Mir0zz t1_j5j2tp6 wrote on January 23, 2023 at 10:33 AM

I was recently at a short lecture about the development of the alphabeth. The professor mentioned an old king being upset for someone sending him a message using letter from an alphabeth of some kind, as he prefered cuneiform. I can't find his name or information about this online. Perhaps someone here knows?

Bentresh t1_j5ktu1q wrote on January 23, 2023 at 6:47 PM

It was the Assyrian king Sargon II (721–705 BCE), who reprimanded one of his officials for wanting to write to him in Aramaic, which was written alphabetically on parchment rather than with cuneiform on clay tablets like Akkadian.

>[As to what you wrote]: "There are informers [... to the king] and coming to his presence; if it is acceptable to the king, let me write and send my messages to the king on Aram[aic] parchment sheets" — why would you not write and send me messages in Akkadian? Really, the message which you write in it must be drawn up in this very manner — this is a fixed regulation!