Cuneiform - Brossura

Finkel, Irving; Taylor, Jonathan

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0714111880 ISBN 13: 9780714111889

Casa editrice: British Museum Press, 2015

Riassunto

Cuneiform script on tablets of clay is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The choice of clay as writing medium in ancient Mesopotamia meant that records of all kinds could survive down to modern times, preserving fascinating documents from ancient civilization, written by a variety of people and societies. From reading these tablets we can understand not only the history and economics of the time but also the beliefs, ideas and superstitions. This new book will bring the world in which the cuneiform was written to life for the non-expert reader, revealing how ancient inscriptions can lead to a new way of thinking about the past. It will explain how this pre-alphabetic writing really worked and how it was possible to use cuneiform signs to record so many different languages so long ago. Richly illustrated with a wealth of fresh examples ranging from elementary school exercises to revealing private letters or beautifully calligraphic literature for the royal library, we will meet people that aren’t so very different from ourselves. We will read the work of many scribes – from mundane record keepers to state fortune tellers, using tricks from puns to cryptography. For the first time cuneiform tablets and their messages are not remote and inaccessible, but wonderfully human documents that resonate today.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'Filled with detailed colour images of clay tablets from the British Museum's archives, this text is a wonderful overview of the invention that turned prehistory into history' --Current World Archaeology

Su questa edizione

• Editore: British Museum Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0714111880
• ISBN 13: 9780714111889
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 112