Lecture
Back to the beginning: The origins of the Anatolian hieroglyphs from a historical, philological and linguistic perspective
- Willemijn Waal & Alwin Kloekhorst
- Date
- Monday 6 July 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 0.11
Abstract
Ancient Anatolia was home to an indigenous hieroglyphic writing system that was in use during the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE, primarily to write the Luwian language. This lecture will readdress the hotly debated topic of the origins and use of the Anatolian hieroglyphs in Anatolia. It will discuss newly discovered archaeological, philological and linguistic evidence, on the basis of which it has now become likely that (a) this writing system was used more widely than thus has generally been assumed, and (b) that it predates the introduction of the cuneiform script into Anatolia. Moreover, we will discuss several arguments that indicate that the Anatolian hieroglyphic script was already in use during the Old Assyrian period, and that its roots may go back even further in time.
This lecture is part of the Summer School in Languages and Linguistics, but is open to anyone who is interested.