Edited by Hans Neumann and Walter Sommerfeld
SANTAG, the title of this publication series, describes its thematic focus. Cuneiform writing was invented and developed by Sumerian scholars in southern Mesopotamia during the 4th millennium and later on became the main recording instrument for many other ancient Near Eastern languages, particularly Akkadian and Hittite. It was, admittedly on a declining standard, still in use during the first two centuries AD.
The Sumerian word santag had the meaning “triangular wedge, impression of a cuneiform pencil”, and a late bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian school text contained the sentence “The wedge is the beginning of the art of writing”. The series SANTAG is thus dedicated to publications and editions of and further studies on cuneiform literature and texts.