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Notes:

1. Writing was not invented for the purpose of preserving literature; the earliest written documents contain commercial, administrative, political, and legal information, and were created by the first "advanced" civilizations in an area that Westerners commonly call the Middle East.
2. The oldest writing was pictographic, meaning that the sign for an object was written to resemble the object itself; later, hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts were invented to record more complicated information.
3. Begun in 2700 B.C. and written down about 2000 B.C., the first great heroic narrative of world literature, Gilgamesh, nearly vanished from memory when it was not translated from cuneiform languages into the new alphabets that replaced them.
4. Though the absence of written signs for vowels can confuse some readers, the consonantal script developed by the Hebrews ushered in a new form of writing that could be composed without special artistic skills and read without advanced training.
5. With their return to Palestine in 539 B.C., the Hebrews rebuilt the Temple and created the canonical version of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.
6. As the stories in the Bible expound, unlike polytheistic religions in which gods often battle among themselves for control over humankind, the sole resistance to the Hebrew God is humankind itself.

Text:
* blue words within the text indicate important notes to remember

1. Before the invention of writing, stories and songs were transmitted orally from generation to generation. Without written documents of this oral tradition, there was always the risk of its literature being irrevocably lost due to cataclysms such as foreign conquest or natural disaster. Writing was not invented for the purpose of preserving literature; the earliest written documents contain commercial, administrative, political, and legal information, and were created by the first "advanced" civilizations in an area that Westerners commonly call the Middle East. These ancient civilizations were agrarian, developing in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers. Cities began as centers for administration of irrigated fields, but they soon became centers for government, religion, and culture. The Egyptians built temples and pyramids in Thebes and Memphis; the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians build palaces and temples in Babylon and Ninevah.
2. The oldest writing was pictographic, meaning that the sign for an object was written to resemble the object itself; later, hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts were invented to record more complicated information. The oldest extant texts date from 3300 to 2990 B.C. and consist mostly of lists of foodstuffs, textiles, and cattle. Though such lists were well served by pictographs, by 2800 BC scribes began to make marks in a script that was later called cuneiform—the Latin cuneus means "a wedge"—to record more complicated information such as historical events. This form of writing survived more than two millennia. In Egypt, scribes developed a different form of writing. Named at a later date after the Greek words for "sacred" and "carving," hieroglyphs also developed in more cursive versions for faster writing.
3. Begun in 2700 B.C. and written down about 2000 B.C., the first great heroic narrative of world literature, Gilgamesh, nearly vanished from memory when it was not translated from cuneiform languages into the new alphabets that replaced them. Gilgamesh was reintroduced to the world when a portion of it, Utnapishtim's Story of the Flood, upon which the biblical story of the flood is based, was accidentally discovered in 1872. Since then, tablets containing other parts of Gilgamesh have been found at sites throughout the Middle East in various cuneiform languages. Though the identity of its author and context are now lost, its stories, with their astonishing immediacy, appeal to modern readers. With this profound familiarity, there is also something infinitely strange and remote about Gilgamesh. The narrative is concerned chiefly with Gilgamesh's friendship with Enkidu, his quest for worldly renown and immortality, and his death.
4. Though the Hebrews left few visual arts (due in part to the prohibition against graven images) and little secular literature, they did leave a religious literature. Its texts were written down between the eighth and second centuries B.C. The religion differs from other ancient religions insofar as it is founded on the idea of one god, who is infinitely just, omnipotent, and omniscient. The script that the Hebrews created consisted of twenty-two simple signs for consonantal sounds and survives, in modified form, today. Though the absence of written signs for vowels can confuse some readers, the consonantal script developed by the Hebrews ushered in a new form of writing that could be composed without special artistic skills and read without advanced training. Adopting the consonantal script of the Phoenicians, the Greeks added signs for vowels to form what is called the first real alphabet.
5. Unlike the rulers of the Tigris-Euphrates and Nile valleys, the Hebrews did not control an area of economic or military importance. They were not an imperial people, but began as pastoral tribes in Palestine who created Jerusalem as their capital. Their history includes foreign occupations by the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans as well as exiles in Egypt and Babylon, and the Diaspora. After a period of expansion and prosperity under kings David and Solomon, the Hebrews were deported to Babylon in 586 B.C. With their return to Palestine in 539 B.C., the Hebrews rebuilt the Temple and created the canonical version of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. By 300 B.C., the independent state of Israel was invaded and was eventually conquered by the Greeks and later absorbed into the Roman empire. After unsuccessful attempts to revolt against Roman rule under emperors Titus and Hadrian, the Hebrews became a people of the Diaspora. It was not until the twentieth century that Israel was reestablished as an independent state.
6. According to Hebrew religious attitudes, God created a perfect and harmonious order; physical and moral disorder is a consequence of Adam and Eve's disobedience. As the stories in the Bible expound, unlike polytheistic religions in which gods often battle among themselves for control over humankind, the sole resistance to the Hebrew God is humankind itself. The exercise of free will, which may be used for both good and evil, is in some mysterious way a manifestation of God's will. Hebrew teachers later carried on the story of the Fall and developed the concept of a God who is as merciful as He is just, who brings about the possibility of atonement and reconciliation. This concept is highlighted in the stories of Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel, among others. The stories of the Bible teach lessons about humankind's proper relations to God, which themselves are a generational process that concentrates on the origins and development of the Hebrews as God's chosen people.