Who invented the script?

It is not know exactly who invented the first script. After oral communication for thousands of years, there came the need to have something in writing because trade started at many place on Earth. For instance, written records were required to keep a note of payments made or the name of the vessel in which the cereals were kept. At first, small pictures were painted as written records. The first scripts such as those of the Sumerians or the hieroglyphs of the Egyptians developed from these pictures - to be followed later by the first alphabets. Today, we are going back to pictures. New cipher languages and special scripts for the blind have been developed in the last century. 

What is an alphabet?

Alphabets are a standardized set of letter, each of which represents a sound that is spoken out loud. The alphabets, unlike the hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians or the picture symbol of the Mayans, are not based on a picture system. The English alphabet has 26 letters: out of which six are vowels. The Arabic alphabet has more letters and is also read in a different way: from right to left. In the earliest alphabet that we know, there were letters only for consonants. Starting from 1000 B.C., the Greeks introduced letters for vowels. The word 'alphabet' is derived from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta.

How did the Sumerians write?

Many of the early script languages did not use any letters, but used small pictures instead. Around 3500 B.C., the Sumerians in Mesopotamia invented the cuneiform script: Notches ere made in wet clay tablets with a wooden handle. The clay tablets then dried and became hard. Initially, there were about 1500 picture-like symbols, from which 800 simplified symbols developed gradually. Many of these small notches put together resulted in a word - just like a picture puzzle of today or the script of the Chinese.