The invention of a writing system is one of the most important inventions of humankind, just behind the invention of the wheel and the ability to use fire. Historians say that the invention of a writing system was the beginning of mass communication. The earliest full writing system is more than 5,000 years old. It comes from the Middle East in what was then called Sumeria. The Sumerians had a story to explain their invention of writing:
The king of Uruk sent one of his servants to another kingdom far away with an important message. The messenger arrived at the court so exhausted from the journey that he was not able to convey his message orally - he was too tired to speak. The king heard about this and was upset. He came up with a clever solution. From then on, when he wanted to send a message, he made a flat tablet out of wet clay. He cut the message into the soft clay. The tablet was the medium for the message. There was no alphabet or writing system, so he used pictures to write the message. Each picture or symbol was equal to a word or idea.
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