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Pre-class Response 10
Item: Silver Tanka of Nitichandra, King of Arakan.
Created: 700 to 799 CE
Background: These coins are early Burmese coins issued in the Buddhist kingdom of Arakan. Burma was rich in silver and thrived from trade which is also reflected in these coins which bares similarities to Nepal’s coinage.
I find this coin most interesting as when I first saw it I assumed the bull on the coins to be due to the influence of Buddhism considering the kingdom it came from which practiced Buddhism mainly. However, when I read that this bull was actually a depiction of Nandi, Shiva’s mount, I was really amazed that instead of choosing their own religion, Burmese of that time would choose to depict on the coin animals related to Hinduism.
This is an important part of history as it shows how ingrained trade is to the Burmese people at that time- coins reflect part of our identity, nationally or otherwise, to let other cultures and religions be imprinted on them is a reflection of acceptance of them generally. It also reflects the great extent of trade at that time which had been so big and widespread that native people did not seem to distinguish themselves much from traders considering the widespread acceptance of foreign cultures and religions.
Link: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/silver-tanka-of-nitichandra-king-of-arakan/6wF_VelmdZ6Dkg
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Mevieval Europe Notes
- In middle ages…Medieval era: - Our course starts at 3500 BCE to 1450 CE. - Ancient = 3500 BCE to 500 CE. - Medieval era = 500 CE to 1450 CE - So, Francis is NOT of the ancient world. - Coz ancient =/= medieval. - Key word of medieval: Dragon, knights, Vikings, plagues, etc. - Medieval = middle btw ancient and modern. - European and American historian periodization so Asia don’t seem to have any place. - Dark ages: - Backwards, chaos, torture, black magic, irrationality, superstition, etc. - A period of isolation, inward focus, and often poverty or subsistence living. - Abt 500 to 1300 CE. - At the start of Medieval ages. - Roman system collapses and Germanic tribes are vying for power. - Trying to confirm what they know and not expand their knowledge -> very focused. - Much uncertainty and have no clue who the king is. - Decentralized and chaotic. - Proto-scientific process -> cares a lot about reason and how the world actually works. - Europe: 500 to 1000 CE - Spain ruled by Islamic empire and things are much better. - Others: political uncertainty -> increased local governance. - Subsistence living as climate takes a turn for the worse. - Cold, harsh and wet weather. - Society continues running coz of local leaders. - But, usually, Christianity is the preserving force for medieval Europe. - It does so via monastic life -> small communities of men/ women who live away from society. NO coed. - Have shared vows and preserves Roman, European culture. - Includes preservation of texts. - Also allowed for creativity to flourish. - Composition of medicinal texts, philosophy and theology, designing of fonts and colours, etc. - Monks like to doodle in the margins of their manuscripts. - Were very bored but with a sense of humour. - The high middle ages: 1000 CE to 1300 CE. - Weather improved -> easier to grow food. - More stable kingdoms -> for frank and Italy. - More stable boarders, trade routes opens again and Italy benfits well from this. - Growth of trade gives rise to new urban middle class -> Francis is in it. - Francis hears of the story of the rich young man in a church and agrees with Jesus. - He has conflict with his father -> had to retreat to bishop for protection and strips naked in court in an effort to cast of everything his father gave him (god will provide). - Medieval ppl saw him as sb very devoted to Jesus that gave up everything to follow god. - Francis preached to birds, foxes, rabbits, etc. - He gave away his goods -> not his own…his dad’s stuff, sold it and gave it to the church. - Francis was given a cloak by his friend which he gave away to the poor. - His actions seen as good as there was no social safety net and little upward mobility at that time. - Francis received stigmata -> ie. Mark of Christ (stories) -> he received wounds of what Jesus received that do not recover. - Ppl believed that he was so devoted that he received the marks of Christ after a vision. - Francis’ entire life (and most saints) made Christianity present and more real in a period of change and transition. - Ie. Bring Christianity into present context. - Faith becomes underlying aspect in everything medieval ppl view things.
- High middle ages:
- Is most of what we associated with the medieval period. - Abt 1000 to 1300. - Courtly love and poetry, legend of king Arthur first came out here, texts written in language that is not Greek but of native language like Italian and middle English. - Also, church cathedrals in Europe started being built. - Are towering to draw ppl attention to God and haven above. - There was low literacy rates so stain glass pieces was used to help tell the stories of Jesus. - Blue used in stain glass up to now still don’t understand how it was created. - Also, universities (oxford and Paris) was established during tis time. - Degree requirements (educational structure) for licenses structure (eg. Bachelor, etc.) was created during this time. - There was revival of liberal arts: - Many texts used not translated from roman or Greek but from Arabic. - Also, emphasis of faith and reason. - Deeply invested in logic and reason -> strong connection with fairth. - Jewish, Islamic and Christians at that time find religion and science as interwined and reinforcing each other. - Not like today where they are separate. - The harmony of faith and philosophy -> book. - There is cross religious intertwining, ppl quote each other even if from different religions. - The black death: caused all this collapse. - City of London 2/3 of ppl survived. - Ppl tried to explain why these plagues happen -> blamed others as they did not understand bacterial and saw it as a punishment from God. - Decided Jewish population is an issue and was marginalized by Christians. - Large populations of Jews was ravaged and killed for this. - After the black death: - Had massive death toll -> labour is more valuable. - Can demand higher wages, increases in food supply. - End of feudalism -> due to peasant revolts.
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Germania- Fall of Rome Notes
- Germanic tribes -> lazy during recess from war, united tribe and there is equality within btw chief and soldiers. - Tradition of singing songs as a tribe in chap 3. Used in advancement and retreatment of troops. - Women as supply line for the men in battle for food, encouragement and healthcare. - Much intermarriage and are rather isolated. - Chap 2: weather is shitty there, no one wants to be there unless they are Germans. - Chap 18: women not equal to men -> just a partner/ support base. - Husbands pay dowry and they are monogamous (only 1 wife). - They welcome ppl with large feast -> liberal and welcoming. - Hospitality =/= intermarriage. - Ie. No peace treaty via marriage. - Quality of crime judges the punishment -> very structural. Crime fits punishment. - Adultery is punished heavily in the society. - Yet only women is punished for adultery and not for men. - Men usually punished only if the women they are with is already married. - They don’t really start wars coz they are lazy and drunkards -> chap 15. - Priests have great power in their society -> can inflict punishment, communicate with deities, etc. - Kings and generals lead by example. - Chap 11: Chief deals with small matters but for big issues, population makes the decision. - Noisy ppl -> displease = murmur, pleased = banish javelins. - T. use Germans virtues to throw Roman’s vices in their face. - T. is a keen observer and gives a clear sense of difference from Roman society -> note Germans later divide and conquer the roman empire. - *** - Germanic Roman: - German in North Africa. - Romans do not have beards and do not wear trousers -> only Germans do this. - Some Germanic tribes integrated well into Roman society, others did not. - Germans went into Rome as Christians. - Odoacer -> stable reign and not the first emeror NOT from city of rome but from the provinces. - Was a non-roman emperor but acted like a roman. - Preserves Roman senate and declared loyalty to Eastern Roman emperor. - E. Roman emperor however did not like him and sends Theodoric (another non-roman) to conquer him. - Theodoric is German and son of a chief, held hostage in Constantinople. (From trading of sons to maintain peace) - Not treated as a hostage though and gets roman education, he becomes a consul and builds churches. - Declares full loyalty to Eastern Emperor and becomes king of Italy. - Theodoric and Clovis exist at the same time as two different kings, of Italy and France respectively. - Clovis conquers whole of central Europe by end of his life. - First German to convert from Arian to ordox Christianity. The other two before him is Arian. - Clovis was converted under the influence of his wife. - Did so after a decisive battle (similar to Constantine -> first emperor to convert to Christianity). - But, Clovis was not all sincere in his conversion -> mainly political. - Uses new faith as a cover to conquer others (arians) just after baptism. - Clovis is king of the franks who eventually becomes the French. - Famous name for French kings: Louis (same name)! - Created a stable and powerful kingdom in the middle ages. - Fall or transformation of Rome?
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Pre-class Response 9
“The cleanliness of the people of Mecca
The Meccans are very elegant and clean in their dress, and most of them wear white garments, which you always see fresh and snowy. They use a great deal of perfume and kohl and make free use of toothpicks of green arak-wood. The Meccan women are extraordinarily beautiful and very pious and modest. They too make great use of perfumes to such a degree that they will spend the night hungry in order to buy perfumes with the price of their food. They visit the mosque every Thursday night, wearing their finest apparel; and the whole sanctuary is saturated with the smell of their perfume. When one of these women goes away the odour of the perfume clings to the place after she has gone.”
This part of the text is most important to me as it encompasses most of the values Ibn Battuta seems to put in high regards which includes cleanliness, discipline, generosity as well as the ideal woman.
Ibn Battuta praises people who clean their clothes often, especially so when they do it before praying, even if the clothes is old, so long it is cleaned (even better if it is white) it seems to reflect the idea of purity and discipline to him- perhaps also reflecting his idea that Muslims should be pure (good) and disciplined in character and behaviour. This aspect is shown through his repeated praising of clean clothes throughout the text which adds emphasis to the importance he places in it.
He also praises the idea of the generous Muslim whereby he emphasizes that he is given “free” things by people and he wish that God will bless them (people who helped and gave him things without expecting compensation) when he receives the items, again, this is also repeated throughout the text.
Finally, Ibn Battuta seems to hold the ideal woman as feminine and modest but seems to hold great dislike for any displays of greed like the clamour to buy perfumes, claiming that it gave an “odour” which shows his being displeased.
Link: https://helloworldciv.com/class-23-excerpts-from-travels-in-asia-and-africa-ibn-battuta
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Rome- Republic vs Empire notes
- 509 BCE to 100CE. - Key themes: Roman ID -> special to them and importance of republic. - Participating in Roman ID (esp. for women) + looking at diversity and agency outside of political sphere. - Roman republic -> empire -> living in the empire. - Republic: representative democracy -> elect officials to represent you. Usually homogenous group of ppl. -> eg. Same lang and culture. - Empire: Absolute authority for 1 individual. Usually formed via conquest (sometimes by alliance). Usually takes up large amt of territory. - 509 BCE to 44 BCE: The republic: - Transition to empire is gradual. - Rome started as a small city of Latin ppl abt 750 BCE. - Abt same time Assyrian conquered Israel and China is in warring state. - Ruled by foreign power initially called Etruscan kings, ruling from 650 to 509 BCE. - Ruled via kingship. - Abt 509 BCE, romans overthrew the last king and transitioned to Republic. - This became the heart and soul of Roman ID. - Key value: balance of power. - 2 forms: btw 2 major classes in their society -> patricians (3 part names) and plebeians (2 part names). - Roman classes based on bloodline. - Patrician -> can be senate and have political rep. Usually men. Can be wealthy or not. - Abt 400 BCE, plebeians get rep politically. - Ideal -> all involved in governance. - Maintained the senate and assembly for over 400 yrs. - Ppl of rome can be elected to the assembly. - Collective physiology -> deeply afraid of possibility of kingship. - They started conquering others almost immediately after overthrowing old kings -> always at war. - Not typical for republics. - Conquered majority of places before considering themselves as an empire. - But why conquer? - 1) “Defensive Conquest” -> conquer others before they conquer them. - Tied to military -> to serve in military, you must own land coz if you do you have a stake and you will fight well. - But commoners did not own much land. - So, they suggest giving land -> recruit ppl by promising land. - Created a feedback loop -> recruit ppl -> need more land -> conquest -> new boarders -> recruit ppl. - As Rome expanded, they needed ppl to look after the land so created provincial governors. - Provincial governors -> like kings in own territories. - Easy to gain personal loyalty from soldiers -> no need to listen to republic. - Infamous generals who did that: Marius, Sulla and Caesar -> turned around and conquered their own city. - Julius Caesar -> last nail in the coffin for the republic -> 100 to 44 BCE. - His actions and appointment as dictator for life -> resulted in his assassination. - Previously called Octavian but changed his name. - Augustus -> baby on leg considered a genie (divine right and inspiration to rule). - Means “the great one”. - Was in power mostly coz of Caesar’s will. - Caesar’s will was read in public and his wealth was divided as ifts to public, also to his soldiers. - In his death, controlled 17 legions of army vs Senate which had 12. - Proclaimed that he was the first citizen of the state -> gets to speak first in senate meetings. - Usually given to senior and older senates members. - Put under the guise of republic while Augustus actually holds great power. - Romans are deeply religious ppl. - THE HISTORIES (LIVY): - Themes: praise, condemnations, Rome as a city/state is described as? Possible perceptions? - City founded by slaves, outlaws and men so there was no women in the foundation of Rome. - When Rome was ruled by foreign kings -> considered a golden age by historians as they engaged in trade and was stable and wealthy. - Last few kings were very unstable and horrible. - Romans however, consider this a darker day of their history. - Initially took place in variety of city state. - In the city of Alba, near Rome. - Livy praises: - Para 3: As they were twins and no claim to precedence could be based on seniority, they decided to consult the tutelary deities of the place by means of augury as to who was to give his name to the new city, and who was to rule it after it had been founded. - Praised the idea of finding divine judgement instead of own choice. - Also praised collective equality. - 4: Praise self-reliance and independence. - 9: Shows what self-reliance and divine help can get you. - 7: Praise citizen’s support of Romulus by giving personal resources -> duty as a citizen. - 3: praises humble beginnings -> started from the bottom and ended up great idea. - Livy condemns: - 13 and 14: Gives perspective of pelsavines NOT romans. - Roman’s actions were condemned. - Also for condemning of intermarriage btw romans and neighbours by neighbours-> seems insulted by this. - 3: Also condemned kingship by foreign king -> “cruelty”. - Threatened by children and also romans perception of king. - Roles of fate and the gods: - Thinks Rome is great coz of divine help. - God and fate is related. - Not a go to god for everything -> deities seem to be more distant. - Fate = divine. - Similar to Chinese and their ancestors -> augury -> read via animal entrails vs bones for Chinese. - Courage and self-reliance seem to go with divine intervention all the time -> tied together. - Rome created by both ppl and gods. - Seems that ppl who are self-reliant and have courage earns divine intervention. - Bad things -> more of human failure. - Good things -> they did well even as humans so earned divine favour. - Rome (city and state) is described as and perceived as…?: - Describes the city as great and powerful with neighbours being amazed by them too for their rapid growth. - Despite fact that this was used to cheat their neighbours later. - Makes neighbours seem less impressive. - Why are women at peace after abduction? - Livy thinks the attractive argument -> honourable wedlock, property, civil rights and ability of mothers to free men and promise of affection from their husbands. - Also, Roman’s highly value relationships btw husbands and wives. - Livy believes that would led to females being appeased. - But rmb, Livy is a guy trying to look at a girl’s point of view. - For romans these are valuable things. - Best way to move from our gut reaction and better understand this text? - Acknowledge your own beliefs and see what Roman’s thought and believed -> balance the two out. - Look past action of Romans and see the intention (betterment of society). - Look at text as a whole. - Note: Empire is where trade happens. - Next reading: Pliny is a new governor and don’t know what to do with Christians. - Asked the emperor what to do and later condemned Christians for political reasons. - Other reading: Clement of Alexandria -> same as Hellenistic world lecture. - Is a religious leader. - Just after a period of persecution of Christians. - Can be a response to persecution. - Romulus and Remus: Fractricide, a cruel king, barbarism, omens and gods. - Cincinnatus -> Roman senator that became dictator to fight a war, previously a farmer and was half naked, other senators convince him to go to war and in 14 days he saves the city. - Best part: as soon as his work was done, he gives up his power. - Horatius at the bridge: he and his troops stay at the bridge that is the only access to the city, Horatius fought well, managed to escape and had the help of gods. - Is a legend and a myth. - Point of both: self-sacrifice for Rome. - Livy tells these stories to connect to readers and this was done during Rome’s transition to empire. - Living in Roman Empire as a young girl or as a woman? - Tells abt nurturing, childhood, daily life and family structure. - Married fairly early- shorter lifespan and not educated. - 15yo married = good wife coz have children. - Romans love women with domestic abilities – ie. Worked well with wool. - Sources not official for women -> headstone and graffiti. - City of Pompey -> much graffiti abt who slept with who. - But sources not often written by women themselves. - Roles depend on class and age -> women’s roles. - Upper class -> educated but not expected to work, lower class = occupation bt not educated. - Women worked as midwives -> shown by inscriptions showing women in birthing chair. - But unsanitary and midwives with birthing chair and helper considered well to do. - Sitting position -> gravity helps women give birth better. - Midwives -> must be literate, soft hands, good memory, charge fairly, etc. - As orators -> women speaking in public. - Hortensia -> daughter of famous Roman politician. - She stormed the Roman capital to give a piece of her mind to the increase in taxes. - Says that they have to pay taxes but were not given power, fame or anything else in compensation. - Only possible for women in higher class like she is. - *** - A Christian in the Roman Empire: - Christianity development in Roman empire. - Context: Roman empire (primary), Judaism and Hellenistic world. - Note: Hellenistic world still playing a role but not explicitly. - Roman empire: - Like Persia -> practices religious tolerance ( as long as you offer sacrifices to the emperor) -> but Jews allowed to pay taxes instead coz they practice monotheism. - Like Greece -> appreciate spread of knowledge and are intellectual ppl. - Distinct to Rome: Citizenship rights as a reward for good behaviour -> offer full citizenship rights to anyone who plays well into the empire. Eg. If they conquer you and you do not fight back, you can be a citizen -> can run for political positions, full legal rights and protection under laws, etc. - Jewish ppl do not get citizenship coz Judea was a pain in the butt for the Romans. - Jewish hated being conquered and it took abt 100 years before they were fully conquered. - There was periodic revolts and was ultimately unsuccessful. - Romans became really hard on Jews as a result. - Jews are angry over being occupied but Romans did bring great things to the places they conquer -> eg Education, wine, medication, water supply, etc. - Jesus -> is a Jewish teacher/ rabbi who was concerned with the 600+ laws, born in Judea, is concerned with proper worship and rituals and how to perform them. Also has multiple accounts of miracles and died in 20 CE by Roman crucification. - Was considered a political threat to the Roman empire -> seen as a charismatic leader. - After his death: stories that he is resurrected circulated initially by female followers only, they met in secret, had secret meetings, sacred meals -> as Jesus still considered political prisoners. - Took up tendencies of Hellenistic world more than Jews. - Romans see religion as civic or private. - See religion as having 2 pieces -> public facing and private facing. - Christians only do private facing -> so Romans very worried. - Vs Judaism was organized and the Jewish leaders had worked it out well with the Romans via bargains. - Even Jews had a public (civic) face but Christians did not. - Plus, Christians were not big enough (or old enough) to do bargaining. Not as organized as well. - Most ppl are polythetic so one more “god” does not matter but Christians are monotheistic so they do not do sacrifices. - No sacrifice = wishing the emperor is dead/ ill. - For civic: - pietas - reverence for things that deserve reverence -> roman word that applies to civic religion -> apply to emperor, participation in public faces. - Sacrifices to the Emperor - Attendance of public feasts & religious festivals - Roman Religion: Private - Hellenistic Mystery Cults - Secret, ceremonial, gradual initiation - Most popular: Mithras. Originally an Indian deity and is a sun god. - Followers are baptised into a cult and also had a resurrection story. - Romans had great issues with Christianity. - Due to… romans being suspicious about mystery cults in general. - Early sources of Christians was that they were participating in incestuous orgies and eating babies. - Also feared rebellion in Judea due to previous conflicts. - Primary issue: did not want to sacrifice to empire -> seen as political rebellion. - Resulted in sporadic persecutions until 313 CE -> Romans never went about to wipe out Christians. - Tacitus -> Text: Germania. - He roughly concurrent with Pliny and Alexandria. - Grew up in roman empire as a whole but not in Rome (travelled there though). - Took up almost all political positions available. - Also, friend of Pliny the younger. - Text was in his midlife and Rome has not conquered the territory he talks about. - Tries to make sense of who these ppl are -> ethnographic piece. Who they are and how they fit to Rome. - A technical writer -> interesting details in text. - Pliny: - Concerns? -> abt rate of spread of Christianity and the future impact (temples are abandoned). - Also, of the undermining of traditional roman religion. - Seems confused on what to do with them and slightly sympathetic (gives reason for torture). - Expected something worse but just found superstitions he did not agree to. - Avoid condemning them wholeheartedly. - Also describes as a Christianity as a contagion (disease) -> looks down on Christianity. - Methods of judgement in terms of fairness? -> Seems so, just give a sacrifice and you are spared. - But can be hypocritic since Christians are monotheistic -> but must sacrifice instead of give money and considering Romans are supposed to be okay with religion, religious tolerance does not seem to exist. - Follows good roman procedures in general. - Also, unsure if he should take anonymous tips -> but was told not to or false accusations can happen. - Pliny acts with Roman tendencies and persecutes minorities legally. - What are some of the ways we overlook persecution in the modern day, even id it is legal? - Alexandria: - Similar to letters Paul wrote to church. - Paul is famous for writing letters of advice in earlier times of 1st century. - Similarity and differences -> tone is the same, period of uncertainty so there was an idea of comfort/ reassurance in the letters. - Alexandria has a godly figure in his letters -> god will take care of everything and text is orientated towards god. - Bhagavad-Gītā -> does orient towards divinity too. - Basically, let go of everything for the faith you belief in. - Genesis and Alexandria -> both faced persecution but in G. the rewards are explicit but Alexandria talks about reactions instead. - Epictetus and Clement was around the same time as each other. - Alexandria -> promises more abstract and very vague (delayed gratification), ask a lot more than other religion -> VS other religions with explicit rewards that are almost always immediate. - Clement advises his readers to lay low -> don’t call attention yourself during persecution. - Gives practical advise on how to avoid persecution by Romans. - *** - Christianity later became a major religion in Rome and in the tribes that caused the fall of rome. - Conversion of Constantine: - Roman emperor that ruled later converted to Christianity. - Was a gradual acceptance as his mother and advisors became Christians. - Legend battle of the Milvian bridge -> forces are out numbered and goes to sleep in desperation and despair, later wakes and finds under this sign you will conquer (a cross) and he did. - 313 CE. - His convergence meant Christians were accepted and made official in the empire. - But also raises qns of exact beliefs and codes -> need to codify way of thought and doing. - These debates continued for a long time. - Paul -> first Christian to move out of Judaism and tried to include gentiles (outsiders) in the mix. - Some issues -> they are not circumcised, etc. - Reached peak in 323 CE in counsel of Nicaea -> what are the correct beliefs for Christianity. - Constantine was heavily involved as he was the emperor. - Major concern: orthodoxy (means right beliefs) -> major difference -> prioritizes beliefs over actions (compared to other religions). - Prioritizes your internal life and your beliefs -> are they right? - What to do with Jesus? - He is divine in some way but what does it mean for him to be god? - Debates if he is fully god, fully human or both. - Later decided he was both. - He was fully god but incarnated into fully human. - After defining right beliefs define wrong beliefs -> Heresies. - Some disagreements like… - Arians -> He is not as fully god as the father, Headed north and went to Germania. - Monophysites -> he is more god. - Gnostics -> he is more a spirit. - Were all kicked out of the church. - But they don’t think they are wrong, they still belief they are right. - Also developed the trinity -> three persons, one god. Three persons inherent in this one god -> the father, the son and the holy spirit. - Religion that makes them comfortable with mystery in their belief -> philosophical vs beliefs -> similar to Daodejing. - These heresies had a life outside Rome and headed to other countries. Later returned. - 313 BCE -> primary religion of Rome is Christianity. - Became the major religion in successor states after Rome fell. - Key: idea of continuity and change. - Rome fell -> but in some ways, it also transformed. - Germanic tribes took over western rome. - Divisions in Rome -> 1st is btw 2 political hubs of empire. - Roman emperor believes that the empire is too large to rule over so he divided it into 2. - Both parts stayed majority Christians. - Eastern roman empire vs Western roman empire. - Govern by different political centres. - Took different trajectories and collapse at different times. - Eastern side fell at 1453 CE, much late than the other half. - Eastern half -> benefited from trade routes and was a lot wealthier. - Western half had to delegate trade to them. - The wealth allowed them to pay the Germanic tribes to not attack them. - Some Germanic tribes remain unconquered by Rome. - Division btw Western and Eastern Church: - W. Rome: Pope, homoisios, called themselves the catholic church (universal church). - E. Rome: Patriarch, homousios, called themselves the orthodox church (right belief church). - Arians -> went and seek converts in German territories. Became very successful and most of the tribes converted. - Fall of Rome: last roman emperor Romulus Augustus (nickname: little Augustus). - 476 CE Germanic tribes took over the city and kicked him out of the city and he went on to live with the Eastern roman empire. - Warlord: Odoacer -> named changed as he thinks himself as Roman. - Romans have no clue who the Germanic tribes are. - Just name them as eastern and western goths. Ie. Visigoths and Ostrogoths. - Can recognize a common structure of their leadership -> a comitatus (war band) -> primarily, the leader/ chief is the one to divide the spoils of war while the warriors have to act as advisors and loyal supporters. - Germans look at webs of loyalty or enmity -> blood feuds in Germanic tribes for several generations is possible. Tribes/ families are at war with each other. - Similarly, alliance is very strong btw families and personal ties matter a lot -> will run on for several generations. - Roman boarders with Germans will always be very unstable -> conquered Germans are paid well and have some rights and benefits, they are official allies. - They serve as border guards against other German tribes -> motivated by money. - Readings: - Thomas -> Germans hold up the leadership of Rome and that created medieval Iraq. - Is a francisian firar -> an insider and a member of the religious order. - Written same year that Francisis is made a saint. - Is very literal, not all crazy (although he talks to animals). - Very dedicated to his religion. - Establish a new form of monastic life -> life of a monk. - He transformed it from a secluded thing to a urban thing. - Mendicant order = strict vows of poverty, often on the move, primarily urban.
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Pre-class Response 8
“So, having laid aside his burdens he turned back, and bethought him, with religious mind, what he should do with the money. Presently, being in wondrous fashion wholly turned to God's work, and feeling that to carry that money even for an hour would sorely oppress him, he hastened to get rid of it, deeming all the advantage of it to be as sand.”
I find this most interesting within the passage as when I compare it to other texts like in Genesis, Abraham was promised a son and plenty of land before he followed god but here, such material things are made less important and are in fact, seen as oppressive even.
There is a contradiction whereby money is used to sustain our physical body yet it is downplayed here and (this is in other parts of this text) “wisdom” is taken to be more important which is more similar to the Bhagavad Gita whereby the physical body does not matter that much and it is the release from the cycle of rebirth that is more important.
It is strange and interesting to me that this text which is supposed to lean more towards Christianity is more similar to the Bhagavad Gita then the Genesis text which came from the Jews.
Link: https://helloworldciv.com/class-21-the-first-life-of-st-francis-excerpt
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Pre-class Response 7
“Cultivate quietness in word, quietness in deed, likewise in speech and gait; and avoid impetuous eagerness.”
Even though it is a short sentence but I feel it encapsulates several ideas that Alexandria is trying to pass on to new Christians. In quietness itself, there is a double meaning of both physical and mental- he seems to want the newly baptised to be physically silent and a good listener, to learn from the world and to avoid persecution by not speaking.
In the mental aspect, he wants the new Christians to stay humble- to be quiet means not to boost their own ego and pride for all to see and to be quiet in their soul where they are at peace with the world. Other than the double aspect of quietness, there also seems to be an element of restrain from all things deemed evil or sinful by remaining quiet.
It would be interesting to note that these same words were passed down due to persecution of Christians during this time which makes me believe context (setting) is everything even in religion because I am fairly certain this probably were not the same words passed down during the crusades where holy war was preached more often than the peace and quiet stated here.
We like to think of religion as a stationary, stagnant belief that will never change- this is the one of its appealing features, yet that may not be the case as time changes.
Link: https://helloworldciv.com/class-17-letter-to-the-newly-baptized
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The Silk Road Notes
- Networks of communication: The silk road: - Connection btw different parts of the world and ppl become closely intertwined. - Influence and connection btw ppl. - Discussion -> disperse or collective knowledge. - Silk road and Indian ocean trade connected ppl together. - See both routes as one piece. - 100 BCE = earliest date from here to next sem. - Who made long dist. trade possible -> trade networks and how things are kept moving. - Unknown men, women and animals -> no idea who they were. Not much documents or accounts. - Not great ppl but ppl who leave little records of themselves. - Silkworms and women -> silk is the primary export on silk road. - Silk made from cocoons of silk worms that are boiled to create silk. - Made from mulberry silkworms -> very fragile creatures, eating only mulberry leaves, needing exact sunlight and temp. - Women hand fed them and previously used to provide for household not for sale. - Previously -> most writing done on silk. - Surplus of silk -> merchants wanted it and it was greatly desirable. - Became a major export. - Later, silk started being made in factories and women lost control over the products to overseers of the factories and merchants. - Women maintain knowledge but did not benefit from it. - Silk road = network of trade routes with one main route. - Merchants tend to travel only 1 small segment of the silk route. - Fairly dangerous travelling. - Camels -> domesticated abt 800 BCE -> other animals domesticated abt 1000 yrs earlier. - Coz it was so well adapted to desserts. - Fur decrease and increase to adapted to temp. - Sealable noses -> prevents sand from going in. - Two humps -> storage for energy, acting as water and food (fats) source. - Flat feet -> easier to travel via sand. - Made it easier to travel via silk route -> not possible for ppl to travel on their own. - Both men and animals (horses) shares danger of traveling. - Why was it worth it? - Economic -> can get a lot of money via trading. Especially for spices. - Europe only flavoured food via herbs and salt only. - Others like pepper and spices did not exist there. - Empires at the end of the silk road that stabilize and make possible the trade. - Imperial China -> Qin (unification and legalism) taken over by Han (Confucian). - 400 years of stability during Han. Considering warring state was abt 700 years. - But still had conflicts (with nomadic ppl) that led to trading. - Xiongnu -> nomadic ppl that are usually appeased via marriage alliances and financial bribery. - Allowed for tentative peace. - Emperor Wu wanted to break this alliance and be independent but had no power to fight them. - Sends Zhang Qian to a Hellenistic kingdom/ the west (Bactria -> Greco- Indo kingdom). - Was formerly defeated by Xiongnu and had their king’s head made a drinking cup. - Zhang Qian -> returned with no help from them but did tell stories abt how rich central Asia was. - Talked abt riches, elephants, spices, gold, horses that sweat blood, military strength, etc. - Drew the king into the idea of trade since they could not defeat them. - King also approved coz believes his civilization is superior and should be spread (cultural imperialism). - Motivations with other culture always complicated. - Accidents -> usually things that have the most long lasting impact on history are completely unintentional. - China later benefitted from silk road economically, financing their military and defeating the Xiongnu. - Mongols later helped make entire silk road completely safe. - Main source of income for China was NOT trade -> had diverse set of occupations. - Also, in Han China, merchants were seen as worthless (Confucius saw them as mere movers not creators) and had no social status or respect. - Trade routes developed by Merchants than discovered. - They established and made their own routes, usually not state initiated. - Rome: - Roman empire -> 31 BCE to 476 BCE. - Long period of peace = good for trade. - Roman empire as a whole begin 500 years before. - Romans are largely consumer end of silk road -> also traded salt, lapis lazuli, olives, etc. - Rome enjoyed consuming silk and spices. - Had concerns of trade agreements on their society. - Silk -> so popular they wanted to ban it. - Concerned abt moral impact (felt silk was too revealing for women) and economic impact (feels they are losing $$$). - Had a trade deficit at that time and this was a huge one. - Livy -> is MALE not female. - Wrote in a period of transition and chaos. - Lived when Rome transitioned from republic to empire. - Republic = representative democracy, have a senate, assembly and elected counsels. Rome was very proud of this. - Empire = large and diverse territory, conquered and ruled by one person. Sole rulership. - Believed that they previously were ruled by foreign and tyrannical kings. - Later these kings were over thrown by a Rome and created the republic. - They loved the republic and had an existential crisis when it failed. - Rape = violence.
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India Notes
- 1500 BCE = 200 years after collapse of Indus valley civilization.
- 5 major categories: first 4 are connected, last point has many subpoints, mainly Reponses to first 4.
- 1) India is a flexible term -> territory that has many subcontinents, like Paskistan. Boundaries are very fluid.
- Primarily talking about Northern India.
- 2) Local and indigenous language and culture was mixed with outside influence.
- Aryan migration (translation: noble = Aryan). People who moved to N. India.
- Much of early culture was influenced from outside coz language of Sanskrit.
- Eg. Word for “father”.
- Outsiders came from Europe or central Asia.
- Sacred language written more than spoken.
- 3) Evidence is that Aryan migrated but did NOT militarily invade them.
- They did make social structure that stratified and separated ppl.
- Social structure is imbedded in the Vedas (sacred texts).
- NOT Hinduism.
- Nature of deities is similar to Greek deities.
- Primary religion -> Vedas = knowledge of rituals and chants. Extensively passed down by word NOT written down n scroll.
- Humans sustain and create the power of deities through sacrifices.
- Deities are necessary for continued existence of the world.
- World needs maintenance and recreation from deities.
- Knowledge is very important and only the Brahmins can do it and pass it down.
- Possible that the separation of Brahmins and non-brahmins -> separation of Aryans and locals and struggles for power.
- Class structure develops into a very complex one.
- Foundation of modern day class structure.
- Untouchables are OUTSIDE the class system.
- Considered the best social structure but reality is messier.
- Not based on wealth and had many complications.
- British standardized this system via record keeping.
- 4) We shape and change religious beliefs just as much as beliefs change and shape us.
- Ppl need to practiced and agreed to follow religious beliefs.
- Purusa = cosmic supernatural beings.
- Text: 4 social classes are named, embedded in the creation of the universe.
- Also, major deities are created at the start.
- Social structure is considered as great and important as the gods created and as the sun and moon.
- Gives it great power.
- Atman = soul, the essential/ eternal self. Carries characteristics. Is what is reborn repletely to another body after death.
- Karma = Not immediate. Idea that the Atman does both bad and good deeds over life times, if there is lack of balance, Atman is trapped into cycle of rebirth. Having more good = move up social lvl, bad = move down social lvl.
- Emphasis of cause and effect, consequences are felt in the next life.
- Live well =?
- Through Dharma = duty to society, defined by the social class you are in.
- Social mandate n how to behave and what task you should take up, regardless of individual talent.
- More virtuous to do what you can in your social class than to follow your heart and talent.
- It is restricting but comforting in the great amount of certainty and works to allow for society to have things done, always.
- Varna influenced by Karma.
- Reward for living well: ultimately the goal is to be released from the cycle forever.
- Removes uncertainty of status next time.
- Like Daoism they believe we have been divided from the oneness of all things so we should try to go back.
- But hard coz can take 100s of life times to achieve this.
- 5) Responses: changes to the tradition or parallel traditions.
- Change 1: Forest dwellers (900 yr period), rise of religious reforms.
- Key reform, to improve the balance, your remove yourself from society = make better decisions.
- Can choose to live alone for a while or a lifetime.
- But attracts many students. Students records their teaching -> forms a new sacred text: Upanishads.
- Effort to impart wisdom.
- Emphasis on body and mind (quiet it).
- Discipline of body and mind = yoga.
- Yoga sometimes replaces Karmic balance through bypassing.
- Addition: reject society and discipline yr body and mind.
- Change 2: Buddhism.
- Both a reform and a parallel to it.
- Is around the time of Socrates.
- Scarce info about his life -> many times, disciples are more interested in the values and teachings than the personal life.
- Birth place is contested.
- Father shield him from all misery, when he escaped, he encountered suffering for the first time, also met forest dwellers.
- The middle way: 2 ways you should not live.
- Chasing after the desire of the moment -> no lasting impact on the soul. Hedonistic.
- Also, should not have no desires/ minimum desires all the time. Astatic.
- Believed: All life is suffering, suffering is created from desire, suffering and desire can be overcome via 8 fold path.
- About intentional and thoughtful living, and acting rightly in the world.
- Not as extreme a discipline as Astaticism.
- Shared effort towards relief -> enlightenment (in state of mind).
- Dhamma means teaching NOT duty here.
- Buddhist belief: no self that is permanent or stable.
- Instead we are made of 5 aggregates.
- What does Karma attach itself to if there is no soul?
- Politics: Mauryan empire -> rare but that is when the whole of India was unified.
- Alexander conquest and left weak soldiers behind so the empire gained control as no ruler was elected by Alexander.
- Ashoka conquered Kalinga and regretted it, converted to Buddhism (probably due to his teachers being Buddhist).
- Gave Buddhist missionaries a lot of money vs Hinduism where ppl come as they will.
- Did away animal sacrifice and that did not come back.
- Child and wife?
- He never returned and somewhat divorced his wife. The child (may) have converted but the wife never did.
- Change 3: Guptas
- Created golden age of India.
- Had kings, coins, many temples. Also responsible for cave paintings, universities, new things in maths like trigonometry by inventing zeros.
- Start by renewing status and prestige of Brahmin class.
- Went from local to empire wide worship of gods.
- Try to establish greater structure.
- Codification of and return to varna system.
- Very conservative text -> reinforces values of virginity, child bearers, etc.
- Mahabharata = longest sacred text.
- Problem of how to live well and their solutions.
- Bhagavad Gita -> about a warrior and his decision to go to war or not.
- Due to there being no idea of one nation, there was multiple views so there was contradiction btw Gupta and Karma Sutra in general.
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China Notes
- Source of political power and authority? How shall we live? - Why these 2 questions? Coz we are entering a period called axial age where central and foundation thinkers (excluding Judaism) comes from. Many major thinkers are confined within this 200 years, asking the same question and answering them in very similar ways. - Shang dynasty: - End about 200 years before Greek ends their dark age. - Also, first recorded dynasty. - Feudal society -> hierarchical, peasants ruled by nobles, nobles governed by overlords and overlords governed by king. - Bronze vessels given by king as a transfer of power. - Vessels used for offerings and ancestors are intermediaries between the high god and people. - Appealing to ancestors help garner favour from the high god allowing for peace and success of people. - Divination techniques: oracle bones: - Asking about really pragmatic questions -> carved on the bones. - Question is written on bone of animals, bones then superheated till it cracks then experts come in and see what your ancestors have to say. - Their power and authority to rule comes from their religion and ablity to communicate to their ancestors. - Zhou -> bronze vessels still used. - Took over Shang through conquest and justify it by similarly to others. - Claimed that this happened due to moral failures of last kings and getting favours from 2 Gods: both their gods and the other side’s god. - Also known as mandate of haven. - You can only get the favour of high gods BECAUSE of your great moral character. - Last period of Zhou dynasty was chaos and known as the warring state. - Zhou was not over thrown and remained the rulers in name only. - Other states were constantly at war with each other for about 500 years. - How to live in these conditions? - Confucius: came from a poor but respected family. - Learnt about past kings when educated leading to orientation. - Believes society has lost it’s path but this can be changed for the better – very optimistic for a person living under warring conditions.
- Concept of “Ren” (internal).
- An abstract concept that works together with Li (external). - Connect to virtue and children. - Seems like a moral compass to guide people’s lives. - Human are good -> as in we have the capacity of goodness that we are born with. - The more you act well, the more your Ren grows. - Propriety: is the core of government. Do what you want your ppl to do. - Follow it and everything will fall into place on its own. - The noble man will always triumph in life. - God behaviour need not lead to wealth and prosperity. - He untangles “nobility” from “status” -> to be noble, you just need to be virtuous. No need to be a king to do good deeds. - If individuals can act on their Ren, the world will change -> ppl can affect social changes just by living well. - If kings do this, impact will be greater but even normal ppl can do it. - *** - Ren and Li -> works together, aim is to be a noble man/ exemplary person. - Imperial China: - Strong pattern in history -> the more society is in chaos, there is more philosophical answers and movements. - Warring states was so chaotic -> it led to hundred schools of thought. - *** - Daoism: - Not sure who is the author of the text. - Written about the same times as Confucius -> about 6th Century, 500 BCE. - Tao = path to live life/ way to live. - Difficult to get proper translation. - Text is unsystematic in core, more on guidelines, mystery and feelings. - Social ideals -> similar to Confucius, believed in going back to past principles. - But definition of “past” is different -> believed urbanization was bad from the start. - Best to look into nature and have small agricultural communities. - Intuition over social order. - Do their best to pretend social status does not matter. - Certainty and knowledge are similar to illusions and cannot be completely achieved. - Comfortable to intuition and mystery coz believe in the unity of everything. - Chaos came from categorizing and differentiating things. Eg. Man vs Nature, Teacher vs Students, etc. - Can be for hierarchy -> separation from unity of Tao. - Concept of non-interference (or not action or not doing) -> avoid messing with the natural order and try to be like water. - Basic idea: act in a way that don’t impose des or control over other ppl or things. - Daoist -> simultaneously idealistic and practical. - Key themes: Knowledge and wisdom, non-interference, desire, the master (who is it? Role? Teaching strategies?), ambition, wealth and power, morality and right behaviour, withdrawal and engagement, role of paradoxes/ opposites. - *** - Opposite ideas can be complementary or contrasting -> similar to Yin and Yang. - Definitions give rise to contrast or contrast gives rise to definitions. - Tao -> intangible essence of life that cannot be explained else the essence is lost. - Idea of balance, original is 4 words each -> there is a rhythm. - Chinese -> need for harmony and balance, even in name pronunciations. - Non-interference =/= balance. - Dao -> wants to look at recognition btw things. No difference btw things, everything is in unity. - Vs. belief in balance. - We label things which results in our desire for them. - Don’t want harmony or balance, wants recognition that we have human constructs/ categories for things and ppl. - Idea is similar to living like a plant -> not doing anything. - Keep trying to do things and you will never get there -> somethings are just out of our control. - Do our work but step back -> be okay with human, good enough. No need for perfection. - If powerful ppl live like that, war would cease and ppl can live naturally. - Openness to potential. - Ethical behaviour can transform society -> similarities in Daoism and Confucius. - But these ideas did not unify China -> it was Legalism that unified China. - Qin dynasty took up legalism. - Self-interest is not over turned by changing mindsets, it is rid of by strict laws and punishments. - There is collective responsibility -> leads to ppl spying on each other and reporting each other. - Legalism -> more of control and conformity. - Don’t care about making ppl good and/or morality. - Legalism created strong incentives to not go against the government. BUT must have strong rulers to be in charge. - Two farmers caught in rain -> would be late and punished but decided to go home and start a revolt. - Confucianism worked well after unification.
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Hellenistic world Notes
- Greeks do NOT have the letter “C”. - Hellenistic world: Culture that is common to a wide area and many people of the time. - Alexander is known as being “Great” -> but why? Achievements? Charisma? Service to others? Character and ability? Leadership skills? - Note! Greatness =/= Goodness. ☹ - Typically, in this period, musicians are not seen as great. Usually, political people are more often seen as great. - Alexander was born to a powerful king and his mother is a daughter of a king, live in the north of Greek and had legendary accomplishments even early in his childhood. - Famous: taming of an untameable horse and later named a city after it. - He was educated by 2nd or 3rd generation disciple of Socrates. - Taught of great Greek heroes during that time -> made him see himself as capable of these deeds too. - Mother claimed to be descendent of Achilles and may have told him that his father was actually Zeus. - Mum and dad did not get along well even then. - Considered great for his military conquest and uses new technologies. He conquers many territories in a short period of time. - He also named many cities over himself, one after his horse and a few after his military leaders. - He stopped only due to facing an opponent-> a powerful Indian king, he won but the battle was so bloody and violent that his troops refused to continue. - Many empires he conquered was already in decline, leading to easy conquest. - Died as he went back-> but in his period, to die of fever was weak and to die of alcohol poisoning was manlier. - After his death, there was no clear heir to his throne even if his wife was pregnant at that time. - Roxane and her son had issues getting power and she later dies during this conflict. - 3 leading generals beat other generals and Alexander’s wife, expanding territories and boarders until they could no more. - Seleucus -> territory was near the Indian kingdoms. - Right bottom -> near the Egypt which was the most resource rich at that time. - No one ruled over all of Alexander’s territory. - Hellenistic period was a term given by historians. - It means to be predominantly Greek in terms of culture, language, etc. but is influenced by other cultures. - None of the kingdoms were democratic. - Education and language was all in Greek. Allowed for intellectual exchange and trading between people. - One small island has about 60 Gods -> and most of them are NOT Greek gods despite it being in a Greek territory. - There were new Gods made and movements and migrations in the period was common -> people living there now has not been living there for a few generations. - Lead to hybrid culture and gave rise of choice and individuality. - Way people connect with others overseas is through religion. - Stoicism -> school of thought: some things are in our control and other are not. With specific definition of happiness. - Alexandria in Egypt is similar to Singapore- hub of learning, multi-cultural, etc. - Looks mostly Greek, even for the education and text that are preserved in it. - But scrolls come from all over the world, just translated into Greek as a common language. Eg. Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek. - In Delos: evidence of mass migration of the young who become disconnected with their own customs. - Much choice given to the young, the spread of religion (old/ traditional) and creation of new combination deities. - But how do you live given these many choices? - Stoicism and Epicurean tradition. - Philosophies meant to help guide ppl through life. - Both related to happiness/ eudaimonia but this concept has changed over time. - Greeks means flourishing or living well but today we mean just as the feeling of joy. - Epictetus: - Epictetus -> was a slave. - Don’t worry be happy -> in summary. - Stoicism -> believes human essence in the core is we are rational. - Capable of make logical decisions based on what we see. - Is reputed to be completely emotionless. - Don’t think we should be controlled by our emotions regarding our decisions. - Goal of life is to cultivate our moral, rational character. - Sum up: do good, avoid evil and take things as they come = a contend life. - Believes that there are indifferent things in the world that does not take away nor contribute to our moral character. - Eg. Sickness and health -> dis-preferred indifference and preferred indifference that do not affect our choice of good or evil. - If we can figure out what we can control and what we cannot, it will go better for us. - Epicurean: - Making good decisions will lead to happiness. - Thinks happiness is found in pleasure -> not about getting whatever we desire but to be absent of physical pain and mental anxiety. - Death -> not something to fear and we can’t control it, believes the soul is as physical as the body so there is no life after death. What we have is the present so nothing to worry about after that. - NOT YOLO, but more of you only have one life so you want to do it properly. - Recognizes that there are basic building blocks to life -> ie. Atoms.
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Persian Empire Notes
- Has great freedom for conquered subjects and most accounts were written by their enemies. - Smaller time of which the empire existed. - Most expansion took place when Cyrus II ruled. - Their religion affected the way they ruled greatly. - Persia was a smaller power at that time and competing with their neighbours, Assyrians being the greater power. - But later Achaemenid rapidly expanded and became a rising great power. - Slowly expanded into Egypt and Northern Africa. - The Persian identity influenced the ppl they conquered. - Alexander the Great later conquered the same lands, leading to layering of Greek ID on Persian ID. - Cryrus II saw his empire as a good, friendly empire which goes against the norm. - Mentions that his troops were marching peacefully but that is not expected. Said he did not destroy the cities or temples but saved them. Also said their Gods gave him permission to conquer the victim nations. - But, also, some victim accounts do agree with his statements. - Cyrus II allowed Jews to rebuild their identity and returned them home. - Mark of good favour: allows ppl to pray to their respective gods and not convert to the Persian gods. Allowed culture and ID to stay. - Zoroastrian: was more powerful and widespread during this time. - From modern say Afghanistan and had the idea of dualism. - 2 supernatural in the universe: Good and Evil. - Judaism and Islam followed this duality idea. - Believed that humans are responsible to help either good or evil and everyone is free to choose which side they want. - Have a moral code to help them make decisions. - Leave all the subjects to choose what they want as they believe in free will. - In terms of governance: - Tend to use local authorities and governance more than other empires. - So long, they agree not to rebel, kings get to stay kings, just under a higher authority. - Lead to regional stability and less disruption of everyday lives. Allowed for collection of taxes, creation of armies and passing down of laws. - Not many Persian accounts of their empire. - Alexander the Great destroyed a lot and Persians kept many records on scrolls instead of stones leading to easier destruction. - Primary sources is from Greeks but they are enemies of Persians so the objective manner is missing. - Herodotus was living during the log wars and is not actually a great recorder of history but still considered the father. - He points only to human causes (which was new then) and required evidences for his recording. - He still believed in Gods but did not believe they had so great an impact on humans. - Discussion: Herodotus: - Additional info? Timeline, cross referencing with another source-> like Persian accounts & oral testimonies, who are the audience, what is the motive of his writing, when the source was written (date), who created the translation and what impact it might have, background of author, social class, etc. - Related to perspective and biasness of author. - Not concern with everyday people, looking at the elite plus coz he can read and write, he himself is also an elite. - What we believe as moral or not is influenced by the way we were brought up and the things we believe in. - Word choice shows perspective. Any comments on excessive behaviour, either author is judgemental or it does not follow their usual moral code. - Comments: Any luxury and excess -> Persians make their own. Not anything practical or useful. - Greeks value strong cultural identity so Persians being adaptable is not viewed positively. - Strangely, where H. lives has different sexual customs than other Greeks and also different from Persian’s but still find Persian lust “unnatural”. - Praises and tone? Praises them for being moral and never telling lies or owing debts + respect for the river with a slightly mocking tone (not intentional), trying to be objective most of the time. - Brought up near the border of the Greek civilization and the Persians. - Some Persians are monotheistic but others are polytheistic. - When author is very sure of sth -> be sceptical. He tends to be very general for very specific practices.
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Greece Notes
- Starting of Greece: - Canaan used to be habituated by Kenaani until Hebrews kicked them out. Kenaani later became great traders and sailers and traded well with the Greek. - Kenaani known as Phonecians (Purple). - Their trade jump started the economy of Greece in the dark ages and shared some language (alphabets) with them. - After dark age = classical Greece. - Led to rise of philosophy, theatre, arts, etc. in Greece. - Used creativity as a mark of a civilized person. - Anyone who don’t speak Greek is a barbarian. - Started out as city states and there are many of these sates, each with own ID and sense of belonging. - Qualities and characteristics attached to geographical location: gives a common culture. - Have different forms of government. - Spartan-> not heredity monarchy, 2 kings means no absolute wield of power plus allowed for one to go to war while the other stays. - Kings are advised form a council of elders. - Kings coexist with one and other. - Women could move more freely in Sparta compared to Athens. - Previously, need a certain degree of wealth to vote. - Previously, people split time doing day job and being a politician. - No voting for women or salves. - They have a slave economy-> abt 50% of pop. Is slaves in Athens. - Hence, not democratic. - Marriage happens when females are btw 10 and 13yo. But males typically are older at early 30s as they are given education 1st. - Male heirs privileged over females. - Women are not considered equals so men seek intellectual companionship with other men. - Greeks do not categorize by Bisexual or Homosexual. - It is a common thing to them. - Greek city states united against Persians as they see it as a threat against well-being and existence in 490s and 470s. - Abt 40 years of acceptance but there was a civil war happened very soon after. - Start the call to respond creatively to the qn. “who do we live in these chaotic times?” - Aristophanes created the genre comedy. - Humour is complicated and he makes play even in the middle of a civil war.
- 2 Generations of Greeks were unified to fight the Persians. The alliance was for independent states and had no single government.
- Athenian did not demilitarize at the end of the war. This led to other Greek states like Spartans feeling in danger. - Lead to massive civil war of about 25 years. - In the midst of this conflict, Lysistrata is created. Creator was an Athenian. - The Greek Theatre: - The time that all these was performed was just before spring and summer- ie. Just before war. - Lysistrata: - Funny: flip of gender roles done over the top. Probably some women in the audience who were well educated and rich but may not have found in offensive, just taking it in stride and not see it as problematic. - In the play, Spartans were mocked by imitation of accent. - Mocked men that women had more sexual powers over them and men are sex craved. Women are shown as individualistic. - Have both Athenian and Spartan women trying to stop the war- very political, women embody their states. - Men have the final say in the end of the war, women can only influence their decisions. - Men’s sexuality and dominance is dependent on women. - “No pleasure on men unless women feel it to”. - Greeks emphasize greatly on the pleasure of BOTH males and females. - Mock ongoing war, implied men may drop weapons just to get sex. War was ridiculous in the first place so a ridiculous solution is necessary to end it. - Athenians see themselves as very sophisticated and civilized. - Looks at how war impacts the domestic sphere and women. - Plays are used as a political tool to trivialize wars and raise the moral of soldiers. - States value their individualism greatly and hence many are not for unification of Greek states.
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Monotheism notes
- An anomaly in ancient society. - Previously: polytheistic society = society where there are many gods. People can choose their gods and switch. Eg. Egypt. - But Monotheism = only one god in society but cannot switch God. Only successful in one society- Israel. - All the same people, just different time periods, different terms. - Nomadic for much of their existence and so their ID cannot be related to any geographical location. - Abraham came from one of the Mesopotamian city states. - But have no mention of him anywhere other than from Hebrew scriptures. So is he actually real? - City of Ur had great political chaos, so their deity has failed them and there is a need for a new god. - Yahweh was a desert god who demanded to be the only god to be worshipped by Abraham. - Attractive promise of a child (Isaac) since Abraham was old and needed a son. - Major Jewish belief: prophets-> communicate Yahweh’s beliefs via a particular context. - Have punishments if expectations are not met -> Prophets warns people of this. - Many prophets shared with Christianity. - Amos: not concerned with specific forms of religious worship. More interested in social justice and communal rls. Rare in the ancient world for that to be the emphasis. - For him, if you do not treat the less fortunate in your society well, you cannot enjoy what you have selfishly made for yourself. - Kingdom of Israel exist while Amos was alive, and was conquered by Assyrians. - For next 700 years, Israel ppl lived as refugees and exiles due to conquest by different people. - Law =/= political or official leader system. Is more of law of social norms and conduct, an expected way for Jewish ppl to behave. - Very comprehensive law and specific law code that governs behaviour in every step of the day. - Becomes an external marker of who you are -> ppl know you are worshippers of Yahweh due to the way you behave. - Have a cultural and religious ID that connects ppl across multiple communities. But, no political ID as Israel was not a country of its own. - Jewish community is isolated due to their culture differing from others. No interaction. - There has been a long time of anti-sematic sentiments even in the past due to their great difference in way of life. - Abraham’s story did not become written down until 600s. - From excepts of Genesis: - Yahweh promise at the start then gives expectations. - He seems to be a combination of Egyptian and Mesopotamian Gods. - Both have supernatural conception similar to Isaac who is supernaturally conceived from Yahweh. - Hebrew has no vowels and Yahweh = “I am”. - None negotiable: Must circumcise males. - But, it is irreversible and lets fellow Jews have something in common -> allows communal ID. - Females were seen as naturally circumcised -> they cannot be branded similar to men. But, God only protects the circumcised -> male biased? - May have to do with ancient perception of sexuality -> men are more sexual and women can control themselves better. - Males considered head of family and passes on the seed -> so long promise is given to them, it carries through for everyone else. - Why are Abraham and Sarah chosen? - Unwavering loyalty and potential faithfulness -> according to text. - Also, he is NOT made a king, he is just an ordinary person. - Promise of land and child is attractive to Abraham -> Yahweh’s promise fits the needs of the person he speaks to. - Also, gives Yahweh more credibility, a symbol of power -> can allow Abraham to have Isaac even at an old age. - Abraham and Sarah CHOOSE their God, not the opposite way. - Stories give ppl hope that things will be better. - Note: Genesis with Abraham meeting Yahweh was recorded first before the creation of men by God in the bible. - Jews and Christians alike separates the creation of people with the introduction of God to men (through Abraham’s first meeting).
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Mesopotamia notes
- It means the land btw the 2 rivers. Another river valley civilization. - World view is different from Egyptians. - It is the geographical name of the location BUT not the name of the civilization that exist there. - They exist about the same time as Egypt. - Pressing question: how do we make an ordered society? - One of the 1st few civilizations that need to make structured agriculture to survive. - Chose to order themselves in a variety of ways. - 1st method: To order as a city state. - Usually, 1 city state to 1 ruler -> independent with clear leadership. - With basic shared ID: came from same city state. - If not the same state, even with same gods, beliefs, etc. They are are okay with fighting or trading with each other. - Also: To order as religious leadership. - Chose religious over political as the tides of the river is unpredictable. - Also, due to rivers being unpredictable, gods are also unpredictable. - Humans created to serve deities. - God of love is also god of violence. O.o - Chose priest carefully to serve gods well. - About 1st 1000 years, priest ruled, then hints of kings came up. - Kings are known as Lugals. Ie. “The big man”. - Lugals developed by gaining power initially as successful generals. - They are great at protecting the people from invasions and was not initially a hereditary position. - As urban empires got larger, law codes and libraries came about. - The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first instance of the epic literature. Ie. Hero stories and legendary stories. Gods come here and there. They are tales. - NOT actual historical records of what happened. - It served as a primary source material of Genesis which was written after the Epic of Gilgamesh. - Was initially chanted hence the text is long. Some stories are missing as parts of the stone tablet is missing, shown by “…”, disjointing the narrative. - The Epic of Gilgamesh: - Setting: Uruk (Iraq); Primary Character: Gilgamesh who is a bad king-> Sends men to wars and sleeps with the women wo their consent. - Citizens complaint to God as this is not a democratic society and that is the only way they can get help. - They appeal to Anu (male diety) + Aruru (female creator goddess). - The gods here are not completely frightening but nor are they helpful. - Aruru sends Enkido who is much more animalistic and wild than helpful and scares away animals from the trap a hunter sets. - Gilgamesh sends Shamhat (a priestess/ temple prostitute-> sex is used as a channel to assess to the Gods’ blessings). - Shamhat and Enkido have sex for 7 days and Enkido becomes tamed and civilized after. Animals no longer wants anything to do with him. - Shamhat teaches Enkido how to do the most basics of things and fend for himself. - Enkido fights with Gilgamesh (part of the text is missing) and later becomes friends. - Ninsun is a goddess and Gilgamesh’s mother. - Gilgamesh and Enkido are seen as balancing each other out, also, after his battle, Gilgamesh is expected to have gotten better with his ruling and stopped abusing his citizens as much. - Also hinted there may be homoerotic themes between Gilgamesh and Enkido. - Civilization = monumental buildings, expectations of gender, etc. - But there it is a judgemental word, as uncivilized means primitive, bestial, etc. - Epic of Gilgamesh is important as this is one of the first civilization to develop written language and culture. - Writing helps organize societies. - Kingship is ambivalent and due to kings coming and going, Mesopotamians started trying to standardize things via law codes. - Hammurabi bases his law from cases that has been tried and decided. Standardizes laws based on what was the common outcome. - Also known as the code of Hammurabi. - Much physical punishment happens in it, usually law is one-on-one, exceptions only to slaves who are seen as properties. - Slaves hurt = crime and usually judgement passed down is a fine, slaves are criminals = judged as slaves and often, capital punishment is used unless it is other slaves. - These laws apply regardless of social status. - These allows for common law practices around the territories and give local authorities less power. - Record keepings allows them to choose what to keep or not. - Allows standardization of religious and cultural beliefs. - Ashurbanipal is very proud of his education and began codifying his texts to help merge his empire’s cultural identity.
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Pre-class Response 6
“47 You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction.
48 Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
49 Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do. 50 When consciousness is unified, however, all vain anxiety is left behind. There is no cause for worry, whether things go well or ill. Therefore, devote yourself to the disciplines of yoga, for yoga is skill in action.”
This is the most important part of the text to me as I find contrasting themes here that interest me the most, a pair which are at odds with each other while the other is in harmony with each other.
Starting with honour, it was mentioned that as a warrior, the protagonist has to defend his honour and that I find is a fruit of his labour and emphasis was placed on the societal role which expects him to behave like a warrior and want things a warrior should want – the protagonist was even scolded for weeping and wanting to escape from war.
Yet in this quotation, it was mentioned that he should “never engage in action for the sake of reward”, which contradicts the expectations placed on him previously that dictates what he should strive for and want, this makes the text confusing due to the contradiction mentioned.
Also, I find it interesting that both detachment from society and attachment to the social roles in society are existing together. In the passage, it is encouraged to detach yourself from “reward” and events in order to focus on the non-material and more spiritual aspect of life, yet, at the same time, in order to focus, there is attachment to the social order and status whereby people try to live a good life to move up the ladder and finally be released from reincarnation. It seems to work in never ending cycle with the two contradicting themes somehow working in harmony.
Link: https://helloworldciv.com/bhagavad-gita
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Pre-class Response 5
“When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.”
I find this the passage most important and memorable as it is where Lao Zi begins introducing the idea of balance and definitions which seems to be the key of Tao he speaks so much of. It suggests that by defining something, we are able to compare it to others and through that we input the ideas of “good” and “bad” which helps balance each other out, not only in society but also in our lives.
The passage also introduces the ideas of serenity, being yourself and letting go. As it speaks of the Master, it implies that we are who we are as individuals even if we do nothing to prove it hence we do not need to act out to prove ourselves, instead we need to learn to let go and let others discover and remember us as they should.
Finally, the tone of the passage is a fairly calm and firm one which I find essential in convincing readers that this is the right way of doing things- Lao Zi is not telling a story like the many other passages I have read before, he is literally trying to introduce to readers a new lax way of living our lives.
Strange how more peaceful civilizations like Egypt tells stories of their gods and kings but in China, where war is raging, the focus of texts seems to be more on ways of living a moral and good life.
Link: https://helloworldciv.com/class-14-daodejing-excerpts
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