The Very First Symbols
The first evidence of communication through the use of symbols has been dated back to over five thousand years ago, when people lived in Mesopotamia. These symbols were used for different types of information to spread. They are called pictograms, and they were used for very basic information about crops and taxes. Over time, the need and demand for pictograms changed, and this gave the symbols shape and uniform. They were now written by a scribe in the form of a script, which we now call a cuneiform. This script contained numerous symbols and shapes which was understood by the people.
Thousands of years passed and the Mesopotamians continued to scribe away about a number of things, such as daily events, trade, astronomy, literature and clay tablets.
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| Pictographs |
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| Cuneiform |
Developing Scriptures
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| Hieroglyphics |
Hieroglyphics date back to
3000 BC, and most symbols represented a number of things, such as sound, an
event or a word. There were drastic changes to the language as it evolved
through time. Since the first use till the last use it is believed there were
thousands of symbols used, and this made the language more complicated yet more
varied and explainable. Although all these thousands of hieroglyphics were not
used at the same time, it still remained very difficult to understand and learn
this ancient language. At any time of the language being used it could have
around 700 symbols, which was made harder considering each symbol meant a
number of things. An interesting fact about hieroglyphics is that a single
symbol could either be phonetic or an image representing an event.
