The rigins f Writing
It was in Egypt and Mesptamia (mdern-day Iraq) that civilizatin arse, and it is there that we find the earliest examples f that key feature f civilizatin, writing. These examples, in the frm f inscribed clay tablets that date t shrtly befre 3000 B.C.E., have been discvered amng the archaelgical remains f the Sumerians, a gifted peple settled in suthern Mesptamia.
The Egyptians were nt far behind in develping writing, but we cannt fllw the histry f their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material. In ancient times the banks f the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and frm the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a frm f paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesptamia’s rivers basted n such useful reeds, but its land did prvide gd clay, and as a cnsequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Thugh clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear t archaelgists: it is durable. Fire, fr example, which is death t papyrus paper r ther writing materials such as leather and wd, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even mre durable. S when a cnquerr set a Mesptamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival f any clay tablets in it. Clay, mrever, is cheap, and frming it int tablets is easy, factrs that helped the clay tablet becme the preferred writing material nt nly thrughut Mesptamia but far utside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minr, Persia, and even fr a while in Crete and Greece. Excavatrs have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use fr mre than tw and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted dwn t the beginning f the cmmn era until finally yielding, nce and fr all, t mre cnvenient alternatives.
The Sumerians perfected a style f writing suited t clay. This script cnsists f simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that culd easily be incised in sft clay with a reed r wden stylus; schlars have dubbed it cuneifrm frm the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark Althugh the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds f cmbinatins f these basic frms that stand fr different sunds r wrds. Learning these cmplex signs required lng training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited t a small prfessinal class, the scribes.
The Akkadians cnquered the Sumerians arund the middle f the third millennium B.C.E., and they tk ver the varius cuneifrm signs used fr writing Sumerian and gave them sund and wrd values that fit their wn language. The Babylnians and Assyrians did the same, and s did peples in Syria and Asia Minr. The literature f the Sumerians was treasured thrughut the Near East, and lng after Sumerian ceased t be spken, the Babylnians and Assyrians and thers kept it alive as a literary language, the way Eurpeans kept Latin alive after the fall f Rme. Fr the scribes f these nn-Sumerian languages, training was dubly demanding since they had t knw the values f the varius cuneifrm signs fr Sumerian as well as fr their wn language.
The cntents f the earliest clay tablets are simple ntatins f numbers f cmmdities—animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it wuld appear, started as a primitive frm f bkkeeping. Its use sn widened t dcument the multitudinus things and acts that are invlved in daily life, frm simple inventries f cmmdities t cmplicated gvernmental rules and regulatins.
Archaelgists frequently find clay tablets in batches. The batches, sme f which cntain thusands f tablets, cnsist fr the mst part f dcuments f the types just mentined: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventries, lans, marriage cntracts, divrce settlements, curt judgments, and s n. These recrds f factual matters were kept in strage t be available fr reference-they were, in effect, files, r, t use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives. Nw and then these files include pieces f writing that are f a distinctly different rder, writings that d nt merely recrd sme matter f fact but invlve creative intellectual activity. They range frm simple textbk material t literature-and they make an appearance very early, even frm the third millennium B C E.
1. The wrd “key” in the passage is clsest in meaning t
frequent
essential
riginal
familiar
2. The wrd “virtue” in the passage is clsest in meaning t
price
design
desirable quality
physical characteristic
3. Which f the sentences belw best expresses the essential infrmatin In the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incrrect chices change the meaning in imprtant ways r leave ut essential infrmatin.
In part because f its lw cst and ease f use, clay became the preferred writing material thrughut Mesptamia and well beynd it
Clay was cheap thrughut Mesptamia, s clay tablets frm Mesptamia became the preferred writing material as far as the Mediterranean.
Fr a while, the day tablet was the preferred writing material in Crete and Greece.
Mrever, because day was used as the writing material f chice in Mesptamia, Syria, Asia Minr, Persia, and the Mediterranean, it was cheap and ppular.
4. What can be inferred frm paragraph 2 abut clay as a writing material?
It had t be baked befre it culd be written n
Its gd pints utweighed its bad pints.
Its durability was its mst imprtant feature fr its users.
It was nt available in Egypt.
5. In paragraph 2, why des the authr discuss the Egyptian use f papyrus as a writing material^
T describe the superifity f papyrus ver leattier and wd as a writing material
T explain why writing in Egypt did nt develp as quickly as it did Mesptamia
T explain why archaelgists' knwledge f the early histry f writing relies mainly n Sumerian cuneifrm
T explain why the Sumerians preferred clay tablets fr writing ver papyrus
6. Accrding t paragraph 3, all f the fllwing are true f cuneifrm writing EXCEPT:
It was cmpsed f very simple shapes
It was perfected by the ancient Sumerians.
It influenced the chice f material n which it was written.
It was understd by very few Sumerians.
7. Accrding t paragraph 4, hw did the Akkadians use the Sumerian language?
They used Sumerian fr speaking but used their wn natinal language fr writing.
They used the cmplex cuneifrm signs develped by the Babylnians and Assyrians rather than the Sumerian signs.
They develped their wn cuneifrm shapes n clay tablets t replace thse used by the Sumerians.
They assigned new sund and wrd values t the signs f Sumerian cuneifrm.
8. Paragraph 4 answers all the fllwing questins abut Sumerian writing in the perid after the Sumerians were cnquered EXCEPT:
Did Sumerian literature cntinue t be read?
Did Sumerian cntinue t be spken?
Did scribes cmpse new texts in Sumerian?
Did Sumerian have the same fate as Latin had after the fall f Rme?
9. The wrd "dcument" in the passage is clsest in meaning t
include
influence
rganize
recrd
10. Accrding t paragraph 5, writing was first used fr
simple bkkeeping
descriptins f daily events
cunting the cntents f clay tablets
gvernment reprts
11. The phrase “Nw and then” in the passage is clsest in meaning t
always
ccasinally
sner r later
first and last
12. Accrding t paragraph 6, large batches f clay writing tablets were stred because the tablets
were being prduced quickly and in large quantities
did nt serve any practical purpse fr mst Mesptamians
cntained infrmatin that needed t be available fr future reference
culd nt be used again nce they had been written n
13. Lk at the fur squares [] that indicate where the fllwing sentence culd be added t the passage.
Hwever, the Sumerian language did nt entirely disappear.
Where wuld the sentence best fit? Click n a square [] t add the sentence t the passage
14. Directins: An intrductry sentence fr a brief summary f the passage is prvided belw. Cmplete the summary by selecting the THREE answer chices that express the mst imprtant ideas in the passage Sme sentences d nt belng in the summary because they express ideas that are nt presented in the passage r are minr ideas in the passage. This questin is wrth 2 pints.
Drag yur answer chices t the spaces where they belng T remve an answer chice, click n it.
T review the passage, click VIEW TEXT
The earliest examples f writing have been fund in Mesptamia and date t shrtly befre 3000 B.C.E.
Answer Chices
Writing was invented in the same areas in which civilizatin began by the ancient civilizatins f Mesptamia, Asia Minr and the Mediterranean.
The develpment f cuneifrm is knwn because it was written n a lng-lasting material and because it was lng and widely used thrughut the ancient Near East.
Cuneifrm tablets generally dealt with business and factual matters, but ther tpics, including literature, were als recrded and valued.
Writing was develped first by the Sumerians using wedge shaped marks (cuneifrm) n clay tablets and then by the Egyptians using papyrus paper.
Scribes using cuneifrm in Assyria, Babyln, Syria and Asia Minr had t learn all the languages that used the cuneifrm script.
Batches f clay tablets, smetimes with as many as a thusand tablets each, are ften fund by archaelgists.