The History of Reading

“ Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled.”

-Barbara Trishman

According to paleontologists who study fossils and other evidences of life on earth. the first man was a latecomer on earth and appeared on the planet only about one hundred thousand years ago .but even during those primitive days man walked upright, had adaptable hands and brain he was a social being who communicated with his kind.

He employed grunts and body language using gestures and postures to convey his ideas and needs to others. Slowly he developed oral language which enable to express more clearly the messages he wanted to convey.

In time ,various circumstances such as need to communicate to others who are distant in place caused man to devise symbols corresponding to his oral messages.

We have evidences of this in the Old Stone Age rock painting and cuneiform or picture writing . From these we have knowledge of the earliest human act of picture-writing and reading.

OLD STONE AGE ROCK PAINTING

Picture Writing during the Sumerian Civilization between 3000-4000 B.CIncised in baked tablets . They served to communicate and preserve private letters ,business contracts ,accounts ,tax receipts, royal orders and state records .

CUNEIFORM TABLET

• The Egyptian civilization along the river Nile carved their pictorial symbols known as hieroglyphics on the stone wall of temples and tombs, or carefully painted them on wooden coffins . The Egyptian also invented paper derived from papyrus plant.

• Which they wrote their signs with reed pen and ink made by mixing water, gum and soot.

Hieroglyphics symbols

Hieroglyphics on papyrus Hieroglyphics on walls

• Other civilizations such as those in Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine used more permanent writing materials such as leather rolled into scrolls.

• But the greatest contribution to the progress of ancient civilizations came from Phoenicians who adopted and spread the use of letter symbols or the alphabet

Phoenician Alphabet

Due to its simplicity it was developed by other peoples such as Greeks and Romans . The Roman system of writing in turn to became the basis for all the systems of being read by modern people today.

Greek Alphabet

Roman system of writing

THE END