The Invention Of Writing, Its Use And The Legends About It

The writing first appears around 4000 to 3000 BC. in Mesopotamia. A system of signs is first established, which attempts to record speech to give words permanence and duration beyond the moment something is said. But why did writing first appear in Mesopotamia? This question has preoccupied historians and archaeologists. For the first time, cities and culture are developing, that is, permanent, multi-human facilities in the form of a state, characterized socially by hierarchy, wealth concentration, and commercial connections. For this, a tool for recording information is needed. According to some scientists, this is how writing is born.

However, Mesopotamia is one of many places where scientists believe writing was first invented. The discovery of the Phaistos Disc in Creta of Greece is now considered the oldest finding that justifies the invention of writing. The Minoan civilization was greatly advanced, and Greece is considered the ”mother” of writing.

Funny fact that writing was not only used to calculate the quantities of goods that had been traded. The writing was even useful for Exile. Exile is a tactic adopted today and in the past by authoritarian regimes. Those in power decide to restrict specific individuals they consider dangerous to overthrow their established authority. It is interesting, however, to mention that once, in Athens in the 6th century BC., the institution of Exile existed. It was not the ones who ruled Athens that were held responsible for who would be exiled but all the citizens. And the most interesting thing about this whole situation is that, at that time, Athens was a democratic society. This process in which it was decided who should be banished is called ostracism. People would write the name of the person they believed had to be exiled on shells. At the end of the voting, people counted the names on the shells and decided who was democratically chosen to go.

Today, a total of 10000 shells have been found in Athens. The sites primarily identified were Kerameikos, the Ancient Agora, and the Acropolis. The study of the findings presents shells that indicate different names. Surprisingly the shells came from the same vessel. This means that the same vessels were used in the same year.

In the meanwhile, many legends tried to attribute the reason for the invention of writing. The oldest legend about the creation of writing is a Sumerian poem from Mesopotamia. Enmerkar, King of the city of Urok-Kulaba, sent an envoy of his to the Lord of Aratta to ask for timber, gold, silver, and precious stones, for he wished to rebuild and adorn the temple of the goddess Inana. The Lord of Arattas, however, in order to accept to give Enmerkar the materials, had to answer correctly in some riddles. The envoy moved from one city to another many times. He was talking with the two lords, carrying the messages of Enmerkar to the Lord of Arata and back again, carrying the answers of the Lord of Arata to Enmerkar.

At one point, the envoy got tired of this process; the instructions given to him by Enmerkar were so complicated that he could no longer memorize them. Then Enmerkar, to overcome the problem, invented writing: he wrote the message upon a clay sign. So, according to the poem, writing was created.

The poem is not historically accurate; we know that the creation of writing existed long before the reign of Enmerkar, but it is a beautiful legend about writing and people’s need to imprint their words. We can, however, find some accurate details in the poem, not only about why but also about when and how writing was discovered. The need for writing is born when the message to be conveyed becomes particularly complex, which is why it is not possible to memorize.

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