Professor Mindy McAdams's presentation about the ideas of Harold Innis and written communication in two ancient cultures

1. Egypt and Sumer Presentation by Mindy McAdams MMC 2265 / Week 3.2

2. The Middle East today

3. Ancient Sumer, in Mesopotamia

5. Sumer / Mesopotamia

7. Early Cuneiform Writing

8. Over time, each sign was simplified to make it easier (and faster) to write with a reed stylus (which was pressed into a soft clay tablet)

13. Ancient Egypt Cairo is 800 miles from Baghdad (Miami is 860 miles from New Orleans)

17. Writing on Stone (1)

18. Writing on Stone (2)

19. Writing on Papyrus Book of the Dead, c. 1300 B.C.E. (Papyrus of Ani: Scroll, 78 feet long)

20. Papyrus Papyrus is a plant that grew only in the Nile Delta. Young stems were cut into strips and pressed together.

21. “ After 2000 B.C.E., the central administration employed an army of scribes … literacy was valued as a stepping-stone to prosperity and social rank.” – Innis, p. 24

22. The Egyptian god Thoth was a scribe and, in some accounts, the inventor of writing.

23. Hieratic script (above) developed along with hieroglyphic writing in Egypt . Demotic script (right) came later.

29. The longevity of an empire depends on its ability to extend itself over both time and space.

31. Egypt and Sumer Presentation by Mindy McAdams University of Florida