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Summary

Although Assyrian merchants lived in Central Anatolia for over two centuries and used writing extensively for their business local Anatolians only became interested in the use of script toward the end of the Old Assyrian Period. This coincided with the emergence of the first unified Anatolian kingdom under Anitta. It is argued that the so-called Anitta Text, known only from later copies in Hittite, could only have been written in Assyrian in Old Assyrian cuneiform.

Why did the Anatolians remain illiterate for so long, although surrounded by people using script? Why and how did they eventually adopt the cuneiform writing system and why did they still invent a second, hieroglyphic script of their own? What did and didn't they write down and what role did Hittite literature, the oldest known literature in any Indo-European language, play? These and many other questions on scribal culture are addressed in this first, comprehensive book on writing, reading, script usage, and literacy in the Hittite kingdom (c.1650–1200 BC). It describes the rise and fall of literacy and literature in Hittite Anatolia in the wider context of its political, economic, and intellectual history.

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Chapter 2 - Writing and Literacy among the Anatolians in the Old Assyrian Period

Summary

A History of Hittite Literacy

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2 results

Chapter 2 - Writing and Literacy among the Anatolians in the Old Assyrian Period

Summary

A History of Hittite Literacy