Exhibit
Project Final
Joshua
Molnar
Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University Worldwide
HUMN240
– History of Communication Technologies
Meghan
Velez
3/13/2022
Curatorial Statement
Religions have been something that has fueled the world for century. Kingdoms, civilizations, and billions of people from all over the world throughout history have followed a religion. These strong beliefs could affect their everyday life and influence what they choose to do in their lives. For religion to have such and impact, effective communication was a requirement. This is paired with communication technologies throughout time, any though technologies have gotten more advanced, some of the messages they are sending or the influence of what being communicated may not be.
While
it is impossible to pinpoint exactly when religion started to appear, but the
first written account of religion is dated to about 3500 BCE (Mark 2018). This means that there has been a written account
of religion influencing societies, cultures, and people everyday all over the
world for over 4,500 years. This first
account of religion started in the Mesopotamian region and eventually would
spread over the world. Although religion
has changed over the centuries, for religious beliefs to still be present in
the world today shows how important it has been to our history. Communication is an essential part of
religion lasting this long as well, without good communication these religions and
telling of beliefs would have been lost long ago. For instance, one of the
first forms of writing, cuneiform was used to tell the Epic of Gilgamesh which
told the tale of a great flood that would wipe out life on earth, other than
one man and his family that were saved by a god telling them to build a large
ship. This story would eventually be
told in Genesis in the Bible of the story of Noah and his ark. This is still being told today in the Christian
religion. Communication allowed for the
same story to be told for over 2,000 years and this would only be possible if it
were important to people and their cultures.
This story is still being told in new ways with todays technology as
well, with the movie Noah, which came out in 2014 and told this story of the
great flood.
It
is evident that religion has been around for centuries and will continue to be
present in different societies around the world in the future. It is rare for something to stay relevant for
so long without it being necessary to live.
Farming has been a practice for centuries because we need food to
survive. The same can be said for fishing
or hunting. Construction has continued
to stay because of the need of shelter and protection against the
climates. So why has religion stayed so
important for so long if it is not required to survive? That is because religion offers an answer to
a question that can never be communicated.
The question of what happens after death. Once someone is dead, they can no longer
communicate, and anything that they had said or written down will be all that
can be passed down from them now. This means
there is not a true way to communicate to others what happens after we die, but
religion aims to answer this question. This
is still present today as Heaven and Hell is a provided answer from religion on
where we go after death. Ancient
religions also wanted to answer questions that could not be answered in their
time periods. For instance, in ancient Greek
mythology, they believed in Gods for both the sun and the moon. It was believed that Selene was a goddess for
the full moon, where Helios was the God of the sun, pulling it across the sky
with his chariot. This would obviously
eventually be disproven by science, but at the time there was no answer for the
questions some would ask, so religion filled that void and provided an answer
and something for people to believe in.
This was all done through communication and storytelling devoted to religions. Religion
was present to help communicate the unexplainable. This also means when others would ask questions,
or when children or raised that this is what they would be told or taught was
the truth and would continue to be passed down until it was disproven by science. As many played the game telephone is grade
school, it is very easy for communication to be turned, or changed on accident
just from word of mouth. For religious
stories to stay static for so long shows the importance of the messages they
were sending, and how much faith the people following them had.
This large importance of religion
was not just evident through texts. It
was also evident through art, sculptures, and even construction and continues
to still be this way in today’s world.
Because of the importance of religions throughout cultures, many resources
went into portraying their messages. In
ancient Egypt large temples were built to tell stories and spread the word of their
religion. These temples would take a lot
of resources to construct, while also taking a large amount of time. The temple of Karnak is the largest ancient
religious site in the world and took a millennium to build and is over 50,000
square feet. (touropia 2020). For this
much time and resources to be spent on a temple stresses the importance religion
has had over time. This structure was to
stand for centuries and be used to tell the stories of their beliefs and would
be used to communicate religion for generations.
Another
example of construction of being used to portray messages of religion is the
Sistine Chapel. One of the most famous pieces
of art in the world lays on the ceiling of this chapel. These painting were created to tell stories
from the Catholic Old Testament, such as God creating Adam and Eve, or Noah and
the great flood. These paintings are
still being looked at today when people visit the chapel, so the art is still
telling stories and communicating what is written in the Bible even though no
words are used. It took many years to create
all these paintings, but the art has communicated religious beliefs for centuries
after.
New
ways to communicate religion is still being produced through today’s communication
technologies. In 2013 a miniseries was
produced named, “The Bible.” This would
go on to air on Sundays and in total would be a 10-hour long series. Over 13 million viewers tuned in to watch the
series, making it the most watched entertainment broadcast for the year it was
released. This program was not new stories
that had never been told, but it was the retelling and remix of the stories from
the Christian Bible. Although it was a
remix it was still the most popular show on television because of how important
religion still is in today’s world. This
also shows that beliefs are still affecting many peoples lives today.
Another
way religion continues to be communicated today is through music. Music is one of the most popular ways we use
to pass time, whether is a car ride, while working out or even while cleaning
and shopping. Radio stations now have
religious stations and concerts are held to listen to this music. The music is another way of communicating
beliefs and sharing stories. There is
even a concert tour dedicated to Christian Music named WinterJam. This concert tours yearly over 22 states and
showcases 11 live artists, all communicating the message of Christianity
(WinterJam 2022). This concert is sending
the same message churches or Sunday services has been sending for centuries but
in a new format. Rock music or metal to
country or soul is all being used to tell a religious message in a new way.
Smart
phones have been on of the newest and most impactful communication technology
that has ever been created. The use of long-distance
phone calls or use of different apps now dominates the world today and of
course religion is influenced by this too.
A digital app that offers Muslim prayers and a readable version of the
Quran names, “Muslim Pro” gained over 98 million app downloads. While a bible app named, “YouVersion” gained
over a quarter of a million downloads in 2016 (Feuerborn 2016). These apps are digital books of the Bible and
the Quran but are put on smart phones which people carry with them every day. This new technology means that you don’t need
to carry a physical book with you to read scriptures, but you can download it
on your phone which has many other uses as well. With amassing millions of downloads, it shows
that even when technology is advancing, that religion is still here to stay.
This
exhibit is focused on the communication technologies from the past that have
influenced religion or had a major role in spreading religions from around the
world. The artifacts will not be limited
to a certain religion. The artifacts
will be chronologically ordered in the exhibit to showcase that even though
technologies in communication have advanced that the messages and the role of
communication itself has not.
There is no doubt that religion is extremely important to the cultures of the past, our present cultures, and it will continue to be important for future generation still to come. Artifacts over many past time periods up to today’s current world will be used to tell the stories and beliefs of old religions, and those still being followed now. The exhibit will aim to showcase some of these impactful pieces of history and show how technology has changed over the history of the world. Communication technologies come and go, but religion has stayed and adapted to the changes over time, the artifacts will showcase that.
Artifacts
Ziggurat
of Ur
The Ziggurat of Ur was
built around 2100 B.C.E in what is now modern-day Iraq under king Ur-Nammu in
the Third Dynasty of Ur. Being the tallest
building around it could be seen miles away, and the temple built a top the
structure was seen the most. Citizens
would come here to give their crops during harvest and return for rations
regularly. This temple was used for both
spiritual and physical nourishment. Sadly
the most important part of the building, the temple, has now fallen to rubble
over time.
Temple of Karnak
The temple of Karnak was
created in Ancient Egypt and took a millennia to build but was mostly constructed
between 1570-1100 BCE. It consists of
mainly three different temples and several other temples located on the outer
parts. One of the most famous parts of
this build is the hall oh Hypostyle which is over 50,000 square feet. It has 134 columns over 16 rows that all have
engravings that tell stories of their beliefs.
Sadly in todays world this temple has been badly ruined over time, but some
of the engravings are still there to speak the ancient messages from an older
time period.
11th
Cuneiform Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh
The tablet above is the 11th tablet from the
Epic of Gilgamesh. It is estimated that
the tablet was created in seventh century BCE and was excavated in the middle
eastern region of what is now present-day Iraq.
The tablet tells a story of a great flood that was sent by the gods to destroy
all but one. This is the single most
famous cuneiform tablet for this reason.
When the tablet was first read during the ninth century because of the
similarities to the books of Geneses it drew a lot of attention. It also created a debate on if this validated
the stories told in the Bible, or if it proved that they were only retold
stories from the past.
Temple
of Zeus
The temple of Zeus started
construction in 174 BCE and finished construction under the rule of Roman Emperor
Hadrian in 131 CE. This was built in Athens and is one of the
largest temples in the world. This was
created to honor the God of Zeus. There
were originally 104 columns that were 17.25 meters tall and 1.7 meters in diameter. Inside there were gigantic gold and ivory
statues of Zeus.
Plaque
of Horus
The artifact show is a plaque of the ancient Egyptian god
Horus as a falcon. This was created in
the Ptolemaic period between 644-30 BCE.
This plaque depicts Horus as a king, as shown with the crown on the
falcon. Egyptians believed that their
Pharaoh was the living version of Horus, which is why he is depicted a king in
this. There is also a snake in the
background which represented loyalty, and an Ankh which represents life. This plaque shows what was important at the
time, and how religion was implemented into their lives.
Grand
Mosque of Mecca
The Grand Mosque of Mecca
was constructed under the reign of Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab. Originally constructed in the 600’s the
mosque has seen many renovations over the years. It is in what is now Saudi
Arabia. The mosque has almost 4 million
square feet of space and can hold up to 770,000 worshipers of Islam. Worshipers come to say prayer and get their
sins forgiven from all over the world and have done this for centuries. The time and effort spent over the years ensuring
the mosque is up to date and useable shows how important it is to the Islam
religion.
GutenBerg’s
Bible
The artifact shown above is a page from Genesis from the
Gutenberg bible. This was created in the
1450’s with a new form of printing created by Gutenberg. This new way of printing allowed for a large
mass of bibles to be created. The
numbers of bibles that were going to be able to be spread was larger than ever
before. By using the Gutenberg press to
create these
bibles, not only did the
word of God get spread but also this new form of technology that allows
literature to be created at a fast rate.
Sistine
Chapel Paintings
The paintings on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was created in the 1500’s by Michelangelo. These paintings were created for Pope Julius
II on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The different paintings tell the stories from the Old Testament and took
years of work to finish. This not only
told stories of the bible but also has had a huge influence on art. The chapel is still visited today for people
to come and see the artwork that tells stories of religion.
You
Version
Created
in 2008 by Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion is a mobile app for IOS and Android
phones. The app is a digital version of
the bible and offers and audio version as well.
This app has massed over a quarter of a million downloads and continues
to still be present on phones today. Telling
the stories of Christianity through a mobile phone app.
The Bible Miniseries
The Miniseries names the
Bible aired on the History channel for TV viewers in 2013. The series was created by Mark Burnett and is
a re-telling of stories from the Christian Bible. The series would have a total run time of 10
hours and aired every Sunday for viewers to tune in. Over 13 million people tuned into the program,
making it the most popular entertainment show of the year. A remix of older stories with newer technologies
proved to be a successful way of retelling.
References
Al Jazeera. (2020, November 17). US
military buys location data of popular Muslim apps: Report. Privacy News |
Al Jazeera. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/17/report-us-military-buying-location-data-on-popular-muslim-apps#:~:text=The%20most%20popular%20app%20among,than%2098%20million%20downloads%20worldwide.
Arts of
Africa. (n.d.). Relief plaque depicting the god horus as a Falcon. The
Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/136453/relief-plaque-depicting-the-god-horus-as-a-falcon
The
British Museum. (n.d.). Tablet: British museum. The British Museum.
Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_K-3375
Feuerborn, R. (2018, February 1). Youversion
Bible app reaches quarter of a billion downloads. YouVersion. Retrieved
March 13, 2022, from
https://www.youversion.com/press/youversion-bible-app-reaches-quarter-billion-downloads/
Gill, N. S. (2019, August 13). 12
ancient lunar luminaries. ThoughtCo. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from
https://www.thoughtco.com/moon-gods-and-moon-goddesses-120395
Hibberd, J. (2014, March 4). Mark
Burnett's 'the Bible' begets record ratings. EW.com. Retrieved March 13,
2022, from
https://ew.com/article/2013/03/04/bible-ratings/#:~:text=The%20miniseries'%20two%2Dhour%20cable,watched%20entertainment%20telecast%20this%20year.
Mark, J. J. (2022, March 12). Religion
in the ancient world. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 13, 2022,
from https://www.worldhistory.org/religion/
Wight, C. (2004, September 7). Gutenberg Bible: View the british
library's digital versions online.
The British Library - The British Library. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/homepage.html
Winter Jam . (2022). Lineup.
Winter Jam. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://2022.jamtour.com/lineup
Zappella, C. (2016). Ceiling of
the sistine chapel (article). Khan Academy. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/michelangelo-ceiling-of-the-sistine-chapel
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