Cuneiform (Reading the Past - Cuneiform to the Alphabet) (Paperback)

The first bit of information clarifies a misunderstanding commonly held even among scholars - Cuneiform is not a language, in-and-of itself. Cuneiform is a script, a writing tool used by at least 15 different ancient languages (much in the way the alphabet from which you are reading this review is shared among dozens of languages, with minor variations). Walker talks about the origins and development of Cuneiform script out of pictogram writing, placing it historically alongside Egyptian Hieroglyphics, the other major ancient writing system of the Near and Middle East.

Walker talks about the history of discovery, up until very recent times, of the different ancient languages which used Cuneiform script. Dating back as far as 3300 BC, writing pre-dates all known major Empires. The idea that the Sumerians invented writing, long held, has had to be revised. Nonetheless, the Sumerians did develop writing, using the Cuneiform script, to a high degree, and this was passed on to the Akkadians and then further afield. Walker makes interesting digressions into the materials and direction of writing as he proceeds with his history of the script.

Chapters two, three and four develop the world of the script in further detail. Chapter two looks at tablets and monuments, the media upon which the overwhelming majority of the cuneiform script has survived for us. Chapter three looks at the issues of scribal training, scribal identities (some scribes signed their names, titles, or other identifying markers on their work), and libraries of the ancient world, which were often official storehouses of documents, or private libraries of wealthy individuals. Chapter four shows the widespread geographical coverage of cuneiform, and the different languages over time and place that adopted the writing, such as Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Hurrian, Urartian, Ugartic, Luvian and Old Persian.

The next final two chapters look at issues of decipherment (Old Persian being among the earliest languages to be deciphered from cuneiform) and gives some sample texts for the reader. This includes explanation of the niceties of professional archaeologists and Assyriologists, such as writing Sumerian texts in lower-case Roman script and Akkadian in italics, etc. This is not a text which teaches one to read or construct cuneiform, but recognition of patterns in basic inscriptions is presented here.

The final two-page chapter deals with fakes and forgeries, and to some this may be the most interesting chapter. Looking at the history of forgeries of cuneiform (they go back on the antiquities market as far as 1820, the forgeries now becoming valuable collector's items in-and-of-themselves) to the production methods used to scam modern tourists, Walker shows methods for identifying the most obvious of forgeries in the simplest of methods.

Walker includes a useful bibliography, and gets full marks for including an index for even so brief a book as this. He also gives a good list of places to go to see cuneiform script in museums around the world. Far from a complete list, it is still worthwhile. While this book is but the introduction to the subject, it is a great text for those who have interest in Cuneiform, ancient languages, or linguistics, but do not have the time or inclination otherwise to pursue a full course on the topic.