Heraldry:

Symbol of monarchy

Hi everybody!

Heraldry concerns itself with the study, design, regulation and use of armorial bearings, commonly known as "coats of arms". A coat of arms is a form of personal identification of which the central element is a shield. Its roots are in the Middle Ages. The evidence strongly suggests that heraldry began in the early 12th century, because of the development at that time of helmets that covered the face of the warrior or knight.

At the end of the Middle Ages, a lot of important and nobles families had their coat of arms to distinguish themselves from each other, like logos or trademarks. Even nowadays, still there are families that maintain their coat of arms.

If you want to know your coat of arms from your surname, you only have to visit this webpage!

As you know, at the end of the Middle Ages and the beggining of Modern Age (XVth century), the most important person was the king, obviously. And the king had a coat of arms too. In fact,  the most important all over the kingdom. 

At this time in Europe, the coat of arms of the kings were formed with the representation or symbols of each territory that they ruled. Let's see the coat of arms of the Catholic Kings, for example:

They added other symbols:

1. The Eagle of Saint John.
2. The text "tanto monta" from the motto: "Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando".
3. The yoke and the arrows, symbols of the kings. 

Since then, the coat of arms of the kings became the representation of the Spanish Monarchy  all over the world. The rest of the Spanish kings formed their heraldry adding the representation of all the new territories that they conquered or they received on inheritance.

Activities:

1. Study this differents coat of arms. You have to investigate on the Net:

• Which spanish king belongs to each one? what years ruled each king?

You will find information here, here and here

2. See this photograph. Is from Fuente del Pilar, in Montoro. Above you can see a coat of arms. Are you capable to find out which spanish king belongs to?

The secret message of the Scribe.

A sculpture of a sitting scribe.

As you know, the ancient egiptians used a special writting, the hieroglyphics. For them, they were sacred, symbols related with the gods. Only scribes and priests knew how to read and write them, so for the rest of the egiptians, the hieroglyphics were secret messages written in temples and tombs walls.

The scribes used a special paper to write in: the papyrus. The papyrus is a plant which grow on the Nile's  riversides. 

A typical papyrus plant near the Nile.

There are so many that the egyptians used it, after cut the plant, extend and prepare the leaves with some natural products. Then they could writte over the papyrus sheet like this: 

But... How can we know what the egyptians wanted to say? Thanks to the Rosetta Stone: This is a fragment of basaltic stone with the same text written three times in three different scripts: hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek. It's important because, using ancient greek as the basis, we are capable to use this fragment to understand the hieroglyphs of the Ancient Egyptians.

Activities:

Investigate: 

Who discovered the Rosetta Stone and when? 

Why did they put this name?

Who decoded the Rosetta Stone? 

How  long did it take to decode the Rosetta Stone?

You can find information HERE and HERE

A treasure had been hidden in your class, but you will find it only if you decoded this secret egyptian message: 

To achieve it you can use this translator English- Egyptian. Good luck!