
As we enter a new year,
it is interesting to note how we have gauged time. As a boy I was
puzzled by the year zero—there had to be a year zero—as well as how people
knew, for example, it was 300 B.C. Well, I eventually came to understand
all that. But really when you think about it, recording time is
all about written communication.
I often discuss early
forms of writing, especially cuneiform, with my college
students. Cuneiform, of course, was an invention of the ancient
Sumerians. Much of these pictograms were used to keep track of
commercial transactions.
About
twenty years ago, I purchased a good-sized chunk of clay with cuneiform writing
on it. I don’t know what it says, but maybe it’s a legal document or
even a book contract. I probably should not, but I use this artifact
as a paperweight on my desk.
Happy New
Year. I wish I knew how Hammurabi would write that.
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