Fun History VI: History of Writing

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. According to a story by Socrates, who was the Egyptian God that invented writing? Scyoth Arwritha Thoth Mayoth

2. Which of these has the first recorded writings? China Egypt The Indus Valley Crete

3. What was the name of the first man to draw (not decipher) accurately the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis? Michael Ventris Georg Grotefend Carsten Niebuhr Edward Hincks

4. It is well known that that credit for for the full decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs goes to Jean-Francois Champollion. But what was the name of the Englishman who sent Champollion a copy of a bilingual obelisk inscription taken from the Philae Obelisk in January 1882 thus assisting his work on decipherment? Roger de Grouchy William Banks Henry Paget Richard Paget

5. Excavations at the ancient city of Uruk (in modern day Iraq) revealed clay tablets dating from around 3300 BC. These were inscribed with an early form of writing. What is the name of the form of writing dating from this period at Uruk? Pictographic Hieroglyphic Cuneiform Linear B

6. Who coined the term 'Cuneiform'? Frederick Catherwood Spencer Marlow John Coptic Thomas Hyde

7. Elamite cuneiform, though distinct, is a regional variant of which other well known form of cuneiform? Assyrian Babylonian Mesopotamian Old Persian

8. How many letters does the Elder Futhark Runic alphabet contain? 42 There is no such thing as a runic alphabet 24 15

9. The Babylonians were the first to subdivide a circle into divisions of 360 degrees. They also gave us 1 hour = sixty minutes and 1 minute = 60 seconds system which we still use to this day. What is this system called? sexagesimal sexintula sexangular sextensular

10. Which Korean king invented an alphabet of 28 letters? Sejong Phags-pa Uighur Hen-long