In the path of the alphabet / an historical account of the ancient beginnings and evolution of the modern alphabet

by Frances Delavan Page Jermain

Again, the prevalence of its use throughout the vast region represented by these documents, from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Armenia, from beyond the Tigris to the Mediterranean Sea and from northern Syria to Arabia, implies the centuries.

It indicates that what our alphabetic system is to modern civilizations the Babylonian cuneiform was to the civilizations of western Asia in the century preceding the Exodus.

Another influence for the persistency and spread of the cuneiform writing, was due to the great libraries established in various cities, to which the people had access. These had existed from the earliest times in Babylonia, and undoubtedly spread with the spread of Babylonian influence and culture.

Of legendary libraries in Chaldea, Berosus tells of the antediluvian city Pantabibla, town of Books, and Sippara, also City of the Sun, where Xisthurus, the Chaldean Noah, buried his books before the Deluge, and from whence they were disentombed after the subsidence of the waters.

Of actual collections, literary remains from the library of Erech, the most ancient of Chaldean cities, give evidence of the antiquity of these institutions, as also others from Cutha, Larsa and various localities.

The library of Larsa, or Senkereh, was famous for its mathematical works, and here students of that science came from all parts of the country.

Some tablets from this library are now in the British Museum, among which are tables of squares, and there are traces of a Chaldean Euclid, with geometrical figures.

In Assyria, the great libraries established in various cities were at the expense of the libraries of Babylonia. They were founded by the kings of Assyria who became for the time masters of Babylonia.

For the enrichment of Assyria, the Babylonian libraries were despoiled of many treasures of which such books were selected and removed as would add to the glory of Assyria.

The books of the Assyrian libraries established in various cities consisted either of works from the older libraries or were copies of books left in their original homes.