Lexical lists are compilations of cuneiform signs and word readings written on clay tablets throughout Mesopotamia. From the late 4th millennium BCE up to the 1st century CE, scribal communities copied, modified, and passed on these cuneiform lexical lists and preserved them for as knowledge for a variety of purposes. Just as today people pass on and embrace the knowledge of scientific discoveries, lexical lists were the knowledge and intellectual material of the day when cuneiform writing emerged in the 4th millennium BCE. Including unpublished lexical lists, over 15,000 tablets exist. For the duration of the cuneiform lexical tradition, the meaning, purpose, and significance between world lists was in flux and development.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/900/cuneiform-lexical-lists/.
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- Why do you think scribes kept copying lexical lists for so many centuries?
- Do you think lexical lists were more useful for learning or for power?
- How do you think these lists changed when different groups used them?
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