Week 4! Uhhhhh History :(

Sorry for the late post of this week's blog because I'm with the assignment given in this week. Ok, now let's talk about the content of this week's lecture. Surprisingly, this week's lecture is about history which is the things that I hate the most. I wonder why history exist in Creative Studies' syllabus. Creativity in ancient country? Although this week's lecture is also about creativity but it's creativity in ancient, I give me the feeling that it is going to be very boring.

There are a few ancient cities or communities were chosen to be looked into it in this week's lecture.

1) Mesopotamia
2) Egypt 
3) Ancient Indus
4) China
5) Greek & Hellenistic
6) Byzantine
7) Roman
8) Islamic
9) Medieval European

Wow, I know this ancient cities or communities. I studied them before this in secondary school. Awwww.. :( Last time, I need to memorise so hard and keep on repeat and repeat in order to pass my SPM. This brought back to me a lot of hard and unhappy memories but I think I still have some information left about this few ancient cities or communities although it's been about 1 year I didn't study history. Let's not waste anymore time, I will briefly talk about the creativity of this few countries.

 Ancient Cities & Communities

 

1) Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is an ancient cities & communities
that is situated between 2 rivers which is Tigris and Euphrates. It is also known as the " Land of River". For your information, many ancient cities and communities was founded in area nears seas or rivers as they need a lot of water in their daily life to carry out their daily activities such as agriculture activities. Mesopotamia is one of the most early civilization in this world. The city is organized and it is divided into several areas which is downtown, city walls, outskirt of city and port. Inside the city there are house of worship, castle and also market square. This shows that Mesopotamia civilians is so creative and organized in managing their cities. Carts and ships is their main transportation at their age. The social structure of Mesopotamia is as shown in the diagram below:

The social structure is divided into 2 parts which is "government" (king, general, aristocratic) situatd at the top of this system ,civilian( trader, farmer) and slaves that situated in the lower part of the system. Due to their strategic location which is situated in between 2 rivers, their crops is more than enough to fulfill the needs of their people. Some of the farmers began to turn themselves into trader in order to solve this problems. Their creativity in solving problems have made their cities to grew stronger. Cuneiform script is the script used in Mesopotamia. Cuneiform is one of the earliest known forms of writing expression in this world and it is originally used by the Sumerian and it continues to develop over times. Creating such script require a lot of creativity and without  a proper writing system, it is hard to communicate with one another. Ancients people also show their creativity by developing the Cuneiform. Picture below show example of cuneiform script.

Cuneiform Script

Social problems also leaded ancient people to be more creative in think the way to solve it. Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon is known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's code, one of the earliest written codes of laws in history. The creativity in solving social problems with the invention of Hammurabi's code should be appreciated by all of us. Not only that, the famous epic poem " Epic of Gilgamesh" also found in Mesopotamia. This poem is about friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and there are also many god and creatures stated in this epic poem. Immortally is also one of the element stated in it. Without creativity, ancient people may not be able to create or write this kind of literacy. Intelligence and creativity of Mesopotamian also leaded them on developing knowledge of astronomy which helped them greatly in sailing , simple mathematics, and creating calender which is based on solar system( 12 months for a year). Another creation by Mesopotamia is wheel which were used in many ways. During war time, wheel was used in making horse carriage for war and it is also used as waterwheel which helped a lot in agriculture activities and also function as flood-control device.


Summary on creativity of Mesopotamian:
- Organized city
- Transportation(carts and ships)
- Changing of occupation due to certain reasons
- Cuneiform script
- Hammurabi's code
- "Epic of Gilgamesh"
- Knowledge in Astronomy, Simple Mathematics and Calender
- Creation of wheel

2) Egypt

 

Ancient Egypt located along the river bank of Nile River. Just like Mesopotamia, Nile River serves as the main water supply to the Egyptian to carry out their daily activities. Although the area along the river is very suitable for agriculture activities, the environment is still unfavorable for the Egyptian as their place is situated in the dessert and the weather is unpredictable. Egyptian faced great challenge on this living environment and they need to work hard in order to live on. Ancient Egyptian created tools that are made from metal to help them in their daily activities such as building ditch and watering system. According to dictionary.com, the meaning of Polytheism is belief in more than a god or in many gods. Ancient Egyptian believed in many gods as they are holding the concept of Polytheism in their life. They held to the concept of afterlife and make the dead into mummy. Hence, tools that must be used in daily life are also kept together with the mummy. This somehow shows how intelligence, creative and unique was ancient Egyptian.

Just like Mesopotamia, Egyptian have their own writing script which is known as Hieroglyph. This script is very special because it is the combination of logographic and alphabetic. It is used for recording important stuff such as agricultural activities, tax and religion activities.
The picture at the right side shows Hieroglyph that was used by the ancient Egyptian.

Pyramids are also one of the creation of ancient Egyptian that is full of mystery, special and also unique because most of the building is like square or rectangular shape but it is triangular shape. Great Pyramid of Giza(also known as Pyramid of Khufu or Pyramid of Cheops is the largest and oldest pyramid in Giza. Imhotep is one of the most important people in the history of Ancient Egyptian as he is a polymath and he is credited to the building of pyramids.

Ancient Egyptian also creatively invented paper out of pith of papyrus plant. Papyrus plant-made-papers are used to store important information.

Papyrus Plant

Papyrus Paper

Summary on creativity of Egyptian:
- Tools made from metal
- Polytheism ( Mummy making)
- Hieroglyph script
- Pyramids
- Papyrus-made-paper

3)Ancient Indus

Ancient Indus is situated along the Indus River.  Just like the other, Ancient India set a permanent settlement along the Indus River because of the water supply to their daily activities. Ancient Indus city is well-build because of the creativity and quality of municipal town planing. City is divided into 2 areas which first area is the area of central administrations and the second area in housing area.


Ancient India has achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass and time by developing the uniform system of measures and weights. Not only that, some new techniques in metallurgy also evolved by them and successfully producing new metallurgical items such as bronze, lead, tin and copper.

The writing scripts used in Ancient Indus also considered as the uniqueness of this civilization. The writing script is known as Indus script. It is quite special compare to the other ancient scripts. Most of the ancient scripts have been successfully translated into understandable language but the Indus script is still remain undecipherable.

Summary on Creativity of Ancient India:
- Well-build city
- Accurate Measuring systems
- New techniques in metallurgy
- Indus Script

4) Ancient China

 

Ancient China is situated at the areas along 2 rivers which is the famous Yellow River(Huang Ho) and Yangtze River. Yellow River is believed to be the cradle of China civilization. There are many dynasties in the ancient China and the earliest dynasty in ancient China is said to be the Dynasty Xia. Further information on the dynasties existed in ancient China? Please kindly click on the links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasties_in_Chinese_history



Here are the list and timelines of dynasties existed in ancient China:

Waterway 

Areas along Yellow River is very suitable for plantation as the land is nutritious and assisted a lot in agricultural activities. Waterway is built by the ancient Chinese to water their plantations and it also helps in preventing flood from happening. Not only that, the suitable techniques for plowing and others are applied to the agricultural activities which helps to increase the harvest. Without the creative inventions which assisted in agricultural, ancient China may not be so powerful in the old days.


Ancient Chinese also invented the concept of Yin-Yang(Yin & Yang) which literally meaning is shadow and light. This concept is used to describe the opposite and contrary forces are interconnected and independent in the natural world.It is the primary guideline in the tradisional Chinese medicines and the central principles of  Chinese martial arts. Futhermore, Feng shui is also another important beliefs invented by them. Feng shui are used wisely in orient building in an auspicious manner and the art of Feng shui is still developing and in use until now.

"Art of War Sun Tzu" is also one of the famous ancient treaties in the world. It is written by Sun Tzu   during the late Spring and Autumn Period and the contains of this book is about military strategies and tactics.

Summary on creativity of Ancient China:
- Waterway
- Effective agricultural techniques( plowing and etc.)
- Concept of Yin-Yang
- Feng Shui
- "Art of War Sun Tzu"

5) Greek & Hellenistic

 

Hellenistic Greece appears in the period between the death of Alexander the Great and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146BC. Hellenistics art is the art produced in this period. There are several famous sculptures such as Laocoön and his Sons, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace.were produced at this period of time. Due to frequent wars, the culture of Hellenistic is always cross-crossing and this make them more creative in producing special  products(art or sculpture) .


Architecture of Hellenistic period is special and differs from the architecture before. The city planning is quite innovative at that time, rather than manipulating space by correcting its faults, building plans conformed to the natural settings. Amusement and leisure place such as theater and parks increase in number.

During this period, sculptures produced repeated the innovation of "second classicism", perfect sculpture in other word, allowing the sculpture to be viewed from all of the angle. Hence, the production of a sculpture requires modal. Other than sculpture, Hellenistic art also included painting and mosaic, ceramics, metallic arts, terra cotta figurines( previously use in religion purpose) and glass, glpytic arts.

Here are the exmaples of Hellenistic Art:

Laocoön and his Sons,

Venus de Milo

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Summary on creativity of Greek & Hellenistic:
- Architectures
- Sculptures and art in different forms

6) Byzantine

 

Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the middle ages and it is situated at the centered on the capital of Constantinople. It is also considered as the Western Roman Empire.

Literacy and art is the main things produced in Byzantine in the old days. The art piece produced here is known as Byzantine art. Byzantine art were more concerned about religious expression and translate church theology into artistic terms. At first they translate others literacy but at the 12th century, they began to produce their own literacy and it gradually become the main influences to the Italian Renaissance art. In order to become like this require lot of hard works and also creativity as creativity is the most important in producing good art piece or literacy and people of Byzantine successfully achieved to be the primary influence to the art in Italian in Renaissance period. The pictures below are some of the famous art piece/forms from Byzantine.

Hagia Sophia

The most famous surviving  Byzantine mosaic

 of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

The Cambrai Madonna

Justinians and his Attendants

Summary on creativity of Byzantine:
- Literacy
- Art pieces

7) Roman

 The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilisation which had a large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean area. Being of wealthy and powerful empire, art pieces such as sculptures or mosaics that are place in public are usually serves as decorations. There were also wealthy people advertised their appreciation toward arts by placing sculptures, paintings and any forms of art pieces in their houses. Portraiture is one of the common art form produced in the Roman. During Augustans period, the creating of portraitures were based on youthful and classical proportion but it evolved into usage of idealism and realism next. The other art forms which is popular are mosaics, painting and Sarcophagi. In ancient time, the literacy of Roman is considered high as its rate is between 5-30% as they knows the important of education. With the help of education and creativity, without a doubt Roman was one of the strongest empire in the ancient time. Not only that, there are also performing arts appears in the history of Roman people. What is performing arts? It's a play that performed by people and this shows how creative are the Roman people. Example of Roman art.

Nightingale

Roman Sculpture

Summary on creativity of Roman:
- Art pieces of different forms ( portraiture, painting, sculpture)
- Performing arts

8) Islamic

Islam is a religion that originated from Arab. Their believer is known as Muslims and they only believe to one and only God, Allah. Islamic architecture(Mosque) is also has an outstanding and unique physical appearance. This requires works of creativity combining the element of religions. The picture below is an example of Arabic style Mosque.

Summary on creativity of Islam:
- Architecture

9) Medival

Medieval is also known as the Middle Ages which is the period of European history that lasted from the 5th to the 15th centuries. At this period, military played a very important role and it has to be developed in order to stay strong and powerful. Cavalry troops were trained at the beginning and it continue to developed into more specialized unit. Not only that, there are also creation of cataphract-type soldier appeared at this period. Composite bows, long swords and also mail armor and lamellar armor were also appeared due to the development of technologies in warfare. Crossbow was also another example of development that used to assist in war. Military development cannot be done by only having the knowledge without having creativity. Medieval people also showed their creativity in creating art pieces which includes sculptures, stained glass, metalwork, illuminated manuscripts and mosaics.

Cavalry Units

Crossbow

Medieval Tainted Glass

Medieval Metalwork

Medieval Sculpture

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

Medieval Sculpture

Summary on creativity of Medieval:
- Developement of Military
- Art pieces

Source:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/people-places-kids/iraq-mesopotamia-kids/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/m/mesopotamian.html
http://cikguazid.com/nota-sejarah-ting-4/bab1-kemunculan-tamadun-awal-manusia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/map.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polytheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_valley_civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_inscriptions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasties_in_Chinese_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_China
http://staff.pausd.org/~cbly/1web_design/4_final_11/shannon/history.html
http://dorfmanhealing.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/yin-and-yang-theory/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
http://www.usmc81.com/2011/06/the-art-of-war-sun-tzu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_Greece
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/g/greek/venus_de_milo.jpg.html
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Laocoon.htm
http://culturedart.blogspot.com/2010/11/winged-victory-of-samothrace.html
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/crusades/Byzantium/18.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_art
http://www.pchs541.net/period146.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/europe_ancient_roman_paintings/html/1.stm
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Roman_sculpture.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
http://uncrate.com/stuff/medieval-crossbow/
http://getasword.com/blog/688-european-cavalry-pictures/
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/face/hd_face.htm
http://www.lcm.rug.nl/lcm/teksten/teksten_uk/medieval_sculptures_zuidbroek_uk.htm
http://thetigerchronicle.blogspot.com/2011/10/medieval-stained-glass.html
http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/illusmedmanu.html
http://newyorkamera.com/?m=200901