Writing Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization

by Powell, Barry B.

• ISBN13: 9781405162562
• ISBN10: 1405162562
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-20
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization traces the origins of writing tied to speech from ancient Sumer through the Greek alphabet and beyond. Examines the earliest evidence for writing in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, the origins of purely phonographic systems, and the mystery of alphabetic writing Includes discussions of Ancient Egyptian,Chinese, and Mayan writing Shows how the structures of writing served and do serve social needs and in turn create patterns of social behavior Clarifies the argument with many illustrations

Author Biography

Barry B. Powell is Halls-Bascom Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written extensively on ancient Greek literature and the history of writing. His books include Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (1991), A New Companion to Homer (editor, with Ian Morris) (1997), Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature (2001), and two editions of Homer (second edition, Blackwell, 2007).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Maps	p. xiv
Preface	p. xv
Chronology	p. xvii
Introduction: A Difficult Topic, Little Studied, Poorly Understood	p. 1
What Is Writing?	p. 11
Writing with Signs	p. 19
Categories and Features of Writing	p. 38
Some General Issues in the Study of Writing	p. 51
Protocuneiform and Counting Tokens	p. 60
Origin of Lexigraphic Writing in Mesopotamia	p. 70
Plato's Ideas and Champollion's Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs	p. 85
Egyptian Writing and Egyptian Speech	p. 100
The Origin and Nature of Egyptian Writing	p. 108
"The House of Life": Scribes and Writing in Ancient Egypt	p. 120
Syllabic Scripts of the Aegean	p. 128
The West Semitic Revolution	p. 148
What Kind of Writing Was West Semitic?	p. 163
The Origins of West Semitic Writing	p. 175
Chinese Logography	p. 187
Lexigraphic Writing in Mesoamerica	p. 206
The Greek Alphabet: A Writing That Changed the World	p. 227
Summary and Conclusions	p. 245
Glossary	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 263
Index	p. 270
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