On the Beginning of Writing in Mesopotamia
It’s hard to imagine life without reading and writing. Speech is fine as far as it goes, but it’s
essentially non-persistent and short-range: the need to communicate over time
and space can’t be filled by speech.
If
you ever were, or knew, a teenage girl, you have seen the true manifestation of
an insatiable need for communication. This need is now filled largely by
writing, in the form of texting, Facebook, emails and whatever else has been
invented lately that I’m too old to know about.
Historically, however, teenage girls were unlikely to be
those with the resources for inventing writing in a largely pre-literate
world. Instead it was the poets, stirred
by the divine breath of the gods themselves, stretching the wings of
song...not! It was rich guys and their
accountants. Surprised?
"The oldest signs in the
system seem to be imitations of clay tokens of diverse forms, used as counters
in an accounting procedure throughout the Near East from the 9th millennium
B.C. to the 2nd; each type of counter presumably represented an individual type
of goods, and therefore an individual word."
-Introduction to Akkadian,
Fourth edition, Caplice and Snell.
This wasn’t so much about communication (yet) as counting.
However, where clay tokens were, taxes, tax bills, and letters about taxes soon
followed. And since you’re writing, it
was natural enough to ask after the guys over in Accounts Payable in the Ashur
office. And by the way, are you avoiding
my calls?
A
letter:
“Speak to Bibiya
Thus
(speaks) Gimil-Marduk,
May Shamash and Marduk keep you
alive forever for my sake.
I wrote concerning your well-being:
send me (news about) your well-being.
I came to Babylon, but did not see
you; I became very upset.
Send me news of your traveling that
I may rejoice…
Be well forever for my sake.”
-Saison de Fouilles a Sippar,
Vincent Schiel, pg. 131.
To the left is a clay tablet from the British museum from 1850BCE. You can also see the envelope and read the story here.
I really enjoyed your post (I've always kinda hated those rich guys and their accountants!) =) It left me wondering if Gimil-Marduk's effusiveness was common for letter writing duing this period? Or if he just had a huge man crush? More problematic, is that I love letter writing and your post left me bemoaning the flimsiness of paper mail.
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