Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity

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Free Online Course: Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity provided by The Great Courses Plus is a comprehensive online course, which lasts for 12 hours worth of material. The course is taught in English and is free of charge. Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity is taught by Marc Zender, Ph.D..

Overview
  • Discover the fascinating history of the written word-its invention, transmission from culture to culture, and evolution-in this interesting course by an anthropologist.

    Topics Covered:

    • By This Professor
    • 01: What Is Writing?
    • 02: The Origins and Development of Writing
    • 03: Where Did Our Alphabet Come From?
    • 04: The Fubark-A Germanic Alphabet
    • 05: Chinese-A Logosyllabic Script
    • 06: Japanese-The World's Most Complex Script
    • 07: What Is Decipherment?
    • 08: The Five Pillars of Decipherment
    • 09: Epigraphic Illustration
    • 10: The History of Language
    • 11: Proper Nouns and Cultural Context
    • 12: Bilinguals, Biscripts, and Other Constraints
    • 13: Egyptian-The First Great Decipherment
    • 14: What Do Egyptian Hieroglyphs Say?
    • 15: Old Persian-Cuneiform Deciphered
    • 16: What Does Cuneiform Say?
    • 17: Mycenaean Linear B-An Aegean Syllabary
    • 18: Mayan Glyphs-A New World Logosyllabary
    • 19: What Do the Mayan Glyphs Say?
    • 20: Aztec Hieroglyphs-A Recent Decipherment
    • 21: Etruscan and Meroitic-Undeciphered Scripts
    • 22: Han'gul, Tengwar, and Other Featural Scripts
    • 23: Medium and Message