Page 15 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

hiEroglyphs linEar a

Egypt’s ‘sacred writing’ is developed by priests Found mainly in Crete, Linear A is used
as a way of recording events on the walls of to record
temples. It was used in several different forms a language
for some 3,600 years until 400 CE. spoken in
the ancient
mud marks eastern
Mediterranean,
but it has not
In Mesopotamia, the Sumerians develop
been identified
syllabic writing in the form of wedge-shaped or
and the script
cuneiform marks made with reeds in soft mud,
remains
which is then baked. The system is used to
undeciphered.
records many other languages in the Middle East.
c.3400 BcE c.3200 BcE c.2100-1700 BcE

chinEsE: linEar B ThE firsT alphaBET

finding Derived from the The earliest example of a phonetic alphabet was
mEaning in undeciphered Linear A, this recorded in a cave in the Egyptian desert in the
Wadi el-Hol valley. Written in a Semitic language
script with 87 syllabic signs
crackEd and 100 other ‘signifier’ signs that’s yet to be deciphered, the text appears
alongside traditional Egyptian glyphs.
is used to record the language
shElls of the Mycenaean Greeks.
During the Shang dynasty,
signs scratched by diviners
record the supposed
meanings of cracks in the
fire-scorched shells of
turtles. A few signs survive
and have since evolved
into modern ideograms.

c.1200 BcE c.1450 BcE c.1800 BcE

korEa’s ‘grEaT scripT’ guTEnBErg’s rEvoluTion garamond’s nEw dEsign

The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul Gutenberg In France, Claude Garamond, an engraver of punches,
or ‘Great Script’, is devised by the king, prints the produces a new typeface
Sejong. Bible in the based on Roman models.
He was first significant His design — and
inspired by use of other similar ones by
the need to printing with contemporaries — has
escape the movable type. made Garamond-style
difficulties His choice typefaces
of using of Gothic among Today,
4 billion
Chinese typeface the most
people use the
to write will endure popular Latin alphabet.
Korean and in Germany of those Another 2 billion
it is still in until the 20th in use use letter-based
scripts
use today. century. today.
1444 1454 1530-45

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