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The birth of writing! - History of Writing Systems #2 (Pictographs in a cave)
Writing started out as pictures? Yep! Journey to a cave full of pictographs in ancient France and see how it all began. You just took Thoth's Pill. Now watch as early cave paintings turn into pictographs and ideographs. Where will history...
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How writing got civilized - History of Writing Systems #3 (Logographs)
Watch prehistoric pictures turn into written words as ancient civilizations around the world learn to write for the very first time! You took Thoth's Pill. Now your journey continues. Leave the cave days behind and take a leap into history...
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Pronouncing pictures! - History of Writing Systems #4 (Rebus writing)
Watch ancient Sumerians figure out how to use pictures to write sounds for the first time in history. See why the Egyptians disagree with their approach. Meaning writing (logographs) let early writers get civilized and document their thoughts...
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Chinese is NOT picture writing! - History of Writing Systems #5 (Determinatives)
Watch this ancient Chinese scribe figure out how to use a fixed set of characters to write limitless words in his language. How? By combining meaning writing (logographs) and sound writing (rebus)! The result is a set of helpful hints...
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What's hiding inside Maya glyphs - History of Writing Systems #6 (Syllabary)
Maya glyphs aren't just Mesoamerican eye candy. They're a working writing system! Unlike the thousands of logograms encountered in your journey so far, the Maya syllabary lets you combine a very limited number of syllables into a block...
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How Egypt invented the alphabet - History of Writing Systems #7 (Abjad)
From Egyptian hieroglyphs to your alphabet, watch these miners turn fancy symbols into simple scratches that were all about the sounds. First marvel at hieroglyphic inscriptions in the shadow of the great pyramids. Once you grasp how those...
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Semitic's vowel-smuggling consonants - History of Writing Systems #9 (Pointing & Matres Lectionis)
Semitic languages like Hebrew and Arabic evolved a unique way to write vowels... with consonants! See how in this episode of Thoth's Pill: an Animated History of Writing. You're back in the ancient Middle East, where seemingly everyone's...
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India's awesome hybrid alphabet thing - History of Writing Systems #10 (Alphasyllabary)
Not a syllabary. Not quite an alphabet. Totally Indian. Watch Ashoka discuss his land's exotic script and tell you his plans for this unique alphasyllabary. This episode traces the invention of the Indic alphasyllabary, the parent of so...
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How Korea crafted a better alphabet - History of Writing Systems #11 (Featural Alphabet)
The Korean alphabet is better than yours. Meet the king who invented it and watch him work his linguistic magic in this chapter in the history of writing. You wake up in another palace. This time you're in Korea. The first face to greet...
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Thoth's Pill - an Animated History of Writing
My animation takes you through the birth and evolution of writing. Watch the story of the world's scripts unfold, from the early cave days to modern writing systems. But only if you choose to take Thoth's Pill... This animated documentary...