“The most accessible and informative book available on the major writing systems of the world.” - History Today

“Rich in images ... well-informed and assured.” - Scientific American

“Delightful to read ... difficult to put down once started.” - Communication Arts

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Without writing there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. But how, when and where did writing evolve? Are we now moving towards a “universal language” of signs and symbols?In a succinct and absorbing text, Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol and script. He discusses each of the major writing systems

In turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan, as well as others such as the Cherokee “alphabet” and the writing of runes.

Full coverage is given to the history of decipherment and a provocative chapter devoted to undeciphered scripts challenges the reader: can these codes ever be broken? The Story of Writing is a book to read for pleasure and an invaluable reference on the world’s major writing systems.

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Andrew Robinson is Literary Editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement. His previous books include Earthshock (Thames & Hudson).

With over 350 illustrations, 50 in color


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Contents


Introduction 7


I HOW WRITING WORKS 18

Chapter 1 Reading the Rosetta Stone 20

• The Classical Image of Egypt • I he Wisdom of the Hieroglyphs • The Discovery of the Rosetta Stone • The Decipherment Begins • Champollion Breaks the Egyptian Code • The Essence of Egyptian Hieroglyphs


Chapter 2 Sound, Symbol and Script 36

•Visible and Invisible Speech • Sign Language • Theories of Reading • Sound and Spelling • Conveying Meaning in Writing • Rebuses • Shorthand • C lassification of Writing Systems • Language and Script • 1 he Prestige of a Script • The Graphic Dimension • Pictography


Chapter 3 Proto-Writing 52

• Ice Age Symbols • Tallies • Amerindian Pictograms • A Siberian Love Letter • Clay ‘Tokens’ • Clay Envelopes • The Eirst Clay Tablets • Counting in the Ancient Middle East • Archaic Book-keeping



II EXTINCT WRITING 68


Chapter 4 Cuneiform 70

• Ancient Mesopotamia • The Decipherment of Cuneiform • First Successes • Rawlinson and the Behistun Inscription • Cuneiform Deciphered • Cuneiform as an Art • Cuneiform as a Craft • The Evolution of the Signs • Numerals and Arithmetic • Computers and Cuneiform • Cuneiform ‘Literature’ • Hittite Cuneiform and Hittite Hieroglyphs


Chapter 5 Egyptian Hieroglyphs 92

• The Development of Egyptian Writing • The Direction of Egyptian Writing • The Sound of Ancient Egyptian • The Hieroglyphic ‘Alphabet’ • The Hidden Power of Hieroglyphs • Types of Hieroglyph • The Book of the Dead • Some Hieroglyphic Words • A Glazed Tile of Ramesses II • The Profession of Scribe


Chapter 6 Linear В 108

Arthur Evans as Decipherer • The Cypriot Clue • Deciphering Linear В • Breakthrough • ‘The tablets are in GREEK’


Chapter 7 Mayan Glyphs 120

• The Myth of the Ancient Maya • Who are the Maya? • Maya Numbers and Time • Maya Dates • The Dresden Codex • The Mayan ‘Alphabet’ • Decipherment Begins • A Mixed Writing System • A Mayan Syllabary • A Maya ‘Tutankhamun’ • The Birth and Death of Pacal • The Murals of Bonampak • A Maya Chocolate Cup


Chapter 8 Undeciphered Scripts 144

• Difficulties of Decipherment • Seal Secrets of the Indus • The Indus Script • Cretan Linear A • The Phaistos Disc • Proto-Elamite • Greek but not Greek: Etruscan • Etruscan Inscriptions • Rongorongo



III LIVING WRITING 156


Chapter 9 The First Alphabet 158

• The Riddle of the Alphabet • The Earliest ‘Alphabetic’ Inscriptions • An Alphabet in Cuneiform • The Phoenician Letters • What the Greeks Heard


Chapter 10 New Alphabets From Old 168

• The Family of Alphabets • The Greek and Latin Letters • Hebrew and the Aramaic Script • The Arabic Script • Indian Scripts • An Alphabet Invented by a King • Runes • Reading the Runes • The Cherokee ‘Alphabet’ • The Mystique of the Alphabet


Chapter 11 Chinese Writing 182

Reading the Bones • The Development of Chinese Characters • Classifying Chinese Characters • The Soothill Syllabary • The Chinese Language • Chinese Calligraphy • Forming Characters: Craft and Art • Pinyin: Romanizing Chinese


Chapter 12 Japanese Writing 198

Learning Kanji • Hiragana and Katakana • Капа Versus Kanji • The Most Complicated Writing in the World • Kanji, Капа and Romaji • The Future of Writing in Japan • The Computerization of Kanji


Chapter 13 From Hieroglyphs to Alphabets - and Back? 210

Further Reading 218 Index 223