Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives

Conference cycle The classical world in western reality

A history of signs: from the birth of writing to the European alphabetic traditions

Laura Escorihuela Álvarez

Doctoral Programme Student in Assyrianlogy, Universitat de València

Cycle coordinator

Marco Antonio Coronel Ramos

Full-time Professor in Classical Philology, Universitat de València

Laura Escorihuela Álvarez

Doctoral Programme Student in Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Universitat de València.

Graduate in History, Universitat de València.

Interuniversity Master’s Degree Graduate in History and Ancient Sciences, UCM-UAM.

Specialisation Certificate in Orientalistics and Egyptology, UCM.

Master’s Degree Graduate in Teacher Training, UJI.

Professor at UNED Senior in Mesopotamic and Egyptian Mythology, and Eastern Art.

She has parttaken in several congresses and seminars about ancient history, archaeolorgy and cuneiform writing.

She has experience in teaching and cultural mediation in several Valencian museums.

She has organised didactic workshops of cuneiform writing in collaboration with CSIC and educative centres.

She is author to several publications related to her specialty (cuneiform didactics, Arcadian Empire mentality and memory, gender in the Near East, etc.).

She speaks Spanish, Valencian (C1), English (C1) and German (B2).

She has an interest in history of writing, gender in Mesopotamia and humanism didactics.

Sinopsis

This lecture offers a historical overview of the origin and evolution of writing, from its earliest manifestations in ancient Mesopotamia to European alphabetic traditions. It will explore the development of the cuneiform system in Uruk and its gradual adaptation by other cultures in the Near East, as well as the transition to consonantal and alphabetic scripts in the Semitic sphere. From there, it will analyse the transmission of these models through the Phoenician alphabet to Greek, Latin and, finally, Cyrillic. The session will conclude with a brief mention of Ulfilas and the creation of the Gothic alphabet as an example of cultural adaptation of graphic systems.

Free access, limitted seats

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