From Mesopotamia to Star Wars in Just a Few Words (Writing)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Writing
Date:	18/10/06 (231 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Communication

Disadvantages: Not everything is inspired by the written word

Writing is the main reason most people participate in this site. It's funny but everybody has different reasons for writing. Some feel a powerful urge to unleash their thoughts onto paper; others simply want to report facts; others still use writing as a basic but effective form of communication. The curious thing about "writing" is that it covers such a broad spectrum as opposed to "creative writing" which is what so many more of us are actually interested in. As this subject is about writing in general then feel free to explore with me a little of the history and modern developments around the topic. Alternatively, the next opinion about sauerkraut from Sainsbury is demanding your attention *rolls eyes*

Writing is historically attributed to the societies of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. The concept of writing was considered so ephemeral and those same societies revered the notion so much so that deities were drawn up to explain its divine origin. In ancient Egypt, the invention of writing is attributed to the god Thoth (Dhwty in Egyptian), who was the scribe and historian of the gods. Not only that, Thoth also kept the calendar and invented art and science. In essence, this was one busy deity who is also portrayed as the creator of speech and possessing the power to transform speech into material objects. The Egyptians being heavily into their myths and folklore believed that in order for a person to achieve immortality; his or her name had to be spoken or inscribed somewhere forever. This may account for modern day tree etchings in forests and woods up and down the country or may even be used in a graffiti prosecution one day, who knows? Then again, I may have just made that bit up *Glances at "Mara loves Dooyoo" etched on tree trunk with arrow through heart*

In downtown Mesopotamia, the ancient Sumerians thought of the god Enlil as the creator of writing. Just to confuse matters, during the Assyrian and Babylonian periods, the god Nabu was credited as the inventor of writing and scribe of the gods. These Mesopotamian scribal gods were also credited with the power of creation via divine speech. As we trawl the various ancient societies, a pattern begins to emerge of a link between writing and a higher purpose although those links are not so strongly felt today. Debatably, it could well be that Nabu inspired certain George Lucas expressions in the Star Wars saga (isn't it a planet or sumfink?) and so the written word has taken us from Mesopotamia to the outer reaches of the galaxy in one simple paragraph! Alternatively, all of this may even transport you to an episode of Ghostbusters with its Sumerian/Mesopotamian Gods that drove the movie's plot. One paragraph; several different mental images.

In a valiant effort to break this mythological link, the Chinese attributed the invention of writing to an ancient sage named Ts'ang Chieh, who was a minister in the court of the legendary Huang Ti (Yellow Emperor). However, the Heaven's communications piece is resurrected again as the notion of writing was considered to be a communication tool between heaven (realm of gods and ancestors) and earth (realm of humans). This physically manifested itself as the inscribed oracle bones used for divination during historical times. To westerners, the symbols used in Chinese writing may seem indecipherable but provide a good example of the variety of letters and signs used to form a coherent piece of writing. Like the spoken word, writing has sprung up and grown in numerous different ways in numerous different places and provides the rich diversity that goes into forming our global community. Remember that when you are ordering your next Chinese take-away and respect the written word (i.e. menu) rather than barking out that you want number 42 along with 27 and a number 16 *grin*

The truth of it appears to be that writing was invented independently in at least three places - Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica whilst recent evidence suggests that writing was also invented in Egypt and Indus independently of Mesopotamia. Nowadays, writing is prevalent across the globe in the form of thousands of different languages and a myriad of local adaptations. Writing continues to be one of the most powerful forms of communication known to man. Whole religions are encapsulated in the written word such as the Bible and the Koran and notable acts like Martin Luther's students attaching a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg inspired whole movements such as The Reformation. Luther's translation of the Bible also furthered the development of a standard version of the German language. In this case, the power of writing stoked the fires of the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. Ultimately, the whole course of Western civilization was changed by the words of one man.

Such is the power of writing that you could be forgiven for thinking that it was indispensable as a marker of civilization. However, the fact is that there are major urban cultures in the world that did not employ writing such as the Andean cultures (Moche, Chimu, Inca, etc), but that didn't prevent them from building impressive states and empires. For this in microcosm see your local mime artist or someone performing sign language as examples of occasions where we operate in a non-written format but with equally effective results.

The impact of writing is no more powerful than through the phenomenon of the Internet. Every day, a billion new writing forms appear in the form of stories, blogs, news items and e-mail. This massive explosion of communication takes the power of writing to a potentially exponential degree. To be able to access other people's minds and thoughts, post your own creative meandering for the whole world to see and read and simply say hello to someone on the other side of the planet moves us into realms not previously seen and yet quickly taken for granted. If you are anything like me then the combination of writing and the advent of the Internet will probably have changed your life. Then again, writing has been changing our lives since, well, ancient times.

Thanks for the read.

Mara.

Summary: Overview of writing