Editing Penmanship (section)

===Origins===
{{Further|History of writing}}
The earliest example of systematic writing is the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] pictographic system found on clay tablets, which eventually developed around 3200 BC into a modified version called [[cuneiform]]<ref>Nickell, Joe. (2003) ''Pen, Ink & Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective''. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press. p. 115.</ref> which was impressed on wet clay with a sharpened reed.<ref>Tschichold, Jan. (1948) ''An Illustrated History of Writing and Lettering''. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 7.</ref> This form of writing eventually evolved into an ideographic system (where a sign represents an idea) and then to a syllabic system (where a sign represents a syllable).<ref>Fairbank, Alfred J. (1977). ''A Book of Scripts''. London: Faber. p. 9.</ref> Developing around the same time, the Egyptian system of [[hieroglyphics]] also began as a pictographic script and evolved into a system of syllabic writing.  Two cursive scripts were eventually created, [[hieratic]], shortly after hieroglyphs were invented, and [[demotic (Egyptian)]] in the seventh century BC.<ref>Nickell, Joe (2003). ''Pen, Ink & Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective''. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press. p. 117.</ref> Scribes wrote these scripts usually on [[papyrus]], with ink on a reed pen.

The first known alphabetical system came from the [[Phoenicians]], who developed a vowel-less system of 22 letters around the eleventh century BC.<ref>Robinson, Andrew (2007). ''The Story of Writing''. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. p. 165.</ref> The Greeks eventually adapted the Phoenician alphabet around the eighth century BC.  Adding vowels to the alphabet, dropping some consonants and altering the order, the [[Ancient Greeks]] developed a script which included only what we know of as capital Greek letters.<ref>Ullman, B. L. (1977). ''Ancient Writing and Its Influence''. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. p. 31.</ref> The lowercase letters of [[Classical Greek]] were a later invention of the [[Middle Ages]].  The Phoenician alphabet also influenced the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]] scripts, which follow a vowel-less system.  One Hebrew script was only used for religious literature and by a small community of Samaritans up until the sixth century BC.  Aramaic was the official script of the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian empires and 'Square Hebrew' (the script now used in Israel) developed from Aramaic around the third century AD.<ref>Robinson, Andrew (2007). ''The Story of Writing''. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. p. 171.</ref>