The Epic of Atrahasis and the History of Cuneiform

Pinar Durgun, Curator of Ancient Western Asian Seals and Tablets at the Morgan, gives us an in-depth look into the Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis and the history of tablets and cuneiform, the oldest form of writing. This ancient clay tablet is in cuneiform script, which originated in Mesopotamia around 3,200 BC. Texts were written by pressing a cut, straight reed into moist clay; the characteristic wedge-shaped strokes give the writing its modern name (cuneiform means simply “wedge-shaped”).