Cuneiform is a writing system or script which was developed by the ancient Sumerians in Ancient Mesopotamia between 3500 and 3000 BCE. It is the earliest form of writing in the world and is thought to have developed so people could communicate long-distance in trade. The word cuneiform actually comes from the Latin for wedge, cuneus, since to write cuneiform, scribes would have pressed a triangular-shaped reed stylus into soft clay which produced the wedge-like impressions.

Cuneiform was used by all of the great Mesopotamian civilisations until alphabetic scripts became more popular in around 100 BCE. Some of these cultures were; the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Elamites, Hatti, Hittites, Assyrians and the Hurrians. Cuneiform has been found on clay tablets (often referred to ad cuneiform tablets), in a number of different languages including Babylonian cuneiform and Sumerian cuneiform. The earliest form of cuneiform is known as proto-cuneiform. This early script was pictorial, since the tablets addressed tangible things like how much cattle were traded, a battle, the amount of grain collected as taxes, a flood or a king. The development in cuneiform script meant that emotions, intent, and intangible ideas could be better expressed, and in general, the texts were more detailed and clearer.

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:40 What is Cuneiform?
2:25 Development of Cuneiform
3:49 Literature Originally Written in Cuneiform
5:39 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —
Cuneiform https://www.worldhistory.org/cuneiform/
Sumerian Language https://www.worldhistory.org/Sumerian...
Mesopotamia https://www.worldhistory.org/Mesopota...
Cuneiform Lexical Lists https://www.worldhistory.org/article/...
Gilgamesh https://www.worldhistory.org/gilgamesh/
Enheduanna https://www.worldhistory.org/Enheduanna/

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— ATTRIBUTIONS —
You can find all attribution and credits for images, animations, graphics and music here - https://worldhistory.typehut.com/cune...

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
https://www.ancientlyre.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2v...
   / @michaellevymusic  

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