Writing and Accounting Key Concept 1.3 = Importance of laws, literature, and systems of record keeping

How was writing and accounting used? support for state authority came with the invention of writing regarded as a gift from the gods people without writing viewed it as something magical literacy defined elite status – enormous prestige if you had the ability to read – since writing could be learned, it allowed for some commoners to join the circle of the literate

How was writing and accounting used? Writing was used as: – Propaganda – Celebrating the deeds of kings – Used commonly in these two from by the Egyptians and the Maya

Writing in Mesopotamia Mesopotamia – – served as an accounting function = who paid taxes, who owed the temple, payment to workers – documentation strengthened the bureaucracy. – Calendars were precise – contained information of when rituals should be performed Hammurabi’s law code – sets up divisions between class and gender

Can writing be controlled? Writing, like religion, was hard to control – Gave rise to literature and philosophy… – which led to Astronomy and Mathematics – History went from oral traditions being passed down to being written Discussion Question: Writing was a major contributor to social and political growth/conflict – rulers always sought to control -why?

Different systems of record keeping: 1. Sumer = Cuneifrom – wedge shaped, on clay tablets, represented objects, ideas, sounds. 1 st written language, base for Babylonian and Assryian Script

Different systems of record keeping: 2. Egypt = Hieroglyphs – signs that represent words and consonants, no vowels or syllables. Every day use

Different systems of record keeping: 3. Andes = Quipu – knotted cords = used for business and administrative purposes, numerical data. Widely used in the Inca empire

Different systems of record keeping: 4. Indus River Valley – 400 pictographic symbols – led to the Dravidan language currently spoken in southern India

Different systems of record keeping: 5. China = oracle bones, pictographs. Inscribed on shells, bones of animals, direct ancestor of contemporary Chinese characters

Different systems of record keeping: 6. Olmec = signs that represent sounds and words, system using dots and bards. Used to record names and deeds of rulers and shamans, battle and astronomical data.

Evolution of Cuneifor m – from tokens to symbols