A brief history of the alphabets
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A chart showing the transition from hieroglyphics to modern-day alphabet. |
In those days, history, family lineage, legends and myths were passed down the generations through lengthy poems and prose that were committed to memory. So a great memory was a prerequisite for the thinking man.
Be that as it may, writing whether on clay, stone, papyrus or wood was the first sign of civilisation, as it correctly and precisely stated the laws, marked the calendars and made accounting possible. The earliest writing form was discovered in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq). The cuneiform system was used by the Mesopotamians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Elamites and Assyrians from 3,000 BC, right up till the 7th and 6th century BC.
Some Eurocentric scholars proclaimed that all writings evolved from Mesopotamia from a proto-Elamic script, including the writings of the Chinese and Indus peoples.
This theory does not hold water because the European alphabets were based on phonetics or sound, whereas the Chinese, Egyptians and Sumerians writings, and even the Mayan texts, were ideographic, where every word, definite object or abstract conception is represented by a picture.
The Chinese developed their own alphabets and writing which the Japanese, Koreans and Mongolians emulated. Writing samples were seen on ancient tortoise (oracle) bones.
The written word has always held a special place. The Chinese used writings as a direct link to their gods. In some ancient Middle-Eastern cults, it was believed that if you wrote the five names of God, you could attain magical powers. Other cultures used magical alphabets for talismans, magical inscriptions and divination.
In ancient Europe, esoteric knowledge was preserved in the form of runes and sometimes in an alphabetic writing system called ogham. Runes were deep magical secrets formulated by Celtic druids, who were persecuted by the Romans and Teutons, and fled to the British Isles. Runes are now being used again as a means of divination.
Even today, the written word is considered powerful enough to cure illnesses. Mediums use ink or their own blood to write magical words on paper, which is then burnt and mixed with water for the patient to drink.
When ink is put to paper, it symbolises a contract to formalise an agreement. Writing expresses feelings that may be too delicate to utter or too cruel to deliver in person. We depend on the written word, and the writing of an individual embodies the spirit, emotions and magic of that person.
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