Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity

Overview

Explore the 5,000-year history of writing systems and their crucial role in human civilization with this fascinating course.

Course No. 2241

This 24-lecture course traces the remarkable story of writing from its invention to its digital future, examining:

• The origins and evolution of major writing systems worldwide

• Groundbreaking decipherments of ancient scripts

• How writing shaped and was shaped by civilizations

• The cultural impact of writing technologies

• Future trends in the digital age

Through archaeological evidence and expert analysis, you’ll discover how writing transformed human communication and society.

Video Lectures

1. What Is Writing? (31 min)

2. The Origins and Development of Writing (31 min)

3. Where Did Our Alphabet Come From? (29 min)

4. The Fubark-A Germanic Alphabet (30 min)

5. Chinese-A Logosyllabic Script (29 min)

6. Japanese-The World’s Most Complex Script (30 min)

7. What Is Decipherment? (29 min)

8. The Five Pillars of Decipherment (30 min)

9. Epigraphic Illustration (28 min)

10. The History of Language (30 min)

11. Proper Nouns and Cultural Context (30 min)

12. Bilinguals, Biscripts, and Other Constraints (29 min)

13. Egyptian-The First Great Decipherment (30 min)

14. What Do Egyptian Hieroglyphs Say? (30 min)

15. Old Persian-Cuneiform Deciphered (31 min)

16. What Does Cuneiform Say? (32 min)

17. Mycenaean Linear B-An Aegean Syllabary (32 min)

18. Mayan Glyphs-A New World Logosyllabary (30 min)

19. What Do the Mayan Glyphs Say? (30 min)

20. Aztec Hieroglyphs-A Recent Decipherment (31 min)

21. Etruscan and Meroitic-Undeciphered Scripts (31 min)

22. Han’gul, Tengwar, and Other Featural Scripts (31 min)

23. Medium and Message (31 min)

24. The Future of Writing (32 min)