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| Cuneiform Writing |
It is estimated that writing was invented in Egypt at the end of the fourth millennium BCE. Among the predynastic elite tombs, tomb U-j (assigned to King Scorpion around 3200 BCE) holds a significant place. Within the twelve rooms of the structure, the earliest evidence of hieroglyphic writing from ancient Egypt was discovered.3 Two types of objects with inscriptions were found in tomb U-j. On the one hand, almost 200 labels made from bone, ivory, or—exceptionally—stone and on the other hand, ceramic vessels. The labels are mostly approximately 1.5 by 2 cm and originate from the tomb U-j and its proximity. They all include a hole, which presumably served to attach them to objects that have since perished.4 This type of object is also known from later times (since King Narmer), where it is often used to record deliveries of oil.5 Similar labels have also been found at Naqada.6 The ceramic vessels contribute approximately 125 inscriptions, which can be assigned to several groups, among which the group with scorpions (60 attestations) is the largest.7 While the inscriptions on the ceramic vessels consist of one or two large pictorial signs (e.g., a scorpion), inscriptions on the labels can be divided into two groups, either pictorial signs or (combinations of) abstract signs, which are interpreted as representations of numbers.8 Based on the regularity of the signs, it is assumed that the evidence found in tomb U-j is not the first writing ever achieved in Egypt but rather the product of a previous evolution.
If we presume that some basic assumptions about the earliest written objects from tomb U-j are correct, that is, if the abstract signs were indeed the representation of numbers or quantities and the labels were attached to some goods about which they held information (e.g., the indication of their quantities or their origin or owner) then, like in Mesopotamia, the earliest writing is linked to administrative needs, and the invention of a quantity/numerical notation along with the invention of script is almost a necessary consequence.
However, the situation in Egypt may be more complex. Along with these administrative records, there are also early attestations of Egyptian writing of a representative character, such as, for example, the notation of the name of the king written in a rectangular enclosure called serekh. Writing in Egypt, therefore, was not only used by the elite for their administrative needs, but it was also recognized as a tool to represent and display power. For each of these functions, a preferred writing surface and, along with it, a preferred way of writing developed. While the representation and display of power were well served by hard stone surfaces, into which an immensely durable inscription was chiseled that proved to last extremely well over the millennia, the daily necessities of administration required a writing that could be executed fast. Along with the hieroglyphic writing system, therefore, a second style of writing was developed, which used abbreviated signs that could also be ligatured to make them even more efficient and which was written with a brush and ink onto papyrus or ostraca (pottery or stone shards). This second type of writing is called hieratic and shows a much greater variation in its form over time as well as in the comparison of individual scribal hands.9 On a rather rudimentary level, one can perhaps compare the hieroglyphic writing to our printed script and the hieratic writing to handwriting.
About numerals
The first Western use of the digits, without the zero, was reported in the Vth century by Beothius, a Roman writer. Beothius explains, in one of his geometry books, how to operate the abacus using marked small cones instead of pebbles. Those cones, upon each of which was drawn the symbol of one of the nine Hindu-Arabic digits, were called apices. Thus, the early representations of digits in Europe were called “apices”. Each apex received also an individual name: Igin for 1, Andras for 2, Ormis for 3, Arbas for 4, Quimas (or Quisnas) for 5 , Caltis (or Calctis) for 6, Zenis (or Tenis) for 7, Temenisa for 8, and Celentis (or Scelentis) for 9. The etymology of these names remains unclear, though some of them were clearly Arab numbers. The Hindu-Arabic-like figures reported by Beothius were reproduced almost everywhere with the greatest fantasy!
(In http://www.archimedes-lab.org/numeral.html)
NOTES
1 For a collection of accounts of the invention of script in various cultures, see Houston, First Writing.
2 See Cooper, “Babylonian beginnings,” and Robson, “Literacy.”
3 The interpretation of these early written sources is extremely difficult. A first assessment of the material is given in Dreyer, Umm el-Quaab I, pp. 113–45. Further discussions can be found in Baines, “Earliest Egyptian writing,” Baines, “Writing: Invention and early development,” Baines, “Writing and kingship,” Breyer, “Schriftzeugnisse,” Kahl, “Frühe Schriftzeugnisse,” Morenz, “Systematisierung der ägyptischen Schrift,” and Regulski, “Origin of writing.”
4 Dreyer, Umm el-Qaab I, p. 136–37.
5 Dreyer, Umm el-Qaab I, p. 137.
6 C. Dreyer, Umm el-Qaab I, p. 139 with figure 83a, and Quibell, Archaic objects, CG 14101–14106.
7 Ibid., p. 84.
8 Ibid., p. 113.
9 Ancient Egyptian writing and language spans over 3000 years and has undergone considerable developments during this time. For an overview see Loprieno, Ancient Egyptian.
Written by Annette Imhausen in "Mathematics in Ancient Egypt- A Contextual History", Princeton University Press, USA, 2016. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.