Tönnesmann, Andreas [German version] A. Concept (CT) A Rinascita, a 'rebirth of the arts', was the term used by Giorgio Vasari in his biographies of Italian artists first published in 1550 [16]. He observed that the 'new' and 'good' art produced by his age had overcome a period of decline and - for the first time since Antiquity - had taken nature as its model. In a similar sense, Albrecht Dürer had earlier, in 1523, used the term Wiedererwachsung ( 'regrowth') in a similar sense [8]. Both terms embrace of necessity the exemplary nature of ancient art in contrast to other …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt As early as the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC metals (copper and silver, later also tin and gold) fulfilled monetary functions as a medium of exchange, a means of payment for religious, legal or other liabilities, a measure of value and a means of storing wealth. Until the 1st millennium fungible goods, primarily corn, also served as a medium of exchange and measure of value. Economies in the Near East and Egypt were characterised by subsistence production, self-sufficient palace and oîkos economies. The need for goods or services w…