The Dawn of Philology

The emergence of complex writing systems in Mesopotamia and Egypt enabled the creation of vast textual traditions spanning administration, medicine, law, religion, literature, and political life. The preservation and transmission of these materials required highly trained specialists working within courts, temples, and other institutions. In the activities of these specialists—collecting, copying, interpreting, and curating texts—we can observe the earliest foundations of philology, the disciplined engagement with written knowledge that underlies all scholarly traditions.

Drawing on a wide range of primary sources from around 3000 BCE to the first centuries CE, this book offers the first comparative history of philology in Egypt and Mesopotamia. It takes a holistic approach to their written legacies, examining methods, practices, scholarly roles, and institutional settings alongside the material forms of texts themselves. By analyzing written evidence together with objects and material culture, it reconstructs a dynamic repertoire of techniques for composing, studying, interpreting, and transmitting knowledge—procedures that became fundamental principles of philology thereafter.

The Dawn of Philology—originally published in German in 2018 and updated and presented here in English translation—is an important and accessible contribution to the literature on the origins of writing and scholarship. It will be essential for specialists in Assyriology and Egyptology, as well as for readers interested in the history of knowledge and scholarly disciplines.