Studying with Jeopardy

After playing the Jeopardy games today I found that I did the best on questions about demography and agriculture but didn't do as well on the questions based on politics. One of the more difficult questions i came across was "This is the term that is used to describe Pope Gregory I assertion that the bishop of Rome is the head of the church." The answer was papal primacy. I think I was confused about this question because of it's specific nature. I learned from this question that I need to refine my studying more to some specific things, but at the same time not to focus on them too much because there is a lot of material to study.

Benedict's rules

4. Monasteries that kept to Benedict's rules could be very useful institutions because they provided so many services to the community, as well as keeping its people peaceful and content. These monasteries also educated many by serving as schools and they cared for the sick. Also they served as places of refuge and as much needed rest stops for the travelers of Western Europe. All of these aspects contributed to a more educated breed of people that had the ability to hold government positions and directly contribute ideas of the Roman Catholic church to society. Also these monasteries served the community by increase agriculture production. The inhabitants of the monasteries were taught to be silent, garden, and meditate all day which was fortunate because they were able to grow their own food. Also they preached not to be gluttonous and to do everything in moderation, meaning that they probably did not eat all of the crops they produced. This ultimately provided a sense of trade to the economy.
5. The rule of this tight nit and highly structured society within the monasteries suggests a sense of disorder in the outside community. The strict and demanding language and tone exhibited in Benedict's rule suggests the need for religious structure in the communities and in politics outside of the monasteries. Also the monasteries seemed to control most of the economy due to their production of agriculture. They also had high literacy rates because they forced the monks to read everyday, containing most of the knowledge of Western Europe within the monastery. This shows the chaos that was going on outside of the monastery walls and the decentralization of Western Europe.

Indian poetry

I liked these poems. They were short, concise and to the points which I thought was easier to interpret. However I do not think they reflected Indian society very well because the lines were so short and simple that the complex aspects of society could not be interpreted as a whole.

Tang and song poetry

Overall I liked the song poems better than the tang poems. They seemed to flow more like a poem, while the tang poetry was filled with short and choppy statements much like a really brief anectdote. Also I found that in the song poetry the author asked himself a lot of questions, sort of as a way to lead the audience into his ideas. Overall I think they both represent the interactions between different types of people rather that song and tang societies as a whole. And lastly I think poetry isn't really a good way to understand a society because it often filled with bias emotions or a strong point of view, which makes it hard to fully comprehend the whole society.

The Spread of Islam

Constantine vs. Prince Vladimir

        Constantine converted to Christianity during his rise to power after witnessing a vision that displayed the power of the Christian God. Constantine said that God led him through his conquests and he declared the Edit of Milan which allowed all Christians of the Roman empire to practice their religion under their own terms and freedom. Prince Vladimir had full power of his state when he converted to Christianity, which was significant because he then imposed it upon the whole community rather than letting his people practice it freely. He ended up choosing Eastern Orthodox Christianity, partially because of his dislike for Judaism and Islam and also because the religion appealed most to his men.
Constantine and Vladimirs's conversions differed in a couple of ways. As mentioned before Constantine was rising to power when he established Christianity in his society, so he used the religion as a tool to unite his community under his rule. Vladimir on the other hand was already ruling so he just used Christianity to keep his men happy and to unify society under one religion. Because Vladimir used his conversion to please his men, it was more strategical than spiritual. This differs from Constantine's because he actually had a spiritual moment with Christianity that influenced his conversion.

Byzantine Architecture and Arts of Other Sorts

Byzantine architecture has a rather simple style and focuses on the colors of red and brown a lot. There were a lot of brick buildings and the structure of the most exquisite buildings included domed ceilings. Although these domes provided a complex aspect to Byzantine architecture, the rest of the exteriors were rather simple and plain. The interiors; however, were decorated with all sorts of color and detail. I didn't observe anything that seemed decorative or meant to be pretty on any of the exteriors, so the architecture mostly seemed to be designed for certain purposes. This type of architecture did not have many connections to American architecture but it did share the similarities of domed ceilings in common areas and brick buildings.

All about Constantinople

Document 1: Benjamin of Tudela loves Constantinople and everything about it and it shows in his writing. He discusses the beautiful architecture and trading centers and truly expresses his love for the city, even though heroes mention that the Jewish citizens were treated poorly. Very Credible source.
Document 2: Robert of Clary writes about Constantinople's capture and the Greeks fascination in the city. He addresses this document to the common people.
Document 3: Nicetas Choniates describes via exaggeration the destruction of Constantinople by the Latins and their lack of sympathy and consideration towards the city's valuables and riches.
Document 4: this is a map of Constantinople that shows the society's protection and religion but is not as credible as the other sources because of lack of buildings and other essential aspects.
Document 5: this photo is taken by Bildarchiv Foto Marburg and depicts Saint Sophia, a new form of architecture developed by Constantine.
Document 6: this document is written by George Acropolites and describes Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus and the Byzantine Empire. Also focuses on Christian influence on Society.
Document 7: Chrysobull describes Venetian ways of life and their success rather than discussing Constantinople.
I believe document 1 is the most credible source because it addresses all important parts about the city from it's beautiful architecture and culture, to its religion and economy. Benjamin of Tudela also describes that even though his love for the city is powerful, there was a downfall beuase the Jews were treated poorly, making the source reliable because it addresses issues of the city as well.

Silk Road Project

I enjoyed this project very much because it offered more than just a formal essay. The map allowed us to portray our understanding in a layout formation, which also helped me grasp the information better because I learn better visually. I also like to draw so that was a bonus.Three things that went really well were the fact that Nadia lives right down the street so it was convienient to get together (and provided us with something to do in a power outage), the map itself because I think we did a pretty good job, and utilizing the book for information. Three things that didn't go so well were the fact that we didn't have power forcing us to learn by candlelight, trying to condense a lot of information into one map and a two page essay, and gathering good Internet resources that provided correct trade routes for certain products. If I were to do one thing differently I think I would use more pictures and less writing on the map(E.g. maybe draw pictures of sugarcane rather than write out a description for it.) I think this would be easier to visually understand. And overall I thought the collaboration went very well both because Nadia and I have a similar mindset and we live 2 minutes away from each other.

The Differences and Similarities between the Teachings of Jesus and other Religions and Philosophies

Why do Empires Form???

A nontechnical way of explaining why empires form is that an oppurtunity arises that is just too good to turn down. This perfect oppurtunity can consist of a rebellion for new leadership, or even just political instability. An example of this is when Julius Caesar took over Rome as a dictator and unified all straggling aspects of the society.He won over the displeased under class and provided them with an alternate and better lifestyle, ultimately bribing them.He was intelligent because he knew to start from the ground up winning over the majority of the people first. This was a well though out strategy because it did not involve any warfare, which would create people who did not like Caesar. Instead it was a gradual transition to a new leader that most of the citizens liked. Similar to how the Roman empire was founded, the Qin dynasty also targeted the lower class when first developing as an empire. They looked to bribe their peasants and farmers and in exchange they developed a pretty stable empire and a kickin army to go with it. Another empire that also benefited from the seizing the moment technique to establish itself was the Mauryan dynasty led by Chandragupta Maurya. He was smart enough to seize the empire that Alexander the Great left behind and turn it into a successful Indian empire. All of these examples represent how an empire is established from seizing great opportunities.
 

Thea final stage of Empire

Struggle for power. Caesar dies. Augustus rises. Romans hate monarchy

Finally an Empire

Takes over Mediterranean in less than 30 years, those selfish Romans

Still a Republic...

Standardized laws to maintain authority and form empire yet too many of them

Rome as Republic

Rome demands control, and sets extremely harsh rules to maintain it and unify under one empire

Internet vs. Textbook...the inevitable cagematch

On Friday when we had the oppurtunity to use Wikepedia it was a slap in the face as to how advanced these iPads have made our school. I especially found the app wikipanion to be helpful because it allowed for instant access, and the toolbar on the side eliminated all confusion about navigation throughout the site. Compared to the textbook I found wikipedia to be more accessible and easier to understand, and its gradual breakup of categories provided a friendlier layout than the size 8 font, 1 page paragraph format of the textbook. I actually had to break out my glasses that I haven't worn since the fifth grade when I was reading over the summer. Although internet sources like Wikipedia have made our lives easier, and put less strain on our eyes, I still do not feel 100% comfortable using wikipedia as a source by itself. I like to use it as a background source, to catch the jist of what happened at a certain event or during a certain time period. However, I would never use wikipedia to write a paper, simply because anyone can log onto the website and make changes that might not be accurate. When I read the textbook I feel that I can rely on it for accurate historical evidence because years and years of research have gone into publishing it. Despite the number of times it put me to sleep the textbook is what I prefer to base my knowledge off of; and wikipedia is a simple introduction to that deep knowledge.

Comparing and Contrasting Caste Duties from the Bhagavad Gita to views of Confucius and Zarathustra

Throughout the Bhagavad Gita a few key points are stressed pertaining to the caste system that compare and contrast with the views of Zarathustra and Confucius. One of them is believing in an afterlife. According to the Bhagavad Gita this afterlife was the reincarnation in many things over and over again and gave people a reason not to fear death, especially when going into battle. This belief is somewhat similar to Zoroastrianism because they believed in a final judgement after you died, deciding your ultimate destination(heaven or hell). While Zoroastrianism contained life after death, Confucianism believed in no afterlife, and in the words of Joey from Friends, "when you're dead, you're worm food." another belief stressed in the Bhagavad Gita is that people's actions should be done from the good inside of them rather than for the reward. This related to Confucianism because Confucius believed being a good person to benefit the whole world rather than one person. In Zoroastrianism, they believed in being a good person, but they also committed good deeds to benefit themselves when it came to the final judgement.

What to Expect in a Blogpost

In my opinion, a blog post should prove a point in a short concise but informative manner. I love using the blog because it is an easy way to communicate and it gives us a little freedom as to what we give forth and present to the class. Although a blogpost can be short, it should always have supportive details and never cut corners. A blog should also be treated as a formal writing assignment when it comes to grammar. I'm not sure about everyone's opinion, but I hate stupid grammar mistakes because to me it represents a lack of effeort and it only takes reading something once over to fix them. Mistakes can also alter the way someone perceives or reads the information. In terms of length, I don't think a blogpost should be two sentences when you have to prove a point with detail, but it also doesn't have to be three paragraphs either. Longer isn't always better either because someone could be completely off topic or just lose the attention of their audience easily. Overall, I prefer quality to quantity, and as long as it gets the point through with enough supportive evidence who cares how long it is or what kind of style the person uses to get through to their audience.

Benefits of a leaders authority in their own culture

By conforming the Qin dynasty so that standards of measurements and axel lengths of carriages are all the same it makes it easier for the society to unify as a whole. As a leader they can gain more control over the society, and also gain benefits in trading by measuring goods, and making roads acceptable for all carriages. Also The society has a way of universally communicating and interacting with one another.

What American Government Needs

Book I. 22          The Master said, “I do not see how a man can be acceptable who is untrustworthy in word?  When a pin is missing in the yoke bar of a large cart or the collar bar of a small cart, how can the cart be expected to go?”

This selection from The Analects is meant to represent the structure of a good government. I think the United States government should take this specific excerpt into close consideration because of our history of dishonest and untrustworthy politicians. For example, Sal Demasi took bribes from many in exchange for contracts of approval on construction sites and other places of labor. By pocketing a rather large chunk of the money and going around the state, he committed a federal crime and shocked many. Also, there have been several American politicians who have been unfaithful to their wives and families. This does not directly rate to them being untrustworthy to the United States; however, if they wronged a loved one in the past, what would stop them from wronging a bunch of strangers for their own benefits. Overall, I think trust is a big issue in our country's politics and that we should attempt to fix this bump in the road by implementing this rule or another one similar to it.

Was Alexander the Great really "Great"?

In my opinion, I believe Alexander the Great really was great. He conquered numerous amounts of civilizations, built his own successful empire from the ground up, and died young at the height of his power with high honor and dignity. When he was at the young age of 20 he inherited and took full responsibility of the huge empire of Macedon, that had complete control of Greece. He then invaded Persia and fully conquered it within 10 years along with having control in Egypt, and expanding to Iran, Afghanistan, and even India. Along with spreading his own empire, he also was responsible for spreading the Greek culture and their extensive education throughout the eastern hemisphere as he expanded. Accompanying his superb leadership was his idealism. He was one of the first to integrate people of other cultures into his army and administration. Persians and Asians made up large quantities of his societies and he made sure they had some important roles. So, in a short span of 12 years he managed to conquer societies from Europe to Southeast Asia and be worshiped highly by not only his own people but by those he conquered too. They thought he was great then and he certainly still is great now.