After Class-Chapters 2&3

Today we went over the reading for chapters 2 and 3. Much like the last class discussion today helped clarify some misunderstandings I had for the readings, and it also went over some topics or key terms that I missed. For example I missed when the book went over what a logogram is, but after class discussion I was able to find out that a logogram is simply a symbol that represents an object like the dollar sign representing money. Also in class we went over how the Phoenicians were the first to use achrophonic symbols or in other words symbols that stand for the initial sound made when spoken.

I also found it interesting how different writing in the west is from the writing style of the Chinese and other Asian cultures. Even though the Greek and Roman empires developed an alphabet that closely relates to modern day writing, I find myself being more interested in the calligraphy of China. One aspect of the western writing style that I found to be intriguing is how both the Greeks and Romans developed two styles each, one being neat and carefully written the other being sloppy and quickly written. For the Greeks it was called unicials which were letters with more rounded edges rather than geometric shapes. As for the Romans it was called capitalis rustica which was written very quickly with no spacing of the letters so they could fit more words on one piece of parchment. The reason why I find this interesting is because these forms of quick sloppy writing is like the early stages of modern day cursive.

After reading both of these chapters my only question that I keep asking myself is which culture had a greater impact on the world with its developments, the West or the East?