Self-Assement

Today I made the twitter account for the group.  I also helped people pick characters and I worked on the definitions of the words.  

Don't Take His Fish!

Based on what I have seen in the biography, I think Ghenghis Khan is merely a leader who does what he has to do, because "a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do" (Rugrats reference.)   But in all seriousness, the man was protecting himself and asserting his beliefs.  As a child, his father was killed, this ultimately made him believe that he needed to avenge him. Thus, his scheme for revenge was born.  Overall, he is an immoral human being and I'm no fan, but most leaders are terrible human beings.  Khan shows how the tug less behavior needed to seek revenge.  He had to be ready to kill people and make smart moves.  The man married so he could have a militaristic/political alliance to advance in his plan.  As un-romantic as that is, it's really smart for a sixteen year old boy to come up.  Ghenghis Khan also killed many people, but in all honesty, I don't blame him.  He's threatened and has the right to protect himself.  He is also super determined, which is a good quality in a leader, even if his main goal was stupid and bad.  I'm in no support of his desire of revenge but he worked really hard for it.  He just did what he had to do. 

Materialistic Lifestyle (Without iPads?????)

Based on the "Capitulary de Villis", I would characterize that the conditions of material life in the Carolingian countryside is somewhat rough.  First of all, I think that these people who own all the stuff, which are most likely lords, are really materialistic and it surprises me.  It's mostly astonishing because I don't except people in this time period to be able to protect their stuff to the extent that we can today.  But that explains the conditions of material life.  Since stewards are basically told to do everything in this excerpt, I believe that keeping these materialistic possessions was difficult and tedious.  I think it was difficult because stewards are in charge of virtually everything here, which indicates how the lords probably needed help with organizing and keeping track of everything.  The excerpt also informs me that lords must have been really lazy or just too egotistic(vocabulary word!) to take care of their own belongings.  They basically sound like little children that need their mommys taking care of everything for them. Or maybe they were genuinely busy people who needed help, I don't know, but keeping track of food, materials, land and people seems really tedious and stressful and lords definitely didn't want to deal with that. Since this excerpt is basically a long, detailed "to-do" list, material life seems to be really difficult in the Carolingian countryside.  There's so many things that need to be accounted for that material life seems pointless and just too much work.  There were definitely people who wanted to steal the materialistic belongings because not everyone is a moral human being.  Thieves, robbers, murderers and other people probably wanted these objects and land that the lords possessed.  It was probably really hard for the stewards to keep track of everything and they were probably liable for anything that went missing or wasn't accounted for.  This shows how the lords probably wanted a form of insurance that their stuff wouldn't be messed with.  None of this seems worth it but clearly there were people who had the mindset of "Stuff! I need more stuff! Stuff makes me look rich and powerful! I like stuff!" Overall, the conditions if material life in the Carolingian countryside seem rough due to the difficulty of the stewards' jobs. 

India and Europe Map

Sui, Tang and Song Dynasty Map

Al and Plato

Al-Ghazzali and Plato both agree that senses need to be forgotten in order to attain the truth. They diverge at the point where sufis use their senses to think about life and what it must really mean. However, sufis apparently have firm beliefs where they can distinguish between substantial and unsubstantial truth. From Plato's Allegory, a person gets truth by rejecting his senses and being enlightened. 

Al-G on Math and Religion

Question 1: The description of math and smallpox tell us that Islamic values do not depend on math or science to prove religion.  But it is used to prove things rather than replace beliefs.  Math and science do not need to prove religion but they can be used to prove other objects and ideas.

Question 2: Al-Ghazzali thinks that religion and math do not need to be separated until man steps away from religion because he thinks math disproves it.  He says that math does not prove anything against religion and it does not prove anything for religion.  But he does say that math creates two problems.  These two problems are man stepping away from religion because he think it is disproved by math.  Or when man thinks that it is illogical because other men think that it is illogical. 

Ben's Accounts on Baghdad and Constantinople

In Benjamin of Tuleda's descriptions of Baghdad and Constantinople, there are multiple differences of both cities.  The description of Baghdad mostly has to do with the magnificent and expensive sounding palace and festivities carried out in it.  The caliph is mentioned multiple times as well.  The city also has a hospital and an asylum. Constantinople is described to be rich and full of merchants. There are so more festivities and churches found in Constantinople than in Baghdad according to Benjamin's description.  Overall, Constantinople seems like a trade city while Baghdad is more of a home to the caliph. When comparing Benjamin's accounts of both cities, he seems to have more to say about Constantinople than Baghdad.  This makes Constantinople sound more exciting and almost better than Baghdad because it has more.  However, he makes the caliph in Baghdad sound really generous with the description of the hospital and asylum.  The two cities are pretty similar in that they are successful and have some forms of entertainment for the people.

Maps!

Expansion and Cntraction of Byzantine

Expansion of Dar al-Islam 

Quran Teachings

The Quran's teachings are basically telling the followers or Islam what they should do and what they must be. The Quran also mentions how Allah should always be praised and how he should not be forgotten.  The relationship between Allah and human beings is that the humans follow him and he will reward them if they follow him with lots of devotion. 
Compared to Zoroastrians, Muslims must follow a set guideline, Zoroastrians followed moderation and did not have any "rules." Zoroastrians also followed other gods in addition to Ahura Mazda.  The Quran says "You alone we worship, and to You alone turn for help" which means they can only believe in Allah and no other gods.  When comparing Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three say that they should only follow one God and one God only. 
Jews, Christians and Muslims all have something that tell them how they should behave and what they should be.  There are the Ten Commandments for Jews and Christians and the Five Pillars for Muslims.  The three also have some form of a judgement day just like Zoroastrianism. But the Quran and its teachings are very specific and strict compared to that of the other three religions. 

Justinian's Code

The role of women is this empire is pretty minor just like in the other societies that we have studied.  Women are just there for babies(omitting angry feminist-like comment.)  But women do have some rights of divorcing and repudiating.  But overall, they are just there so there are children running around.  There is nothing in the document that says that women get any power.  All they are needed for is producing more people because the possession of children is discussed throughout the document. 
Justinian's background matters for this because it determines why he was emperor Justin's nephew.  His blood relation is important for him to keep his power over the empire.  If he is not able to provide a reason to why he is related to Justin, then he loses his position. The reader should know that the code is important because it protects his rights of being emperor. 

I'll Blame Catastrophe..

The collapse of the Roman empire is pretty confusing to historians.  I agree with the catastrophic collapse cause/idea.  The fall of the empire did not occur in one event, but a domino effect based on multiple events. I also agree that these events were inevitable.  All of them were bound to happen at one point or another.  J.B. Bury states that "a number of crises" lead to the fall of the empire.  All of these crises being catastrophic  and harmful to the empire.  This cause is also thought to have a cycle of events that seem to lead to the fall of an empire.  I also agree with this because it makes sense for certain events, all being similar, to lead to the end of an empire.  The venn diagram shows that both the Han and the Roman empire fell because of similar events and reasons, so the cycle of events makes sense and has evidence supporting it.  The fall of the Roman empire was pretty catastrophic for the Romans.

Venn Diagram: Han&Roman Collapses

Silk Road Simulation

On the meta level, I understood that the Silk Road must have been really confusing and trading must have been a challenge because of currency and language barriers.  But it probably got to some level of organization at the end because people did start accomplishing some goals.  I think the Silk Road must have been beneficial to the middlemen societies because they got goods cheaper and were able to communicate with more people. But it probably detracted from societies that were farther away because they couldn't directly get their goods and their goods cost more.  Looking at it over all, it did seem beneficial because people did get their goods and they did sell. 

On the practical level, this didn't work for me because people were all over the place.  We were all confusing each other and of course we were trying to swindle each other because that's realistic. It also didn't work for me because I don't like chaos, it drives me crazy even if I find it really funny. One pro of learning the Silk Road is that we could really see how currency and language barriers were issues.  We were also able to see how geography affected how people could travel, even if we were still in the classroom, we weren't allowed/supposed to go over to a region that wasn't assigned to us. One con of learning this way was that we didn't have enough time to simulate what might have happened over time.  Like one of the cons of this was that we couldn't establish a conversion for the currency.  Over time, I would assume someone(other than our banker because he didn't knew what he was doing) would have created a common currency or a conversion for people to use.  Also, another con was that there weren't like natural disasters and thieves that could have destroyed the traders.  After doing it, I think we would have liked knowing who had what product and how much they wanted to sell it. 

I think we should totally do this again because we all know what we would be getting ourselves into.  

Roman City Prompts

b. What is the Forum and where is it located? Why is that symbolically significant? What other Classical Era society located politics in this way?

Th Forum was the center of the city and it was the center of politics. The Forum had important buildings and shops. It is symbolically significant because it shows like the center of the commerce and culture. This is similar to the Greek society as the city-states had cities as the center of politics and everything else and outside of the city was rural land where most people lived.

c. How does an aqueduct move water? How is this like or unlike the way a qanat worked in Persia?

The aqueduct of Rome uses gravity to move water from like a mountain. In the case of rivers and other bodies of water, they use arcs when they cannot use the large columns or pillars. In qanats, the Persians dug underground canals from a source of water.

f. Why can’t Marcus Fabricius marry Aiden? How does this compare to attitudes about marriage in Classical Era India?

Marcus can't marry Aiden because he has Roman citizenship and she does not.  This is similar to the attitudes about marriage in Classical Era India as marriage between castes was frowned upon.  It is basically the same idea here, people in different social standings are not permitted to marry.  

Republic to Empire: Why Did They Do It?

The Romans definitely expanded because they had a lust for more power, land and valuable goods.  They were capable of expanding because of their strong government and laws. I feel like I need to know who specifically decided to begin expanding and what their initial incentive was to conquer other lands.

Questions on McNeill's Article

1. What’s McNeill’s argument?
McNeill's argument is that the Indian caste system and the political ideologies of Greece structured two different societies from similar types of nomadic people. 

2. How does McNeill define Caste? Does this match up with the textbook’s definition?

McNeill defines caste as how people associate with each other.  It is mainly based on how people separate each other and look down upon people of lower classes.  His definition refers to people eating with each other and intermarrying rather than the occupational reasons that the textbook brings up.  

3. What three feelings and thoughts helped to maintain the idea of caste:

1. The higher caste's rejection of association with those of the lower castes allowed for the caste system to stay.

2. The feelings and thoughts of superiority and inferiority maintained the idea of the caste.

3. The hopeful thought of being born into a higher caste through reincarnation also allowed for the caste system to remain intact.

4. Are these convincing?

 I would say that those three feelings and thoughts are pretty convincing.  People definitely did not want their reputation to be soiled if they were to have anything to do with someone in a lower caste.  The higher class people definitely wanted to keep their social standing and had a superior air to them while the lower class people believed they were inferior and had little hope to change it.  The final thought is probably the most convincing as a person would be content with their current status if they hoped to have a more favorable conditions in their next life.  Hope is pretty strong and that probably maintained the caste system as no one would argue or defy it if they could look forward to something better. 

5. Why did caste itself not cause strong political organization to form?

People of higher caste did not want to associate with people of lower caste, creating a communication and unification boundary among the groups. 

6. What causes Indian religion to shift from deity pleasing to the act of worship itself?

The shift from deity pleasing to the act of worship itself is caused by the Upanishads.

7. How did the Upanishads change the nature of Indian religion and thus the goals of Indian society?

 The Upanishads basically got rid of the priests and allowed people to strive for a release form the cycle or rebirth through asceticism, meditation, and withdrawal from worldly pleasures. 

8. How does McNeill define “Territorial Sovereignty?”

McNeill defines "territorial sovereignty" as political organization through territorial sovereign or states. In order words, a political structure where states serve as the primary unit.

9. Why did Greeks turn away from religion as an explanatory factor in organizing society?

The Greeks turned away from religion because they wanted to created a political structure using the laws of nature, not "mystical illumination."  There were no agreements on the reason why he world was the way that it was, so they got rid of gods in order to find answer through natural law. 

10. What was the consequence of the Greeks’ rigid adherence to the polis?

The consequence of the Greeks' rigid adherence to the polis was that they could agree on certain things.  The Greeks were unable to remain loyal to the state as they tried obtaining holiness. 

11. Do you buy his argument? Why or why not?
I do not buy his argument because he is discussing two different cultures base don two different things. He is discussing the strange unification of India through the caste system, a social hierarchy, and the political stratification of Greek city-states through the belief of natural law. His argument for India is based on religion and social structures. His argument for Greece is their political arrangement based on their pursuit of natural law.

Greece's Map and Alexander's Conquest Map

Was he great?

Alexander the Great always seemed like a great person to me, mostly because his title has the word "great" in it.  But after watching clips of the documentary, I would have to disagree and exaggeratedly state that it was all a lie!  I am convinced that he was a drunk who had multiple issues ranging from his father to anger.  One clip that held my attention proves that point.  It was when many people became drunk and Alexander started to complain about his father.  That part shows that he had some issues with his father.  The other part that caught my attention was that he became furious when Cleitus defended Philip and basically insulted Alexander.  Clearly, Alexander was not acting responsibly because he was drunk, but I am convinced he was drunk most of the time any way.  He managed to kill Cleitus which proves he has anger issues.  He also proves to be pretty full of himself and the word "arrogant" sums him up. Alexander definitely seemed like the kind of man who wants everyone to know him and know that was great.  But I am also convinced that he didn't just decide to leave home one day thinking "I'm going to make myself seem like a hero today and go on a journey to make people believe that!"  I think he was just genuinely trying to be the best that he could be.  Some people say that he was great, but I do not agree with them after watching those clips. 

Bhagavad Gita: Compare and Contrast

The reflections on the caste duties and detachment are a combination of the on the moral and ethical teachings of Zarathrustra and Confucius.  Zarathrustra focused on moderation while Confucius focused on becoming a "junz" or a superior man.  The teachings in the Bhagavad Gita combine the two and state that a soul must have moderation so they do not get distracted and that they must fulfill their duty in the caste system.  

1..2...3...Numbers! Yay!

The "Arabic" numbers that Indians came up with are super important.  The numerals are simple and easy to write, so they make math easier to do.  The book compares math with Roman numerals and the Arabic numerals.  The Arabic numerals make it much easier to read and comprehend.  The number zero was also deemed very important in the book and it obviously is important because it's still there.  The symbol for zero allows for place values to exist.  The place values make it easier to write larger numbers.  Basically, the numerals are important because it's like shorthand notation that makes life easier. 

Map of Zhou to Han Dynasties

Prevent the Han from Collapsing

If I could travel back in time to the Han empire, I would go back to the Former Han period during the first century B.C.E.  I would when the social and economic tensions were rising.  At this time period there were distinct differences between the rich and the poor.  The poor were really bitter and the rich were enjoying themselves.  Part of the reason why there were social distinctions was because of the land distribution.  Since land was unevenly distributed and many families had to give themselves to slavery in order to pay debts, I would attack that problem.  The first thing I would do is get an army and get all the rich people to listen to me and scare them if they do not. Then I would congregate all the poor people and make sure they know I'm going to help them by giving them some land.  After that, I will redistribute the land for each family.  I would take all of the land of the large estates and evenly give each family of farmers the same amount of land. Then I would also make sure that each family has some sort of insurance. There is no way each family would be able to produce the same amount of food or enough because of a number of factors against them.  The insurance is to protect families from the effects of these factors like famines and droughts since those seemed to be a major problem.  In order for the insurance to work, I would tax the families based on income.  The taxes would be based off of each families' income, like rich people or families with better harvests pay more and poor people or families with not as adequate harvests pay less.  That way money can accumulate for the insurance and poor families are not required to pay as much as a rich family.  It does sound pretty unfair as the rich would be paying more but it is a somewhat communistic idea as everyone is supposed to be looking out for each other with this insurance plan.  In order to execute this plan, I would make sure everyone in the empire knows what will happen and explain the insurance plan. Once everyone understands, I would give it a solid six months for all the land distribution to be completed.  Then I would hire military soldiers to keep everyone in check.  But if people didn't listen to me, they would probably suffer from consequences like losing their land.  

Daoism: What do I think?

I think that Daoism is about having enough indulgences and desires that you can enjoy them but they do not control you. 

Confucianism: What is it?

Is Confucianism a religion?  Well, to answer that, one needs to define religion.  One definition given by dictionary.com is "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." Basically, religion is trying to explain why the Earth exists, why things happen, and why humans exist. It gives people a "moral code" to live by.  Based on that definition, I do not think Confucianism is a religion because it is not trying to explain the world and other things.  It does not have "devotional and ritual observances."  Confucianism is basically a belief system. The book basically states things that a man has says and what he believes.  It is pretty close to a code of conduct.  It tells people how they should live and what they should do and what is right.

The reading supports the idea that people are born naturally bad.  One example is in book, chapter four, "I daily examine myself on three points:--whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful;--whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere;--whether I may have not mastered and practised the instructions of my teacher."  In this quote, the speaker is explaining that they judge themselves based on these three criteria.  They check themselves for being faithful to people, sincere and whether or not they listened to their teacher.  The first two are qualities that everyone wants people to have.  The last one, "mastered and practised the instructions of my teacher" sounds like being obedient. Since the speaker is trying to make sure that they are faithful, sincere and obedient, it shows that they know they are prone to ignoring those three qualities.  Since they know they are prone to forgetting about being faithful, sincere and obedient, it proves people are more likely to be bad.

Another example is in book one, chapter six, "The Master said, "A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders.  He should be earnest and truthful.  He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good.  When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies."" The Master is talking about how a youth should behave. Just to point this out, young people are more mischievous than older people and they are stereo-typically portrayed as bad, but that can be disregarded.  Ignoring, "a youth", this quote is about how person should be "filial" and "respectful to his elders", he should also be earnest and truthful.  A person should also be loving and polite.  This is basically a laundry list of qualities a person should possess.  This is telling a person how they should behave and if people were thought to be born good, they would not need to be told to behave like this.  Since the Master must tell people they should behave a certain way, it supports that people are born bad.  Another part of this quote that stands out is "cultivate the friendship of the good."  A person should make friends with good people and good intentions is basically what I am getting out of that statement.  This makes me think that the Master thinks people are more likely to befriend bad people or make friends for bad reasons rather than good.  This quote shows that he believes that people have the tendency to do bad things.

A final example is also in book one, chapter eight, line two, "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles." This quote is really short , but it also supports the idea that people are born bad.  As mentioned before, if people are born good, they do not need to be told to be good or behave properly.  Here, faithfulness and sincerity are told to be important principles that a person must follow.  A person born good would not need to be told that these are important principles.  Another point is that nowadays, most laws are made because someone, somewhere decided to do something and it caused a problem.  In order to avoid this problem, a law was made.  Like in some states, people cannot chew gum in certain areas.  Well, since this is a law, even if it is a ridiculous law, it clearly must have caused some problem.  Likewise, unfaithful and insincere people are the reason why Confucius has decided that these principles need to be instilled in people.  In other words, since there are unfaithful and insincere people, this statement was made because people need to be told to be faithful and sincere.

Overall, this book's reading supports the idea that people are born bad by instructing people how they should behave and what their ideals and principles should be.

Map of Persia (Failure)

Zarathustra on Good and Evil Question

Zarathustra made assumptions that humans would make the bad choices as he is telling everyone that they should make the right choices.  Throughout the hymn, he refers back to doing good deeds and all the good choices that Ahura Mazda made while his twin made all the bad choices. There is a description of how the good followers would be rewarded and how the evil would have the worst experience. He also tells people that they have the choice to do whatever they desire. However, he emphasizes how the bad will suffer and how the good will not.  At then end, it says "Long punishment for the evil-doer, and bliss for the follower of Truth", which serves as a reminder that the follower of goodness won't be punished while the evil-doer will.  Overall, I think Zarathustra assumes that people will be more likely to make the bad choices and just need to be told that they need to be good.  After they are told to be good, they just need to be reminded to remain good and not fall towards the dark side.  The hymn really serves as a reminder for people that they should be morally good so they can be rewarded. 

Copy of Peer Response!

Ashwini(Mesopotamia)- Your head project is really neat and pretty! I really like how the pictures are connected.  I also like how your key includes little thumbnail like pictures of each theme.  I think your project could have a more detailed key as it is a little confusing to figure out what each image was supposed to show.  Another way it could have been improved is using different colors to color code each theme, like instead of just using red. That way the key could have provided more information.   But that's really because your project is really great overall!  One similarity that struck me about your society and my society is the patriarchal figures.  In China, men dominated over women just like in Mesopotamia.   A different that struck me about our societies is that Mesopotamia has a more structured religion which is what the temple image seems to show.  In China, there was no structured religion.  One question I have for you is why did you decide to connect that thoughts inside the head to the outside? I thought that was really different and unique.

Hammad(Latin America)- Your head project looks super cool and the drawings are awesome!  Your drawings are really done well because they look uniform.  The organization of your head and the outside is also done really well.  It's easy to figure out things out.  One way this could be improved is by using color!  Another way is could be improved is by shrinking the key because it's really big.  One similarity that struck me is that your society had a king and my society has an emperor.  Both of these leaders had people do stuff for them.  One difference that struck me is that your society has giant heads.  China doesn’t have that form of art.  One question that I have for you: Why did you draw all of it?

Anu(India)- Your head project is really colorful.  The pictures that were chosen were really creative and I thought that was done well.  Another aspect of your poster that was done well is your key because it explained your images.  One thing you could improve on is the size and neatness of the key.  Another thing that could be improved is how your pictures are pasted on because there seems to be more space on the left that could have been used.  One similarity that struck me about your society and mine is that they both have servile people at the bottom.  A difference that struck me about your society and mine is that your society has a religion.  China does not have a uniform religion and your society does.  One question I have for you: Why did you get all your pictures from online? 

History Head

My region is China.  For the first theme, I have a picture of a river to show that the Chinese settled around rivers like the Yellow and Yangzi.  Inside the head I have a picture of an iron sword to show that the Chinese developed iron metallurgy and became more technologically advanced because of it. For the second theme, I have an image of an oracle bone to show the fortune-telling tradition that was apart of their belief system.  These oracle bones affected the person's external life as they were to predict a person's future.  The image inside of the head is of a scene from Disney's movie, Mulan.  The scene includes Mushu and two spirits of Mulan's ancestors.  This shows the Chinese belief that ancestors were super important to their lives.  The deceased ancestors and the living family members were to live together because the deceased also had an affect in the world.  For the third theme, there is a crown on the outside to show royalty.  The emperors of China were thought to be connected to heaven at one point.  Obviously since they had emperors, they had a monarchy for their political structure.  On the inside of the head, there is a picture of a dragon bowing.  The act of bowing is to show that a normal person respects the emperor because of the Mandate of Heaven. For the fourth theme, there is a picture of a rice field on the outside to show that rice was an agricultural production in China.  On the inside there is a picture of slave shackles.  The shackles are to show that slaves were apart of China's labor system, and that a person would think that a slave does a lot of work.  For the final theme, there is a picture of Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  Gaston is a really big, strong man, who is full of himself.  China had a patriarchal society, and basically men were important and dominated which is what Gaston shows.  The final picture inside the head is of another scene from Mulan.  Shang isn't actually bowing down to Mulan, but that's what it looks like and it works for the idea it's supposed to portray.  In ancient China, the men earned their rights and honor through the female descent of their family, so women had some importance.  

Test Reflection

For the first AP World test I have ever taken, I thought it was much easier than I expected.  I thought the test was going to be much harder but that doesn't mean I thought it was completely easy.  There were at least ten to fifteen questions I knew I couldn't answer.  The questions I knew I wasn't able to answer were somewhat specific to certain civilizations and areas.  Now that I have seen one test, I think I'll study more next time.  For this test, I skimmed through the notes I had taken, and I wish I spent a little more time going over specific groups of people and regions.  I also wish I had taken notes on where certain animals were domesticated.  I have a fear of birds and disregard most information about them.  I wish I didn't because now I feel super ridiculous, but at least I learned from my mistake.  For the next test, I think I'll review my notes more and take into account of time periods and anything else that is specific.  Overall, the test was nothing like what I had expected.