Where and when did writing occur for the first time?

Today it is not difficult for a person to send a message to friends or relatives. Almost every one of us, by virtue of having the intellect, can write a message, textual or electronic. It is difficult to imagine that there were times when writing did not exist at all. It would seem that people almost always knew how to read and write. Nevertheless, this is far from the case. In the process of investigating the issue of the origin of writing, many questions appeared, for example: where did writing first appear, when did it appear, how did people invent it? The answers to them still cause a lot of controversy in the scientific environment, although the scientists have developed specific theories about this. The study of writing must begin with the Middle East. The ancient civilizations that once existed on this territory are the cradle of the world culture of both the West and the East. But before we consider the history of writing, it is necessary to understand the significance of this term.

The meaning of the word "writing"

From the point of view of linguistics, writing is a special system of signs that allows you to formalize, transmit and record information for its further use and transmission. In other words, writing is data that has acquired a sign form. Writing should not be differentiated from the human language, because it is a subspecies of this phenomenon. A similar theory emerged from the study of the human psyche. When we write, we think, thereby producing a landmark transference of our speech. Such a characteristic does not allow us to say exactly where and when writing arose, but historians still found some patterns, which allowed the creation of definite theories of the origin of this phenomenon.

Written language of the peoples of Mesopotamia

On the territory between the rivers Tigris and Efrat, thousands of years ago there was a great Sumerian civilization. Scientists believe that it was in this place that writing appeared for the first time. What a historical fact influenced its appearance, it is not known, although there is a fairly widespread theory. It says that the writing originated in the ancient Mesopotamia was a product of the evolution of a person who wants to facilitate the process of recording his work. In those days, the entire harvest was to be given to the priests. To somehow facilitate the process of accounting for the harvest, they came up with the most primitive model of writing - a pictogram. It is presented in the form of sticks, crosses and circles. Later signs began to evolve, therefore on many monuments of civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia one can see elementary drawings of feet, ears, man, stars, etc.

The ideographic writing of the peoples of Mesopotamia

The further development of writing gave birth to ideograms. In fact, these were the same signs, but their meaning was interpreted in a completely different way. For example, any signs associated with the legs, denoted a specific action - "walk", "wear" or even "stand". Along with ideogram writing developed phonogram. Its essence is that the signs were practically not used. The meaning of the words was transmitted through sounds that were very difficult to express with the help of primitive picture symbols. So there is a special, iconic writing, in which there were no pictures. The information began to be transmitted using alphabetic and syllabic notation. Thus, the study of ancient Mesopotamia answers the question of where and when writing arose.

Egyptian script

Another source of knowledge in the history of the development of writing is ancient Egypt. The language of this civilization changed practically with the course of its entire history. The process of communication of the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom in many respects differed from that of their descendants during the time of Roman expansion. The kind of hieroglyphics that were used in writing did not change, but their meaning underwent significant changes.

It must be remembered that when the writing in Egypt arose, this civilization has already been in contact with other countries of the Middle East. Therefore, the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt in many respects differ from the awkward pictures of ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient Egyptians wrote for 3500 years ago BC. Writing was a combination of drawings and ideography. With the arrival of a new era, it changed by adding new signs. To date, scientists have counted 6000 hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptian language.

A rich set of hieroglyphs leads many scientists to the idea that writing originated in the heyday of Ancient Egypt. They explain their point of view by the fact that it was the Egyptians who made sense in those little pictures with which they tried to convey their thoughts. The theory in many respects contradicts known historical facts. The question remains, what about the letter that emerged on the territory of Mesopotamia, because it appeared much earlier. However, this is a completely different topic.

Deciphering the writing of Ancient Egypt

Many ancient authors and scientists tried to decipher the rich language of Ancient Egypt. Some have succeeded, others have failed. But all antique researchers are united by one - an exaggeration of the meaning of the symbolic letter of the ancient Egyptians. They took too much of this standard attribute of the life of a normal intelligent person. Nevertheless, in their works there is a rational grain. For example, Plutarch estimated the entire Egyptian letter as purely symbolic. And Herodotus singled out several types of letters: sacred and folk. Clement of Alexandria went even further in this matter. He suggested that there are three types of Egyptian writing: hieroglyphics, hieratic style (sacred letter), epistolography (everyday writing). The most famous attempt at decipherment was undertaken in the 10th century by an Arab explorer and traveler of Ibn Vahshi. Modern Egyptian scientists have found unique methods of deciphering that help answer the question of where and when writing arose. To date, there are no problems with the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

How did the Greek writing come about?

The origin of writing in Greece, the cradle of Western culture, is associated with the appearance of the Greek alphabet. It should be noted that the Greek alphabet is borrowed. It was created on the basis of Phoenician, which the Greeks took in the IX century BC. The alphabet consisted only of consonants, which was completely unsuitable for the Greek language. Therefore, the Greeks literally "diluted" it with a few vowels. Already in the 7th century BC they learned to write, as evidenced by the findings of archaeologists. The most ancient text, known at the moment, is the Dipillonian inscription. There are also theories that Greek writing arose around the XVII century BC, but there is no real historical evidence for this. So, we know how the Greek writing developed, as well as Egyptian and Mesopotamian. But there are also historical finds of a completely different, European culture of writing.

Prerequisites for the emergence of the Slavonic alphabet

Somewhere in the fifth century AD there is a great settlement of the Slavs. As a result of this large-scale migration process, many different tribes appeared. This period is identified with the time when the Slavic writing arose. Minor tribes gradually evolved, and by the end of the 9th century, the Eastern Slavs had created their own state, which they called Kievan Rus. The new state was rapidly gaining military power, and also developing its culture. It was during this period that writing arose, because during the Slavic settlement only the Slavic language existed. Paradoxically, the laws of writing were formed after the invention of the Slavic alphabet, just as it happened in Greece.

Cyril and Methodius are the forefathers of Old Russian writing

The first books in the Slavic language provide an opportunity to understand how the Old Russian writing developed. The brothers Cyril and Methodius created the alphabet and the first books in Slavonic for the prince of Moravia on behalf of Emperor Michael III. This happened in 863. On the territory of ancient Rus writing came in the form of the alphabet - Cyrillic or Glagolitic. But here there is a small discrepancy. When there was a written language in Russia, people in the territory of this state already knew the Slavic language. Hence the question: did the writing and the alphabet really form in the territory of Kievan Rus, or did these irreplaceable attributes of culture come from outside? To this question, scientists can not give an answer to this day. Most likely, the disparate tribes spoke their own, strictly local dialects. As for Slavic writing and language, they were formed in their classical form already during the existence of Kievan Rus on the basis of the alphabet of the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Conclusion

So, we have analyzed various historical periods that give us an opportunity to understand where and when the writing arose. The history of the appearance of this phenomenon contains many secrets, on which it is still necessary to shed light.