Home Depot appreciates your home security. With a Home Depot Money Saving Coupon from We Are Coupons home security costs less. Throughout history, keys and locks have evolved. From wooden beams in ancient Egypt to ornate rings in ancient Rome, from oversized iron keys to five-pin Yale keys, key control has been a crucial tool for securing homes and businesses.
However, despite the variety of key styles, all keys are equally important and only as secure as the owner’s ability to manage them. Read on to learn more about the history of the key and why key control is so important.
Origins
Throughout history, keys have been associated with power and authority. Kings, emperors, and other dignitaries have been given crossed keys as part of their royal regalia.
In Catholicism, Saint Peter, the Pope, is often presented with a key to the gate of heaven. In medieval times, a chamberlain’s key symbolized a high position in a court or with the nobility.
The key was also a symbol of new beginnings and the ability to let go. Ancient clay tablets from the Babylonian Empire, dated to almost 4,000 years ago, depicted women carrying angular bronze keys on one shoulder.
The word for “key” in English comes from the Old English caeg, which means a metal instrument used to lock or unlock something. Its origins are unknown, but there are several theories.
Symbolism
The key has been used as a symbol for many things. It can represent power, knowledge, and success. It can also symbolize mystery and freedom.
Symbols can be very helpful in literature, especially when an author wants to convey something that is too complex or difficult to explain. They can also be used to show how a character’s mindset changes over time.
Some of the most common symbols in literature include colors such as black, green, white, and red. They can be interpreted to represent death, jealousy, nature, and desire.
Other common symbols are birds, such as doves and ravens, which can symbolize peace and purity. They can also be used to depict the desire for change and new beginnings.
Material
The key is a piece of metal that fits into a lock and turns to open it. It can be a house key, car key or any other kind of key you use to unlock things.
Initially, keys were made of wood. The locks used were also made of wood, with small pins that a key would lift to unlock them.
700 BC: As inventors around the world noticed that the locks and keys were not as strong and durable as they should be, they started changing them to metals like iron and bronze. These metals were much more sturdy and sturdier than wood.
This change in material allowed for the key to be much lighter and stronger, and it also shaped it from flat structures with pins on the end to what we call today’s skeleton key. This design was still in use for over 17 centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire and has spread around the world to this day!
Design
In music, a key is a system of functionally related chords deriving from the major and minor scales, with a central note, called the tonic. A piece may change keys many times, but it usually has a principal key that predominates at important points.
The history of the key goes back to 6,000 years ago, when locks first appeared in Babylon and Egypt. These small wooden devices used small pins and a wooden toothbrush-shaped key that could lift those small pins and unlock the bolt.
Ancient Rome made significant advances in the design of the key. Engineers and inventors began using iron and bronze, making locks stronger and lighter while also reducing the size of their parts.
The key motif, or'meander', is one of the most common decorative patterns throughout Greek vases and pottery. The pattern resembles the twisting path of the Meander River in Asia Minor, now Turkey, and was frequently used on temples, monuments, and domestic pots and vases.
