When Writing Met Art: From Symbol to Story
3/5
()
About this ebook
An archaeologist and art historian examines the impact of literacy on visual art during the early urban period in the Near East.
Denise Schmandt-Besserat opened a new chapter in the history of literacy when she demonstrated that the cuneiform script invented in the ancient Near East in the late fourth millennium BC—the world's oldest known system of writing—derived from an archaic counting device. Her discovery, was published in Before Writing: From Counting to Cuneiform and How Writing Came About, which was named by American Scientist as one of the “100 or so Books that shaped a Century of Science.”
In When Writing Met Art, Schmandt-Besserat expands her history of writing into the visual realm. Using examples of ancient Near Eastern writing and masterpieces of art, she shows that between 3500 and 3000 BC the conventions of writing—everything from its linear organization to its semantic use of the form, size, order, and placement of signs—spread to the making of art, resulting in artworks that presented complex visual narratives in place of the repetitive motifs found on preliterate art objects. Schmandt-Besserat then demonstrates art's reciprocal impact on the development of writing. She shows how, beginning in 2700-2600 BC, the inclusion of inscriptions on funerary and votive art objects emancipated writing from its original accounting function. To fulfill its new role, writing evolved to replicate speech; this made it possible to compile, organize, and synthesize unlimited amounts of information.
Schmandt-Besserat’s pioneering investigation documents a turning point in human history, when two of our most fundamental information media reciprocally multiplied their capacities to communicate. When writing met art, literate civilization was born.
Read more from Denise Schmandt Besserat
How Writing Came About Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Writing Came About Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to When Writing Met Art
Related ebooks
Status in Classical Athens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient Egypt Before Writing: From Markings to Hieroglyphs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Grand Science of Egyptology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Time: Technology and Temporality in Modern Egypt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fable of the Bees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWriting: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMyth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Pharoah's Lips: Ancient Egyptian Language in the Arabic of Today Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEuphrates River Valley Settlement: The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium BC Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cultural Approach to History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Companion to the Ancient Near East Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rethinking the Andes–Amazonia Divide: A cross-disciplinary exploration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling Civilization: A Reassessment of Early Urbanism and Its Consequences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Origins of the Lebanese National Idea: 1840–1920 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of Exodus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreek Science In Antiquity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exile, Ostracism, and Democracy: The Politics of Expulsion in Ancient Greece Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEntangled Histories: Knowledge, Authority, and Jewish Culture in the Thirteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomer and His Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigging Deeper: How Archaeology Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA General History of Europe 350-1900 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Archaeology For You
Underwater Ghost Towns of North Georgia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Epic of Gilgamesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Survive in Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Memory Code Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Tudors: The Untold Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Survive in Ancient Greece Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mound Builders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fifty Things You Need to Know About World History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Anunnaki Chronicles: A Zecharia Sitchin Reader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disinformation Guide to Ancient Aliens, Lost Civilizations, Astonishing Archaeology & Hidden History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings100 Hieroglyphs: Think Like an Egyptian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lehi and Sariah in Arabia: The Old World Setting of the Book of Mormon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost King: The Search for Richard III Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ancestors: A prehistory of Britain in seven burials Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Talking Taino: Caribbean Natural History from a Native Perspective Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary and Analysis of The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story: Based on the Book by Douglas Preston Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World According to Color: A Cultural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Earth Chronicles Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Seven Books of The Earth Chronicles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mystery of the Olmecs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for When Writing Met Art
1 rating0 reviews