Ink Stains and the Roman Alphabet - The History of Writing

Editor's Weekly Ramblings 9

Friday 9th May 2003

Ink Stains and the Roman Alphabet

Ink is a very sensuous liquid. It flows through words with almost sexual abandon to enliven our lives with great literature. It structures our lives in the thoughts that are indelibly committed to paper, and casts its eye down the ages to appeal to those not yet born. It is simple, yet can capture utmost complexity. In many respects it is the embodiment of what technology should be. It embraces change and yet at the same time through our pens is an extension of our arms, of our physicality. It does not divorce us from ourselves because the act of writing is as much a physical process as it is a mental endeavour. And its partner in pleasure is the alphabet.

The art of writing can be dated back originally to cave paintings, where pictures produced in charcoal have been dated back to 37,000 years ago. These would typically depict animals (over 300 different ones have been recorded) such as rhinoceroses and lions and their pursuers hunting exploits. The line between art and writing is somewhat blurred with cave paintings, because whilst they are communicating, the message is not clear cut. They are a desire to express, but without the benefit of a clear medium to communicate that expression.

There is then a big gap before the earliest examples of writing that we would recognise as pre-cursors of modern writing. With the development of Cuneiform in Sumer, in what is now present day Iraq. Here around 5,000 - 6,000 years ago the Sumerian people used a wedge shaped stick to press symbols into clay. (You can read an outline of the languages lexicon here). Because of the hardness of the clay fortunately many of the tablets have survived, and it paints a fascinating portrait of 'ordinary' lives engaged in such necessary activities as renting out land and calculating monthly accounts. One of the tablets has been translated as follows; "The poor man by his debts is he brought low! What is snatched out of his mouth must repay his debts". Times may change, but worrying about paying the bills has not!