Week 2 Readings Flashcards
How was papyrus made?
From Cyperus papyrus on the Nile delta. Stems rinds were stripped off, cut into strips overlapping a cloth, similar layer above and across, covered by another cloth, and hammered for hours until welded into a mass.
What were writing brushes made from?
A king of rush Funcus maritimus. Lengths were from 6 to 16 inches and cut slantingly at one end and bruised to separate fibers.
What happened to writing when people transitioned from stone to papyrus?
Writing on stone was characterized by lines straight or circular, rectangular in form, and upright in position. Writing on papyrus was cursive and rapid.
What become more efficient with the growth of reading and writing?
Administration
Which gods become worshiped with the emergence of writing?
Osiris and Ra
The use of papyrus rapidly increased after:
the expulsion of the Hyksos
What god came to power after the expulsion of Hyksos?
Thoth become the god of magic as the cult of Thoth played an important role in the New Kingdom and explusion
The ability to predict the __ became the basis of power in Egypt
floods of the Nile
Writing was invented in Sumer to:
keep tallies and make lists, outgrowth of mathematics
Why did pictorial writing disappear from clay writing?
Economy of effort demanded a reduction in the number of strokes, resulting in writing in formal patterns instead. Cuneiform writing was a complex group of wedges, increasing the size of tablets and changing the angle held in the writers hand, hastening this change.
The higher the proportion of __ to __ signs makes it easier to guess the pronunciation of a word?
phonetic to semantic
The higher the proportion of __ to __ signs makes it easier to guess the pronunciation of a word?
phonetic to semantic
What language script is the most efficient phonetically? Which is the least?
The most is Finnish. The least is Japanese/Chinese.
