cuneiforms

Cuneiform is one of the earliest systems of writing, developed by the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia around 3400–3000 BCE. It is named for the wedge-shaped marks made by a reed stylus pressed into damp clay, which dried to form durable tablets. The script began as pictographs (proto-cuneiform) used for simple record-keeping and gradually evolved into a flexible script that encodes language through logograms and syllables.

Cuneiform signs can represent whole words (logograms) or syllables (syllabic signs). The repertoire expanded over millennia, enabling it to be used for several languages of the region, notably Sumerian, Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian), Urartian, and Hittite. Texts were inscribed on clay tablets and on cylinders or seals. The script supported a wide range of genres, including administrative records, legal codes, literary works such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, prayers, lexical lists, and scientific texts.

Historically, cuneiform passed through several phases, from early pictographic forms to standardized cuneiform in the Old and Neo-Assyrian periods. It spread across Mesopotamia and beyond, influencing neighboring writing systems and enabling long-distance administration and cultural exchange. The decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century, spearheaded by Henry Rawlinson with the help of scholars such as Edward Hincks, opened extensive studies of ancient Mesopotamia.

Cuneiform gradually declined as Aramaic rose to prominence in administration. By the 1st century CE it had largely fallen out of use, though its study continues to illuminate politics, society, law, literature, and daily life in the ancient Near East.