain of the Immortal” tells of a trip to the mountains where warriors led by Gilgamesh defeat the monster Humbaba. The texts of two tales – “Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven” and “The Death of Gilgamesh” – are poorly preserved.
Also, the legend “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Underworld” has reached us, which reflects the ideas of the ancient Sumerians about the structure of the world.
According to this legend, in the garden of the goddess Inanna there grew a magical tree, from the wood of which the goddess intended to make herself a throne. But the Anzud bird, a monster that caused thunderstorms, and the demon Lilith settled on the tree, and a snake settled under the roots. At the request of the goddess Inanna, Gilgamesh defeated them, and from wood he made a throne, a bed and magical musical instruments for the goddess, to the sounds of which the young men of Uruk danced. But the women of Uruk became indignant at the noise, and the musical instruments fell into the realm of the dead. The servant of the ruler of Uruk, Enkidu, went for musical instruments, but failed to return back. However, at the request of Gilgamesh, the gods allowed the king to talk with Enkidu, who told him about the laws of the kingdom of the dead.
Tales of the deeds of Gilgamesh became the basis of the Akkadian epic, cuneiform records of which were discovered during excavations of Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. There are also several different versions, records of which were found during excavations in Babylon and in the ruins of the Hittite kingdom.
The text that was discovered in Nineveh, according to legend, was written down from the words of the Uruk spellcaster Sinlique-uninni. The legend is recorded on 12 clay tablets. Separate fragments of this epic were found in Ashur, Uruk and Sultan Tepe.
The audacity and strength of the king of Uruk forced the inhabitants of the city to turn to the gods for protection from his tyranny. Then the gods created the strongman Enkidu from clay, who entered into single combat with Gilgamesh. However, the heroes became not enemies, but friends. They decided to take a hike into the mountains for cedars. The monster Humbaba lived in the mountains, which they defeated.
The story goes on to tell how the goddess Inanna offered her love to Gilgamesh, but he rejected her, reproaching her for being unfaithful to her former lovers. Then, at the request of the goddess, the gods send a gigantic bull that seeks to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat this monster, but Inanna's anger causes the death of Enkidu, who suddenly loses his strength and dies.
Gilgamesh grieves for his dead friend. He cannot come to terms with the fact that death awaits him, so he goes in search of a herb that gives immortality. Gilgamesh's journeys are similar to the journeys of many other legendary heroes to another world. Gilgamesh passes the desert, crosses the “waters of death” and meets the wise Utnapishtim, who survived the flood. He tells the hero where you can find the herb of immortality - it grows at the bottom of the sea. The hero manages to get it, but on the way home he stops at a spring and falls asleep, and at this time a snake swallows the grass - so the snakes change their skin, thereby renewing their lives. Gilgamesh has to give up his dream of physical immortality, but he believes that the glory of his deeds will live in the memory of people.
It is interesting to note that the ancient Sumerian storytellers were able to show how the character of the hero and his worldview were changing. If at first Gilgamesh demonstrates his strength, believing that no one can resist him, then as the plot develops, the hero realizes that human life is short and fleeting. He thinks about life and death, experiences grief and despair. Gilgamesh is not used to submitting even to the will of the gods, so the thought of the inevitability of his own end causes him to protest.
The hero does everything possible and impossible to break out of the tight confines of what fate has destined for him. The tests he has passed make him understand that this is possible for a person only thanks to his deeds, the glory of which lives in legends and traditions.
Another written monument made in cuneiform is the code of laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, dated approximately 1760 BC. e. A stone slab with the text of laws carved on it was found by archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century during excavations in the city of Susa. Many copies of the Code of Hammurabi were also found during excavations of other Mesopotamian cities, such as Nineveh. The Code of Hammurabi is distinguished by a high degree of legal elaboration of concepts and the severity of punishments for various crimes. The laws of Hammurabi had a huge influence on the development of law in general and on the codes of laws of different peoples in later eras.
However, the Code of Hammurabi was not the first collection of Sumerian laws. In 1947, archaeologist F. Style, during excavations of Nippur, discovered fragments of the legislative code of King Lipit-Ishtar, dated to the 20th century BC. e. Law codes existed at Ur, Isin and Eshnunna: they were probably taken as a basis by the developers of the Code of Hammurabi.
Written in Latin
Latin belongs to the Italian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. On the Apennine Peninsula, in the region of Latium, or Latium, located in the lower reaches of the Tiber River, there lived tribes who called themselves Latins. Accordingly, the language they spoke was called Latin, or Latin. In the 8th–7th centuries BC. e., when the unification of disparate Italian tribes took place around Rome, founded in 753 BC. e., these peoples began to call themselves Romans.
There are three periods in the history of the Latin language: archaic (before the 3rd century BC), classical (early - up to the 1st century AD and late - until the 3rd century AD) and postclassical (approximately until the 6th century AD). . e.).
Two dancers (fragment of a fresco) are a wonderful example of Etruscan art. Around 480–470 BC e.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the Etruscans had a significant influence on the emergence and development of Latin writing.
Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC), which preceded the Roman one and influenced it big influence, was very developed. In the 7th–6th centuries BC. e. The Etruscans already had a letter-sound writing system and lived next door to the Latins. Etruscan writing was developed on the basis of ancient Greek writing.
The most ancient of known to science monuments of Latin writing date back to approximately the 7th–5th centuries BC. e., however, there are quite a few such finds. One example of ancient Latin writing is the inscription on a gold fibula (a metal fastener for clothes in the form of a pin), found in 1871 in Praeneste and dating back to the turn of the 7th–6th centuries BC. e. On this product the names of the master who made it and the customer were preserved: “Manius made me for Numesius.” It should be noted that this inscription must be read from right to left. Another interesting feature of this inscription is that it used two letters that have no analogues in the Greek alphabet.
In 1899, during archaeological work on the territory of the Roman forum, a heavily damaged dark stone pillar was found, on the edges of which there was an inscription dating back to approximately the 6th century BC. e. Scientists called this find the “black stone.” There is no doubt that this inscription, written from top to bottom with the so-called vertical boustrophedon (a writing method in which the first line is written, for example, from right to left, the second from left to right, etc.), is also one of the oldest examples of Latin writing.
In 1978, an inscription dating back to the end of the 6th century BC was discovered on the ruins of the ancient city of Satric, located near Rome. e.
Much more written monuments have been preserved in Latin, dating back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. e. Among them, the most famous are the epitaphs of the Roman political figures Scipios and the text of the resolution of the Roman Senate on the temples of the god of wine Bacchus.
In the early stages of language development, the Latin alphabet included 21 letters, while the Etruscan alphabet had 26 letters. The Latin alphabet was developed on the basis of Greek and Etruscan in accordance with the peculiarities of the sound system of the Latin language. Thus, the Romans used the letters “theta”, “phi” and “chi” in the Greek alphabet only to designate numbers, but not sounds, which had no analogues in their language. Etruscans in different cases used three variants of the letter “s”, and the Romans limited themselves to one letter “sigma”. In addition, the late Etruscan alphabet lacks two letters found in Latin - “d” and “o”, which existed in the early version of the Etruscan alphabet.
In the 1st century BC. e. Roman culture, as a result of its conquests, came under the significant influence of Greek culture. In Latin, many words appeared borrowed from Greek language. This influenced the development of the written sign system. Two Greek letters were added to the alphabet - “zeta” and “upsilon”. Subsequently, the Latin alphabet did not undergo significant changes, only in the Middle Ages several variants of writing some letters appeared. In the 2nd century BC. e. The direction of Latin writing from left to right was finally formed, which has been preserved in all European languages.
When studying written monuments in Latin dating back to different times, it is easy to notice that the style of the same letters was significantly different. This is primarily due to the use of different materials for writing.
If inscriptions were made for centuries, such as texts praising the deeds of emperors or epitaphs, they were carved in stone or applied with a sharp chisel to bronze and lead plates.
The most common writing material in Rome was wooden tablets coated with wax. Letters on wax were scratched with a special pointed stick - style. If necessary, the inscription could be erased with the other end of the style and the tablet could be used for new entries. Sometimes the Romans wrote on papyrus, which was brought from Egypt. However, this material was very expensive, and reading notes on long scrolls was not very convenient. In addition, papyrus scrolls broke easily. Pieces were much more convenient to use in a special way tanned leather - parchment. Sheets of parchment could be written on both sides, and then these sheets were sewn into books.
From the 2nd century AD e. Another material, paper, is being used for notes. It turned out to be the most convenient, although not the most durable, material for writing. However, along with it, parchment was used for a long time, which fell out of use only in the 14th century.
Inscriptions in Latin, which researchers find during excavations of ancient settlements, help to reveal many secrets of Roman history. It is known that there were Greek colonies in the Northern Black Sea region, and later the Romans penetrated there, but researchers had little information about their stay in this territory. The discovery made in Chersonesos in 1957 allowed scientists to confidently state that, in addition to the sea route connecting the Roman fortresses, there was also a network of land roads.
An archaeological expedition led by O. Dombrovsky discovered a limestone altar with a dedicatory inscription in Latin. The altar was badly damaged, but thanks to the painstaking work of linguists, the inscription was readable. In addition, scientists compared the inscription on the found altar with similar monuments discovered during excavations of the Kharaks fortress near Yalta.
The Romans captured Chersonesus in the 1st century AD. e. and erected several fortified points on the territory of Crimea, one of which was the Kharaks fortress. Scientists have suggested that the fortress could be connected with Chersonesus by a land road. The inscription on the altar confirmed this hypothesis. The fact is that the Roman legions were accompanied by road builders and the beneficiaries who guarded them. On the altars from Charax, dedicatory inscriptions were carved in honor of the gods in the names of the beneficiaries, hence there was a group of road builders in Charax.
The content of the dedicatory inscription on the altar found in Chersonesus was as follows: “Titus Flavius Celsinus, beneficiary of the consular of the XI Claudius Legion, vowed to the Guardian Goddess Nemesis, for the salvation of himself and his children.” The name of the same person is also on the Harak altar. Scientists have come to the conclusion that Titus Flavius Celsinus was the head of a military road post in Chersonesus. The fact that there are altars with his name in two cities confirmed the scientists’ hypothesis about the existence of a land road between Chersonesos and Charax.
The works of many Roman writers, poets, playwrights, orators and political figures have entered the treasury of world literature. One of the famous Roman playwrights is Titus Maccius Plautus, who lived at the turn of the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. e. From his literary heritage, 20 comedies have survived, as well as individual excerpts. Researchers usually attribute the work of Plautus to the archaic period of the development of the Latin language, noting that the language of his works already largely corresponds to the norms of the so-called classical Latin, which was formed by the 1st century BC. e.
Recognized examples of works in classical Latin are the works of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Julius Caesar, as well as the poetry of Publius Maro Virgil, Quintus Horace Flaccus and Publius Ovid Naso.
The development of the classical Latin language occurred simultaneously with the active aggressive policy of Rome. This contributed to the widespread spread of the Latin language. By the end of the 2nd century BC. e. Latin was spoken throughout Italy, it became official language on the Iberian Peninsula and in the regions of Southern France. It should be noted that the Latin language had a huge influence on the languages of the Celtic and Germanic tribes that inhabited Gaul (the territory of France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands), Britain and other areas of Europe.
Inscription on the base of Emperor Trajan's column in Rome. 113 g.
In the 1st–2nd centuries AD. e. There is further development of the Latin language, but it does not affect grammatical norms, relating primarily to the improvement of style. This period includes the philosophical treatises of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the historical works of Publius Cornelius Tacitus, the satirical poetry of Decimus Junius Juvenal and Marcus Valerius Martial, as well as the prose of Lucius Apuleius.
The Latin language, primarily colloquial (the so-called Vulgar Latin), had a huge influence on the development of a whole group of languages called Romance. During the gradual change of Latin on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula, the modern Italian language was formed; on the island of Sardinia, the Sardinian language was formed, which of the existing Romance languages is closest to classical Latin. Also, under the significant influence of Latin, French, Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Moldavian and some other languages took shape.
Despite their common origin, modern Romance languages have significant differences due to the fact that the Latin language in each territory was modified under the influence of local languages and dialects. However, Romance languages still retain many character traits Latin. Thus, Latin elements are found in the names of some German and English cities: the name Cologne comes from the Latin word colonia, which means “settlement”, and the name of the city of Koblenz, located near the confluence of two rivers, the Moselle and the Rhine, is derived from the word confluentes - “flocking” . English names often contain Latin elements: Lancaster (castra in Latin means “military camp”), Lincoln (colonia - “settlement”), Fosbrook (fossa - “ditch”).
The influence of Latin on the Romance languages continued even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. There is no doubt that the English language was formed under the significant influence of Latin: firstly, the British tribes learned many Latin words directly from the Roman conquerors, and secondly, the languages of the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes that invaded Britain in the 5th–6th centuries were also enriched borrowings from Latin.
The Latin language was widely used in the Frankish kingdom, which emerged towards the end of the 5th century. However, even after the Frankish empire formed by Charlemagne in the middle of the 9th century broke up into Italy, France and Germany, the Latin language was used for a long time in diplomatic relations, as well as in the education system and in Catholic worship.
The role of the Latin language was also great in the Renaissance, when philosophers and writers sought to create their works following the classical models of antiquity, although from the 9th century Latin was already a dead language, that is, out of everyday use. Currently, Latin is used only in Catholic worship and as the language of international scientific terminology.
Ogham script
Ogham writing, used in ancient times by the Celtic tribes, according to scientists, arose in the 3rd–4th centuries AD. e. However, there is evidence that allows us to attribute the emergence of the Ogham alphabet to an earlier period (1st century AD). Analysis of the style of symbols denoting sounds allowed scientists to assume that Ogham was developed on the basis of the Latin alphabet. The Ogham alphabet was widespread throughout Britain and Ireland, and in Ireland it was used as secret writing even after it was replaced from everyday use by the Latin alphabet.
The signs of the Ogham alphabet were groups of dots or dashes located directly or at an angle to the straight line that served as the axis of the inscription. Dots denoted vowel sounds, but later a style in the form of short strokes was also developed for them. Ogham inscriptions were carved on stones or wooden boards. Many stones with Ogham inscriptions have been found in Scotland, Wales, and most of all in Ireland.
Ogham script
Information about Ogham, which made it possible to restore the meaning of each symbol, is contained in several sources. An analysis of the features of the Ogham alphabet, as well as a collection of legends associated with it, is contained in a 15th-century manuscript known as the Book of Ballymote.
According to Celtic legend, the Ogham alphabet was created by Ogma, nicknamed Meadmouth, a god from the Tuatha de Danaan clan, sons of the goddess Danu. Ogma was not only distinguished by great physical strength and dexterity. Contrary to popular belief that high intelligence is not characteristic of those who have developed muscles, this god was the patron of literature and oratory.
The Ogham alphabet is discussed in detail in a manuscript reconstructed in the Middle Ages called “The Book of the Ferillts.” According to legend, the priests of the ancient god Pharon were called ferilts in Atlantis. After the destruction of Atlantis, some of them were washed up on the shores of Wales. These events probably date back to the Stone Age. The surviving ferillts became the founders of Druidry.
It should be noted that the legends about the creation of the Ogham alphabet by the Celtic god Ogma or the priests of Atlantis do not contradict each other. The fact is that, according to legend, the gods of Tuatha de Danaan arrived from across the sea.
Ogham is sometimes called the tree alphabet. This name did not appear by chance: each sign of the Ogham system corresponds not only to a sound, but also to a specific plant and deity, reflecting certain character qualities. There are 25 characters in the Ogham alphabet, 13 of them are associated with any month of the year (there were 13 months in the Celtic calendar). There is a Druid calendar that helps to recognize a person’s character based on his date of birth.
Ogham symbols were also used in fortune telling, which is similar to the tarot system. All Ogham symbols can be divided into four groups depending on which element they belong to. In addition, several symbols are associated with the so-called threshold time (dawn, sunset, eclipse and the sixth night after the new moon).
There is another principle for grouping Ogham symbols - according to the ranks to which the plant belongs. In more ancient system The rank of a plant depended on the spiritual properties inherent in it, according to the beliefs of the Druids. However, from 400 BC. e. Another rank system was introduced, based on the Welsh poem "The Battle of the Trees". The author of this mysterious poetic work is considered to be an equally mysterious person - the bard Taliesin. The poem reflects a motif from the legend about the war between the forces of Light and Darkness for the possession of three animals: a dog, a deer and a lapwing. These creatures were the property of the Lords of Darkness. The great magician Gwydion and his son Lleu decided to capture the animals in order to give them to people. The trees that became warriors under the influence of magic fought on their side. Taliesin clearly hints at the connection between trees and the written signs that symbolize them:
I saw them hurrying forward
Trees and other greenery
Retreating from happiness.
It was quite possible
Insert as capital letters
Alphabet.
The ancient bard points out that words and thoughts (which can also be expressed through writing) are the most powerful weapons:
The most terrible battle
Under the root of the tongue
And the other one is raging behind him,
In my head.
Mystical runes
This type of writing gets its name from the Old Icelandic word “runa”, which means “secret”. Historians have many hypotheses regarding when and where runes first appeared. Some scientists believe that runic writing appeared among the Teutonic tribes of Northern Europe in the 5th century BC. e. Others say that the runes were developed by the Scandinavian Goths based on the Greek alphabet in the 2nd century AD. e. Still others believe that runes arose much later - in the 8th century AD. e.
According to legend, the runes were invented by the supreme god Odin, the patron of magic, poetry and war, who himself nailed himself to the World Tree in order to gain secret knowledge. This is how the Elder Edda, a collection of poetic legends of the peoples of Northern Europe, tells about it:
You will find the runes
and you will perceive the signs,
strongest signs,
the strongest signs,
Hroft painted them,
and the gods created
and Odin cut them out.
In the pattern of nine crossed lines, Odin saw 24 runic signs, which were named after the first six runes - futhark. This is supported by the very shape of the runic signs, which consist of straight lines connecting at an angle or intersecting. Thanks to this, runes are very convenient to carve on stone, wood or bone. Runes can also be applied to metal products. In addition, runes intended for magical actions were usually painted with blood to give them greater power.
In the Middle Ages, runic writing was used throughout almost the entire territory of Northern Europe: in Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland and Britain, as well as in Staraya Ladoga and Novgorod. According to available data, runes were used the longest in Iceland and Gotland, where inscriptions dating back to the 16th century were found.
Major and minor runes
Since the 8th century, the so-called “younger” runes began to spread, of which, in contrast to the “senior” ones, that is, futhark, there were 16. Some of these signs denoted not one sound, but several. Gradually, the runes were modified in different countries: at the end of the 10th century, truncated Swedish-Norwegian runes appeared in Denmark, Sweden and Norway; in the 12th–13th centuries, punctured runes with dots appeared. Anglo-Saxon runes are also known, in which there were 33 characters. In the 12th century, the style runic symbols often comes close to the Latin alphabet. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, runes were used along with Latin, used as numbers. There were also runes indicating the days of the week and lunar runes.
There were many ways to write runes. Sometimes the words in the texts were separated by dots, but more often the writing was continuous. There is no single rule for reading runic inscriptions: inscriptions are known that are read from left to right and from right to left, as well as according to the boustrophedon method, when the first, third and other odd lines are read from right to left, and even ones - from left to right.
In the works of the ancient Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in the 1st century AD. e., there is a mention of mysterious signs that were used by the priests of the Germanic tribes in fortune telling. Runes, like most ancient alphabets, were used not only for ordinary records, but also as a magical tool for understanding the world and interacting with surrounding objects and people. This is described in the texts of the Elder Edda:
I know the spells -
no one knows them
even the king's wife;
help is like that
first name -
helps in sorrows
in worries and sorrows.
In “The Speeches of the High One,” one of the songs of the Edda, Odin mentions the eighteen most powerful magical formulas, consisting of three runes, and the eighteenth is kept secret by the supreme god of the Scandinavian pantheon:
Eighteenth
neither maidens nor wives
I can't say -
One will keep the innermost secret...
This motif of the mystery associated with the runes is repeated more than once in Scandinavian sagas, poems and verses. Runes are secret knowledge, and if used incorrectly for magical purposes, misfortunes can occur. For example, in the Icelandic "Egil's Saga" there is a story about a woman who fell ill because a young man, wanting to win her love, placed an incorrectly carved love spell in her house.
The meaning of runes is multifaceted and voluminous. In everyday life, runes denoted the sounds they conveyed when writing, but in the mysterious dimension of magic and poetry, runes were associated with entire concepts, which was used in runic fortune-telling. The magical power of runes in the Elder Edda is spoken of not only in the Speeches of the High One, but also in the Speeches of Sigrdriva, where the Valkyrie teaches the hero to use runes to heal diseases, defeat enemies, win love, protect against poisons, etc.
Runic inscriptions provide valuable material for historians and philologists, as well as researchers studying ancient magical practices. Currently, science knows about 6 thousand runic inscriptions and texts. Most of them are made in Scandinavian languages, several dozen in Old English and Frisian.
The oldest known runic inscription is considered to be the inscription on the tip of a spear from Øvre-Staby (found in Norway), dated approximately 200 AD. e. Another famous runic monument is the Rutuel cross in Northern England, on which a fairly large text is carved in runes, conveying the content of the Old English poem “The Vision of the Cross”. This inscription was made in the 8th century.
Runic inscriptions in the Scandinavian countries were widely used on memorial steles, which were installed in memory of the deceased in the most prominent places, most often near roads and bridges. From these inscriptions, travelers could learn brief information about the deceased, the names of those who ordered and made the inscription, as well as information about the construction of roads and bridges, military campaigns and trade trips, genealogical connections, etc. Sometimes the inscription was framed in the form of a draping ribbon with a dragon's head.
The custom of erecting funeral steles appeared in Denmark in the 9th–10th centuries, from where it spread throughout Scandinavia. Researchers especially note the steles of kings Gorm and his son Harald, who lived in the 10th century. The text on the latter's stele states that the king united Denmark and Norway under his rule, and also introduced Christianity among his subjects.
Swedish steles with runic inscriptions mostly date back to the 11th century. The most famous of them are 13 steles erected in memory of the participants of the famous expedition to the East. A more ancient monument dating back to the 9th century is the Reksky Stone. The text carved on it contains not only a memorial inscription, but also poetic lines on epic themes.
Norway also has memorial steles, although there are much fewer ancient inscriptions here than in Denmark and Sweden. The custom of erecting steles also took root on the Isle of Man, located off the coast of Britain.
Over time, the tradition of inscriptions on funeral steles changed: runic inscriptions began to be carved on gravestones, church walls, church utensils, bells and other objects.
Archaeologists excavating in the Norwegian cities of Bergen, Nidaros, Oslo and Tensberg discovered many runic inscriptions, most of which related to trade or represented business or private correspondence. Among them there were also signs with the name of the owner attached to the goods. Poetic lines written in runes were also found.
Runic inscriptions on futhark were usually short. They consisted of one or more words. Inscriptions carved with “younger” runes are usually longer. It should be noted that runic inscriptions often used special expressions characterized by sublimity and poetry, and also associated with the sacred meaning of runes.
Several manuscripts written in runes have survived to this day: a collection of legal documents called the “Runic Code” (XIII century), the Gotlandic runic calendar (XIV century) and some others.
Notes on birch bark
During excavations of ancient Russian cities, letters and documents are still found on pieces of birch bark that date back to the 11th–15th centuries.
A significant number of birch bark letters were well preserved due to the fact that they often ended up in soil layers saturated groundwater, which contribute to the conservation of materials of plant origin.
The writings were made on specially treated pieces of birch bark using a sharp bone or metal stick, with which the letters were scratched. In Novgorod, birch bark letters were called “birch bark”.
When writing on birch bark letters, the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, the so-called Cyrillic alphabet, were used, which got its name from one of its creators, the famous Christian missionary Kirill. He and his brother Methodius in the 9th century developed a Slavic alphabet based on the Greek statutory letter, to which several letters were added. The Cyrillic alphabet became widespread among the southern, eastern and western Slavs.
Interestingly, there is an opinion among scientists: it was not the Cyrillic alphabet that was created by Cyril and Methodius, but the Glagolitic alphabet. This is one of two Slavic alphabets with the original form of letters. The Glagolitic alphabet reflected the phonetic features of the Slavic language. And the Cyrillic alphabet was created later, at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, by the students of Cyril and Methodius on the basis of the Greek statutory letter with the addition of several letters from the Glagolitic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet was distinguished by its simplicity and was more popular among the Slavs than the Glagolitic alphabet.
The first monuments of Slavic writing are associated with the names of Cyril and Methodius - “Long Lives”, translations of the Gospel, Psalter and other liturgical books. The enlightenment brothers are recognized as saints by both the Orthodox and Catholic churches.
The overwhelming majority of birch bark letters are letters from private individuals. These messages talk about various everyday and economic issues and contain specific instructions. In some cases, from the contents of letters one can learn about conflict situations that took place in the distant past. Letters of love and humorous content are known. Some letters set out peasant protests against the arbitrariness of the feudal lords. Various obligations and duties, news were also written on birch bark. political life, financial documents and wills were drawn up.
For a long time, scientists undoubtedly argued that literacy in Ancient Rus' was a privilege of the upper classes. However, numerous finds by archaeologists have refuted this idea. There are many known birch bark letters compiled by representatives of lower social strata. Letters were discovered whose authors were women.
Dating of birch bark documents is carried out by historians in accordance with the chronological scale of the Novgorod cultural layers.
Novgorod birch bark documents ( two bottom - « workbook"boy Onfim). Beginning XIII V.
Archaeologists have found letters addressed to famous personalities in history - Novgorod mayors Ontsyfor Lukinich and Yuri Ontsyforovich, who are mentioned in the chronicles. Data on the time of writing letters obtained using the latest methods research coincided with the time to which chronicle sources refer the life and work of these individuals. Most of the birch bark letters were found in Ancient Novgorod. Scientists date their creation mainly to the 14th century.
The first birch bark letters were discovered during excavations of Ancient Novgorod in 1951 by the expedition of A. V. Artsikhovsky. After 10 years, the number of such finds reached 400. Mostly all of them were found on the territory of Novgorod, but archaeologists discovered a small number of letters in Smolensk, Pskov, Vitebsk, Staraya Russa, Mstislavl, Tver, Torzhok, Moscow and Zvenigorod Galitsky. Now the collection of birch bark documents has exceeded a thousand, and after each archaeological expedition their number is growing.
In the summer of 2006, at excavations in Ancient Novgorod, not far from the Kremlin, archaeological students discovered a birch bark letter, the text of which mentions ancient Russian names that researchers had not previously encountered in written sources. Scientists dated the letter to the 12th century. It was part of the bottom of a birch bark box, or basket. After restoration, researchers were able to read the inscription scratched on the birch bark. It read: “Voibudino Lukontse. Those who kill her will be cursed. And Shevko wrote.”
Scientists have come to the conclusion that Voibuda is the name of the owner of the box, and Shevko is the name of the master who made this inscription, and possibly the basket itself. The researchers interpreted the word “lukontse” as “lukoshko”; they interpreted “llukontse” as “laid down”. The very name of the owner of the basket, according to scientists, consists of the roots of two words - “warrior” and “you will be.”
The researchers translated the text of this birch bark letter into modern language as follows: “The basket belongs to Voibuda, and if anyone uses it or puts something in it, he will be cursed, but Shevko wrote it.” Scientists note that such warning statements, vaguely reminiscent of the methods of magical protection of objects and their owners, are very rarely found on birch bark letters of Ancient Novgorod.
Birch bark letters are of great interest to historians. Unlike chronicles, they allow us to better imagine daily life our ancestors. Chroniclers first of all noted events that were of great importance for a particular city or country: changes of rulers, wars, rebellions, diplomatic negotiations with representatives of other states, etc. The everyday course of life flowed past the gaze of the chronicler, almost not reflected in his notes. For example, about the oath of a new prince, an entry was made in the chronicles that such and such a prince kissed the cross, promising to rule Novgorod according to the customs accepted by his fathers and grandfathers. Both the prince and the residents knew these customs well, so the chronicler does not stop at examining them in detail - why write about what everyone already knows? It is thanks to private correspondence that one can learn many small everyday details that characterize a particular era.
Birch bark letters are valuable material for philologists, because from ancient written monuments one can get an idea of how the language and alphabet evolved, what speech patterns our ancestors used, what were the rules for writing sentences, words and even individual letters. Thus, in birch bark letters there were no spaces between words, punctuation marks were placed according to different rules and were different than now. The first word in a sentence was not written with a capital letter, in addition, in Old Russian writing several letters were used that are now out of use. The language of most birch bark letters differs from the literary language; it is colloquial in nature. Let us remember: reading the birch bark letters refuted the existing opinion that in Ancient Rus' only noble people and the clergy were literate.
Mysterious Inca knots
A unique system for recording various information that developed in the Central Andes region during the heyday of the Inca state of Tawantinsuyu in the 15th–16th centuries was called “quipu,” which means “knot” in the Quechua language. Such records looked like this: numerous laces were attached to a thick cord about 30 centimeters long different color, on which the threads were attached. Knots were made on laces and threads. Each entry differed from the others in the color of the laces and threads, as well as the number and sequence of knots.
Scientists have still not been able to determine how to interpret these brush-shaped records. It is known that knot signs should be read from right to left along the base cord, sequentially going through each hanging cord. The researchers suggest that the sequence and number of these nodes contain quantitative information, and the color of the cords is associated with the subject of the recording.
A mention of the quipu can be found in the “History of the Inca State” by the Peruvian historian and philosopher Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, whose mother came from a family of former rulers of the Inca Empire, and whose father was a Spanish conquistador:
“In a quipu there are certain knots that they know, and with the help of them they distinguish colors, and they write everything down as letters... Quipu means “to tie a knot” or simply “knot”, this word is also understood as a count, because the knots contained a count of any subjects. The Indians made threads of different colors: some had only one color, others two colors, others three, and others more, because a simple color and a mixed color each had their own special meaning; the thread was tightly twisted from three or four thin threads, and it was as thick as an iron spindle and about three-quarters of a vara long; each of them was attached in a special order to another warp thread, forming a kind of fringe. By color they determined what exactly such and such a thread contained, something like: yellow meant gold, white meant silver, and red meant warriors.”
Kipu - knot letter
The colors of cords and threads correlated not only with objects, but also with abstract concepts: white meant peace, and black meant illness or time. There is an assumption that the quipu is associated with the Inca calendar. This version is based on the fact that the Kipukamayok - masters of knotted writing - were also called qilyakipok, and the word “quilla” meant “monthly year” and was the nickname of the moon goddess.
Scientists have found that cords and threads of 13 different colors and shades were used in the quipu, with each thread being one, two or three colors. Each thread could have up to 9 nodes with a simple or complex configuration, and objects or fragments of objects related to the meaning of the record could be attached.
Even during the conquest of America, the conquistadors saw strange multi-colored brushes. However, no one was able to decipher the kippa. Gradually, a belief developed among Europeans that the quipu was nothing more than a curse from the Incas to the destroyers of their country. But this ominous legend was forgotten over time, and the kippah began to be considered as a decorative element of clothing or a simplified counting system, like souvenir knots.
It should be noted that the quipu was widespread in the Inca Empire. This is evidenced by archaeological excavations of ancient burials, during which nodular records were discovered.
Currently, there are about 600 copies of the Inca quipu in museums around the world and private collections. Archaeologist R. Ascher expressed the opinion that the content of about one fifth of the total number of nodular records known to science is not numerical. It has been established that the knotted writing system consists of approximately one and a half thousand characters.
For a long time it was believed that the Inca civilization did not have a written language. However, even before the Spanish conquest, the following words existed in their language: kelka - “writing”, “writing”, kilkangi - “write”, kilyaskuni - “read”.
In 1923, the English historian L. Locke established that the strange colored cords with knots, first noticed by Spanish conquistadors 500 years ago, were in fact not jewelry, as was believed, but a kind of writing. Locke suggested that the strange brush-shaped items represented the secret writing of the Incas. But all the researcher’s attempts to decipher the meaning of at least one of the several hundred records at his disposal failed.
Harvard University scientists G. Urton and K. D. Brezin developed a method for computer research of knotted writing. The material for scientific analysis was 21 quipu texts that were discovered during archaeological excavations on the coast of Peru. The researchers concluded that the knotted texts are accounting records that are divided into three levels depending on the degree of significance, and the knots carry instructions from representatives of the highest echelons of the bureaucratic hierarchy to their subordinates.
The Incas used a decimal counting system. When recording a number, the value of the indicator was transmitted using the position and configuration of the node. Khipu means made it possible to write units, tens, hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands. For example, the number 1 was designated by a simple knot, 2 by a double knot, and 3 by a triple knot. To correctly interpret the knot notation, it was necessary to understand what the specific place occupied by a knot on a lace means, as well as the color of the lace.
Professor at Harvard University G. Urton, in his works devoted to the deciphering of the knotted writing of the Incas, does not deny that the quipu “can be read as a phonetic letter,” but points out that “they contain a lot of information using color, the direction of the knots and laces. They can be brought into some kind of system with the help of which it will be possible to decipher knotted letters.”
In addition to numerical values, the quipu made it possible to record poetic works, myths, tales, historical and genealogical information. But the key to deciphering such records has not yet been found, and the interpretations put forward by scientists are quite controversial. Researchers have noticed some connection between systems of numbers, names, etc., but so far these disparate hypotheses have no scientific confirmation.
It was found that the quipu system is based on a binary encoding, similar to that used by programmers in modern computer languages. There is a hypothesis that a quipu can convey not ordinary spoken language, but act as an analogue of musical notation or computer code.
However, the kippa still cannot be called writing without reservations. It has been suggested that the Incas had another system for recording information, which was very different from what was familiar to Europeans and therefore was not recognized by them. In a number of historical documents one can find mention of panels of fabric on which writings and drawings were written. Such “books” were kept in temples; Only noble people who had undergone special training could read them. Some researchers believe that the designs on quero - Incan pottery - may also represent writing.
The idea that the images on ancient Peruvian textiles and vessels are written characters was first made by archaeologist Victoria de la Jara after she carefully studied textile samples discovered during excavations of ancient burials in Paracas. The researcher noticed that a number of signs were repeated more often than others.
Another researcher of Inca writing is T. Bartel. He discovered several hundred tocapu signs on ancient Peruvian fabrics and vessels, the writing of which is repeated. The scientist hypothesized that tokapu served not only a decorative function. However, it has not yet been established precisely whether these signs were a writing system or not. On vessels there are often images of beans with signs applied to them, but perhaps these beans were used for cult purposes or for fortune telling.
During excavations, archaeologist Julio Tello was able to discover burials on the Paracas Peninsula dating back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. e. Over 400 mummies were found, the funeral shrouds of which were pieces of brightly colored woolen fabric. The fabric was well preserved, and on some panels one could see images of beans covered with patterns and strange signs. Similar images are found on the textiles and ceramics of the Paracas, Nazca and Mochica cultures, but they are not found on the products of the later Tiahuanaco culture.
Archaeologist Victoria de la Jara, having studied extensive material, published lengthy lists of signs found on Peruvian fabrics and ceramics. The researcher made an attempt to interpret some of them, linking them, for example, with some deities of the ancient Incas.
In the chronicles of the colonization period, there are sometimes references to the secret writing of the Incas. For example, one document talks about painted boards that were kept in the Sun Temple. The history of the Incan power was recorded on them. Another document states that these boards were set in gold frames. No one had the right to approach these records except rulers and court historians. Scientists do not deny the possibility of the existence of pictographic writing among the Incas, the monuments of which were probably destroyed by the conquerors.
The so-called yupana have been preserved - rectangular tables consisting of several rows of cells divided into columns. The purpose and method of using these tables is not precisely known. There are suggestions that these could be models of various engineering structures, counting devices, religious objects, or even children's toys.
Programmer Niccolino de Pasquale became interested in strange tables. He noticed that the pattern on the tables follows a certain pattern: in the right cell of the bottom row there is one circle, in the next - two, then - three, then - five. All the tables had a similar pattern, and the researcher concluded that they were counting boards. The circles represent a number that is the sum of the previous two. However, calculations, according to N. de Pasquale’s hypothesis, are not carried out according to the usual for us decimal system, and according to the system with a base of 40. That is why for a long time no one could identify the principle of using these boards.
Be that as it may, only one thing is certain: the Inca culture, like many ancient civilizations, is fraught with many mysteries, which further research will help solve.
Pentateuch
The Bible is the most famous and mysterious book. About many events Ancient world scientists learned from the Holy Scriptures. Surprisingly, most of the information from the Bible was confirmed during excavations of ancient cities. Therefore, the Book of Books is of great interest to researchers. This essay will focus on the oldest part of the Bible.
The first five books of the Bible - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy - are called the “Book of the Law of Moses”, since this prophet is considered their author, and also the “Book of the Law of Jehovah” (Jehovah is one of the names of God), since Moses wrote it by inspiration coming from the Creator. Scientists believe that the Pentateuch was written in the 9th–7th centuries BC. e., and then finally edited in the 5th century. BC e. In Judaism, the Pentateuch is called the Torah - the Law. The general term “Pentateuch” was used by the theologian Origen, who lived at the turn of the 2nd–3rd centuries AD. e.
The Pentateuch sets out the ideas of the ancient Jews about God’s creation of the visible and invisible worlds, the history of “ chosen people", starting from the first people, Adam and Eve, as well as laws based on religious precepts and norms.
It should be noted that researchers have doubts about the authorship of Moses, although both in the Bible itself and in oral tradition, both Jewish and Christian, this prophet is called the author of the Pentateuch. The initial reason for doubt that the Pentateuch was entirely written by Moses was the last chapter of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, which contains the story of the death and burial of the prophet.
It is unlikely that Moses himself described his own death. It is likely that the last chapter could have been written by one of the prophet’s faithful followers. However, doubt about the authorship concerning one chapter quickly spread to the entire Pentateuch. For a long time, scientists believed that during the period when Moses lived, the Jewish people did not have a written language. Even the biblical story itself about the tablets of the Covenant, which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, was seen as an indication that the Jews did not previously have a written language.
Moses. Michelangelo's work. 1515–1516
Proponents of the view that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, but by several authors living at different times, point out as an argument that different parts of the Pentateuch use different names for God - Elohim and Jehovah. However, this can hardly be considered strong evidence, because the different names of the Creator indicate the multiplicity of his manifestations and may well be used by the same author.
There were several hypotheses that were gradually rejected. Some researchers believed that the Pentateuch was compiled from separate fragments, which is confirmed by the presence of repetitions. However, there is a clear sense of unity in the text of the Pentateuch, which has forced scholars to abandon this hypothesis. Others have suggested that the Pentateuch had an original basis, which was supplemented by authors who lived at different times. One of the later parts, according to this version, is the text of Deuteronomy. Still others have argued that the Pentateuch was compiled by multiple editors based on earlier documents. However, among scholars who held this opinion, there was no consensus regarding the number of editors, as well as the number and content of the documents that served as sources for the creation of the Torah. Proponents of this hypothesis attributed the creation of the Pentateuch to the period of the so-called Babylonian captivity, that is, to 586–539 BC. e., when part of the Jewish people was forcibly resettled in Babylonia after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II.
The discoveries of archaeologists dealt a serious blow to the hypotheses of scientists who questioned the unity of the authorship of the Torah and the assignment of the time of its creation to the period when Moses lived.
The opinion that the Jews at the time of Moses were at a low level of cultural development, and therefore could not create works of such a high level as the Pentateuch, was also refuted. The Egyptians and Assyrians, with whom the Jews constantly interacted, already had writing and literature.
During excavations of ancient Sumerian cities, extensive libraries were discovered. In Akkad, Lagash and Nippur, archaeologists have found many cuneiform clay tablets, in the texts of which one can find confirmation of biblical legends.
Archaeological excavations have made it possible to refute the opinion that during the time of Moses there was no writing, so the prophet could not become the author of the Pentateuch. Many tens of thousands of written documents discovered by researchers in Mesopotamia, Egypt and other ancient states date back to 2250–2000 BC. e. In other words, writing arose several centuries before the birth of Moses. It is unlikely that Jews, living in the vicinity of these peoples, could remain illiterate and underdeveloped.
Moses breaks the tablets. Engraving by J. Schnorr von Carolsfeld
The basis of the Law of Moses and Christianity is the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, which, according to legend, were inscribed on two stone slabs - tablets. It is precisely because the first mention of writing in the Bible is associated with them that some scholars believed that the Jews had previously been illiterate.
The first tablets were broken by Moses himself, angry at the Jews, who in his absence worshiped the golden calf. The copy made by the prophet was kept as a shrine, but disappeared without a trace when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. According to legend, the tablets looked like stone cubes; the text of the commandments was carved in Assyrian square script and in Hebrew.
Qumran scrolls
In the summer of 1947, in the Khirbet Qumran area, on the northwest coast of the Dead Sea, a young shepherd, Muhammad ed-Dhib, found leather scrolls covered with neat writing in a nearby cave. This discovery marked the beginning of excavations and research that provided abundant food for a variety of interpretations.
Translated from Arabic, “Qumran” means “Two Moons”. Caves in which scrolls dating back to the 2nd century BC were found. e. – 1st century AD e., are located along the bed of the Wadi Qumran river. Archaeological work in this area began in 1949 and continued until 1967 under the leadership of R. de Vaux, a representative of the French Archaeological School of the Holy Land. The Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Archaeological Museum) also played a major role in the research. During the excavations, not only numerous texts in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin were discovered, but also the remains of an entire settlement, which apparently ceased to exist in the 1st century AD. e.
The oldest settlements that existed on the territory of Khirbet Qumran date back to an earlier period, namely the 8th–6th centuries BC. e., which is confirmed by numerous finds. Most of the ancient buildings were severely destroyed, probably during the earthquake of 31 BC. e., which is mentioned in his works by the Roman historian Flavius.
Later buildings are believed to have been erected around 4–1 BC. e. and destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD. e. The researchers' attention was drawn to the remains of a massive stone building with a tower located on the north-west side. We found a lot of pottery. There were various outbuildings. Scientists decided that the inhabitants sought to independently produce everything necessary for life.
A cemetery was also discovered containing about a thousand graves, with men buried in one part and women and children in another.
Most researchers are of the opinion that the appearance of the Qumran Scrolls, or Dead Sea Scrolls, is associated with the activities of the Jewish sect of the Essenes, who created an isolated community to avoid contact with their corrupt contemporaries.
The community at Qumran was founded in the 2nd century BC. e. a man whose name has not been preserved. In the texts of the scrolls he is called the “Teacher of Righteousness.” It is known that he disagreed with representatives of the official Jewish religion, for which he was persecuted. Some scholars have tried to identify him with Christ, based on the commonality of some statements. However, upon careful examination of the rules described in the texts of the Qumran scrolls, which the Essenes community obeyed, such a hypothesis was not confirmed.
The fact is that the Essenes had a lot of petty, everyday regulations and prohibitions that regulated everyday life. Particular importance was attached to ritual ablutions and the observance of the sanctity of the Sabbath. The Essenes, like the Pharisees denounced by Christ, would have considered it the greatest sin to pull cattle out of a pit on the Sabbath day. In addition, as is clear from the texts of Qumran, the Essenes considered themselves superior to the sinners around them, whom they disparagingly called “sons of Darkness,” while simultaneously considering themselves “sons of Light.” They were confident that a righteous lifestyle would allow them to be saved on the last day of the world.
All their property was in common use. The Essenes preferred not to marry, so as not to tie themselves into close ties with the world, but there was no ban on women and children being in the community.
The main occupation of the Essene community was the study and rewriting of the Holy Scriptures, as well as the compilation of commentaries on it. Before the discovery of the Qumran scrolls, some scholars argued that over the long centuries since the Bible was written, the texts of the Book of Books had been greatly distorted. However, the finds at Qumran completely refuted such a hypothesis. Archaeologists have found almost all the books Old Testament except the book of Esther. A careful analysis of these texts and the modern text of the Holy Scriptures turned out to be identical, in other words, the texts of the Book of Books were not distorted. Thanks to the finds at Qumran, the authorship of the books of the Bible, which had previously been disputed, was also confirmed. The Qumran scrolls even helped confirm certain events described in the New Testament, as well as their chronology and the dating of some New Testament texts, such as the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians and the Gospel of John.
In addition to biblical texts, the War Scroll, the Charter, hymns, commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, anthologies of messianic and eschatological texts, etc. were discovered at Qumran.
In the Qumran texts one can find a description of the rituals performed in the Jerusalem Temple, as well as a prediction regarding the destruction of the temple. In addition, the creators of these texts foresaw that their records would be found 2000 years later, when Israel would once again become an independent state.
Was Qumran really an Essene settlement? This question arose in connection with recent discoveries by scientists. Archaeologist from the USA D. Tabor and paleoanthropologist from Israel D. Zias believe: the recent discovery of latrines dating back to the 1st century AD. e., confirms that the Essenes community lived on the territory of Qumran. The latrines are located approximately 300 meters from the settlement, which is fully consistent with Essene norms, which prescribed digging latrines in the northwestern side of the dwellings, but so that the latrines were not visible from the village.
However, there is archaeological evidence that refutes the established views that the authorship of the Qumran texts and the settlement at Qumran belonged to the Essene community. In 2006, Israeli archaeologists Y. Peleg and I. Magen discovered numerous Jewelry, glassware and stone containers that were used to store cosmetics. New finds refute the idea that the inhabitants of Qumran led an ascetic lifestyle.
Scholars who have argued that the Qumran texts were created by representatives of the Essene community living in the caves of Qumran point as evidence to the presence of baths intended for ritual ablutions and the absence of luxury items among the finds - after all, the Essene rule prescribed a life of poverty, preferably far from settlements ordinary people, that is, sinners and “sons of Darkness”.
Peleg and Magen, based on the data obtained in the course of their work, are trying to prove that the settlement at Qumran was not a place of solitude for the Essenes community, but was an ordinary village whose inhabitants were engaged in pottery. Scientists even made accusations against their predecessors for allegedly hiding finds that contradicted established ideas about Qumran. According to the hypothesis of Peleg and Magen, the Qumran scrolls were brought and hidden in caves by refugees from Jerusalem. It should be noted that researchers do not question the authenticity of the texts themselves.
The texts of the Qumran manuscripts have not been completely deciphered, and scientists still have many discoveries to make.
Type: syllabic-ideographic
Language family: not established
Localization: Northern Mesopotamia
Distribution time: 3300 BC e. - 100 AD e.
Sumer, one of ancient civilizations Middle East, existed at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in the Southern Mesopotamia, the region of the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, in the south of modern Iraq.
The first settlements in this territory began to appear already in the 6th millennium BC. e.
Where the Sumerians came to these lands from, among whom the local agricultural communities disappeared, has not yet been clarified.
Their own traditions speak of eastern or southeastern origin. They considered their oldest settlement to be Eredu, the southernmost of the cities of Mesopotamia, now the site of Abu Shahrain.
The Sumerians called the homeland of all mankind the island of Dilmui, identified with modern Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
The earliest Sumerian writing is represented by texts found in the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, dating back to 3300 BC.
The Sumerian language still continues to remain a mystery to us, since even now it has not been possible to establish its relationship with any of the known language families. Archaeological materials suggest that the Sumerians created the Ubaid culture in the south of Mesopotamia at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e. Thanks to the emergence of hieroglyphic writing, the Sumerians left many monuments of their culture, imprinting them on clay tablets.
The cuneiform script itself was a syllabic script, consisting of several hundred characters, of which about 300 were the most common; these included more than 50 ideograms, about 100 signs for simple syllables and 130 for complex ones; there were signs for numbers in the hexadecimal and decimal systems.
Sumerian writing developed over 2,200 years
Most signs have two or several readings (polyphonism), since often, next to Sumerian, they also acquired a Semitic meaning. Sometimes they depicted related concepts (for example, “sun” - bar and “shine” - lah).
The invention of Sumerian writing itself was undoubtedly one of the largest and most significant achievements of the Sumerian civilization. Sumerian writing, which went from hieroglyphic, figurative signs-symbols to the signs that began to write the simplest syllables, turned out to be an extremely progressive system. It was borrowed and used by many peoples who spoke other languages.
At the turn of the IV-III millennium BC. e. we have indisputable evidence that the population of Lower Mesopotamia was Sumerian. The widely known story of the Great Flood first appears in Sumerian historical and mythological texts.
Although Sumerian writing was invented exclusively for economic needs, the first written literary monuments appeared among the Sumerians very early: among records dating back to the 26th century. BC e., there are already examples of folk wisdom genres, cult texts and hymns.
[
Due to this circumstance, the cultural influence of the Sumerians in the Ancient Near East was enormous and outlived their own civilization for many centuries.
Subsequently, writing loses its pictorial character and transforms into cuneiform.
Cuneiform writing was used in Mesopotamia for almost three thousand years. However, later it was forgotten. For tens of centuries, cuneiform kept its secret, until in 1835 the unusually energetic Englishman Henry Rawlinson, an English officer and lover of antiquities, deciphered it. One day he was informed that an inscription had been preserved on a steep cliff in Behistun (near the city of Hamadan in Iran). It turned out to be the same inscription, written in three ancient languages, including ancient Persian. Rawlinson first read the inscription in this language known to him, and then managed to understand the other inscription, identifying and deciphering more than 200 cuneiform characters.
In mathematics, the Sumerians knew how to count in tens. But the numbers 12 (a dozen) and 60 (five dozen) were especially revered. We still use the Sumerian heritage when we divide an hour into 60 minutes, a minute into 60 seconds, a year into 12 months, and a circle into 360 degrees.
In the figure you see how over 500 years hieroglyphic images of numerals turned into cuneiform ones.
