Series: Ancient languages

From late antiquity through to the early middle ages, people across north-western Europe were inscribing runes on a range of different objects. Once identified and interpreted by experts, runes provide us with invaluable evidence for the early 'Germanic' languages - including English, Dutch, German and the Scandinavian languages - and reveal a wealth of information about our early civilisations. Runes...

Cuneiform script on tablets of clay is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The choice of clay as a writing medium in ancient Mesopotamia meant that records of all kinds could survive down to modern times, preserving fascinating documents from ancient civilisation, written by a variety of people and societies. From reading these...

Latin Inscriptions can appear daunting—a jumble of letters without any structure or meaning. However, once you know how, most are easy to read as they follow strict rules of grammar and abbreviation. This book will teach readers how to 'decipher' them and will highlight how even the smallest piece of information that an inscription may provide can help classicists and...