Art History

  The Linguist Staff is from the 19th century to the early 20th century. It is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This gold covered staff was created to serve like a badge for an okyeame, which is a high ranking adviser to an Asante ruler. The position of okyeame comes with a set of responsibilities. These responsibilities include meditation, judicial advocacy, political troubleshooting, and the preservation and interpretation of royal history. The okyeame also engages in verbal discussions on behalf of the chief and his visitors.   They repeat the words of visitors to the king and then delivers the kings response back to the visitors.  The imagery on the Linguist Staff is a spider on its web being held up by two figures.  This image represents the proverb, "No one goes to the house of the spider to teach it wisdom."   The spider is meant to be a symbol for respect to a person with great oratorical and diplomatic skills. The rest of the st...

  Qui Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin Dynasty. He ruled over China from 247 to 221 BC. He took the throne at just 13 years old. Qin Shi Huang molded the Chinese empire by dividing the land into 36 different areas, each with a governor, a military leader, and an imperial inspector. He moved multiple families from their homes to the capital of China so that he could keep a close eye on them. He also confiscated all weapons, and the currency changed. Also during his rule there were hundreds of thousands of men who were building border defenses along the Yellow river that stretched over more than 3,000 miles. This was the start of the Great Wall of China.  One of Qin Shi Huang's life goals was to conquer death. He wanted to achieve immortality so he decided to build himself a tomb. He started the construction on his tomb shortly after he took the throne. His reasoning for building the tomb was to have an army to protect him in the after life. His tomb was discovered in 1974 b...