Shoes...about the barefoot history of ancient man
We rarely hear about calciology . It even seems like a term that refers to critical and scientific postmodernism, rather than a science that studies old shoes and interprets their history within their social and evolutionary contexts, just as it is interested in studying the technical aspects associated with their manufacture and the restoration of antique ones. This science has become, for specialists, a means of studying the past of the shoe with its social, ritual, archaeological and folklore existence, and observing the development of its primitive industries and their raw materials from nature.
He was described as a science ( knowing history from the shape of ancient shoes ) in his search for and studying the remains of the human race in its fashion, especially shoes, soles, sandals and boots, which to some extent illustrate the human species and its culture. Since its appearance in the seventeenth century, calciology has been considered a specialized science as one of the branches of archaeology, and it is a strange science, not widely circulated except within the limits of its interests in searching for old shoes as a previous antiquity, and studying social phenomena from the nature of their manufacture, such as animal skins, wood, fur, trees, their bark, leaves, and fibres. We believe that today it has become part of the visual perfectionist existence that is concerned with studying the existence and development of human existence through shoes and their manufacture.
“Since its appearance in the seventeenth century, calculology has been considered a specialized science as one of the branches of archaeology, and it is a strange science, not widely circulated except within the limits of its interests in searching for the old shoe as a previous antiquity, and studying social phenomena from the nature of its manufacture.”
In most successive stages of civilization, the shoe was a random, flat-soled shoe without a heel, made from hemp, fibres, linen, and leather. It protects against stones, hard ground, and rocks, and helps hunters chase prey in jagged places, forests, and cross thorny places. Therefore, we find that the concept of the shoe in its final form is almost an immanent concept of industrial development, when life evolved from primitiveness to progress, and the human race became more closely linked to science and civilization. . When he left the forest to the city, from the cave to the home, and from individuality to the community. Which means that he left the traces of the first ancestor, and turned to his daily modernity in an evolutionary cycle witnessed by his social life.
King's shoes
Ancient history gives us many stories and myths about the early shoe industry. Even the myths that were linked to the concept of perfection in man were distributed among peoples to consolidate their connection with this primitive industry, as if they pulled the bare earth from under bare feet and clothed it with a part of nature for protection and protection. This allows the story and myth to take its place among the many literatures that document life with its immediate data. To make it seem like the final truth, like the story of the king who was ruling a vast country, when he made a long land trip outside or inside his country, and during his return he found that his feet were swollen due to walking on rough roads, so he was advised to make a small piece of leather under his feet, and it was, according to the story; The beginning of the idea of making shoes to avoid rough roads and paths. But these may be stories from dozens and hundreds of stories that work on the imagination with its source, and cause and justify the existence of the shoe industry.
Of the drawings that show the shoes of rulers and warriors
European shoes
The invention of modern shoes is attributed to Thomas Byrd (16th century - 1629) after he introduced a heel and a strap. This date preceded the European industrial era, and we do not believe it to be accurate as an industrial pioneer. While some researchers find that the shoe in its modern sense is associated with the periods of the Crusades in the first millennium. As the Crusaders went on long pilgrimages, their feet had to be protected from rough roads. Consequently, the long shoe made of soft leather was invented in France, England and other European countries.
With the gradual rise to the last centuries of European life, and due to the density of information in this regard, we find that shoe and clothing innovations revealed some aspects of European social life, after the human body was liberated from nature. In the seventeenth century, men's square-toed shoes were called "mules" and became popular in Spain, and they got rid of the French character that preceded them in the spread of the red heel of the shoe. However, the eighteenth century witnessed successive developments in fashion in general, and if the shoes remained (straight) without distinguishing the left foot from the right, then the French style considered this a matter of fashion. With French and European fashions in general, shoe styles mixed with each other, and men and women were largely equal in terms of beauty standards and successive fashions, starting in the eighteenth century. However, the important development came at the hands of Jan Ernst Matzeliger (mid-eighteenth century) as the innovator of the modern shoe. As shoes for the right and left feet became different, this culture became widespread in Europe and America at the beginning of the twentieth century.
As for patents, there are many, including Sparks Hall, regarding the flexible shoe without laces, of which he gifted two pairs to Queen Victoria. and engineer Charles Goodyear of vulcanized rubber, and the first rubber heel by Irishman Humphry O'Sullivan. Until World War II, when the British George Cox turned the sole of army boots into a thick base. Thus, barefoot history has got rid of the ruggedness of the land. And chasing animals barefoot. Climbing heights and crossing water and swamps. He freed part of his body from the earth, in fulfillment of his life's requirements for survival. But there must be views and cognitive evidence, in which we move back to the oldest human civilizations. To know what life conditions were like. How the ancients avoided the uneven and thorny ground and sought unhindered hunting everywhere.
“Patents abound, from Sparks Hall to the elastic shoe without laces, two pairs of which he gave to Queen Victoria, to engineer Charles Goodyear for vulcanized rubber, and to the first rubber heel by Irishman Humphry O’Sullivan.”
Pharaonic and Mesopotamian shoes
With climate changes in ancient civilizations, between cold, snow and heat, man gradually loosens his physical relationship with the earth. If he protects his body with fibrous, tree, and leather clothing from these waves, then the body’s anchor is in the legs, which form direct contact with the climate changes that the Earth is affected by. Compulsory physical isolation was necessary. This is why we document the first specimens that came from the first European Stone Age, with the skeletons left behind by humans whose feet indicate the type of ligaments or the type of protective shoes. Until the later eras that followed, we kept pace with the physical characteristic of ancient man with the physical evolutionary theory that was indicative of his era, and thus his accessory type of clothing that protected from heat or cold. Not the least of which is shoes. In Greece, we find sandals on statues and murals for women and men. This is what we find in Roman shoes with laces. With a reference to the sturdy type of boots worn by Roman soldiers. Until the Middle Ages, when the Krako type became widespread. While the following centuries witnessed the emergence of new fashions of shoes, such as being made of leather, tied to the legs, and decorated. Or high heels. Or made of wood.
But before all of this, and before the historical succession, the science of calciology holds the first ancient threads that bound the legs with elementary ties, as protection from the rough roads when people were barefoot. Initially, the appearance of the shoe was linked to the Pharaohs of Egypt and the clerics in particular. Made of sedge, woven reed, linen, leather or palm leaves in the shape of a boat. Meaning that the common Pharaonic man remained barefoot. He is forbidden from making royal shoes. The design of the shoe is in a primitive Pharaonic style, ensuring that the foot does not come into contact with the ground, whether rocky, watery, or sandy. That is, preventing a part of the body from having a relationship with the ground. Since the Pharaoh was the highest in the state, he had the right to rise above the ground a little, and to prevent friction between him and it, in a divinely intended transcendence provided to him by nature. Without providing it to the public and the poor. He is accompanied in this eminence by the priests and men of religion, as they are in a special position after the king. As in all eras and eras, “Tutankhamun’s tomb gives us a unique look at royal shoes. There is a pair of sandals that leave no doubt about the symbolic value that the shoes had. They were made of wood and decorated with decorations made of bark, leather, and gold leaf.” It was said that Amun buried 80 shoes and sandals with him.
Sumerian sandal, 3000 BC. Pharaonic sandals, and at the bottom of the picture are Tutankhamun's shoes
In this class, the average Pharaonic person was barefoot and in direct contact with dirt, stone, and water. Meaning that his body remained attached to the ground. He was not accustomed to putting shoes or sandals on his feet. It is a private royal and priestly proposal, and the common people should not imitate this “biography” that Hajja gave to the Pharaoh and his priests. That is why the common body remained in contact with the earth for long periods.
On the parallel side of ancient civilizations, the Mesopotamian civilization left in texts, cuneiform drawings, and cylinder seals much that reflects the class status of Mesopotamian society. Some of them talk about the leather industry and the manufacture of shoes, slippers, slippers, and boots specifically. Some seals even featured Gilgamesh wearing pointed shoes on his feet. While the Assyrians wore leather sandals that reached mid-calf, containing insoles with a heel strap made of leather. Warriors may have priority in this tradition. During the reign of Sennacherib, prominent designs appeared on it, decorated with embroidery, colors, and accessories. It was made of goat and sheep skins, with the lining being of linen and wool to protect against the cold. Animal fur is one of the oldest human clothing documented in Sumerian sculpture.
“Some seals featured Gilgamesh wearing pointed shoes on his feet. While the Assyrians wore leather sandals that reached mid-calf, containing soles with a leather heel strap. Warriors may have had priority in this tradition.”
Barefoot history
Ancient life is full of mysteries, and what we read are the conclusions of fossils, skeletons, and primitive drawings. Therefore, scientific sources refer us to distant decades of time. 30 to 40 thousand years old; When a person faced natural conditions of heat and cold, he paid attention to wrapping his feet with the leaves of plants, trees, soft branches, grasses and grasses to protect them. Further back in history, in colder and frozen areas, he used to wrap animal furs and skins around his feet and legs to protect them. Sometimes from the cold and sometimes from steep rocks or swamps. In all cases, he was naked and barefoot in front of the waves of the successive seasons and the changeable weather. Scientists even, in their studies of human bones, their sizes, and their structures remaining in cemeteries and frozen mountains, drew a preliminary picture to determine the coverings for the legs that people of that time used to place their feet in, in the form of close-up of wrapped circular bark, animal skins, or bags stuffed with grass that were tied around the feet, and this A possible possibility based on evidence of structures left in cemeteries and mountains.
Funny Arabic shoes
The Arab literary and narrative heritage left some funny stories related to shoes, in comic inventions and situations that are not devoid of wit. Perhaps the most famous of them is the shoe of the miserly merchant, “Abu al-Qasim al-Tanbouri,” which was a shoe that had aged and was filled with patches and became the source of his misfortune and poverty, until he declared his innocence before the judge. The story of this shoe was formulated as skits and series, the most prominent of which is the series “Abu al-Qasim al-Tanbouri and His Brothers - 1995,” which was directed by Tayseer Abboud and starred by Mahmoud al-Jundi, Sherine, and Abd al-Rahman Abu Zahra.
It is parallel in wit to the Arabic proverb “He returned with the secret of Hunayn” about a man who was called Hunayn and worked as a shoe cobbler in the city of Al-Hira in Iraq. He was famous for his craftsmanship, mastery, and experience with it. His story is well known with the Bedouin who was impressed by the manufacture of Hunayn’s shoes, but he did not buy from him, after he took time to... He bargained and turned away many of his customers.
The Arab shoe has a folkloric and popular role in daily life, by warding off envy and the evil eye, as it repels the seeds of the jinn and the devil. It is a source of warding off multiple evils. Even today, many Arab homes; Especially the modern ones; On their fronts, she places a shoe. Or a couple of them, to kill the evil eye and expel the jinn.
To give preference to men over women, the Fatimid ruler Bi Amrullah issued a decision to the cobblers in Egypt not to make shoes for women so that they would not leave their homes.
The shoe was a random, flat-soled shoe without a heel in most successive stages of civilization, made from hemp, fiber, linen, and leather.
Political shoe
Arab political shoes are almost rare in their field of coup, except for what Egyptian history has left us of (clogs) in which Queen Shajarat al-Durr was killed and thrown from the palace balcony. What brings us closer to the present is the shoe of Iraqi Muntaser al-Zaidi, which US President George Bush threw in Baghdad as a personal insult to the president. It was a sudden, unusual event in Iraqi politics throughout its history. This shoe was worn exclusively by political figures on many different occasions, even with the time differences in their circumstances. Which constitutes a kind of protest and initial deterrence. Some of them are like fantasy. The other, as a film image, is close to the myth. As in the case of former Romanian President Ceausescu, who used to wear new shoes every day and burn them at the end of the day so that no one would wear them after him. This is a fact that may be closer to myth than reality. In contrast to the shoe of the Indian leader Gandhi , who lost one shoe as he was running to catch a train, and when he realized that there was no point in keeping the other shoe, he abandoned the second one, hoping that whoever found the first one would benefit from it. The difference is clear between the two political figures in moral and popular behavior.
“What brings us closer to the present is the shoe of Iraqi Muntaser al-Zaidi, which US President George Bush threw in Baghdad as a personal insult to the president.”
It is known that Eva Peron, the wife of former Argentine President Juan Peron, had her shoes custom-made from mink skin, whose fur and skin are among the most expensive types in the world, and that Imelda Marcos, the First Lady of the Philippines, owned a collection of luxury shoes that numbered more than 3,000 pairs. But the most famous shoe in the history of international political shoes is the shoe of former Soviet President Khrushchev, which he placed on the table of the UN Security Council in the 1960s during the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union. It is an image that is still firmly entrenched in the global mind, due to its strength and political boldness.
Shoe in narrative, art and cinema
There are many literary works in poetry, stories, novels, and theater that were inspired by the shoe and its soft and rough connotations. There is not enough space to pass by, as they are abundant. In the Eastern concept, shoes in general mean personal, social and political humiliation in particular. The Arab political circumstances failed the Arab masses in many situations and wars, to the point that “our words with holes in them are like old shoes” became according to Nizar Qabbani. Minbari and non-minbari poets began to compete in the Arabic connotations of shoes, such as the poets Salah Abdel Sabour, Saadi Youssef, Amjad Nasser, Afifi Matar, and Ahmed Fouad Najm.
“Former Romanian President Ceaușescu used to wear a new shoe every day and burn it at the end of the day so that no one would wear it after him. In contrast to the shoe of the Indian leader Gandhi, who lost one shoe as he was running to catch a train, and when he realized that there was no point in keeping the other shoe on, he abandoned the second one.” Hopefully whoever finds the first will benefit from it.”
As for novels and stories, they are also too numerous to count, Arab or foreign. By the Turkish Aziz Nesin (The Narrow Shoe), the Algerian Wasini Al-Araj in (The Shoe of Rough Shoes), and the Egyptian Salwa Bakr in (Black Elephants in White Shoes) and (Sons and Shoes) by the Iraqi Mohsen Al-Ramli. Also, Waheed Tawila and his novel (Fellini’s Shoes) and Maysoon Saqr in (Rihanna). However, international fine art will be the first to present the social shoe before other artistic and legal connotations, and perhaps the most famous painting (Shoe - 1886) by the Impressionist Van Gogh is the oldest among the paintings of semantic importance. In the cinematic field, Cinderella may be one of the most international films that has inspired filmmakers, including films, series, animated films, children’s tales, and television skits. But international cinema has put a lot of effort into the subject of shoes and its symbolic connotations, since the 1960s in the film “Breakfast at Niffany’s” with Audrey Halfburn and until more recently with the film “The Cobbler - 2014” directed by Thomas McCarthy. The Korean horror film (The Red Shoes - 2005) was directed by Kim Young Geun, the Turkish comedy film (The Shoemaker) and the film (The Yellow Shoe) were represented by Kalki Koechlin, and the Jordanian film (The Shoes - 1978) is about the tragedy of Palestinian children in the camps, and it is starring Jamil Awad, Rifaat Al-Najjar, Nabil Negm.
Footnotes and references:
Nicolae Ceaușescu: President of the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1967 until his execution on December 25, 1989.
Gilgamesh: a historical king of the Sumerian state of Uruk, and an important hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology.
Sennacherib: The sixth king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, his rule lasted about 24 years.
Shajarat al-Durr: A slave girl bought by Sultan al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub, and she held a high status with him until he freed her and married her. She assumed the throne of Egypt for eighty days after the death of Sultan Al-Salih Ayoub, then abdicated the throne to her husband, Izz al-Din Aybak al-Turkman, in the year 1250.
Mahatma Gandhi: Spiritual Leader of India. He was a pioneer of mass civil disobedience, which led to Indian independence.
Nikita Khrushchev: Ruled the Soviet Union from 1935 to 1964
Juan Domingo Perón: President of Argentina for two terms; A military coup ended his first term, forcing him to leave Argentina. But he returned to his country in 1973 and was elected president until his death a year later.
Eva Peron: Argentine actress and politician. She married President Juan Perón in 1945, and subsequently assumed the presidency of Argentina the following year.
Imelda Marcos: Wife of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady of the Philippines until 1986. Former beauty queen and singer. It was nicknamed the Iron Butterfly.
In the Sumerian language, the word “cobbler” appears, meaning “cobbler.”
The Assyrian sandal is called in the Akkadian language Na'ul, which is the same as the Arabic pronunciation.
Boot culture through the ages - Dr. Majid Ezzat Israel - Ruhr University.
Italian Shoes - Henning Mankell - Translated by Yves Cadore and Hazem Abido.
Introduction to the civilizations of the ancient East - F. Von Zuden- T: Dr. Farouk Ismail - Al-Mada 2003
Al-Riyadh Newspaper: Thursday, Rabi’ al-Akhir 1, 1433 AH - February 23, 2012 - Issue No. 15949
Arabi Post: 1-5-2022
Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Source: websites