Language and Writing

Cuneiform

3000 BCE

Sumerians develop cuneiform. It is the first know writing system in the world.

Phoenician Alphabet

1300 BCE

Phoenicians develop the first alphabet. It became the inspiration/basis for the Latin alphabet.

First Olympic Games

776 BCE

The Olympic games were very important in the development of the greek language. It was a factor in what kept them cohesive as a culture, and therefor kept languages from diverging too far.

Traditional Founding of Rome

753 BCE

Rome would go on to spread its culture far and therefore its languages far. Rome is responsible for many of the most commonly spoken languages today.

Herodotus writes his Histories

450 BCE

He was a major influence on how history was recorded as a whole and stands as one of the major sources for studying the ancient Greek languages, and also ancient Greece as a whole.

Roman Empire Begins

27 BCE

Rome becomes an empire and will become much more powerful. Through conquer, they forcibly spread their culture.

Edict of Milan

313

This edict made Christianity and the bible important in the Western world. These two things became very powerful in the spreading of language through things like missionaries, and printing tech.

Pope Gregory sends missionaries to England

596

The pope sent people to spread the good word to England. England would actually use this Latin basis of language and turn it into a fairly important language that we use in the modern world.

William the Conquerer Invades England.

1066

When he did this, he introduced Norman French and created Middle English. An important development for English.

Gutenberg Bible

1455

The printing press was first invented and used to print the bible. The printing press was one of the most important developments in language and literature ever.