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cuneiform_writing_techniques [2016/01/25 12:45] – external edit 127.0.0.1cuneiform_writing_techniques [2020/10/25 14:32] (current) – [Cuneiform Writing Techniques] cammarosano
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-**Cuneiform on claystylus’ origins, manufacture, appearance, and handling**+(For an expanded version of this page, see [[https://cuneiform.neocities.org/CWT/CWT.html]])
  
 ===== The wedge ===== ===== The wedge =====
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-{{ image004.jpg?258x192|Fig. 2: The basic shape of the wedge and the stylus tip can be abstracted as a tetrahedron and a polyhedral cone respectively.}}By appearance, wedges are tiny impressions of pyramidal shape. Thomas Hyde, one of the first Western scholars to provide an account of cuneiform script, described them in 1700 as “dactyli pyramidales seu cuneiformes”. The wedge can therefore be abstracted as a tetrahedron, and the stylus’ writing tip as a polyhedral cone (fig. 2).+{{ image004.jpg?258x192|Fig. 2: The basic shape of the wedge and the stylus tip can be abstracted as a tetrahedron and a polyhedral cone respectively.}}By appearance, wedges are tiny impressions of pyramidal shape. Thomas Hyde, one of the first Western scholars to provide an account of cuneiform script, described them in 1700 as “ductuli pyramidales seu cuneiformes”. The wedge can therefore be abstracted as a tetrahedron, and the stylus’ writing tip as a polyhedral cone (fig. 2).
  
  
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 {{:image016.jpg?152x406 |The Late Bronze Age Ulu Burun dyptich (boxwood, each leaf 9.5 × 6.2 cm), and one of the writing boards from Nimrud (ivory, each leaf 34 × 16 cm).}}Waxed boards were extensively used in the Ancient Near East, both for ephemeral records and for compositions intended for libraries and erudite collections. It has been calculated that at least one-third of Aššurbanipal’s library likely consisted of board-books. Attested in textual sources from the end of the 3<sup>rd</sup> millennium BC onwards, writing boards are archaeologically documented for the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 1<sup>st</sup> millennium BC: examples are known from the Ulu Burun shipwreck, Aššur, and Nimrud (fig. 8). {{:image016.jpg?152x406 |The Late Bronze Age Ulu Burun dyptich (boxwood, each leaf 9.5 × 6.2 cm), and one of the writing boards from Nimrud (ivory, each leaf 34 × 16 cm).}}Waxed boards were extensively used in the Ancient Near East, both for ephemeral records and for compositions intended for libraries and erudite collections. It has been calculated that at least one-third of Aššurbanipal’s library likely consisted of board-books. Attested in textual sources from the end of the 3<sup>rd</sup> millennium BC onwards, writing boards are archaeologically documented for the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 1<sup>st</sup> millennium BC: examples are known from the Ulu Burun shipwreck, Aššur, and Nimrud (fig. 8).
  
-The boards were made of wood or ivory, two or more leaves being hinged together to form diptychs, triptychs, or polyptychs. The sunken portion of each leaf accommodated a layer of beeswax mixed with other substances, primarily yellow ochre or orpiment, which made the paste apt to be written on and gave it a yellowish colour. On wax, both cuneiform and linear scripts like aramaic or hieroglyhps could be used. The existence of waxed boards inscribed in Luwian hieroglyphs in Hittite Anatolia is virtually assured by the discovery at Boğazköy/Hattuša of bronze styli with pointed tip and a spatula at the back end (fig. 9); Anatolian hieroglyphs continued to be used on waxed boards in Iron Age Syria (fig. 10). On the other hand, two of the Neo-Assyrian writing boards from Nimrud still preserve a portion of the wax layer inscribed with cuneiform signs (fig. 11).+The boards were made of wood or ivory, two or more leaves being hinged together to form diptychs, triptychs, or polyptychs. The sunken portion of each leaf accommodated a layer of beeswax mixed with other substances, primarily yellow ochre or orpiment, which made the paste apt to be written on and gave it a yellowish colour. On wax, both cuneiform and linear scripts like aramaic or hieroglyphs could be used. The existence of waxed boards inscribed in Luwian hieroglyphs in Hittite Anatolia is virtually assured by the discovery at Boğazköy/Hattuša of bronze styli with pointed tip and a spatula at the back end (fig. 9); Anatolian hieroglyphs continued to be used on waxed boards in Iron Age Syria (fig. 10). On the other hand, two of the Neo-Assyrian writing boards from Nimrud still preserve a portion of the wax layer inscribed with cuneiform signs (fig. 11).
  
  {{:image018.jpg?200x250|Bronze styli from Hattuša/Boğazköy, 2nd millennium BC, used to write Anatolian hieroglyphs on waxed boards.}}{{:image020.jpg?135x277|The funerary stela of the augur Tarhunpiya, with folded writing board and stylus (note the spatula at its bottom end), from Maras, 8th century BC.}}{{:image022.jpg?232x200|Detail of the wax layer of one ivory writing board from Nimrud, still preserving a part of the astronomical omen series Enuma Anu Enlil inscribed in the cuneiform script.}}  {{:image018.jpg?200x250|Bronze styli from Hattuša/Boğazköy, 2nd millennium BC, used to write Anatolian hieroglyphs on waxed boards.}}{{:image020.jpg?135x277|The funerary stela of the augur Tarhunpiya, with folded writing board and stylus (note the spatula at its bottom end), from Maras, 8th century BC.}}{{:image022.jpg?232x200|Detail of the wax layer of one ivory writing board from Nimrud, still preserving a part of the astronomical omen series Enuma Anu Enlil inscribed in the cuneiform script.}}
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-Cuneiform styli used for waxed boards seem to have been immersed in a special fat, probably serving as a release agent to prevent the wax paste bonding to the stylus. In a letter to the Assyrian king Aššurbanipal, Babylonian scholars refer to “[ ... ] syrup, ghee and pressed (oil) for the kettle of their styli, to soak (them into it)”. Furthermore, styli connected with writing boards, as depicted on seals and reliefs, display two peculiarities as compared to those used for clay tablets:{{ :image024.jpg?325x190|: Depictions of scribes writing cuneiform on waxed boards, found in Neo-Assyrian reliefs. When the scribes face left, the ‘inner’ side of the stylus is visible, showing a groove; otherwise the ‘outer’ side is displayed, showing a horizontal band in the middle. The right-angled shape of the writing tip leaves no doubt that these styli were meant for the cuneiform script. The ‘grooved’ stylus as symbol of Nabu, appearing on kudurrus, stelae, and seals.}} scribes with board-books are regularly shown holding the stylus with their index and middle fingers extended; moreover, their styli show a groove on one side (fig. 12). What purpose did the groove serve? This issue has not been investigated in detail yet, and several options are open, the most intriguing one being the view that the groove might allow the wedges to be painted with a pigment while being impressed+At least in some cases, cuneiform styli used for waxed boards seem to have been immersed in a special fat, probably serving as a release agent to prevent the wax paste bonding to the stylus. In a letter to the Assyrian king Aššurbanipal, Babylonian scholars refer to “[ ... ] syrup, ghee and pressed (oil) for the kettle of their styli, to soak (them into it)”. Furthermore, styli connected with writing boards, as depicted on seals and reliefs, display two peculiarities as compared to those used for clay tablets:{{ :image024.jpg?325x190|: Depictions of scribes writing cuneiform on waxed boards, found in Neo-Assyrian reliefs. When the scribes face left, the ‘inner’ side of the stylus is visible, showing a groove; otherwise the ‘outer’ side is displayed, showing a horizontal band in the middle. The right-angled shape of the writing tip leaves no doubt that these styli were meant for the cuneiform script. The ‘grooved’ stylus as symbol of Nabu, appearing on kudurrus, stelae, and seals.}} scribes with board-books are regularly shown holding the stylus with their index and middle fingers extended; moreover, their styli show a groove on one side (fig. 12). What purpose did the groove serve? On the one hand, it may be an iconographic motif, which would consist in a symbolic representation of a closed diptych in profile view. On the other hand, its function may also have been connected to the occasional use of an oil-based release agent as mentioned above.
  
    
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 ===== Try yourself! ===== ===== Try yourself! =====
  
-{{:image032.jpg?600x150|Giant reed stalks, saw, and chisel: all you need to make a stylus. A modern scribe at play: Prof. Theo van den Hout of the Chicago Oriental Institute.}}Writing cuneiform is much easier than you may think… and it’s fun! First, shape the clay to form your tablet, rolling out and folding multiple sheets of clay, much like kneading a pizza dough -- best of all, follow this 4000 year-old Sumerian recipe: “[quick], come here, take the clay, knead it, flatten it, [mix(?) it], roll it (like a ball), make it thick, make (the tablet)!”. Then, make your own stylus from a reed stalk, or just take ready-to-use chopsticks, and start writing: it’s simply a matter of pressing the stylus’ corner into the moist clay, the signs consisting of combinations of wedges and each wedge being obtained through a separate impression (fig. 16). There are three basic types of wedges: vertical, horizontal, and oblique; to pass from one to another and to determine the wedge’s length is all a matter of varying the stylus’ orientation to the tablet and the angle at which it meets the surface. Enjoy!+{{:image032.jpg?600x150|Giant reed stalks, saw, and chisel: all you need to make a stylus. A modern scribe at play: Prof. Theo van den Hout of the Chicago Oriental Institute.}}Writing cuneiform is much easier than you may think… and it’s fun! First, shape the clay to form your tablet, rolling out and folding multiple sheets of clay, much like kneading a pizza dough -- best of all, follow this 4000 year-old Sumerian recipe: “[quick], come here, take the clay, knead it, flatten it, [mix(?) it], roll it (like a ball), make it thick, make (the tablet)!”. Then, make your own stylus from a reed stalk, or just take ready-to-use chopsticks, and start writing: it’s simply a matter of pressing the stylus’ corner into the moist clay, the signs consisting of combinations of wedges and each wedge being obtained through a separate impression (fig. 16). There are three basic types of wedges: vertical, horizontal, and oblique; to pass from one to another and to determine the wedge’s length is all a matter of varying the stylus’ orientation to the tablet and the angle at which it meets the surface. Enjoy! (For an expanded “tutorial” and related material, see [[https://cuneiform.neocities.org/CWT/howtowritecuneiform.html]])
  
    
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 Fig. 2: The basic shape of wedge and stylus tip can be abstracted as tetrahedron and polyhedral cone respectively. Fig. 2: The basic shape of wedge and stylus tip can be abstracted as tetrahedron and polyhedral cone respectively.
  
-Fig. 3:  //Arundo////donax// (giant reed); possible ways to split the stalk in order to obtain a stylus (drawings by J. Marzahn and A. Bramanti).+Fig. 3:  //Arundo donax// (giant reed); possible ways to split the stalk in order to obtain a stylus (drawings by J. Marzahn and A. Bramanti).
  
 Fig. 4: Close-up from the Old Babylonian tablet VAT 8136, with wedges displaying curved right-hand face and fibrous impressions on the left-hand face. Fig. 4: Close-up from the Old Babylonian tablet VAT 8136, with wedges displaying curved right-hand face and fibrous impressions on the left-hand face.
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 Fig. 11: BM 131952, © Trustees of the British Museum. Fig. 11: BM 131952, © Trustees of the British Museum.
  
-Fig. 12: Left to right and top to bottom: BM 124955, © Trustees of the British Museum, after J. Reade, //Assyrian Scultpure//, 1983, 33; Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 28.33, after Barnett //et al//., //Sculptures from the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh//, London 1998, 84 Pl. 222; Nahr-al-Kalb relief of Esarhaddon, after VS 1 //Beiheft//, Pl. 8; BKR 96;  Sam’al stela of Esarhaddon at the //Vorderasiatisches////Museum//, Berlin.+Fig. 12: Left to right and top to bottom: BM 124955, © Trustees of the British Museum, after J. Reade, //Assyrian Scultpure//, 1983, 33; Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 28.33, after Barnett //et al//., //Sculptures from the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh//, London 1998, 84 Pl. 222; Nahr-al-Kalb relief of Esarhaddon, after VS 1 //Beiheft//, Pl. 8; BKR 96;  Sam’al stela of Esarhaddon at the //Vorderasiatisches Museum//, Berlin.
  
 Fig 13: After G. Jendritzki, //Zur// //Restaurierung und Technologie des Bronzekreuzes VA 5379//, Baghdader Mitteilungen 28, 1997, 239-243. Fig 13: After G. Jendritzki, //Zur// //Restaurierung und Technologie des Bronzekreuzes VA 5379//, Baghdader Mitteilungen 28, 1997, 239-243.
cuneiform_writing_techniques.1453725912.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/01/25 12:45 by 127.0.0.1
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