WW: Chapter 7: Classical Era Variations

Ways of the World : Chapter 7

Classical Era Variations

Africa and the Americans

Africa during the classical era  =  the land mass, rather than the cultural identity. Africa was home to many different societies, cultures & civilizations. Many of the differences stemmed from the different climates. As the climates varied so did the people.

Africans location was ideal for trade with Eurasia and Arabia. East Africa became a port for Egyptain, Roman and Arab merchants.

Meroë was a country neighboring Egypt.They borrowed many ideas from Egypt but remained a separate entity. They were ruled by a king and the dead were buried with human sacrifices. Unlike Egypt, they didn't have to rely on a river as their only water source as they often got rainfall.

Axum was the start of a new way of African civilization. It was founded on a plow based farming system. The other major difference between this civilizations was the introduction of christianity to a Islam dominate society. Christianity was introduced through the Red Sea trade and connections with the roman. King Ezana adopted the new religion. Although Christianity would always be the minority, it did remain a dominate part of modern day ethiopia. Azum's decline was brought about due to  enviormental changes. They eventually imreged into a smaller country.

Niger River:
Along the niger river emerged small urban artisan communities, independent of a higher government. They were essentially cities without states. Because of this they were free from an unfair social system. These were clusters of specialized settlements, each city focusing on a specifiic trade, i.e. iron, weaving, farmers. These middle Niger cities were alternatives to living under a states rule. West African commerce helped stimulate the economy. Supplies from even as far as 200 miles away could be traded.

Mesoamerica: 

Mesoamericans had less influence from neighboring countries, in part because there wasn't as much around them. They were at a disadvantage in many ways because they didn't have large domestic animals or iron technology. However, despite all this, they still managed to give birth to very advanced civilizations. The region itself was very diverse and bound together by a strong sense of common culture.

The Maya:
Dated back to 2000 BCE and the intellects developed a complex mathematical systems including the number zero as a place holder. They used math to calculate the solar year, plot the cycles of the planets and construct calenders. They were also responsible for creating an elaborate writing system, that kept records of nearly everything.

Their landscapes were an engineered one, molded to reap the land's full benefits. This included drained swamps, terraced hillsides, flattened ridge tops as well as a complex irrigation system. Their culture flourished, rich with agriculture and intellect. It's no surprise that scholars originally believed Mayan society to be a peaceful one.

We now know that this was not the case. Their government was highly dysfunctional with no central authority, and the act of human sacrifice took place. Each city-state was ruled by a king, but there was no  stable connection between these city-states and thus a unified Mayan empire seemed far from possible. After a long term drought, the civilization rapidly felt -- fanime, epidemic and warfare brought 85 percent of the Mayan empire to the grave. The great cities were deserted and all art and intellectual work abandoned.

Teotihuacán: America's Greatest City
Existing around the same time of the Maya, was Teotihuacán, which stood in the North Valley of what is modern day Mexico. It was one the largest city of it's time period with an occupation around 100,000 - 200,000 people. However, not much about Teotihuacán is actually known other than what is to be find in historical remnants and not even the original name is known.

The city itself was extensive, with large boulevards, plazas, marketplaces, temples , drainage systems, murals and even slums.  The homes of the elite were located on the Street of the Dead, along with a series of temples and two giant pyramids. One of them is the Temple of the Sun and was supposedly the birth pllace of the sun and the moon. The other is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, which seemed to be the location of a great human sacrifice of over 200 (unwilling) victims.

The art of Teotihuacán, unlike the Mayan art was not self serving, and did not say much about actual people or events. 

WW: Chapter 11: Worlds of Islam

Ways of the World : Chapter 11

The Worlds of Islam

Afro-Eurasian Connections

The new religion was started by Muhammad  Abdullah who was born in Mecca. Like Jesus and Buddha, Muhammad had a spiritual experience that convinced him he was Allah's messenger to the Arabs. His revelations were recorded in the Quran and delivered through Muhammad. Allah was the only God, the all powerful, and God was good. Muhammad claimed to be the final messenger of God. The Quran called for social justice. This was a very good thing for the country considering Arab society was so prone to violence and social injustice.

The Islamic community quickly became a huge empire. Muhammad exercised a great amount of political and military power making it much easier for him to implement his visions.

In a short period of time, 20 years, a new religion had been born. This society became the model for future Islamic communities.  

The Islamic faith even spread quickly throughout Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia and India and even beyond.

Becoming Muslim was often a profound spiritual and psychological transformation but it was also a social conversion.

The central elements of Islam -- monotheism, ritual praying, fasting, divine revelation, heaven, hell and the final judgment were all key elements in Judism as well. The community was heavily encouraged to convert albeit conversion wasn't easy.


After Muhammad's death disputes over who should be the successor as political leader. This rift eventually would be the cause of a great division in the political world of Islam.

The two types of Muslims were the Sunni and the Shia. Sunni muslims believed that caliphs were the rightful political and military leaders chosen by the Islamic community Shia muslims felt the leaders should derive from line of Ali, the blood relatives of Muhammad. This split became very signifigant and remains so even in our time.

Sunni religious authority emerged from a larProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

oxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

r community -- from the religious scholars known as ulama.

Shia leaders were imams with a religious authority that caloph's lacked. They could reveal the true meaning of the Quran. The shias were the minorities in their eyes, they called themselves the "defenders of the opressed" Sunni's were advocates of established order. Shia's started revolting and failed

Women & Men:
Quran viewed women as inferior and subordinate. "Good women are obedient," There were many protections and restrictions on women. Arab practice of female infanticide was forbidden. Women were expected to be sexually satisfied -- if they went without sex for more than four months they were allowed to sue for divorce. (This meant divorce was possible for both parties) Men could however have multiple wives, but this was limited to four. Men could also have sex with female slaves with consent only.

Islam and Cultural Encounter: A Four-Way Comparison

India:
Islam found a permanent place in South Asia because of invasions by Turks. However it only covered about 25% of the population.

Anatolia:
Anatolia was also victim of Turkish invasion, however Muslims made a more prominent place in the culture, with 90% of the population converting.

Why was so much more of Anatolia converted than of India?

Probably because the conversion was a lot smoother from Christianity to Muslim because of the common monotheism and respect for Jesus. Anatolia was also far more disrupted by the invasion, and therefore their culture was more weakened. Turks took over and welcomed converts by granting them with rewards and oppurtonites.

Despite the Islamization, the Turks still kept to their culture. For example, Turk women were still held in high respect -- and they were even more dignified than the men.

West Africa:
Rather than being carried with invaders, Islam came with Muslim traders. The new religion was welcomed in the urban centers of West African empires. Islam offered comfort to people via it's single God. Because of this Islam became prominent in many West African cities.


Spain:
Islam did not overtake Christianity the way it did in Anatolia, instead Muslim Spain was a harmonious place for Muslims, Jews and Christians. Arabized Christians were not accepted amongst Muslim culture The peaceful age soon ended as intolerance increased. Christians and Muslims soon became segregated and many Muslims became forced oout of Spain.


The World of Islam as a New Civilization:
Ulama was most important part of transmitting these beliefs to other groups. The ulama were not priests in that they did not stand between God and the people, rather they served as judges and reciters of the Quran.

Sufis also emerged as religious teachers and spread their ideas throughout the Muslim world. Islamic trade greatly influenced the exhange of religious ideas. Muslim merchants were some of the dominate traders in the Afro-Euroasia trade route.

WW: Chapter 6 : Eurasian Social Hierarchies

Ways of the World : Chapter 6 

Eurasian Social Hierarchies

Little social mobility in both China and India
Inequalities characterized daily social life
Religons and cultural traditions defined these social inequalities as natural.


The social system in China:
China was one of the few societies in the ancient world that shaped their actions by the state. 


The officials were on top, and were highly educated at an imperial academy where they were trained as scholars, immersed in literature and followed Confucius teachings. Private schools allowed lower class people into the examination system but most of them were too poor to afford the education required to even pass the exams to move up rankings. So while this system claimed to be open to everyone it favored the wealthy. Officials came from wealthy families -- who were usually the land owners.


Peasants were the majority of the population in China. Some owned enough land to support their families and do relatively alright -- but others could barely survive. They were very vulnerable to loosing the little they did have do to natural disasters and state authorities who demanded tax payments.


The social system in India: 


The caste system - caste derives from the world casta :: race or purity of blood

At the top were the Brahmins, who served as teachers or priests. After them were the Ksatriya's who served as warrior and rulers. They were followed by the Vaisaya class, the commoners who cultivated land. These three top classes were all considered "twice born", and considered descendants of the pure born aryan classes. Below these were the Sudras, native people  placed in very subordinate positions. They were considered as servants of their social betters.


Even below them were the "untouchables" who weren't even considered a part of the Vedas. Their responsibilities were polluted labor, such as dealing with death and (cremations, executions, skinning of animals, etc)


In India it was near impossible to get out of a lowly social status in this life. Hindu notions of rebirth were reflected within the caste system. Someone born into a lower class meant they had bad karma in a previous life, likewise being born into a good class meant good karma from a previous life. Prior actions determined status.  The only way one could move up in social ranking was by faithful performance of one's caste duties in their current life. These teachings only contributed to the social inequalities. India's social system gave priority to those of religious status (the Brahmins) where as China put political officials on top. 


Patriarchies:
The chinese women was always under that of the male figures in her life. Even from her day of birth she was placed below the bed to show her place as "lowly and weak". The best way for a women to get any power was by birthing sons -- the rule of mother in law was actually one of significant authority (at least over the life of her son's wife)


Daoism offered new images of femininity -- encouraging more passive feminine virtues. Dao was referred to as "mother" many women sought out Daoist sects to be priests or nuns rather than the more patriarch family life. 



In Athens & Sparta:
Though Athens has inspired Western democracy -- it's view on women was very restrictive. Even great greek thinkers provided ideas that justified women as subordinate to men. Aristotle said, " a women is, as it were, an infertile male. She is female in the fact on account of a kind of inadequacy"


I can't help but see that is as reflected in more modern views. While women have come a long way in America, it seems that we are still ultimately considered inferior. 


The inadequecy that Aristotle refers to is that women are unable to produce sperm, which were considered to contain the soul of a new human being. Because of this the women's role in reproduction was a passive one. Women were often seen as being associated with instinct and passion that lacked rationality -- such as a child or an animal might act, and were therefore unable to take part in publci life. "It is best for all tame animals to be ruled by human beings," states Aristotle, "For this is how they are kept alive. In the same way, the raltionship between the male and female is by nature such that the male is higher, the female lower, that the  male rules and the female is ruled,"


A good Greek women were expected to remain inside the home, and were not allowed to be educated. 


In Sparta, the role of a man was to be a warrior, and the role of a man was to produce sons to grow up and become these warriors. Because of this militaristic system, women were offered much more freedoms than in Athens. In order to strengthen their bodies for child birth they were greatly encouraged to take place in sporting events. Spartan women married men around their age, and took care of the affairs of the household while her husband was off in war. Because of this, they had much more authority in the family then in Athens. 


Sparta was more restrictive on one more thing -- which was sexuality. They prohibited homosexuality, while most other cultures at the time found homoerotic relationships to be fairly common.


Efforts of men and women were given the same amount of respect in Sparta. Death in childbirth was considered as honorable as death in battle since both acts contributing to the defense of Sparta. Despite Athens being so well known for it's democracy and philosophy they give little to their women, while Sparta, so often condemned for it's militarism provided a much better life to the women in their society.