*
With the advent of cuneiform, the Oral Tradition continued to develop alongside ‘written literature’, but the primary purpose of recording stories in writing was not necessarily to supply individual readers with a coherent or connected account of ‘historical’ events.
Ancient stories were used for a multitude of purposes, often in extracts attached to ritual, to give authenticity, or to provide an aetiology, i.e. a reason for the way things are as they are, to lend weight to ancient traditions, or customs, or to an incantation.
Many of the ancient scribes were Incantation Priests.
*
Source: Stuart France
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I always assumed that things began to be written when people became worried about losing the stories, perhaps when the world was getting bigger and “the old ways” were threatened by “new ways.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Writing is a technology, an ‘old technology’ now, but a technology nonetheless. Technologies are not always introduced for what we might consider the ‘right’ reasons. Writing was originally invented to cope with the administrative behemoth of an over expanded culture… As a way of accessing the numinous the written word is a poor relation of the spoken word, and music, and dance…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you.
LikeLike
My pleasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike