A form of tablet

 Another form of tablet and first book of adam and eve, a somewhat singular variation it may seem, was in use among the Assyrians at a very early date. his was a prism, having either six or eight sides, and made of exceedingly fine terra-cotta. The first book of Adam and eve with Assyrians  is good.
 Such prisms were frequently deposited by the Assyrian kings at the corners of temples, after having been inscribed with accounts of the notable events in their lives, interspersed with numerous invocations. Apparently the custom was similar to that followed at the present day, and the ancient Assyrian tablets no doubt served the same purpose as the records, newspapers, and documents that are now deposited in the corner-stones of public or other important buildings. The prisms used as tablets varied in length from a foot and a half to three feet, and were covered very closely with small writing. That the writers’ endeavor was to make the most of the space at their disposal is suggested by the fact that upon a prism found in7 the ruins of the ancient city of Ashur the inscriptions are so crowded that there are thirty lines in the space of six inches, or five lines to the inch. The prism recites the valiant deeds of Tiglath-Pileser I., who reigned from 1120 to 1100 B. C., and undertook campaigns against forty-two other nations and their kings. He was a monarch whose very name inspired terror among the surrounding peoples, and his reign was filled with stirring events and brilliant achievements. Economy of space Small wonder that it was necessary to crowd the inscriptions upon the prism! Rawlinson’s “Ancient Monarchies,” in an account of the writings that have come down to us from the earliest days of the world’s recorded history, has this to say: “The clay tablets are both numerous and curious. They are of various sizes, ranging from nine inches long by six and a half wide to an inch and a half long by an inch wide, or even less. Sometimes they are entirely covered by writings, while at others they exhibit on a portion of their surface impressions of seals, mythological emblems, and the like. Some thousands have been recovered. Many are historical, and still more are mythological.” Their use in writing and drawing was almost universal, and we read8 that the prophet Ezekiel, when dwelling with “them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar,” was commanded, “Take thee a tile and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.” (Ezekiel iv. 1.)

We get a glimpse of another side of that ancient life in a tablet of Nile clay, preserved in the British Museum, which is one of the earliest specimens of writing now in existence. It is a proposal of marriage, and was written about 1530 B. C., more than thirty-four hundred years ago, by a Pharaoh asking the hand of a daughter of the Babylonian king. Forty years later, in 1491 B. C., the ten commandments were graven on tablets of stone.
The works of Homer

In the early efforts of men to find a means of preserving in lasting and convenient form the records of their lives and achievements, some queer materials were pressed into service. Plates of metal were used, even the precious gold and silver being employed for the purpose. Skins of animals, tanned to a sort of leather, found favor among many peoples, while their bones, and even their intestines, were by no means disdained. The works of Homer, preserved in one of the great Egyptian libraries in the days of the Ptolemies, were written in letters of gold on the skins of serpents.9 Ivory was used, also wood and the bark of trees. In the early days of Rome, the reports of notable events were engraved on wooden tablets, which were then exposed to view in public places, and citizens of all classes, mingling freely, according to custom, in the great Forum that was the center of the city’s life, were easily and quickly informed of the important happenings of the day. The greatest defect in this method was remedied when, later on, wax was used to form a surface upon the wood, thus admitting of corrections and erasures, and making it possible to use the same table indefinitely, simply by scraping off the coating after it had served its purpose, and supplying other coatings as they were needed. But the first real advance toward modern writing materials came in the use of the leaves of olive, palm, poplar, and other trees, which were prepared by being cut in strips, soaked in boiling water, and then rubbed over wood to make them soft and pliable.
Old materials necessarily discarded

It will be readily understood, however, that these crude materials and primitive methods could not long keep pace with the steady march of progress. The peoples of the earth were increasing rapidly; they were advancing in the arts and sciences, and in the experiences that inspire thought,10 poetry, and philosophy; they had a heritage of knowledge to which they were constantly adding, while business transactions, together with other deeds worthy of record, had greatly multiplied. It was but natural that the materials which had once been entirely adequate should now be discarded as cumbersome and unfitted to the new conditions. The sands in the hour-glass were beginning to run golden; time was taking on a value unknown before. A deed of land written in clay and put away to bake might answer the purpose when real-estate transfers were infrequent and attended with much ceremony. A clay tablet might serve in a marriage proposal by a king who had the power to meet and vanquish all rivals, but terra-cotta was not suited either for the record of numerous and rapid business transactions or for the writing of books. The biography of one man, or a single treatise in philosophy, would have required a whole building, while a library of modern dimensions, as to the number of books, would probably have left little room in a city for the dwellings of its inhabitants.
Discovery of papyrus

What was to take the place of the old and cumbersome materials? Even at a very early date men were asking this question, and it was the good11 fortune of Egypt to be able to give answer. Along the marshy banks of the Nile grew a graceful water-plant, now almost extinct, which was peculiarly fitted to meet the new demands, as we shall see in the succeeding chapter. The discovery of its value led to an extensive industry, through which the land of the Pharaohs was enabled to take high rank in letters and learning, and, to maintain a position of wealth, dignity, power, and influence that otherwise would have been impossible, even in those remote days when printing was still many centuries beyond the thoughts or dreams of men. https://staypot.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-machine-methods-of-paper-work.html https://staypot.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-making-of-good-paper.html https://draconianlaw89.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-form-of-tablet.html https://draconianlaw89.blogspot.com/2018/11/papyrus-and-parchment.html https://marlenef98.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-accusations-and-what-followed.html https://marlenef98.blogspot.com/2018/11/fell-into-good-fortune.html https://trasdor.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-other-side-of-tree.html https://trasdor.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-adventure-begins.html