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From Gutenberg to the Internet Timeline An Annotated Chronology of the History of Information from about 30,000 B.C.E. to the present, by Jeremy M. Norman. |
| 1920194019501960 |
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| Circa 2000 B.C.E. | The first pure alphabets emerge in Egypt, though Egyptian hieroglyphs had included the alphabetic principle for 1000 years. |
| 2000-1700 B.C.E. | Enhedu’anna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BC), founder of the first documented empire in Asia, emerges as a genuine creative talent-- a poetess as well as a princess, a priestess and a prophetess. She is the first named and non-legendary woman author, and perhaps the first named author, if Gilgamesh was not the author of the Epic of Gilgamesh. (Hymn to Inanna written in Sumerian on a clay tablet (Schoyen Collection MS 2367/1 et al). |
| Circa 1850 B.C.E. | The primary documents of Egyptian mathematics are the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus. Between them they contain 112 problems with solutions. "The MOSCOW PAPYRUS was copied by an unknown scribe (~1850 BC). It was brought to Russia during the middle of the 19th century, and is located in the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, and contains mathematics problems (simple equations) and solutions." "The Rhind Papyrus (also called the Ahmes Papyrus) is named after the British collector, Rhind, who acquired it in 1858. It was copied by a scribe, Ahmes (or Ahmos), (~1650 BC) from another document written ~2000 BC, which, possibly in turn, was copied from a document from ~2650 BC (the time of Imhotep?). The Rhind Papyrus is located in the British Museum, and contains mathematics problems and solutions." "Among the secondary documents are three papyri from ~1800 BC: Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll (a table of 26 decompositions of unit fractions); the Berlin Papyrus (two problems of simultaneous equations - one of the 2nd degree); the Reisner Papyrus (volume calculations)." |
| Circa 1800 B.E.C. | The Ramesseum Papyrus is thought to be the earliest illustrated book extant. The roll, which measures about 7 feet by 10.5 inches includes drawings of about 30 people along the bottom of the roll. (Diringer, The Illuminated Book [1967] 27). |
| Circa 2000-1500 B.C.E. | Two similar but undeciphered scripts believed to be ancestral to nearly all modern alphabets are attested from the Middle Bronze Age: the Proto-Sinaitic script discovered on stone inscriptions in 1904-05 by William Flinders Petrie, and dated to 1500 BC, and the Wadi el-Hôl (or Wadi el-Hol)) script discovered on stone inscriptions in 1999 by John and Deborah Darnell and dated to 1800 BCE. |
| Circa 1900 B.C.E, | A Sumerian cuneiform tablet from about this date contains a table for solving cubic equations in the Sumerian sexagesmal system. "Every line of the table says, 'm has the root n'. The numbers n at right take the values 1 to 30. The numbers m at left take the corresponding values nx(n+1)x(n+2). In the 6th line, for instance, n = 6 and m = 6x7x8 = 336 = 5x60 + 36. The table was probably used to set up a series of problems leading to cubic equations guaranteed to have integers as solutions. The problems would have been of the form 'An excavated room. Its length equals its width plus 1 cubit. Its height equals its length. Its volume plus its bottom area is ... (a given number).' " "The only similar text known before is a Late Babylonian table text, where the numbers m at left take the values nxnx(n+1). Problems of the mentioned type are known from a large Old Babylonian clay tablet (BM 85200+VAT 6599)." (Schoyen Collection MS 3048). |
| Circa 1750 B.C.E. | The Code of Hammurabi, who achieved the conquest of Sumer and was the first King of the Babylonian Empire from about 1792-1750 BCE, is one of the earliest extant sets of laws and one of the best preserved examples of this type of document from ancient Mesopotamia. "This was written on a stela [stone carving] and placed in a public place, so that all could see it (even though very few could read). This stela . . . was rediscovered in 1901, and it now stands in the Louvre museum. While the penalties of his laws may seem cruel to modern readers, the fact that he not only put into writing the laws of his kingdom, but attempted to make them a systematic whole, is considered an important step forward in the evolution of civilization. The "innocent until proven guilty" idea comes from his laws." "The laws do not accept excuses or explanations for mistakes or fault: the Code was openly displayed for all to see, so no man could plead ignorance of the law as an excuse. Few people, however, could read in that era (literacy mainly being the domain of scribes)." "Other collections of laws include the codex of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (ca.2050 BC), the Codex of Eshunna (ca 1930BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (ca 1870 BC)." |
| Circa 1700 B.C.E. | The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, purchased by Smith in Luxor in 1862, and translated for the first time by William H. Breasted in 1930, is the oldest extant surgical document and one of the oldest surviving medical and scientific documents. It is a composite copy of a text written 3000-2500 BCE, copied with corrections written in the margins. The name of the original author is unknown. Of 48 cases described, 27 deal with head trauma and 6 with spine trauma. It is preserved in the library of the New York Academy of Medicine. |
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(This page was last revised on
January 24, 2006. Please report errors
and broken links to jnorman@jnorman.com.) |
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