Medieval German stories
Monk writing a book, seated on a wyvern (North Germany, ca. 1150 AD now in Metropolitan Museum, NYC) The earliest stories of German and Scandinavian literature probably come from even [...]
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06, 2017
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06, 2017
Hildebrandsleid – a tragic story
Pictish battle (Aberlemno, Scotland, ca. 700 AD) (not really the Hildebrandsleid) Who wrote this story? The story of Hildebrand is one of the earliest stories written in German. Nobody knows [...]
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06, 2017
What is papyrus? – Ancient Egypt
Papyrus plant When the Egyptians began to write, about 3000 BC, they wrote from the beginning in ink, on papyrus (pah-PIE-russ). Papyrus is a plant that grows wild all over [...]
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06, 2017
Writing in Ancient Egypt
Book of the Dead Writing in Egypt goes back to pretty much the earliest writing anywhere. Nobody really knows yet whether the Egyptians figured out how to write for themselves. [...]
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06, 2017
Egyptian hieroglyphs – Invention of Writing
Some of the earliest known Egyptian hieroglyphs (Abydos, ca. 3200 BC) Keeping records Soon after the Egyptian kings united Egypt into one country, about 3200 BC, they needed government officials [...]
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06, 2017
Ancient Egyptian Poetry
The priestess Meretites hugs her husband, the singer Kahai (Saqqara, Old Kingdom Egypt) First written poems in Egypt By the time the New Kingdom started, about 1500 BC, many Egyptian [...]
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06, 2017
Cinderella Story from Ancient Egypt
Straw flip-flops from ancient Egypt Where did this story come from? The West Asian writer Strabo wrote down this Egyptian version of the Cinderella story. He wrote it in Greek, [...]
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06, 2017
Reading a Greek play – Ancient Greece project
Greek theater at Epidauros - Reading a Greek play How did Greek plays get started? One great activity to understand ancient Greece better is to stage a scene from a [...]
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06, 2017
Who was Xuanzang? A Buddhist scholar of medieval China
Travels of the Buddhist traveller Xuanzang (T'ang Dynasty, 630 AD) Xuanzang was a great Chinese scholar who lived in the 600s AD, under the T'ang dynasty. He was a Buddhist, [...]
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06, 2017
Zen Koans – Medieval Buddhism in China
Song Dynasty painting (now in Kyoto Museum) In the 1200s AD, under the Song Dynasty, the Chinese Buddhist monk Wumen collected a bunch of Zen koans, or stories, in a [...]
