Category Self Image & Branding

Zoo semiotics is a very long word indeed, isn’t it? But it actually has quite a simple meaning. It means the study of the different ways in which animals communicate with each other.We all know that animals cannot talk, but this does not mean that they do not communicate with one another. They have several different ways of communicating, and this communication affects the behaviour of other animals around them. Zoo semiotics studies all this, and this science which is more than 40 years old, was founded by a distinguished American professor, called Thomas Sebeok

To be honest, no one knows exactly who invented the alphabet or when it was invented. One thing is likely though… the alphabet was not invented suddenly on one fine day. It probably evolved gradually from earlier forms of writing.  It is generally felt that the people living around Syria and Palestine were the first to use the alphabet. The origins of the English alphabet can be traced back to the Semitic alphabets developed by the people who lived on the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean. A 3600 year old sandstone sphinx has letters of the Semitic alphabet inscribed on it. When joined together, the letters from the name of the goddess Baalat. A 3000 year old tablet excavated in Syria proves that the people living there during that time developed an alphabet that represented the sounds of their own language. This alphabet has 30 letters, and a special sign to divide one word from the next.The Phoenicians also developed an alphabet of 22 letters, and since they were great traders, their alphabet influenced the development of writing in different parts of the ancient world.

The cuneiform script was created by the Sumerians around 3000 BC. It is one of the earliest known forms of writing.Cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Over time, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiforms were written on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed called a stylus. The impressions left by the stylus were wedge shaped. This gave rise to the name cuneiform, which means ‘wedge shaped’.The records in cuneiform script that were kept by priests of this time have helped us to learn a lot about this ancient civilization.

The writing of ancient Egypt is in the form of pictures called hieroglyphs, which means sacred carvings. They can be seen today mainly in temples, tombs and other sacred monuments. A hieroglyphic symbol is a picture of an object that stands for a word, idea or sound used by the ancient Egyptians. There are over 700 hieroglyphic symbols. For example, the hieroglyph for ‘writing’ or ‘scribe’ is formed as a brush, a pigment bag, and a palette.  For everyday work, scribes used a more joined-up version like handwriting. It is called hieratic, and it was written quickly. Later, an even faster form of writing called demotic was developed.Writing in Egypt was done by scribes, who were trained professionals. They wrote on paper made of papyrus reed, and used thin reed brushes or reed pens to write. These pens were split at the end to hold ink. Making papyrus was a long and laborious process, so student scribes learnt the art of writing on bits of pottery. They were very cheap, and required no special preparation.Scribes were very important people in ancient Egypt, since only a few people could write. They held positions of great honour, and were well rewarded for their work.

We know that early man first started communicating through speech. However, he had no means of storing information, keeping accounts or recording events. The first step towards inventing writing was when man began to draw pictures of things he saw… mostly animals and birds, trees and flowers, the sun and moon.A giant step forward was taken when man learned to make pictures that represented not just an object, but a word in spoken language. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia were the first to do this over 5000 years ago. Later, the ancient Egyptians and Chinese also developed a form of picture writing.The next step was when each picture or sign stood for a single sound instead of for a whole word. This was the beginning of the alphabet. The Mediterranean people, the Hebrews and Phoenicians were the first to use an alphabet. In fact, the word ‘alphabet’ comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’.The Phoenicians were great sea traders, and they needed a simple and efficiency way of keeping accounts. So about 3000 years ago, they developed a system of 22 pictures that stood for the sound of consonants in their language … sound like ‘k’. ‘b’ or ‘f’.  The Greeks later added signs that represented the vowel sounds like ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’. Over 2000 years ago, the Romans developed the Roman alphabet which is still in use. Man first started to write on stones or trees using sharp objects. Later, he used reeds to write on clay tablets. The ancient Egyptians also made a kind of paper from reeds called papyrus. During the middle Ages in Europe, people wrote on parchment which was made by splitting animals skin into thin layers. They used quills made with goose or turkey feathers to write. Paper and ink as we know them today, came much later

You have all heard about marathon races, in which the participants run across very long distances. This game was first held to honour the memory of an ancient Greek soldier, who made a heroic long distance run just to communicate a message. It happened in BC 490. In that year Greece fought with Persia at the town of Marathon. The mighty Persians were miraculously defeated by the comparatively weak Greek army. A Greek soldier named Pheidippides was sent from Marathon to Athens (capital of Greece) to announce the victory. It is said that he ran the entire distance of 40 km without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message to the city he collapsed dead, from exhaustion.