(P/B) THE STORY OF WRITING

Παρουσίαση

Without writing there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. But how, when and where did writing evolve?
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? In this new edition, the author reveals the latest discoveries to have an impact on our knowledge of the history of writing, including the Tabula Cortonensis showing Etruscan symbols, and a 3rd millennium BC seal from Turkmenistan that could solve the mystery of how Chinese writing evolved. He also discusses how the digital revolution has not, despite gloomy predictions, spelled doom for the printed book. In addition, the table of Maya glyphs has been revised so that it is up to date with current research. (From the publisher)

"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)

Περιεχόμενα

Introduction
I. HOW WRITING WORKS
1. Reading the Rosetta Stone
The Classical Image of Egypt - The Wisdom of the Hieroglyphs The Discovery of the Rosetta Stone The Decipherment Begins - Champollion Breaks the Egyptian Code - The Essence of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
2. Sound, Symbol and Script
Visible and Invisible Speech - Sign Language Theories of Reading - Sound and Spelling - Conveying Meaning in Writing - Rebuses - Shorthand - Classification of Writing Systems - Language and Script - The Prestige of a Script - The Graphic Dimension - Pictography
3. Proto-Writing
Ice Age Symbols - Tallies - Amerindian Pictograms A Siberian Love Letter - Clay 'Tokens' - Clay Envelopes The First Clay Tablets - Counting in the Ancient Middle East Archaic Book-keeping
II. EXTINCT WRITING
4. Cuneiform
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
5. Egyptian Hieroglyphs
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: Hieroglyphic Words - A Glazed Tile of Ramesses II - The Profession of Scribe
6. Linear B
Arthur Evans as Decipherer - The Cypriot Clue - Deciphering Linear B - Breakthrough - 'The tablets are in GREEK'
7. Mayan Glyphs
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
8. Undetiphered Scripts
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
9. The First Alphabet
The Riddle of the Alphabet - The Earliest 'Alphabetic' Inscriptions - An Alphabet in Cuneiform The Phoenician Letters - What the Greeks Heard
10. New Alphabets From Old
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
11. Chinese Writing
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
12. Japanese Writing
Learning Kanji - Hiragana and Katakana - Kana Versus Kanji The Most Complicated Writing in the World Kanji, Kana and Romaji - The Future of Writing in Japan The Computerization of Kanji
13. From Hieroglyphs to Alphabets - and Back?
Postscript: Writing in the New Millennium
Further Reading
Index