Arabic Calligraphy : An Integral Part Of Islamic Culture

Each of the four civilizations had a system of writing. The first form of writing was developed by the Sumerians from the Tigris-Euphrates River, called cuneiform. It had about 300 symbols and was used to mark property boundaries and charts of major constellations. Usually, a wedge-shaped stylus is used on soft clay to produce cuneiform symbols. Cuneiform was later diffused into other following cultures. The Nile River Egyptians developed a different form of writing to help maintain the Egyptian empire. It was pictographic and combined with sound signs to produce hieroglyphics. Most of their writing was done papyrus, which was a fine paper produced from the stem of a water plant. The Indus River also invented their own unique alphabet, however, to this day, it has not been deciphered yet. The most sophisticated form of writing emerged from the Chinese. They came up with characters that symbolized the idea of a thing, naming it

In Ancient times written languages had been some of the tools that they used to communicate. “The designation ‘hieroglyphics’ is a Greek word; the Egyptians referred to their writing as medu-netjer ‘the god’s words’, as they believed writing had been given to them by the great god Thoth” (Mark). The Egyptians believed that hieroglyphics were given to them as a special gifts from their god. Another thing is that they used hieroglyphics to represent their

There exist three basic components of traditional Islamic art: calligraphy, geometric patterns, and floral and vegetal motifs. These three stylistic tools are beautifully rendered and masterfully integrated into complex works of art, but there is no question that artistic expression is severely limited under these categorizations. However, this limitation stems from Islamic theology and concept of art. The main reason for the limitation imposed on visual art is the Islamic theological prohibition of figural imagery. Social laws presented in the Hadith prevented the representation of figures because any imitation was deemed idolatrous. Also, art is considered to be decorative and imitative. Script and patterns are used to decorate

The first form of writing was created by Sumerians 5,000 years ago called Cuneiform (Document 1). Sumerians used this writing system to keep track of business dealings because they traded with people who lived in lands that were hundreds and even thousands of miles away (Doc. 2). With a written language, ideas could be shared from generation to generation (Doc. 1). To write in cuneiform somebody would need to acquire a clay tablet, then bake it hard in a kiln (Doc. 1). If cuneiform had not been created, there may have not been written languages in the

Clunas expands on his claim that the attributes of calligraphy are sometimes more important than the content itself. Shen Du

Art originally in earlier cultures had a different purpose. Currently people create art for an aesthetic purpose for others to view in galleries, theaters, or museums creating distance for the audience. Initially art was created for purposes other than aesthetics, and people participated and interacted with the art and artist. This intertwined relationship between humans and art is especially seen in the Dineh and Wilbiri cultures. These two groups created drypaintings. People in both these groups directly interacted with the paintings instead of viewing them from a distance. Currently, there is a sense of distance instead of interaction. In these groups, humans participated directly with the artist and the art itself. In both

Egyptians not only contributed to future society through the invention of their language, giving them the ability to record their history for future generations, but they also were the first people to create a sensible medium upon which to inscribe their language: paper. “Taken from the fibers of the papyrus plant, Egyptian paper was the first of its kind” (“Ancient” 1). This invention would come to change everything about written language, but not only did Egyptians create the first paper, they also were skilled at creating ink. “The process and depth of color utilized in the Egyptian invention of ink and dye was so marvelous that these brilliant hued colors can still be seen today, thousands of years later” (“Ancirnt” 1).

The dimensions of the sculpture are not known from the research as the Saudi government has the polytheistic sculptures and work censored. Saudi Arabia only lends the sculptures to the Non-Muslim country museum with strict censorship deal with the loaned country. Most of the polytheistic sculptures were destroyed in Muhammad’s time when Islam started to grow. The relief is stone carved with written language which might say “Blessings to the tribe”. The line structures are both thick and thin.The contours are flat with rounded faces and triangular noses. The texture would have been smooth and detailed. There is no color in the sculpture; it would be left as natural white color of the limestone. This sculpture would have become

in ancient writing and in religious books such as the bible and the Qur’an the holy book of islamic

For my artifact, I have created an illustration of Isis. Archaeologists found a wall painting of Isis. This painting had hieroglyphics, a variety of colors, and diverse patterns such as stripes and ovals. The hieroglyphics convey that Isis resembled life, wind, and air. (Ancient History Encyclopedia). This painting suggests that the Egyptians had the time to make paintings that were used to worship goddesses like Isis. Also, Egyptians must have had the tools and technology to put detail and effort in their art. We can infer that the Egyptians had an alphabet, which was the hieroglyphic alphabet. They must respect Isis and what she did for the Ancient Egyptians.

Just from looking at a few pieces of the art of the ancient Egyptians, you begin to notice many defining characteristics about it that make it unique and different from other styles of art. There are an ample amount of recurring features in the art, so this must mean that these traits and aspects are noteworthy. This next section of the essay will go into detail about a few of the many types of art and the stylistic elements that define ancient Egyptian art and make it special and distinguishable from other types of art, and why some particular aspects of the art are important.

To begin, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia introduced the first forms of written language-Cuneiform. The beginning of writing was an essential tool that transferred thoughts and speech into text. It was extremely important and allowed for the beginning of record keeping of all sorts. “At this point, writing was used only for record keeping, and thus only concrete words(nouns) such as “ox”,”grain” and “sheep” were needed. As society became more complex, the language evolved enabling signs to be used…and eventually abstract thoughts “(Newman 44). The world came to know a unique way of expressing thoughts and learned to convey messages through writing. From then on, records could be kept, history and stories could be recorded and abstract thinking could shine

Is the development of the writing system the most important factor that led to the rise of a civilization? How does our ancestor learned to write when school is not even available? Understand that writing system that I am referring is not the average of using tools such as ink and paper, but more of creative tool that has developed over time. In this essay, I will cover seven points on the importantance of a writing system in the ancient civilization.

The Bedouins became the foundational symbol of Arab nationhood identity (Hoyland, 2001). They became the nationhood identity through their significant oral transmitted poetry and written Arabic literature, which became the basis and core language and humanity of Islam (Hoyland, 2001). The pre-Islamic poetry was very fine and unique, it became the linguistic standard of the interpretations of the Qu 'ran. It is noted that the

“Vision is the art of seeing the invisible” ( Jonathon Swift). We have been indulging in the arts and have used art as a way to express and interact with the people surrounding us. To the carved images on rocks, and to the cartoons shown on the TV, the evolution of Graphic Design has shown us the importance of typography, photographers, illustrators etc. have on our society. When paper, ink, and pencils didn’t exist, our ancestors would carve their warnings, messages, and emotions on rocks and walls. Our ancestors don’t realize that such small acts such as these was the beginning of a huge movement, that wouldn’t be recognized until thousands years later. During the 16th century, China was able to establish a technique called woodblock printing or, the application of ink on raised curved surface, that allowed multiple text and images to be made quickly. China’s wide extension of printing slowly reached the middle east and caused Europe to start producing woodblock broadsides and printed books. The first printing press was constructed by Johannes Gutenberg, which was the first metal movable type to create a large amount of printed books. In the Old days books were very rare, expensive and were very valuable. The creation of the Printing press allowed books to be done faster, cheaper and it allowed books to be more accessible to the public. Graphic Design or “the art or skill of combining text and pictures in