The Invention of Writing

Essential Question:
How did Sumerians
change the way
people
communicate?
 The Invention of Writing
1. Cuneiform is the world’s first system of writing.
a. Pencils and paper were not invented yet so the
Sumerians used sharp tools called styluses to
make wedged-shaped symbols in clay tablets.
 The Invention of Writing
2. Earlier written communication used
pictographs.
a. Pictographs were picture symbols.
 The Invention of Writing
3. Sumerians used cuneiform first
to keep business records.
a. A scribe, or writer, would be
hired to keep track of items people
traded.
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4. They also created works of literature.
They wrote poems, proverbs, stories.
Some were epics.
a. An epic is a long poem that tells a story of a
hero.
b. Later, people used some of these poems to
create The Epic of Gilgamesh the story of a
legendary Sumerian king.
 The Invention of Writing
Let’s think!

How do you think that the invention of

writing affected the civilization of
Mesopotamia?