Reading and Writing in Babylon

by Dominique Charpin, Jane Marie Todd (Translator)

Over 5,000 years ago, the history of humanity radically changed direction when writing was invented in Sumer, the southern part of present-day Iraq. For the next three millennia, kings, aristocrats, and slaves all made intensive use of cuneiform script to document everything from royal archives to family records.

In engaging style, Dominique Charpin shows how hundreds of thousands of clay tablets testify to the history of an ancient society that communicated broadly through letters to gods, insightful commentary, and sales receipts. He includes a number of passages, offered in translation, that allow readers an illuminating glimpse into the lives of Babylonians. Charpin’s insightful overview discusses the methods and institutions used to teach reading and writing, the process of apprenticeship, the role of archives and libraries, and various types of literature, including epistolary exchanges and legal and religious writing.

The only book of its kind, Reading and Writing in Babylon introduces Mesopotamia as the birthplace of civilization, culture, and literature while addressing the technical side of writing and arguing for a much wider spread of literacy than is generally assumed. Charpin combines an intimate knowledge of cuneiform with a certain breadth of vision that allows this book to transcend a small circle of scholars. Though it will engage a broad general audience, this book also fills a critical academic gap and is certain to become the standard reference on the topic.

(20110124)

Genres: History, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[ma_mots_et_images]

Comme le rappelle la quatrième de couverture, l'écriture est née en Mésopotamie il y a plus de 5000 ans. La civilisation mésopotamienne nous a livré de très nombreuses traces de cette écriture, sous forme de tablettes d'argile, couverte de signes cunéiformes. le travail de l'historien, de l'archéologue, de l'assyriologue, est de récolter et collationner ces milliers de fragments, tenter de lire cette écriture et d'en utiliser ensuite le témoignage qu'elles nous laissent.

Le professeur Charpin nous présente ici une synthèse de nos connaissances sur l'écriture babylonienne, essentiellement au IIe millénaire avant JC. Nous découvrons que la lecture et l'écriture ne sont pas réservées qu'à quelques scribes, mais que les sources attestent qu'elles sont aussi pratiquées par les gouvernants et leur famille, des "fonctionnaires", des commerçants, prêtres, devins... Il existe de nombreuses traces de tablettes "scolaires".
L'écriture a tout d'abord été comptable et pratique, avant que de s'étendre aux lettres privées et diplomatiques, à la correspondance royale, et à de très nombreux actes juridiques, ancêtres de nos actes notariés (consignation des ventes, adoptions, prêts...). Les écrits se formalisent de plus en plus et comportent même des "enveloppes", couche d'argile qui recouvre la tablette et consigne, par exemple, le destinataire d'un courrier. Les écrits permettent aussi de s'adresser aux Dieux, pour le faire des demandes ou les remercier. Si la plupart des tablettes ont été trouvées dans des contextes variés, ce que nous qualifions de "bibliothèques" comme celle d'Assurbanipal, nous livrent plus facilement des archives ou textes dédiés à la divination que des oeuvres littéraires. C'est bien pourtant ces dernières qui nous font encore rêver, telle l'Epopée de Gilgamesh.

C'est donc dans un voyage au coeur de notre passion, l'écrit, que nous conduit l'auteur. Ses qualités pédagogiques ainsi que les très nombreux exemples de traduction de tablettes, rendent la lecture de cet essai particulièrement vivante. Dominique Charpin le dit lui-même en introduction, il aime à travailler sur une période où la matière permet de nous représenter le quotidien.

Et quel délice de nous plonger dans les correspondances du IIe millénaire avant de notre ère ! de découvrir que la coutume était de donner un petit « bakchich » au secrétaire du souverain pour accompagner la transmission d'une tablette, telle ces « litres de pain d'épices » qu'évoque un courrier ! le quotidien, finalement, ne change que si peu 😊

[Nathan Hatch]

What I liked

Learning about Mesopotamia. This book has details on everything from religion to envelope seals, divination to legal proceedings. Mesopotamian history is full of interesting figures such as the king Ashurbanipal, who boasted of his ability to read and write. He collected a huge library of tablets from all over Mesopotamia. (No doubt he was a nerd.)

Cuneiform has a couple of particularly interesting qualities that I hadn't appreciated before. First, it's the oldest known system of writing. This gives rise to fascinating, fundamental questions about the invention of writing itself. Second, it is three-dimensional. Everything in cuneiform is an inscription. Third, because it was written in clay, it has been preserved much better than younger writing systems based on ink and papyrus. The dates of unearthed tablets cover a span of more than three thousand years, which is simply mind-boggling.

Organization. Charpin's divisions in to chapters and sections are clear and logical. He has an interesting approach to the "conclusion" of each chapter. Instead of a summary of the previous topics, he presents a new idea, complete with supporting evidence. The only difference is that this idea is slightly more abstract than the previous claims.

Primary sources. Charpin includes lots of direct quotes from tablets.

I appreciated Charpin's introductory chapter explaining how the first cuneiform tablets were discovered and deciphered by modern scholars.

What I didn't like

It might have been nice, for general audiences, to have a another brief introductory chapter on the history and geography of Mesopotamia. But, I appreciate that Charpin kept the book focused.

The biggest question that I have after reading this book is, will this knowledge ever be relevant to my life?

[Patrycja]

2.5 stars

[Agatokles]

Klasyczna w formie praca stricte naukowa. Zakres tematyczny węższy niż sugeruje tytuł, ale bardzo ciekawy. Jak to mówią "samo gęste".

[Peter Levi]

A translation of Dominique Charpin's work, it's a fascinating look into writing and literacy in ancient Mesopotamia. Charpin both examines the theories of others about the nature of literacy and its education as well as poses his own based on the evidence at hand. The exploration delves into the cultures of Mesopotamia and how reading and writing fit into them. The prose is a little dry and it's not something a reader could casually pursue, but it's a short book (c.250 pages) and well worth it if the topic is of interest.

[Sara M]

This is a great book but the typos? Seriously? Is this really the best HUP can do in 2010? So annoying.

[Louis]

Dominique Charpin achieved the almost-impossible—a history of cuneiform writing so fascinating that I read it twice.

[sheesania]

I read this as an extra book for 9th grade, and it was fascinating and very readable.