The Arrival and Development of Writing in Anatolia

Upon their arrival in Anatolia, these settlers brought along WRITING, which marked a turning point in Anatolian history. From the middle of 4^th millennium onwards, writing was used in Mesopotamia, first by Sumerians and later by Akkadians and Assyrians. Until they encountered Akkadian and Assyrian merchants in 19^th century BC, people of Anatolia did not have a writing system. Therefore, the first written documents in Anatolia are dated to the Age of Assyrian Merchant Colonies. The absence of a writing system in Anatolia can possibly be attributed to the lack of a commercial system that necessitated the keeping of economic records. Therefore, rather than a historic content, the first written documents were written entirely on business law and organization. More than twenty thousand tablets on commercial issues such as promissory notes of Assyrian merchants, caravan and credit-debit records, labor contracts, business letters, and court records on commercial disagreements have been discovered in Kültepe. 

Some researchers claim Ancient Assyrian cuneiform to be the origin of the writing system used for Hittite in Hattusa, whereas others argue that the cuneiform used in Level VII of Tell Atchana (Alalakh) in Northern Syria is the actual source. The original writing system of Anatolia is hieroglyphics. This writing system bears the influence of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Its roots may extend to the seal marks used in the 3^rd millennium. Hieroglyphics was used both during the Hittite Era and the Late Hittite City States Era and constitutes an important example of cultural continuity in Anatolia in the transition from the 2^nd to the 1^st millennium.

One of the most important characteristics of 1^st-milleinum Anatolia is the plethora of the different types of scripts. As the Urartians continued to use cuneiform in Eastern Anatolia, new writing systems of alphabet origin emerged from southern and western Anatolia. The introduction of the Phoenician script to Anatolia constituted a turning point. The Phoenician script quite possibly led to the birth of Phrygian writing. A distinctive Semitic influence is detected in the graffiti dated to 7^th and 6^th centuries B.C. Similar traces are also observed in the writing samples dated to earlier periods such as Lidian and Carian. Lycian is quite possibly the consequence of a proto-Anatolian writing system to have emerged in earlier periods.

The use of the Aramaic writing system was observed upon the arrival of Persians in Anatolia. Since the Aramaic writing system attained a global identity, it was embraced not only by the Persians, but by various local populations across Anatolia as well. Another defining development in terms of the history of writing in Anatolia was the spread of the Miletus script during the Classical Era. The Archaic Ionic writing system did not exist elsewhere in Anatolia except Ionia. The spread of the Hellenic script played a rather determining role in Anatolia as well. From the Hellenistic Period onwards, local writing systems disappeared, only to be replaced by Hellenic. Hellenes of Side and Pamphylia were the only ones to resist this dominant Hellenization with their own, original writing system. The Roman invasion of Anatolia partly gave way to the adoption of Latin among certain colonies; however, Latin did not find an area of use except in tombstone inscriptions and decrees. An important turning point in the area of Ancient Anatolian Languages was Christianity’s acceptance as the official state religion. Following the wide spread of Christianity in the 5^th and 6^th centuries A.D., they traces of any Anatolian peoples and writing disappeared.