1 / 12

Writing and Accounting

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

aizza
Download Presentation

Writing and Accounting

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

  11. 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.

  12. Evolution of Cuneiform – from tokens to symbols

More Related