While earlier writing systems had already emerged before 2400 B.C.—such as cuneiform, for example—these did not make use of an alphabet. Cuneiform, considered to be the oldest known writing ...

Cuneiform as a robust writing tradition endured 3,000 years. The script—not itself a language—was used by scribes of multiple cultures over that time to write a number of languages other than ...

Mesopotamia’s cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics, developed more than 5,000 years ago, but these were symbol-based languages. Many modern languages today rely on an alphabet, a series of ...