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.