Children's model houses with miniature furniture and figures and model ships, wagons, chariots, and carts from sites across the ancient world indicate that toys are also of ancient origin.
People entertained one another on musical instruments, as many ancient literary and sacred texts attest, including ancient songs that survive in the form of the Psalms and the "Song of Miriam" in the Hebrew Bible, the Iliad and Odyssey, and hymns to Osiris and other ancient gods in addition to love songs and songs that express the challenges and triumphs of daily life. Singers, snake charmers, bear trainers, jesters, and acrobats—all the roles that later would be revived in vaudeville, traveling carnivals, and circuses—can be located among ancient peoples. String, wind, and percussion instruments, many trimmed with rare metals or precious stones, have been described in print and discovered in situ by archaeologists, allowing a better appreciation of the tonal systems and musical compositions that the ancients created as a source of creativity and for amusement.
This is a free page. This page contains 161 words. This
article contains 2,190 words (approx. 7 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Entertainment Access Pass.
