ABSTRACT
Any attempt to define civilization will at some stage include writing. Obviously the ability to convey information through time and space is a major enabling factor in the organization of a society, and writing, which was probably invented in Mesopotamia, therefore deserves to be studied, in its own right. Here, though, my reason for considering it first is not so much its intrinsic importance, but because the written record is the channel through which most of our information about Mesopotamia reaches us. It is therefore important before Looking at other aspects of the civilization to appreciate the nature of the writing system, and its applications. Only then are we briefed to know what may have been recorded, and what not, and what parts of that record we should hope or expect to recover.
At the same time, we have to consider the effects of writing on society. It is not merely a mirror of human behaviour but an active ingredient in the system. It can bridge time, space and social distance. Information can be committed to clay for the future, whether as a public record of past events or to satisfy an accounting system. Across space it provides a way of conveying complex messages for political or commercial purposes, while the possibility of creating a mutually agreed record of a transaction gives the opportunity of regulating and hence enhancing economic relationships between different sectors of society.
