History of Writing

The origin of writing

The history of writing goes back very far. In the beginning, the characters were rather "primitive images", which over time developed into symbols, and further into characters.

The oldes known primitive symbols were created some 15.000 years b.C.. At that time, people drew mainly hunting scenes on cave walls and clay pots.

It was obviously a very long way from these beginnings to today's writing. This chapter is a summary of that long way, from the primitive signs to today's alphabet.

The following subpages are available in the chapter "The History of Writing":

The Formation of Writing

From primitive symbols to today's alphabet. Primitive types, 15,000 BC: Simple pictorial representations, primarily painted on cave walls and pottery.  

Picture Writing

The desire of people to communicate with each other is very old. This is shown, for example, in cave paintings from the late Palaeolithic Age (40,000 BC)... 

Origin of the Alphabet

The area of development of the alphabet is nowadays assumed to be located in the southeast of the Mediterranean region. Historical traditions show that the alph...