The First Writing
Early Men did not know how to write, but they used to draw pictures of animals on the walls of the caves.These were magic charms to keep them safe from evil spirits and to ask blessings for good hunting.In time each pictures came to have a special meaning. When a tribe wanted to keep a record of an important hunt, they would scratch pictures of it on pieces of bark or on stones. this reminded them and their children of what had happened.
The Ancient Egyptians drew and painted pictures on the clay tablets which were afterwards baked hard, or on stone or wood. In time these pictures came to mean sounds or letters, and this was the beginning of the first alphabets.
The Persians and Babylonians also wrote on clay, but they had a different kind of alphabet. They formed letters by pressing the end of a wedge-shaped stick into clay tablets.
Great libraries of these tablets have been discovered. We can learn from how Persian and Babylonian rulers kept their accounts and records, and the tablets tell us the instructions they wrote to their generals and ambassadors.
But clay tablets were heavy and took up a lot of room, so the Egyptians invented a new writing material. This was made from the pith of the papyrus reeds which grew beside the River Nile. Strips of the pith were placed across each other. Then they were joined by glue and beaten together into a sheet. Finally this was dried and polished.
Rolls of papyrus were easy to store and smooth enough to write on with a reed pen. Ink was made from a mixture of soot, water and gum.
So many people liked using papyrus that the Egyptians were able to sell a lot of it to other countries. At one time the king of Egypt would not allow the people of Pergamum to made their own writing material from animal skins, which they scraped clean and polished. This parchment, as it is called, was even better to write on than papyrus. it was smooth and white and lasted for a very long time.
Early Men did not know how to write, but they used to draw pictures of animals on the walls of the caves.These were magic charms to keep them safe from evil spirits and to ask blessings for good hunting.In time each pictures came to have a special meaning. When a tribe wanted to keep a record of an important hunt, they would scratch pictures of it on pieces of bark or on stones. this reminded them and their children of what had happened.
The Ancient Egyptians drew and painted pictures on the clay tablets which were afterwards baked hard, or on stone or wood. In time these pictures came to mean sounds or letters, and this was the beginning of the first alphabets.
The Persians and Babylonians also wrote on clay, but they had a different kind of alphabet. They formed letters by pressing the end of a wedge-shaped stick into clay tablets.
Great libraries of these tablets have been discovered. We can learn from how Persian and Babylonian rulers kept their accounts and records, and the tablets tell us the instructions they wrote to their generals and ambassadors.
But clay tablets were heavy and took up a lot of room, so the Egyptians invented a new writing material. This was made from the pith of the papyrus reeds which grew beside the River Nile. Strips of the pith were placed across each other. Then they were joined by glue and beaten together into a sheet. Finally this was dried and polished.
Rolls of papyrus were easy to store and smooth enough to write on with a reed pen. Ink was made from a mixture of soot, water and gum.
So many people liked using papyrus that the Egyptians were able to sell a lot of it to other countries. At one time the king of Egypt would not allow the people of Pergamum to made their own writing material from animal skins, which they scraped clean and polished. This parchment, as it is called, was even better to write on than papyrus. it was smooth and white and lasted for a very long time.
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