Ch.8 China & the World

In chapter eight one section that stood out to me was Women in the Song Dynasty. In this section I read about how women's lives were (again) negatively impacted and changed during the "golden age" and that there was a divide between women and men. During the Song dynasty, because of economic growth and the practice of Confucianism, patriarchal restrictions on women increased. A Song dynasty historian, Sima Guang, states “the boy leads the girl, the girl follows the boy; the duty of husbands to be resolute and wives to be docile begins with this“ (371). However, one thing that was surprising is that a man’s masculinity (in the Song dynasty) wasn’t based off of athleticism or physique but “calligraphy, scholarship, painting and poetry” (371). When I first read this I thought it was odd because typically back then women had the jobs that were known to be more on the artsy side such as calligraphy and painting. Women were also viewed as distractions to men’s aspirations. Also, sadly a common and horrific practice that women endured during the 10^th / 11^th century C.E. was foot binding. The practice literally involved wrapping girls’ feet tightly to the point of breaking bones all to gain a small, frail, esthetically pleasing look.

Ch.6

After reading chapter six, a few of the main points the author talked about that interested me was on: Continental Comparisons, Civilizations of Africa and the city of Meroe. In the section of Continental Comparisons the author explained that the three super-continents were Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. Even though the second-wave era is known as the turning point for the Agricultural Revolution, gathering and hunting still remained as the sole basis for sustaining life and its society. Also, during the second-wave era Eurasia (not Africa) held more than 80% of the world's people, Africa came in second at about 11%, and the Americas between 5 and 7 percent. In the section Civilizations of Africa, the author talked about how Africa was the most tropical compared to the other two super-continents and because of this the climatic conditions brought numerous disease-carrying insects and parasites. Lastly, the city of Meroe was a Nile Valley civilization and even though the city eventually declined and was later conquered, its reputation in the world of northeastern Africa and the Mediterranean was great riches because of their access to gold, ivory, tortoiseshells and ostrich feathers.            

Chapter5

Chapter five addressed many topics/issues such as: societies in China, the class and caste system in India, comparing slavery and patriarchies in different societies, arguing with Solomon and Buddha, the Romans vs. the Greeks... However I enjoyed reading about the Tang dynasty, specifically the roles of the women and what they brought to the two different societies. During the time of the Tang dynasty elite women were allowed to handle the legal and business affairs on their own, ride horses + play polo, and the daughters were even able to inherit property from her family of birth. This is something that wasn't common during those times and women were normally treated unfair. Even more so at one point the Tang dynasty had a female empress, Empress Wu. She was the only women to ever rule China and before she became an empress she was a high-ranked concubine in the imperial court. Even though her reign was brief, it was a nice "change of scenery" (as far as the women go) after reading the rest of the sections from chapter 5.     

Intro Part 2 & Ch3

Part two:
We are transitioning into what took place after the First Civilizations: large-scale globalization of civilizations, spreading across the the planet with increasing numbers of people and larger territories. There was a constant trend in civilizations falling and new civilizations emerging and (today) historians are  still gathering and putting together the pieces. Even though economic and social patterns hadn't significantly changed, the world was different from the time of the First Civilizations. And as we dive deeper into the chapters it'll become more apparent on where to compare these experiences of the various peoples.    

Ch3:
After reading chapter three one section really caught my interest, reading about Alexander the Great and his conquest during the Hellenistic era (323-30 B.C.). Alexander the Great's mission was to unify Greece by taking down the Persian Empire and that is just what he did. He became a legend, "King of Asia," and it was among the greatest military feats of the ancient world because it created a Greek empire from Egypt and Anatolia to Afghanistan and India. We has anointed as pharaoh and was declared a "son of the gods" by Egyptian priests. However, shortly after his death his empire was divided into three kingdoms,  and with it the spread of Greek culture.  

"The Afterlife of a Pharaoh"

Question: "How is the afterlife of a pharaoh represented in this text?"

Answer:
Just off the top of my head, from a previous class I remember that the Egyptians celebrated death and the afterlife. Specifically, I remember that the pharaoh's prepared for their afterlife throughout the whole time they were "in office." However, the representation of the afterlife of a pharaoh in this context is that Egyptian thinking was very similar to Mesopotamia about: life, death, and the afterlife. Some of the first evidence came from pyramid texts, on the walls of a royal tomb as spells, incantations, or prayers to assist the pharaoh when entering eternal life amongst the gods. It was discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian king, Teti, representing some of the oldest religious writings in world history.

Ch2: 1st Civilizations

One of the sections in chapter two really stuck out to me: Hierarchies of Class. During early civilization there was no such thing as inequality and forms of hierarchy. Everyone worked together and shared a common goal for the greater good, to survive. However, that all changed as the First Civilizations began to form. The upper class were wealthy due to land or salaries and were able to avoid physical labor all together. They had the finer things in life and of course occupied the highest positions in political, military, and religious life. Sounds all too familiar. In Mesopotamia certain class' had consequences. For instance, if a free-born commoner got into a fight with someone of equal rank there was a small fine, but if the person hit someone superior to them that person would be whipped 60 times in public. It was just interesting to read how even the earliest civilizations struggled with money, power, etc. in many ways and more that humans and society today continue to struggle with.

Aqueducts & Han Dynasty

According to the article, "The Need for Water in Ancient Societies," Emperor Claudius completed many essential, rather numerous, public works. Including an aqueduct and drainage of a channel (Lake Fucine and harbor at Ostia). To finish the drainage of the canal, which was three miles long, he had to tunnel a mountain and this took eleven years with 30,000 men.

According to the article, "The Need for Water in Ancient Societies," Shao Xinchen, was an administrator for the people of Nanyang and encouraged farming. He dug canals and ditches, building water gates in many places, expanding irrigated lands. Xinchen also came up with regulations that were, inscribed on stones, for the people on fair distribution of water.

End of Ch.1 & Nissa's Story

As time went on during the Paleolithic era the first farmers made life changing break throughs in agriculture: domesticating livestock and plants. Though, there was a downfall to this. Many of those now domesticated plants and animals were no longer able to survive (wildly) without the protection and care of humans. Many humans lost their gather-hunter skills. Not to mention there was a chance that all of their hard work could be destroyed due to climate, or lack of climate, leading to famine or other catastrophes. However, because of agriculture many humans were able to live longer, populations increased, and they were able to settle. At the end of the chapter a sentence really stood out to me: "All of these uses of the Paleolithic have been a way of asking, what have we lost in the mad rush to modernity, and how can we recover it?"

The story of Nissa was insightful on how people lived in the bush and how living in the bush shaped their lives. At first the story made me happy but towards the end I felt sorry for Nissa and wished I could have given her a hug.

Chapter one

My initial thought after reading a couple of the first chapters is excitement, because there is little information I know on our world and it's beginning. I know now that the first human migration started in Africa and when leaving went: Africa --> Middle East --> Europe --> Asia. And the last human migration took place in, none other, the Pacific Ocean. Another interesting fact that struck me, was finding out that the Paleolithic people were addicted to a psychoactive plant called pituri. I've always known that the earliest people practiced using plants and herbs as their medicine but I had never heard of pituri. For some reason it made me wonder why the Paleo. people became addicted to it in the first place; did they just like it or was something going on in their lives that made them addicted? I also found it wild to think that the Paleo. communities were made up of only 25-50 people. Which brings me to question... What would it be like to live in a nonmaterial world with communities of only 50 people?

1st Blog

Yay, I'm done!