DEMOCRACY
ART EXPLANATION
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. In Ancient Greece citizens used pieces of broken pottery to scratch in the name of the candidate in the procedures of ostracism. This was done because while parchment was expensive and had to be imported from Egypt, broken pottery was abundant and virtually free.

TRADE EMPIRE
ART EXPLANATION
The Aegean Bronze Age civilizations established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide, and supported the trade.
I've drawn the map of the area in which the Minoan Trade Empire reached out.

METALWORKING
ART EXPLANATION
Very closely linked to the subject Trade Empire.
The Late Bronze Age is characterized by competing powerful kingdoms and their vassal states (Assyria, Babylonia, Hittites, Mitanni). Extensive contacts were made with the Aegean civilization (Ahhiyawa, Alashiya) in which the copper trade played an important role.
The transition into the Iron Age c.1200 BCE was more of a political change in the Near East rather than of new developments in metalworking.
I've drawn important bronze weaponry.

Been busy with other stuff for a while. Now I've found some time to draw again.

As I mentioned before I was looking to redraw the image for Astronomy.


I've been looking for images that show the antykithera Mechanism as it worked as a device. The image I drew before was just a part of it.
But when I found those images all I saw was a box of wheels.



A more specific image is still the device without the house. So that you can see how the wheels are attached. And I've found that image to draw.



I'm more happy with this one.

What do you think?






ASTRONOMY
ART EXPLANATION
The Antikythera Mechanism is a greek mechanism containg several metal parts and known to be the first device used for astronavigation. (100 BC).

Looking for the history of medicine I realized that what I though was right. The original image for medicine (the mortar and pestle) is a very good image.

Here's the proof from Wikipedia:
(you can trace the several pages starting here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine
(I haven't saved all urls. Just copy pasted the most important info to one document.)

Medicine

The earliest type of medicine in most cultures was the use of plants (Herbalism) and animal parts. This was usually in concert with 'magic' of various kinds. Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts.
In the written record, the study of herbs dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians, who described well-established medicinal uses for such plants as laurel, caraway, and thyme. The Egyptians of 1000 B.C. are known to have used garlic, opium, castor oil, coriander, mint, indigo, and other herbs for medicine.

Like their predecessors, the ancient Greeks and Romans made medicinal use of plants. Greek and Roman medicinal practices, as preserved in the writings of Hippocrates and - especially - Galen, provided the patterns for later western medicine.

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix substances. The pestle is a heavy stick whose end is used for pounding and grinding, and the mortar is a bowl. The substance is ground between the pestle and the mortar.

The antiquity of these tools is well documented in some early literature, such as the Egyptian "Papyrus Ebers". The Ebers Papyrus of about 1550 BC is among the most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt. It is one the two oldest preserved medical documents anywhere, the other main source being the Edwin Smith papyrus (around 1600 BC).

MEDICINE
ART EXPLANATION:
As mentioned above: A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix substances. The pestle is a heavy stick whose end is used for pounding and grinding, and the mortar is a bowl. The substance is ground between the pestle and the mortar. The antiquity of these tools is well documented in some early literature, such as the Egyptian "Papyrus Ebers".

Here are my findings on Pottery:



Pottery

The use of pottery began as early as in 7000 B.C. The term 'pottery' refers to the activity or skill of making clay objects by hand, as well as the clay objects that are made as a result of this activity. Some examples of pottery include pottery vases, dishes and vessels used in cooking and for storing food.

It is believed that the earliest pottery wares were hand-built and fired in bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved in the fire could be high, perhaps in the region of 900 degrees Celsius, and were reached very quickly.

The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and 4,000 BCE (Ubaid period) revolutionized pottery production. Specialized potters were then able to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities.

It was used in Egypt, Persia, and Babylonia in Mesopotamia, and excavations in Egyptian tombs have shown that pottery was made using very advanced methods as early as 3000 BC.

The pottery made during this time in ancient Egypt were both for use and of decorative purposes, of which some examples included bottles, jars, and jugs used for carrying and storing water. The Babylonians on the other hand, made clay bricks and tiles with glossy layers of glaze,




I believe that an image for pottery should not show the actual making of pottery but the result. Thus some jars, vessels. This is was was important in history. Mesopotamian jars I think

Here it is:



POTTERY
ART EXPLANATION
Mesopotamian jars. The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and 4,000 BCE (Ubaid period) revolutionized pottery production. Specialized potters were then able to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities.

Here are my findings on Engineering:

Engineering is the discipline of acquiring and applying scientific and technical knowledge to the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes.

From around 3000 BC, the pace of development quickened. After simple tools came the development of wedges, wheels and levers, the use of animals to carry and draw loads and of fire to work metals, the digging of irrigation canals, and open-pit mining.

The Greeks - the inventors - made significant contributions in the 1000 years that straddled the BC-AD divide. They produced the screw, the ratchet, the water wheel and the aeolipile

The Romans - the improvers and adapters - did likewise, building fortifications, roads, aqueducts, water distribution systems and public buildings across the territories and cities they controlled.




When keeping in mind what the card does in our game, I believe I should draw a city wall defending against both enemies and the sea.

This is what I've found on "Politics"







Then looking on what the card is used for in our game:

" Holder may replace all unit points in one adjacent area with tokens from treasury once per turn unless a victim holds Politics or Cultural scendancy;
or holder may gain 5 treasury tokens."

Barbarian tokens and Pirate cities may not be annexed by Politics.


Thus in fact you use politics to bribe lesser cultural neighbours to become a part of your civilization. Or you gain taxes from neighbours. (though in the game this treasury doen not come form your neighbour, cause he doesn't 'pay' this from teasury)

I believe a picture like the current one is a right picture for this: Two people agreeing. What also could be used is a role of perkament on which agreements are set, though that's currently used for Diplomacy.

Some more research to be done

Then on Diplomacy:

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians.

The ability to practice diplomacy is one of the defining elements of a state, and diplomacy has been practiced since the first city-states were formed millennia ago. For most of human history diplomats were sent only for specific negotiations, and would return immediately after their mission concluded. Diplomats were usually relatives of the ruling family or of very high rank in order to give them legitimacy when they sought to negotiate with the other state.


So I think I draw the role of perkament for this one. Still have to look for an image for "politics"

ENGINEERING
ART EXPLANATION
From around 3000 BC, the pace of development quickened. After simple tools came the development of wedges, wheels and levers, the use of animals to carry and draw loads and of fire to work metals, the digging of irrigation canals, and open-pit mining. The Greeks - the inventors - made significant contributions in the 1000 years that straddled the BC-AD divide. The Romans - the improvers and adapters - did likewise, building fortifications, roads, aqueducts, water distribution systems and public buildings across the territories and cities they controlled.

You see a part of the original city-wall of Rome.

DIPLOMACY
ART EXPLANATION:
The ability to practice diplomacy is one of the defining elements of a state, and diplomacy has been practiced since the first city-states were formed millennia ago. For most of human history diplomats were sent only for specific negotiations, and would return immediately after their mission concluded. Diplomats were usually relatives of the ruling family or of very high rank in order to give them legitimacy when they sought to negotiate with the other state.

Well now.

This is quite a story:

About Enlightenment



Enlightenment is a fundamental philosophical concept which grew beyond religion and spirituality and essentially means being illuminated by acquiring new wisdom or understanding.
While "enlightenment" mainly refer to the secular European Age of Enlightenment, it also has some parallels in both Far Eastern religious concepts (the Buddhist Bodhi, the Zen Satori, and the Hindu moksha) as well as the European and Near Eastern religions (ie. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).


The Western intellectual history of term "enlightenment" is the basis for the idea that relates to a localized, religion-specific "enlightenment". It also attempts to bridge the traditional gap between religions and religious belief and psychological science.

In this secular sense, 'the enlightened' are those who are not distracted by their thoughts but who stay focused;resisting the natural tendency to be come 'lost' in thinking about experience (rather than experiencing the present). This focus is called 'awareness of being',

This idea can be found back in the time of Plato. In his book "The Republic" he tells the story known as "The allegory of the cave"



Imagine prisoners, who have been chained since their childhood deep inside a cave: not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained in one direction as well so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.
Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals, plants, and other things are moved along. The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the puppet-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.
The prisoners engage in what appears to us to be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely shadows of images. They are thus conditioned to judge the quality of one another by their skill in quickly naming the shapes and dislike those who play poorly.
Suppose a prisoner is released and compelled to stand up and turn around. At that moment his eyes will be blinded by the sunlight coming into the cave from its entrance, and the shapes passing by will appear less real than their shadows.
The last object he would be able to see is the sun, which, in time, he would learn to see as the object that provides the seasons and the courses of the year, presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some way the cause of all these things that he has seen.

Once enlightened, so to speak, the freed prisoner would not want to return to the cave to free "his fellow bondsmen," but would be compelled to do so. Another problem lies in the other prisoners not wanting to be freed: descending back into the cave would require that the freed prisoner's eyes adjust again, and for a time, he would be one of the ones identifying shapes on the wall. His eyes would be swamped by the darkness, and would take time to become acclimated. Therefore, he would not be able to identify the shapes on the wall as well as the other prisoners, making it seem as if his being taken to the surface completely ruined his eyesight.

Plato believed that one can only learn through dialectic reasoning and open-mindedness. Humans had to travel from the visible realm of image-making and objects of sense, to the intelligible, or invisible, realm of reasoning and understanding. "The Allegory of the Cave" symbolizes this trek and how it would look to those still in a lower realm. Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.




This is just a short note (yeah short) about this subject. one can write books about it and still leave open what the exact meaning of "enlightenment" is. So for an image I keep it with the original image. Somebody "in trance" trying to reach enlightenment.

ENLIGHTENMENT
ART EXPLANATION
Enlightenment is a fundamental philosophical concept which grew beyond religion and spirituality and essentially means being illuminated by acquiring new wisdom or understanding. 'The enlightened' are those who are not distracted by their thoughts but who stay focused;resisting the natural tendency to be come 'lost' in thinking about experience (rather than experiencing the present). This focus is called 'awareness of being'.