Denise Schmandt-Besserat's recent When Writing Met Art: From Symbol to Story (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007) addresses the reciprocal relationship between writing and art in the ancient Mesopotamian world. In examining pottery and wall paintings, stone reliefs and seals, Schmandt-Besserat claims that circa 3500 b.c.e., writing impacted art, which became more linear and capable of suggesting narrative. As writing became more phonetic and syntactical, and Mesopotamian rulers became more focused on eternal life, inscription and representation were more effectively wrought together. This artifactual-textual interface reached its peak, according to Schmandt-Besserat, with the circa 1750 b.c.e. Stele of Hammurabi, now in the Louvre Museum.
She presented a portion of her research at the June 2004 Annual Meeting of the Media Ecology Association, held in Rochester, New York.
[Pictured above: Babylonian cuneiform tablet: Instructions to workmen on the threshing floor, c. 2038-2030 b.c.e. Special Collections Department, University of South Florida Tampa Library]
