Evolving Egyptian Writing and the Deminishing Goddess

Schlain now turns to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the evolution of their writing along with the changing of the depiction of the creator of the Earth from two goddesses working together to create all of humanity to a single god who created everything on his own. With the origination of Egyptian writing around 3100 BCE written down were the creation story of the Vulture Goddess, Nekhbet of Upper Egypt and the Cobra Goddess, Wadjet of Lower Egypt. Egyptian writing was originally made up mostly of glyphs but they also had a series of 25 symbols that represented their language's consonants—a type of alphabet. By the time of the Middle Kingdom, around 2400 BCE, as literacy became more established, writing became more masculine based and so did masculine-based creation stories. (Schlain 55) Creation goes from two goddesses intertwining to one god Atum, “masturbating into existence the Ennead, a family of eight gods and goddesses.” (Schlain 55) So, the creation of the all important deities in Egypt went from the work of two goddesses, to a single-handed job by Atum.

The evolution of writing in Egypt from the Early Dynasty to the New Dynasty also showed a change from the use of glyphs, to the use of the hieratic script, their consonant based alphabet. So, with the change from symbols to create their stories to a form of letters and words, came the change from the feminine creation to masculine creation. As the power of Egypt, and therefore the ego of the rulers grew, local gods were no longer sufficient enough to please the rulers of Egypt. They began to raise a singular god above the rest, starting with Amon, then Maat, Aton and back to Amon. (Schlain, 59)

Egypt, in comparison to Mesopotamia at the time, held women in a much higher regard. Women were allowed to partake in commerce, be in public alone, drink and even were the ones who proposed marriage to men. However, as writing in Egypt evolved, and therefore the importance of goddesses evolved, the role of women was progressively lessened as they began to lose power.

Schlain seems to easily make his point in terms of Egypt in that as its writing evolves, along with literacy and male dominance, so did the prominence of gods over goddesses. He puts forth the argument alongside the evidence of the ruling men of the time trying to put forth the idea of an all-important god.

Comparison of Egyptian hieroglyphs and hieratic script

It seems interesting to me that women had high regard in Egypt when glyphs were prominently used, but as they began to switch to symbols for sounds, as the Mesopotamians did, that the role of women in society diminished. So, do you think the change from hieroglyphs to symbols representing words was a big part of the diminishing role of women in Egypt? Why or why not?

Chapter 5 Nonverbal/Verbal

Chapter 5 was a short chapter, but it is when Schlain starts to make his argument that nonverbal language has killed feminine ideals. Schlain says, "To write and read, an individual uses primarily the left hemisphere, only the hunting cones and only the killing hand." (40) Schlain claims that while nobody knows when speech began, gestures preceded vocalizations (40). He gives evidence to support this by saying that, "Among the varied species of primates, only humans... lack pigment on their palms... It would have been a distinct advantage for he palms to be pale and thus more visible in dim light." (41)

Schlain believes that gesture is still a very important part of speech. "...pantomime is far more descriptive than words could be." (41) Schlain talks a lot about the retina's rods and cones in this chapter. He attributes the rods to the feminine, and the cones to the masculine. He does this because while hunting, men would need to focus in on one thing. In order to do this, they would use mainly the cones, or the color detecting cells in the eye, to detect movement in the brush. (41)

Because a listener must engage a speaker with his eyes, except in the case of radio and telephone, Schlain believes that there is still a part of the feminine influence on speaking. "The invention of writing completely upset this balance." (Schlain 42) Because there are no visual clues to help the reader understand what the writer is saying, the reader must completely rely on the context of the word. Schlain compares speech to music, and since music appreciation is mostly a right hemisphere action, he states that listening to a speaker is a feminine action as well. (42)

At the end of the chapter, Schlain seems to repeat himself. He talks about how "writing involves the muscles of only one side of the body." (44) Since most people are right handed, this means that the left hemisphere, or the masculine hemisphere, is being used. I like what how he concluded this chapter however. "Placing the pen in the fighting hand etches aggression into the written word..." (Schlain 44) Schlain finally wraps up his argument by saying, "The triumphant march of literacy that began five thousand years ago conquered the right-brain values, and with them, the Goddess. Patriarchy and misogyny have been the inevitable result." (44) By saying this, he thinks that the art of writing has killed feminine values, and that patriarchy, or a man first society, and misogyny, or the hatred of women, were the result.

Analysis: Schlain's ethos was pretty weak in this chapter. He said some things that weren't common knowledge, and then didn't source them. He also said some things that were complete opinion and tried to use them as fact, such as "reading between the lines is a far more difficult exercise than evaluating the nonverbal clues of speech." (42) I thought his logos was pretty good up until the end of the chapter. To claim that writing has killed feminine values is purely fantasy. If writing is an art, and the feminine hemisphere is supposed to be the artistic one, where is the logic behind that claim? His pathos was very strong. He used this appeal perfectly. He said that writing has killed feminine values just to get a reaction from the reader.

My question to you is what do you think about the last two sentences of Schlain's chapter 5? "The triumphant march of literacy that began five thousand years ago conquered the right-brain values, and with them, the Goddess. Patriarchy and misogyny have been the inevitable result.

The Fall of a Goddess, Rise of Writing

Summary of Chapter 6: “Cuneiform/ Marduk”

In chapter six Shlain goes through a timeline of event s that has eventually shaped the Patriarchic dominated world we live in today and he begins with the story of the origins of the written word. However, before writing there were pictures. The Sumerians used marks for keeping record purposes only; beginning around 3100 B.C. the first cuneiforms appeared (Schlain 46). Eventually, Sumerians started to write down their language and even created schools to teach the written word. As the status of the scribes grew so did the cities. Then, the Akkadians modified cuneiform. They invented phonograms, which are symbols that stand for syllables in speech. The Akkadians are credited with creating phonetic writing, furthermore, the Akkadians’ even created words for abstract concepts like, justice, destiny, and truth. (Shlain 46) Additionally, the direction of writing became a constant left to right.

Shlain states that the Sumerians believe that cuneiform were a gift from Nisaba the goddess of grain and storage, this particular goddess because cuneiform was thought to be a clever way to store thoughts (47). Superseded by the Akkadian god of Nabu, the god of writing. Slain purposes that Sumerian myths provided women with high status because their queens shared status/power/wealth with kings (47). Some examples of female deities include, Great Goddess Nammu and earth goddess Ki. The sky god (An) and earth goddess (Ki) mated and then one of the most important goddess was born Inanna. Inanna was the sexual goddess that “bestowed fertility and fecundity on mortals” moreover; she controlled the fate of mortals and was the goddess of wisdom (Shlain 47). Inanna lived the life of a “young man” she did not have any domestic duties and she was involved in one of the most important Sumerian rituals called, hiero gamos. Which is the consummating of a sacred marriage vows with Inanna, it is the religious obligation of the Sumerian king. Not only does this legitimize his reign, it is also important for a “successful harvest and necessary to guarantee the fertility of human unions and animal mating” (Schlain 48).

However, there was a power shift from the Sumerians to Akkadians and then the Babylonians. The Seven Tablet of Creation replaced prior creation myths around 1700 B.C. Furthermore, this was considered “the most plausible explanation for how the physical world came into existence” (Schlain 48). It is the story of a Great Goddess Tiamat; Tiamat and her male companion Apsu had an argument and he was then murder by other young gods. At Apsu death Marduk was born, the young gods were terrified of Tiamat and no one would dare attack or challenger her. In spite of this, once Marduk was fully grown he volunteered to fight her but wanted if he won to be named chief (Schlain 49). In the end, Marduk won and slain the Great Goddess Tiamat. This resulted in Marduk using her giant corpse to create the universe by dismembering her (Schlain 49). Additionally, Marduk and gods lack worshipers therefore created mortals. Schlain says the Babylonians embraced this myth of their existence. And mortals were to spend their lives crawling on the surface of Tiamats carcass and providing the gods with food and wine (50). Schlain also states that all societies invented creation stories because people are puzzled with human existence/reasons for death and evil.


The worshiping of Marduk began early 1700 B.C. and written laws became an imperative part of “Western civilization at just the moment that the Babylonian Goddess suffer defeat and dismemberment” (Schlain 51). This is crucial because the deterioration of female power is tied to the dominance of written law.

Schlain goes on to explain that speech is genetically encoded but writing is not and that grammar and laws are controlled by the left brain. Also, with the exception of recent history laws blatantly discriminated females (52). For example, the Mesopotamian Law Code (2350 B.C.) stated that if women took two husbands they would be stoned (Schlain 52). Finally, Shlain also points out that at this time the patriarchy dominated written documents increase thousand fold. And Hammurabi’s code greatly restricted women’s rights, especially their sexual freedoms. Veiling and chaperones became common for women. Lastly Schlain suggests Tiamats downfall directly corresponded with Hammurabi’s code (52).

Analysis of Rhetorical Appeals:

In chapter six I don’t think Schlain kept up with his use of ethos. I feel that his credibility is tainted a little. Chapter six is lacking some of the outside sources that Schlain used in previous chapters. While reading, I often wondered “where is he getting this information?” However, I think that Schlains has a stronger logos appeal because of his use of dates. He uses reasons and sounds logical. Finally, I think in this type of writing it is hard to appeal to the readers emotions or have strong pathos.

Question:

- Schlain emphasizes the timing of the Babylonians’ myth of Tiamat and Marduk to the reason of why patriarchy (social organization in which the father is the supreme authority) emerged. Do you think there are other possible explanations? What are they?


Work cited:
Shlain, Leonard. “Cuneiform/Marduk.” The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. New York: Penguin / Compass, 1998. Pp.45-52.
http://www.hiddenmeanings.com/mother.htm

Hunters/Gatherers

Summary of Chapter 2

Hunter/Gatherers

Chapter two goes all the way back to when hominids left the dwindling canopy to their new life on the ground. The development of the heel helped hominids to walk upright, freeing up their complexed hands for other uses. (Shlain 9). Having hands with opposable thumbs helped hominids to evolve from hunted vegetarians, to scared scavengers, to tentative hunters, to accomplished killers in a mere million years (Shlain 9). As these advances were made hominid brain sizes would increase as a response, and so would the length of childhoods. This also caused danger for females during child birth, the larger head required a larger passage.

file:///Users/clintonamand/Desktop/Neanderthal_2D_src.jpg

After giving birth a female could not easily take care of herself, which caused the need for food sharing (Shlain 9/10). Food sharing came about out of mutual needs, women desired meat and men desired sex. Women needed meat due to the loss of iron during menses, and men could provide this. Sharing opened up the brain for new attributes such as kindness, generosity, and cooperation (Shlain 10); all gigantic for the evolution of the human race. As females cared for their weak babies, the men would hunt and drag back their food. Shlain points out Simone de Beauvior's idea the basically states men would hunt and women would gather. The hunter gatherer strategy is crucial incase the hunt is unsuccessful. (10) Men's sexual appetite would cause them to take more risks when hunting, causing males to become audacious hunters. Females then enjoyed daring and courageous males (Shlain 11/12).

The evolution of language came out of the necessity for communication, it is believed pointing was the first gesture. After pointing came hand gestures and then finally speech. Once speech was established cultures were established as well. Passing down knowledge from one generation to the next was crucial for human dominance over the rest of the animal kingdom (Shlain 13)

Shlain does a great job of using logos in this chapter. By going step by step in the evolutionary process his reasoning and logic is there. Although these are not all his original ideas that points out his ethos, he sites many professionals in his writing. His pathos is shown in his writing, it is passionate and clear.

Question

Shlain states the food sharing is the root of modern day bonding and marriage. Having said that, what do you think is modern day food sharing?

Work cited

image: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/assets/images/2006/Nov/15-Wed/Neanderthal_2D_src.jpg

Shlain, Leonard. “Hunters/Gatheres.” The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. New York: Penguin / Compass, 1998. Pp. 8-16.

Molly Axe
Eng. 308J
Summary and Rhetorical Analysis Blogposting

The Title Explained
and
Setting Us Up for What Is To Come

Summary of Chapter 4, ‘Males: Death/ Females: Life’

The fourth chapter in Shlain’s novel introduces the idea of women representing life and men representing death. The aptly named chapter, Males: Death/ Females: Life, begins by briefly exploring the roots of this idea. In the early years of human life, when the discovery was made that men also contributed to pregnancy, they began to view having children as gaining heirs and thusly gaining a small victory from the force they feared most, death (Shlain 29). Hence, pregnancy became a sacred idea and women were equated with the idea of life (Shlain 30).
On the other hand, the early humans believed that while women were bringing new lives into the world, the men were taking others out of it. They derived great guilt from hunting. They viewed all life as sacred. But hunting was a necessity for survival, so, somehow, the, “spirits of their victims had to be appeased every time a hunter extinguished another life to feed his family” (Shlain 30). This way of life, however, set the basis for all human living for many thousands of years to come (Shlain 32). The males would be responsible for “bringing home the bacon” while the women bore the children. But just as men cottoned on to their role in the baby-making process, Earth’s early inhabitants noticed alternatives to hunting: growing plants and breeding animals. Shlain called this, “a reliable food source,” that did not require the males of the households to risk their lives just to bring back food (32). From these discoveries, horticulture grew, and a new era of the Males: Death/ Females: Life mentality was born.
Horticulture, “accentuated the feminine attributes of both men and women,” Shlain reported (33). The image Woman With Baby Harvesting Corn by Magali Papalebelow highlights the feminine connection between the woman’s original role as child bearer and her new role as farmer. The crops and animals needed to be tended to and nurtured for them to prosper, just like with children, so the idea of fertility became “society’s highest value…” (Shlain 33). However, this was all at the expense of men’s psychological development. Having been trained their entire lives to venture out into the wilderness to bring back food, the simple life of farming seemed just that. It was dull work for the men compared to what they were used to (Shlain 33). It was an important milestone in history, though, and for many who crossed paths with other horticulture cultures, it became a new way of life. The traditional hunting and gathering techniques were thrown out the window as this farming revolution swept across the lands. The Earth Mother became the new number one deity, further enhancing the now unbalanced feminine/masculine aspects of life (Shlain 33). But no matter! The men soon found comfort in other forms of bloodlust. “Sport hunting, contests of courage, ritual killings, and human sacrifices came into being because of men’s need to replace the excitement of the hunt” (Shlain 34). However, as it turned out, farming was just as good an outlet as any of the previously stated activities for releasing any pent up anger. In fact, there was a surprising lack of weapons uncovered at dig sites, archeologists discovered. Instead, they found statue fragments of a female deity (Shlain 34, 35). To explain the creation of this feminine artifact, archeologist James Mellaart had gone as far as to say that women had, “created Neolithic religion, developed agriculture, and controlled its products” (Shlain 35). So perhaps the scales had tipped back in favor of feminism. This could explain why patriarchal values began to take over once again. Where this repression of cultural female undertones originated cannot be decisively deduced, but one archeologist by the name of Marija Gimbutas speculated that it was due to the domestication of horses. With the domestication of horses came cavalries, and with cavalries came war (35). It was decided that it was the Kurgan people who invaded a particular small agricultural town. While they appreciated the innovative agricultural lifestyle, they replaced the Goddess with their own male god (Shlain 35). Chapter four of The Alphabet Versus the Goddess closes with more arguments over how the exact downfall of the Goddess took place and ends with the opinion of Leonard Shlain, himself. Where his belief differs from the rest is based off his idea of an internal change in the society rather than an external opposing force. He boldly states, “I propose that the central factor in the fall of the Goddess was a revolutionary development which occurred during the same period- literacy” (39). He ties his argument in to the title of the book itself: “Alphabets are the reason that Western culture’s perception of reality radically shifted” (39). “The invention of books themselves” crushed the idea of the Goddess.

Analysis of Rhetorical Appeals Shlain Uses

In this chapter, it is clear that Shlain goes to great lengths to come off as a credible source. His ethos is aided in part by his continual references to other professionals. He calls upon archeologists, historians, feminists, anthropologists, and others to help drive home points or to give their own takes on certain topics. His use of credible sources also helps to build up the logos side of his writing. For the majority of the chapter, the reader is presented with a deluge of facts, supported here and there by professional references or else otherwise believed to be true simply due to Shlain’s archeological background. Shlain has not yet lead the readers astray, so they feel confident in believing his words. From the facts presented, Shlain is able to end the chapter stating his beliefs through reasoning and he gets us set up for what is to come.

Discussion Question: Given the number of arguments over what finally brought about the demise of the Goddess, do you agree with Shlain’s lone stance on it centering on “forces subtly at work on the inside”: literacy (39)? Has Shlain built up his credibility well enough?

Works Cited

Papale, Magali. Woman With Baby Harvesting Corn. Images.com/Corbis.
Shlain, Leonard. “Males: Death/ Females: Life.” The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. New York: Penguin / Compass, 1998. Pp. 28-39.

Welcome to SchlainBlog

EXAMPLE
Melanie Lee English 308J Summary and Rhetorical Analysis Blogposting

Are Ancient Images a Kind of Feminized Logos?

Summary of Chapter 1, “Word/Image” (with references to Preface)

Acknowledging the “explosive changes” (1) the acquisition of writing brings to any culture, Shlain examines the “relationship between literacy and patriarchy” (Preface ix). He claims that writing subconsciously perpetuates “a patriarchal outlook” and in its “alphabetic form, diminishes feminine values and with them, women’s power” (Schlain 1). Shlain recalls Marshall McLuhan’s theory that society is sculpted by communication methods more than communication content. McLuhan classifies media and their corresponding technologies and claims that communication technologies infiltrate the “collective psyche of any society that uses them” and “exert a powerful influence on cultural perceptions” (Schlain 2). Schlain applies McLuhan’s theory to the alphabet’s development. If new communication technology not only conducts communication, but also creates “new social patterns and new perceptual realities” (qtd. in Shlain 2), Shlain wonders how the technology of letters “affected the balance of power between men and women” (2).

Anthropological evidence suggests that in the absence of literacy, ancient and diverse agrarian cultures—“the Iroquois and the Hopi in North America, the inhabitants of Polynesia, the African !Kung, and numerous others around the world”—enacted egalitarian female/male relationships (Shlain 3). Strong evidence of goddess worship in the earliest, pre-literate agrarian societies suggests women’s shared sovereignty with men. Citing Claude Levi-Strauss’s claim that the “appearance of writing” resulted in the development of “hierarchical societies,” Shlain equates the rise and fall of misogyny and patriarchy with the rise and fall of the “alphabetic written word” by interpreting many cultural god and goddess myths and historical correlations (3). He claims that images are “primarily reproductions of the sensual world of vision,” concrete approximations of reality, the parts of which “the brain simultaneously perceives” as wholly integrated “synthetically into a gestalt” (Shlain 4). Images, mostly, are recognized “in an all-at-once manner,” while the “comprehension of written words emerges in a one-at-a-time fashion” (Shlain 4-5). The linear logic required to analyze letters, words, and sentences and make meaning from them is what Shlain calls a “prime example of reductionism” that relies on abstraction, since alphabetic symbols “do not represent the images of anything in particular” (5). Thus, the brain works differently to view images than it does to read text. Image recognition requires “wholeness, simultaneity, and synthesis”; reading text requires “sequence, analysis, and abstraction” (Shlain 5).

Shlain asserts that cross-culturally, images and even the processes used to perceive them are labeled feminine, while words and the processes used to understand them are labeled masculine (5). He suggests that “the decline of the goddess began” with the advent of writing, and with it, the devaluation of images (and women) as ways to relate to the world (Shlain 7). This change, according to Schlain, created patriarchy. His observation that three powerful, patriarchal world religions are anchored in the words of the Old Testament that “features an imageless Father deity” who claims authority through “his word” supports his theory (Shlain 7). Shlain’s interrogation employs “competitive plausibility” to “consider . . . which of the hypothetical explanations of historical events is the most plausible” (3). Shlain posits that the re-emergence of the image into worldwide collective consciousness through the new media and Internet technologies will revive egalitarianism between women and men.

Analysis of Rhetorical Appeals Schlain Uses
Schlain employs a combination of logos and ethos in his book’s Preface and Chapter 1, “Image/Word.” To make his case, his logic draws on a number of sources from expert scholars such as Levi-Strauss and McLuhan, to anthropological and historical evidence of goddess worship, to Prince Modupe’s autobiographical encounters with literacy. Schlain’s insights during his travels, discussed in his Preface, enrich his claims, adding depth to his reasoning with anecdotes that show, for example, how his Mediterranean journey inspired this book and deepened his interest in what he calls the conflict between word and image. These insights also provide a kind of visual link; readers can visualize what he describes. Schlain is adept in his use of ethos. Surfacing his roles as a vascular surgeon who heads a medical center department and a faculty member of a medical school establishes his intellectual credentials. Schlain’s curiosity about the way the brain works extends itself to the research he does for his book. His ethos is informed and inquisitive; he approaches his topic with energy and passion. At the same time, Schlain’s words show a sense of humility and awe that works well for discussion of his bold thesis.

Discussion Question: Paraphrase Schlain’s thesis in your own words. Are you inclined to agree or disagree with him? Explain why or why not.

Works Cited
Shlain, Leonard. Preface and “ Image/Word.” The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. New York: Penguin / Compass, 1998. Pp. vii-7.
HOW TO CITE THE IMAGE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Hohle_Fels