Arts and writing
Next time you're texting on your phone, or emailing someone think about the words you are writing, do you know who created that writing. The bases of it was created by the Mesopotamians.
The language was called cuneiform, and there were 700 symbols for this new language. Cuneiform was created with pictographs by making wedged shaped marks on a clay tablet, using a stick called a stylus. This writing was created in the city Sumer around 3200 B.C. There writing style is kind of like art, because if you draw barley, it represents barely. The original alphabet of cuneiform was created by semitic people living in near Egypt. Although the Egyptians created the alphabets, the Mesopotamians created their own symbols. |
You may still be asking, why did these people create this form of writing? The writing was mostly used for recording trades, and other businesses deals. You might be surprised to know, but many people didn't know this language. If you wanted to write for the king or anyone, you would go to scribe school. They teach you how to write the different symbols, and then you graduate as a scribe. Not only did they have to learn the symbols, they had to know the Mesopotamian languages. Without scribes, we wouldn't be able to read or write, and royal monuments would not have been carved with cuneiform symbols, and stories would have been told and then forgotten. Often scribes would write on clay tablets, but sometimes it would vary depending on what they wanted to write. The first tale ever written back than was the Epic Tale Of Gilgamesh. Scientist have found that many writings about wars and battles were found against cave walls.
Many sculptures made by the Mesopotamians were mythical creatures, that were believed to be the gods pets. They also showed a lot of beards, and often random people’s faces. The reason they had beards were because to them it represented power. Most of the paintings they left told about wars, where the ruler obtained more power. These paintings were usually along cave walls, or stones. Ziggurats are also another type of art, because each one of them represents the place where a god lives. Each city has there own ziggurat. Along with that they carved stones as idols, because it was believed that you could pray to a stone, and it would take the message to god. The most common thing to paint were the walls of the city, and the kings palace. Many people like carpenters, architects, and many others were considered artist.
What is fascinating about the arts, is that it is a part of architecture, writing, and technology all in one. |
In Mesopotamia, sculpture was a big thing back then. People would most likely make pottery representing the gods. The Babylonians were the first to create a colored egg shell.
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All around the world, different languages have developed, and we can thank our own ancestors. They created the basis of writing and set a sidewalk to famous arts. If you think about it, arts developed into architecture, and we created cities with architecture. It is amazing how far we developed, but that was easy for us, because we weren't the ones who started it.