The Sumerian invention of writing (2024)

Shulgi commemorative tablet. Enlarge.

Reading by column from right to left: "(For the goddess) Nimintaba/ His queen/ Shulgi/Themightyman/ King of Ur/ King of Sumer and Akkad/ Her temple/ He built."

Clay bulla and the commodity tokens that were inside it. The owner’s seal is faintly visible ontheexterior of the bulla.

Before writing was invented, business transactions were recorded with the exchange of clay tokens that represented the items being traded. The tokens were simple abstract designs used to represent different commodities (sheep, grain, cattle, etc.). A number of tokens were put into a hollow clay bulla (from the Latin meaning “bubble”). The owner’s seal was placed onthe outside to prevent tampering, so the bulla couldn’t be opened and the tokens changed or removed without breaking the seal. Unfortunately, once the bulla was closed, it was impossible to see what was inside, so the tokens were impressed on the outside of the bulla to reflect its contents, showing the number and type of the commodities being traded.

Sumerian "writing tokens." Each token represents a different commodity.

It didn’t take long before someone realized that with the token impressions on the outside of thebulla, the tokens on the inside were no longer necessary. Without the necessity of having tostore the actual tokens, the bulla was also discarded because the impressions could easily bemade on a flat piece of clay. It was soon realized that even the impressions themselves wereunnecessary. The token designs could just as easily be drawn on a clay tablet.

The earliest forms of Sumerian writing were pictographs ("picture words") where the sign resembles the object it represents (grain, hand, etc.), as seen on the tablet below:

Pictographs, the precursor to cuneiform writing. On the early tablets, the signswere written vertically. The hand on the upper right means "to receive." The dots along the top are numbers.

At this stage the pictographs were "drawn"rather than "written." A pointed stylus was used to drawthe curved lines of the pictographs, but drawing a curved line on wet clay is not as easy asitsounds and it leaves granulated ridges on either side of the line. When the Sumerians startedmaking the signs more linear and abstracttheyhad to change thestylus tomake it bettersuited for this purpose. They cut a river reed into a triangular profileand then used it to impressaline into the clay rather than dragging it across the surface. This was much quicker andeasier than "drawing" the signs and it eliminated the grainy edges of the lines. The resultantappearance of the Sumerian signs, composed of short angular lines, is what gave cuneiformwriting its name, from the Latin cunei, meaning "wedge."

Click here to enlarge the chart.

In column I, the signs are simple pictographs and they are drawn with curved lines.In col. II, thesigns are rotated 90 degrees, fromthe vertical to the horizontal. The pictographs become abstractsymbols in columns III - VI. They become more simplified in the last two columns.

Note: The reason a female slave is equated with a foreign/mountain womanis because theSumerians, who lived in the lowlands,were often at war with the barbaric tribespeople
fromthe neighboring mountains. As is so often the case in history, the prosperous cultivated lowlanderswere at war with the rough uncivilized highlanders. The constant regional wars providedthe Sumerians with a steady supply of slaves, plunder, and raw materials; although the Sumerians were often defeated in sudden raids by the barbarians.

Interestingly enough,all but threeof the signs on this chartcan also be found on Tablet #36, thestoryof "The Great Fatted Bull."

The Sumerians started out by making a sign for every object but quickly realized this was completelyimpractical. Even so,atthis point in timethey had already accumulated more than 700signs, of which about 600 were in common use. So the Sumerians began to write words phonetically, by combining existing signs with thedesired pronunciation for each syllable. For example,if a scribe were to hear the English word "ensue," of course he wouldn't have a sign forit,but he could "spell it out" using the signs en and su. Even though the literal definiton of thesigns together don't add up to the meaning of the word,a new word is formed based on thepronunciation alone. This makes Sumerian writing the first true writing in the world. Itisabstract symbols used to represent the sound of a word rather thansimply being a "picture"ofthe word's meaning.

Sumerians never quite developed a true alphabet. Their phonetics were based on syllables ratherthan individual sounds. Using the cuneiform signs, the Babylonianswould latercreate atruealphabet in the modern sense of the word. Each abstractsymbol represented a single distinctsound.

Late in the evolution of writing, during the Ur III period, the Sumerians started using a "compressedprint." The signs were simplified to make them easier to write and they were shortenedto save space on the line. An example is shown below. The sign is gu4, pronouncedgud, the sign for "bull." The usual form is on the left. It still retained much of its earlypictographappearance (it looks like a bull head). On the right is the compressed form. Thelarge triangle has been replaced with two smaller triangles, "reverse cunei," facing in the oppositedirection, and the vertical line has been moved to the horn area.

To compress or not to compress? This tablet perfectly illustrates the advantage of using compressed print. On the top line, where there are many signs, the scribe was concerned about running out of space, so he used the compressed version of gu4. On the second line, where there is plenty of room, he used the full version.

There are many compressed signs on Tablet #36. Compression drastically alters the appearanceof the signs, making them more difficult to read:

A typical Ur III administrative tablet.It recordstheacceptance (for taxes?) of different kinds oflivestock. Reading from the top, it lists21 fatted bulls, 1 fatted cow, 2 sheep, and 1 lamb. Thebackof the tablet records the date asbeing “the month of The Big Festival,” in the year thattheenemy city of Huhnuri was destroyed (during the reign of Amar-Suen). See a view of theentire tablet. See if you can find gu4, the compressed sign for "bull or ox." Click here for theanswer.

The above tablet is quite small (35 x 32 mm, approximately 1.4 inches). Other tablets were muchlarger. See an administrative tablet from the reign of Urukagina (circa 2370 B.C.) which recordsthe regular temple offerings of grain and livestock. Literary tablets were even larger, suchasthis tablet about Gilgamesh, which contains a flood story similar to the biblical tale. Verylong compositions were written on rectangular columns, like The King List shown below:

The King List, recording the names of the rulers of Mesopotamia. Enlarge.

As stated earlier, most Sumerian tablets were used for accounting purposes. About 97% of Sumeriantablets are classified as “Administrative”; receipts, ledgers, inventories, and the like. Administrative tabletsare usually recognizable bynumbers at the beginning ofthe lines recordingthequantities of the items on the list (as seen on the tablet above). Only 3% of Sumeriantablets are classified as “Literature,” such as history, mythology, letters, hymns, proverbs,andother literary works. Sumerians were a practical people. Most of their writing wasdevoted to the daily necessities of business and government, which is why an original workoffiction likeTablet #36 is such a great rarity.

There was also a certain amount of “hazing” atscribal schools. A young scribe was often bulliedatschool by theolder boysand he was routinely taunted with remarks like, “Your writinglookslike chicken scratches!” “Nobody can read your writing!" and "Not even you canreadyourwriting!”

There's aninteresting story about a young boy’s experience ata scribal school:

He goes to school and is immediately scolded because he is late. The schoolmaster relentlessly scolds him for every minor infraction; for speaking without permission, standingwhen he wasn’t supposed to, and for being slow in answering questions. The schoolmastereven slaps the boy for giving a wrong answer and tells him that he will never amounttoanything.The boy goes home and complains to his father, saying he wants to quit. "Ihate the scribal life!" The father has an idea. He invites the schoolmaster for dinner.
He lavishes honor and respect on the schoolmaster, gives himexpensive gifts, such as
abeautiful bowl and a costly robe, then serves him a sumptuous mealwith plenty of beer. It isn'tlongbefore the schoolmaster is praising the boy to the heavens. "He is a great student, andverysmart! He'll go far in this life. One day he will be agreat scribe. Nisaba be praised!"

In a way, the above story is about every boy's experience in scribal school. The composition wasgiven as a writing assignment to all students, in all scribal schools, in every generation. Thestudents had to copy it word for word. It was also a pointed reminder to their fathers
to make sure the schoolmasters were wellpaid for their services.

Nisababe praised.

Nisaba was the patron goddess of the scribes. She is also the one credited with the invention ofwriting. In her temple, the scribes offeredtheir "presentation tablets," dedicating to her the bestexamples of their compositions and calligraphy.

More information about Sumerian scribes can be found on "The Scribe"page of this website.

Thescribes continued to hone their craft for 1,400 years, until the fall ofSumerian civilization intheyear 2004 B.C. Afterwards their writing lived on in the form of Babylonian literature, whichstillused the Sumerian writing system in the centuries that followed. The Babylonians alsocopied much of the history and literature that the Sumerians had written. Were it not for theefforts of the scribes, we would know next to nothing about the Sumerians. Very little of theirmaterial culture has survivied the millenia; a few statues, some pottery shards, some jewelry,afewcollapsed buildings.If it werenot for the writing onthousands of clay tablets, wewouldbarely know the Sumerians had ever existed. We would know nothing of the Sumerianpeople, their extraordinary civilization, and their great kings like Shulgi and Gudea.

Tablet from the Ur III period, which marked the zenith of Sumerian writing and history.

Cuneiform tablet: in a clay envelope with a (faint) seal impression.Business transactions wereoften wrapped in a clay envelopes and then impressed with the writer's seal toprevent tamperingwith the contents.This tablet was written by Lugal-e-ban-sha, a scribe for the governorofUmma.Lugal-e-ban-sha lived at about the same timeasthe scribe who wrote "TheGreatFattedBull." More than a hundred tablets by Lugal-e-ban-shacan be seen in museumsallaround the world, along with those of his brother, En-kash.Sadly, when a large cacheoftabletsis found, it usually means the office (or temple or school) where the tablets werestored, was destroyedwhenthe city was sackedand the tablets were buried en masse beneaththe fallen debris.Sometimes the tablets were hardened into brick by the flames of theburning buildings.Ironically, it was thedestruction of thecivilizationaround them that preservedthese tablets for prosperity. Perhaps the tablet of "The Great Fatted Bull" was also preserved this way. One can only guess at the fate of the scribes who wrote these tablets.