When recently there was news of militants destroying a 2000-year old temple in Syria, in a city from the Roman days, sights of the temple came back to mind, particularly a ceiling that I had once come across. This writing is not about the shortsightedness of destroying a remnant of a long-past civilization; rather, it is about a science, an idea… the possible significance of the Zodiac.
Tag: ancient civilisations
History of the Written Word: the scribes of medieval Europe and ancient Mesopotamia
In the beginning, there was only nature. We lived alongside her laws and her ways. With the annals of time, humans created civilisation. Without the written word, civilisation wouldn’t exist. And it all began with the scribes – the very first wordsmiths who etched their words so they would never be forgotten or lost.
Who was the world’s first author?
4,300 years ago in ancient Sumer, the most powerful person in the city of Ur was banished to wander the vast desert. Her name was Enheduanna, and by the time of her exile, she had written forty-two hymns and three epic poems— and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her. Who was this woman, and why was she exiled?