Marc Van De Mieroop. 1999. Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History. Routledge, London and New York. pp 166, 30 pages of notes, references, and indices.
This brief book, part of Routledge's series entitled Approaching the Ancient World, takes as its primary mission to investigate the practices of Mesopotamian historians, and to use their data as expressed in the cuneiform texts to make inferences concerning the political and economic history, as well as inform us about both non-elite members of Mesopotamian society, and the differing roles of men and women in that society.
Cuneiform script is the earliest translated script known in the world, in fact one of the earliest scripts period, dating from about 3000 BC. The script, formed by pressing wedge shapes into pillow-shaped lumps of wet clay, was invented in the ancient town of Uruk in what is now southern Iraq, but its use spread widely over the next couple of millennia. It was developed to express the language of Sumer, but the cuneiform script was used to write numerous languages, including Hittite, Aramaic, Akkadian, and other Semitic and Indo-European languages. Cuneiform is the script in which was written the Epic of Gilgamesh, the famous Mesopotamian literary epic.
Cuneiform script is the earliest translated script known in the world, in fact one of the earliest scripts period, dating from about 3000 BC. The script, formed by pressing wedge shapes into pillow-shaped lumps of wet clay, was invented in the ancient town of Uruk in what is now southern Iraq, but its use spread widely over the next couple of millennia. It was developed to express the language of Sumer, but the cuneiform script was used to write numerous languages, including Hittite, Aramaic, Akkadian, and other Semitic and Indo-European languages. Cuneiform is the script in which was written the Epic of Gilgamesh, the famous Mesopotamian literary epic.
Van De Mieroop describes the scripts as primarily administrative texts, but they also include private legal documents, public and private letters, historiographic texts, and literary and scholarly texts. There are tens of thousands of these texts available today, opening a window into the ancient working world of one of the world's earliest cities and its trading partners. From the texts, Van De Mieroop extracts a history of Mesopotamia, including a list of kings and queens, and discusses the problematic King Sargon. Evidence is also provided for documented usage of land, crop yields, income and expenditures for the various states. More interesting to me is the description of the day-to-day lives of the bureaucrats, foresters, merchants, soldiers, and tenant farmers of Babylonia and the discussion of the status of Mesopotamian women in the society.
While the book gets a bit bogged down in rhetoric, particularly in the economic and gender related chapters, overall it is most illuminating for those of us who know little of the ancient art of writing.
This book is recommended for professionals and amateurs alike; it is rather complex for anyone younger than college age.
This book is recommended for professionals and amateurs alike; it is rather complex for anyone younger than college age.
