Practice question · Put in order
Arrange these developments in writing in chronological order.
- Greek addition of vowel letters, about 800 BCE
- Cuneiform in Mesopotamia, about 3200 BCE
- The first Semitic alphabet, about 1800 BCE
- Hangul devised for Korean, 1443 CE
- Chinese oracle bone script, about 1200 BCE
Hints
- The earliest system is the Mesopotamian one.
- The alphabet precedes the Chinese oracle bones by several centuries.
Show the answer
- Cuneiform in Mesopotamia, about 3200 BCE
- The first Semitic alphabet, about 1800 BCE
- Chinese oracle bone script, about 1200 BCE
- Greek addition of vowel letters, about 800 BCE
- Hangul devised for Korean, 1443 CE
Why
The order surprises people at the alphabet: it is older than the earliest surviving Chinese writing, though Chinese writing is an independent invention and the alphabet is a development within an existing tradition. Hangul, more than two and a half millennia later, is the one system on the list designed deliberately by a named commission.
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