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Cuneiform : The World ’ s First Writing System. Pictograph Definition: A picture that stands for a word or idea; picture writing . Why did the Sumerians invent writing? 1. Merchants and traders needed a way to keep track of what they bought and sold .
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Cuneiform: The World’s First Writing System
Pictograph • Definition: A picture that stands for a word or idea; picture writing. • Why did the Sumerians invent writing? • 1.Merchants and traders needed a way to keep track of • what they bought and sold. • 2. One of the first pictographs was for the grain, barley.
Barley • What is the relationship between the way our word “barley” looks and barley itself? • How do we know that the symbols which make up the word represent grain?
Cuneiform • Definition: Wedge-shaped characters made • with a reed stylus. • The Sumerians used a sharpened reed, called a stylus, • to draw pictures on clay.
Around 2500 B.C., writers had simplified their symbols. They no longer looked like pictures and were used to represent sounds.
Cuneiform consisted of 600 symbols. • People could now easily express themselves through writing. They began keeping records of: • wars and treaties • epic stories and poems (Story of Gilgamesh) • astronomy F. A new job was created called a scribe- A professional writer or record-keeper whose job was to copy documents and manuscripts.
