Day Two: After Class

Today, in class, we talked about Chapter One—The Invention of Writing.

There was much to take in just while going over this topic. One highlight to remember is where the first writing occurred. Supposedly, people in southern Africa began writing on cave walls about 200,000 years ago. This was most likely done for survival purposes, and this was the beginning of visual communication. Another important highlight is to understand how writing evolved over time. Writing began as simple figures and geometric signs, which became simplified as people found easier ways to communicate what they saw or thought. Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics were a couple of developed writing styles. This writing continued to evolve throughout time in order to improve visible communication. As writing evolved, more information could be recorded. A third highlight is how Mesopotamia was the beginning of civilization. Writing was used to help order the society by labeling and record-keeping, among other ways. A fourth highlight is that as society became more structured, laws were written in order to keep everyone in line. The Code of Hammurabi was a large stone with carved commandments and consequences. A fifth highlight is to understand the sudden ability of identification and showing ownership. There were cattle brands and cylinder seals created for trademarks. The cylinder seals were also used for security purposes. A sixth highlight is the hieroglyphics of the Egyptian culture. This was a picture-writing system, and it was sacred because it was religious and magical. No one would understand the meaning of their writing if it wasn’t for the Rosetta Stone, which helped decipher the pictograms. Hieroglyphics were written in and outside of tombs and temples. Papyrus was created by Egyptians from plants in the Nile River. Egyptians also used cylinder seals and propriety marks on their belongings.

The most useful thing I learned today was the difference between a picture and a symbol because I got the two sort of mixed up as I read on it. I enjoyed the little group activity we did as a class because after seeing the drawings on the dry-erase board, I was able to see a difference between the two. Another useful thing I learned was that the pictures were not drawn for art purposes. Because the need for survival was crucial during this era, there most likely would not have been extra time to spend creating cave artwork. Something useful that we also did in class was take the online quiz for chapter one. It was nice to go over what I needed to have a better understanding of.

Why were the consequences on the Code of Hammurabi so severe?