Bøger i Ancient Scripts serien

Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets that were used to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. From late antiquity through the early middle ages, peoples across northwestern Europe inscribed runes on gravestones, buildings, jewelry, and weapons in a range of forms from crude scratchings to sophisticated relief carvings. Reading and deciphering this script has called on the expertise of a number of academic disciplines including archaeology, art history, linguistics, and forensic science. The runes illustrated in this lively introduction, which include memorials for the dead, business messages, charms, curses, and prayers, offer a fascinating glimpse into the beliefs of early Anglo-Saxon and Germanic cultures. The author traces the history of these ancient symbols from their mysterious origins to their development as a widely used script, concluding with a brief discussion of their use in modern mystery and fantasy literature, including the runic adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Visitors to museums or ancient Roman sites are often confronted with Latin texts inscribed on objects or buildings from classical antiquity. To the uninitiated such Latin inscriptions can appear daunting -- a jumble of letters seemingly without structure or meaning. However, since they were meant to be understood by all levels of ancient Roman society, even those who couldn't read, these ancient inscriptions followed strict grammatical rules and standardized abbreviations that could be easily decoded. This book will teach readers -- even those with no knowledge of Latin -- how to decipher these ancient messages. Each illustrated inscription is accompanied by a transcription, a transliteration in which all abbreviations are spelled out, a translation, and finally an interpretation of the text's meaning and significance. Even the smallest piece of information in an inscription can aid classicists in reconstructing the daily lives of Romans, especially those less visible in the archaeological record: the poor, slaves, and women. In conveying devastation at the death of a loved one, comradery among soldiers, or the key events in individual lives, inscriptions can reveal much about ancient Roman history and culture.

Cuneiform script on clay tablets is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The resilience of clay has permitted these records to survive for thousands of years, providing a fascinating glimpse into the political, economic, and religious institutions of the ancient Near Eastern societies that used this writing system. A concise and accessible introduction to the topic, this book traces the history of cuneiform from its beginnings in the fourth millennium BC to its eventual demise in the face of the ever expanding use of alphabetic Aramaic in the first millennium BC. The authors explain how this pre-alphabetic system worked and how it was possible to use it to record so many different languages. Drawing on examples from the British Museum, which has the largest and most venerable cuneiform collection in the world, this lively volume includes elementary school exercises, revealing private letters, and beautiful calligraphic literature for royal libraries.