# data[].attributes.body
Over time, people realized they could keep track of their trades even better by using clay containers marked with information about the transaction. This increased the demand for pottery, inspiring one of history’s important inventions: the wheel.

# data[].attributes.body
As the civilization in Mesopotamia grew more advanced, so did its writing system. Eventually, cuneiform became so well-developed that people could write stories.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading and writing were privileges in Mesopotamia. About 90% of the population was illiterate. Wealthy families paid for their children to attend school and learn to read and write. School records found by archaeologists show that most students (nearly 70%) were boys; the girls that attended school were likely the daughters of kings, priests, or priestesses.

# data[].attributes.body
In Mesopotamia, people who could read and write were called scribes. To become a scribe, a student would go to school from an early age to study reading, writing, and math. They would learn how to write letters, create contracts, keep records, and calculate taxes. Every teacher and private tutor was also a scribe, and scribes were highly respected.

# data[].attributes.body
Over 5,000 years ago, people in Mesopotamia developed the first-known form of writing. To write, a person would use a stylus (a pen-like tool still in use today) to carve lines and triangles onto a wet clay tablet. The clay tablet was then dried and would last thousands of years, much longer than the paper we use today.

# data[].attributes.body
Overall, cuneiform is considered the most important cultural contribution to have come out of Mesopotamia. It led to the birth of the written story. Mesopotamian literature later informed and influenced the writings of other cultures, including ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

# data[].attributes.headline
What Hammurabi had to contribute to the Cuneiform

# data[].attributes.subject
What Hammurabi had to contribute to the Cuneiform

# data[].attributes.body
Archaeologists have found cuneiform on tablets, public monuments and statues, and ziggurat walls. An example is the Code of Hammurabi stone stele. Historians believe King Hammurabi created it so people knew laws existed, along with punishments for breaking them, even if they couldn’t read them. By putting his laws into writing and posting them publicly, the king secured his legacy of justice.