The Ancient World
The Ancient World
Over the weekend I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to further expand my knowledge on the Ancient World and to look at antiquities from ancient civilizations. I found many objects related to discussions we have had in class and civilizations that we learned about.
According to historians, history started about 5500 years ago in Western Asia. This is the span of recorded history, which was possible with Cuneiform, a writing system by a people known as the Sumerians. Writing systems were developed because people needed a way to record and remember things. Signs were written with a reed stylus on pillow-shaped tablets, which were usually just a few inches long. When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw a few Cuneiform tablets.
As shown on the tablets, Cuneiform is wedge writing. In class we learned that each sign is a syllable, and the combination of these syllables are words. The tablet on the left is by the Sumerians, and the one on the right is by the Babylonians. According to the description under the Sumerian tablet, the tablet most likely documents grain distributed by a large temple. Another old writing system is Hieroglyphics, developed by the Ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphics has two components, consonant, and ideogram.
This tablet shows a frequently occurring group of hieroglyphs meaning “life, prosperity, and dominion.” The grid lines allowed the artist to draw the hieroglyphs at whatever scale was needed. In class I learned that many civilizations in the Ancient World had no word for religion. They did believe in gods, but there was no word for religion; it was just their way of life. One of these civilizations was the Sumerians. At the museum I saw a stone with a picture of a worshiper pouring a libation before a seated god. A libation is a drink poured out as an offering to a deity.
The Sumerians were polytheistic, and there gods were invisible, however, they were in human
Over the weekend I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to further expand my knowledge on the Ancient World and to look at antiquities from ancient civilizations. I found many objects related to discussions we have had in class and civilizations that we learned about.
According to historians, history started about 5500 years ago in Western Asia. This is the span of recorded history, which was possible with Cuneiform, a writing system by a people known as the Sumerians. Writing systems were developed because people needed a way to record and remember things. Signs were written with a reed stylus on pillow-shaped tablets, which were usually just a few inches long. When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw a few Cuneiform tablets.
As shown on the tablets, Cuneiform is wedge writing. In class we learned that each sign is a syllable, and the combination of these syllables are words. The tablet on the left is by the Sumerians, and the one on the right is by the Babylonians. According to the description under the Sumerian tablet, the tablet most likely documents grain distributed by a large temple. Another old writing system is Hieroglyphics, developed by the Ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphics has two components, consonant, and ideogram.
This tablet shows a frequently occurring group of hieroglyphs meaning “life, prosperity, and dominion.” The grid lines allowed the artist to draw the hieroglyphs at whatever scale was needed. In class I learned that many civilizations in the Ancient World had no word for religion. They did believe in gods, but there was no word for religion; it was just their way of life. One of these civilizations was the Sumerians. At the museum I saw a stone with a picture of a worshiper pouring a libation before a seated god. A libation is a drink poured out as an offering to a deity.
The Sumerians were polytheistic, and there gods were invisible, however, they were in human