Page 323 from
Start-Up Activity
Ask your students why writing was invented. They may guess, "For education" or "To send letters to people" or "Because the Romans had to chisel something on all those buildings." On the board, list whatever suggestions they offer. Then let them know writing was invented for and by business.
A merchant shipping two goats and ten barrels of olive oil across the Mediterranean Sea didn't want the ship captain to sell off two barrels and eat one goat before arriving at port. So the ancient Mesopotamians developed cuneiform writing. They pressed the wedge-shaped edge of a reed into clay to form letters that recorded just what they were shipping, along with their personal stamp. Then they fired the clay and sent it with the shipment. If the captain delivered less or did not deliver the cuneiform record, he was in big trouble.
Writing performs the same function in today's businesses—creating contracts, tracking inventories, communicating long distances, and so on. And, thankfully, the writing that business invented proved really useful to scientists, artists, scholars, and everyday people from then until now.
Think About It
“The ancient codes were doubtless originally suggested by the discovery and diffusion of the art of writing.”
—Henry James Sumner Maine
Start-Up Activity
Ask your students why writing was invented. They may guess, "For education" or "To send letters to people" or "Because the Romans had to chisel something on all those buildings." On the board, list whatever suggestions they offer. Then let them know writing was invented for and by business.
A merchant shipping two goats and ten barrels of olive oil across the Mediterranean Sea didn't want the ship captain to sell off two barrels and eat one goat before arriving at port. So the ancient Mesopotamians developed cuneiform writing. They pressed the wedge-shaped edge of a reed into clay to form letters that recorded just what they were shipping, along with their personal stamp. Then they fired the clay and sent it with the shipment. If the captain delivered less or did not deliver the cuneiform record, he was in big trouble.
Writing performs the same function in today's businesses—creating contracts, tracking inventories, communicating long distances, and so on. And, thankfully, the writing that business invented proved really useful to scientists, artists, scholars, and everyday people from then until now.
Think About It
“The ancient codes were doubtless originally suggested by the discovery and diffusion of the art of writing.”
—Henry James Sumner Maine
