The first true alphabet was an invention of the Greek world, revolutionizing writing, literacy, and shaping foundations of ...

is so deeply tied to its alphabet that we may take the pairing for granted. But long before Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, there were alternatives. In fact, although the first evidence of writing ...

Cuneiform means "wedge-shaped," a term the Greeks used to describe the look of the signs. It was used to write at least a dozen languages, just as the alphabet that you are reading now is also ...

which may have influenced Mesopotamian cuneiform. The proto-Sinaitic script was widely thought to be the oldest alphabet, Steele said, but the new discovery at Umm el-Marra challenged this idea.

It’s not a language. It’s not an alphabet, either, exactly. But if you want to read the original Epic of Gilgamesh, or study the trade records of the ancient Sumerians, cuneiform is the only game in ...

While earlier writing systems had already emerged before 2400 B.C.—such as cuneiform, for example—these did not make use of an alphabet. Cuneiform, considered to be the oldest known writing ...

While cuneiform is considered the world’s oldest writing system, having emerged before 3400 BCE in Mesopotamia, it is neither an alphabet nor a language but rather a set of characters denoting ...