Thu 08 September 2022
| tags: Historical Linguistics Writing
Timeline of Major Script Groups
It's UN International Literacy Day!
This timeline shows a very compressed history of writing, organized into major groups of scripts.
Independent Invention
While many writing systems have been invented over the millennia, very few of them were ever created completely from scratch by people who had never encountered any other writing. There are only two clear examples of such de novo inventions of writing: one in Mesopotamia and/or Egypt and one in Mesoamerica.
Egyptian hieroglyphs are sometimes counted as a separate independent invention of writing, but I think that's not supportable given the proximity in time and space to Mesopotamian cuneiform. There are reasonable discussions to be had about whether that process started in Mesopotamia or Egypt—I say Mesopotamia—but I don't think there's any question that there was influence.
Chinese characters are also sometimes proposed as an independent invention, but again I don't see how that is possible. The Shang Dynasty shows a very similar process of rapid invention of writing as part of a process of defining a national identity as we see in the lead up to First Dynasty Egypt. It would also require assuming that China remained isolated from the international Mediterranean/Western Asia/India trade network for nearly 2000 years, which is practically impossible (China's national myths notwithstanding).
Decipherment
For each cuneiform, hieroglyphs, and Mesoamerican scripts there was a period when working knowledge of the script was lost before being recovered through decipherment in the 19th-20th centuries.
Embedded examples
Each of the images embedded in the timelines is a representation of a specific, preserved piece writing:
Cuneiform
Archaic cuneiform tablet of E.A. Hoffman (Proto-cuneiform tablet, Jemdet Nasr period)
Proto-cuneiform, c. 3000 BCE
Unicode: ? 𒊩 ?
Transliteration: ?.SAL.?
Translation: ? "woman" ?
Note: I haven't identified the other two archaic signs yet
Seal of Naram-Sin (Akkadian King)
Akkadian cuneiform, c. 2250 BCE
Unicode: 𒀭𒈾𒊏𒄠𒀭𒂗𒍪
Transliteration: D.na-ra-am.D.EN-ZU
Translation: "Naram-Sin" (name)
Amarna Letter EA 161
Akkadian cuneiform, c. 1350 BCE
Unicode: 𒀀𒍣𒊒
Transliteration: a-zi-ru
Translation: "Aziru" (name)
Rassam cylinder
Assyrian cuneiform, 643 BCE
Unicode: 𒀭𒊹𒆠
Transliteration: an-šar₂.KI
Translation: "Assyria" (place name)
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Stone vase of Seth-Peribsen
Egyptian hieroglyphs, c 2800 BCE
Unicode: 𓃩 𓋴𓉐𓄣𓈖
Transliteration: SET pr-jb.sn
Translation: "Seth-Peribsen" (name)
Ebers Papyrus
Hieratic script, c. 1500 BCE
Unicode: 𓂻𓊃𓂻𓂋𓆑𓏭 𓂧𓂧𓈖𓈖?𓂝??
Transliteration: jw-s-jw-r-fy-dd-nn?-ꜥ?
Translation: ??
Note: I can't read hieratic and haven't found a detailed translation of Ebers
Painted wooden box from the tomb of King Tutankhamun
Egyptian hieroglyphs, c 1327 BCE
Unicode: 𓅭𓇳 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅲𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇗
Transliteration: zꜣ-rꜥ jmn-twt-ꜥnḫ-ḥqꜣ-jwnw-šmꜥw
Translation: "Son of Ra Living-Image-of-Amun-Ruler-of-the-Pillar-of-Upper-Egypt" (Tutankhamun)
Victory Stele of Piye
Egyptian hieroglyphs, c 719 BCE
Unicode: 𓇓𓏏𓆤𓏏
Transliteration: nswt-bjtj
Translation: "He of the Bee and Reed, Dual-King" (title)
Cartouche of Cleopatra
Egyptian hieroglyphs, c. 30 BCE
Unicode: 𓈎𓃭𓇋𓍯𓊪𓄿𓂧𓂋𓄿𓏏𓆇
Transliteration: qljwꜣpꜣdrꜣ-FEM / kliwapatra-FEM
Translation: "Cleopatra" (name)
Semitic Abjads
Wadi el-Hol inscription
Proto-Sinaitic script, c. 1800 BCE
Unicode: 𐤌𐤔𐤕 𐤓 𐤄 or 𓈖𓇨𓏴 𓁶 𓀠
Transliteration: mšt r h
Translation: "Excellent b(anquet) (of the) c(elebration)?"
Ahiram sarcophagus
Phoenician script, c. 850 BCE
Unicode: 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤂𐤁𐤋
Transliteration: mlk gbl
Translation: "King of Gebal (Byblos)"
Sabaean votive stele (Panel Almaqah Louvre DAO18)
Ancient South Arabian script, c. 500 BCE
Unicode: 𐩲𐩣𐩱𐩣𐩧
Transliteration: ʕmʔmr
Translation: "Ammî'amar" (name)
Palmyrene Grand Colonnade dedication
Palmyrene Aramaic script, c. 250 CE
Unicode: 𐡲𐡫𐡬𐡶
Transliteration: ṣlmt
Translation: "statue, image"
Aleppo Codex
Aramaic Square script (Hebrew script), c. 920 CE
Unicode: וַיְהִי
Transliteration: vayhí
Translation: "it happened that, now"
Ottoman Thuluth Basmala
Thuluth script (Arabic script), c. 920 CE
Unicode: بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Transliteration: bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
Translation: "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"
Greco-Roman Alphabets
Pithekoussai Nestor Cup
Western Archaic Greek script, c. 710 BCE
Unicode: ΝΕΣΤΟΡΟΣ
Transliteration: Nestoros
Translation: "Nestor" (name)
Duenos inscription
Old Italic script, c. 600 BCE
Unicode: 𐌃𐌖𐌄𐌍𐌏𐌔
Transliteration: Duenos
Translation: "good"
Vimose comb
Germanic runes, c. 160 BCE
Unicode: ᚺᚨᚱᛃᚨ
Transliteration: harja
Translation: "Army" or "Warrior" (possibly a name)
Codex Sinaiticus
Byzantine uncial (Greek alphabet), c. 350 CE
Unicode: ΛΟΓΟϹ
Transliteration: logos
Translation: "word, speech, reason"
Book of Durrow
Insular script (Latin alphabet), c. 700 CE
Unicode: scriptum
Transliteration: scriptum
Translation: "text, writing"
engraved type of Nicholas Jenson
Humanist typeface (Latin alphabet), 1472 CE
Unicode: legibus
Transliteration: legibus
Translation: "laws"
Gustav Vasa Bible
Fraktur blackletter (Latin alphabet), 1541 CE
Unicode: Biblia
Transliteration: Biblia
Translation: "bible, books"
Brahmic Abugidas
Pillars of Ashoka
Ashokan Brahmi script, c. 230 CE
Unicode: 𑀲𑀺𑀮𑀸𑀣𑀪𑁂
Transliteration: Silā Thabhe
Translation: "stone pillars"
Bhitari Pillar inscription
Gupta Brahmi script, c. 460 CE
Unicode: 𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀦𑁆𑀤𑀕𑀼𑀧𑁆𑀢
Transliteration: Skandagupta
Translation: "Skanda Gupta" (name)
Tang Dynasty Pratisara mantra
Siddham, 927 CE
Unicode: 𑖦𑖽𑖝𑖨
Transliteration: mantra
Translation: "mantra, prayer"
High Court of Kerala marqee
Malayalam script, c. 2000 CE
Unicode: കേരള
Transliteration: kēraḷa
Translation: "Kerala" (place name)
Chinese Characters
Shang oracle bone fragment
Oracle bone script, c. 1100 CE
Unicode: 子女
Transliteration: Old Chinese *ʔslɯʔ naʔ (Pinyin: zǐnǚ)
Translation: "children"
Qin engraved iron weight standard
Small Seal script, c. 221 BCE
Unicode: 皇帝
Transliteration: Old Chinese *ɡʷaːŋ teːɡs (Pinyin: huángdì)
Translation: "Emperor"
Letter by Cai Xiang
Chinese characters, c. 1050 CE
Unicode: 書
Transliteration: Middle Chinese ɕɨʌ (Pinyin: shū)
Translation: "letter"
Book of Odes calligraphed by Qianlong Emperor
Chinese characters, c. 1750 CE
Unicode: 關雎
Transliteration: guān jū
Translation: Guan ju (poem title); "guan (cries the) osprey"
Mesoamerican Scripts
La Mojarra Inscription
Isthmian script (Olmec), 156 CE
Unicode: —
Transliteration: ?
Translation: ?
Madrid Codex
Maya script, c. 1300 CE
Unicode: —
Transliteration:
Translation:
