Akbar the Wise, and Elizabeth the Foolish

Religious complications weighed heavily on the shoulders of Akbar and Elizabeth I and both had to make a vital decision to balance religion in their nations, or else conflict would separate their already fragile nations. Akbar the great ruled from 1556-1605 as the third emperor of the mighty Mughal Empire. Around this same time in 1533, Queen Elizabeth I had taken the throne of England, a nation in peril as Catholics and Protestants were at war over control of religion in England. These rulers, though halfway across the world from each other, both faced the challenge of uniting their nations under one religion. Akbar, a devout Muslim, united India and chose to allow freedom of religion ,a policy of universal tolerance or sulahkul. Akbar made the wisest decision an emperor could make and a much wiser decision than Elizabeth was making in England. Akbar realized that without religious unity the empire would fall apart, so instead of attempting to balance religion Akbar decided to rather accept all religions, an idea Elizabeth should’ve had. Elizabeth I had just gained power and did something similar to Akbar ,which was that she made herself head of the Anglican Church, or in Akbar’s situation he made himself spiritual leader. Instead of freedom of religion Elizabeth made the Church of England a balance between Protestant and Catholic values, making compromises to please both sides. For example, Elizabeth allowed priests to marry and deliver sermons in English to please Protestants, and for Catholics she kept Catholic traditions such as rich robes. This ridiculous attempt to balance religion was to no avail as Catholics immediately tried to dispose of Elizabeth for her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, while Protestants angrily demanded more Protestant values be incorporated in the Anglican Church. Elizabeth made a foolish decision in believing that these religions would accept balance rather than complete power, while Akbar made a decision that Europe was too far behind to accept. This idea was that different religions could live in harmony with each other, a concept Europe still seemed unable to grasp.

 

The Causes of the Collapse of the Mighty Han Dynasty

Level 7

Undetermined Number of Sentences – Opinionated topic sentence (i.e., argument), three different points with specific examples, secondary information, specific dates/key figures, primary source evidence, manipulating key primary source information so that it is weaved into your own words through ellipses and/or brackets, specific vocabulary, appositives, insight, natural transitions that link to previous sentence, thoughtful conclusion.

The Han Dynasty,the predecessor to the Qin Dynasty, evolved in a negative manner through out the time that the Han Dynasty possessed the Mandate of Heaven. Religious issues, weak leaders, and a struggling economy led to the eventual downfall of the Han Dynasty.

There was no definitive religion or philosophy in the ever changing Han Dynasty,rather the state religion changed as new rulers controlled the Dynasty. First, Liu Bang,a peasant,claimed the Mandate of Heaven and founded the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang ruled with the philosophy of Daoism which believed in “Wu- Wei”. To rule with Wu-Wei was to not interfere or in Laozi’s words to govern like “frying a small fish”. This analogy points out that when governing with Wu-Wei a ruler should not prod or interfere to much,but should practice active passivity. Later, Han Emperor Wu adopted the philosophy of  Confucianism. During the rule of Wu every official within the government had to pass a difficult test on Confucian philosophy. Wang Mang,the next Han ruler, also declared Confucianism as the state philosophy. Then, the lame emperor did very little religiously and was a main contributor to the downfall of mighty Han Dynasty. Finally a new religious cult called the Yellow Turbans rebelled against Confucians,the Yellow Turban slaughtered Confucian scholar officials around China. These Yellow Turbans preached that they followed a miracle-worker god,who had given their leader Zhang Jiao a sacred book called “Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace”. This religious uprising which offered equality to all was easily crushed as the dynasty’s imperial army destroyed this rebellion. Confucianism continued as the philosophy of China and would remain the main philosophy for the next 2000 years.

Politics and governance in the Han Dynasty had a rocky start. The first Emperor Liu Bang chose to make the eastern half of China feudal ,while the western half mirrored the Qin Dynasty’s imperial bureaucracy. His top generals,who assisted him in defeating the Qin Dynasty,were fiefs controlling large amounts of land in the eastern half of China. Similar to the Zhou dynasty, feudalism resulted in the vassals rebelling within the first 50 years of the Han Dynasty. Next, Emperor Wu defeated the rebelling vassals and politically changed China for its own benefit.He made his political system imperial bureaucracy,forming provinces that were ruled by appointed governors who reported directly back to Wu in the capital. This form of politics and governance functioned properly because of philosophy. The philosphy at this time  was Confucianism, which did not honor the wealthy. This resulted in a balance as local wealthy families cooperated with peasants and scholar officials to gain respect. This system of imperial bureaucracy in which states report back to the capital is very similar to the political system in the Roman Empire,except for the fact that this system of politics lasted for 2000 years while the Roman Empire eventually fell.It was not this imperial governing system that led to the downfall of the Han Dynasty,but rather the fault lay in the hands of a weak emperor who was controlled by his own eunuchs.

Finally, the fall of the Han Dynasty,like the fall of many empires,can be linked directly back to economic inequality. At first in the Han Dynasty very few economic issues arose as Daoism believed that money was fools gold. Then, in the Han dynasty ,during the rule of Emperor Wu, large landowners started to profit themselves.This resulted in farmers without much land often having to sell themselves into slavery. Wang Mang then staged a coup d’etat in which he confiscated all the land and equally redistributed it to the people.One can almost see an early form of communism here. This attempt to please the poor only resulted in Wang Mang quickly losing the Mandate of Heaven. China was hit by a natural disaster, and this eventually lead to his assassination . Undeniably this rich-poor gap was a major factor in the downfall of the Han Dynasty.

In conclusion the ever changing Han Dynasty eventually fell due to an economic gap, a change in religious and philosophical belief,and poor political decisions and weak leaders.

Christianity: A Rocky Rise to Power

Level 7 – Undetermined Number of Sentences – Opinionated topic sentence (i.e., argument), three different points with specific examples, secondary information, specific dates/key figures, primary source evidence, manipulating key primary source information so that it is weaved into your own words through ellipses and/or brackets, specific vocabulary, appositives, insight, natural transitions that link to previous sentence, thoughtful conclusion

Christianity, like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, triumphed as a result of political unrest, major economic issues, and a loss of faith in the Roman pagan religion. First, in 300 AD slaves revolted, taxes were on the rise, and food shortages swept the lands of Rome. Economic issues arose when the land, once arable and fertile, became eroded and could no longer produce a steady supply of food for the people of Rome. In these times of trouble the people, the vast majority of them poor, turned to Christianity. Christians had once been prosecuted and even burned alive for being unpatriotic, a result of refusing to worship Rome’s national god. In the Christian book of Plasms:68:5 god is described “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling”. God respected and looked out for the poor and under privileged. This part of Christianity’s beliefs interested and attracted the large poor population of Rome and more and more Romans became Christians. Next, in 311 AD political unrest occurred so drastically that Roman Emperor Diocletian tried to make a cult worshipping himself as a god to try to urge people to worship him instead of Christianity. This plan was desperate and to no avail as people had already lost all of their trust in the government. Then in 313 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine proclaimed the “Edict of Milan”, which granted the freedom of religion to all. This came after Constantine had a dream where crosses painted on his men’s shields helped him to win the all important battle against his rival Emperor Maxentius at the Milvan Bridge. Finally, in 325 AD Roman Emperor Theodosius established Nicene Christianity as the official state religion of Rome. Theodosius outlawed the visits to Hellenic temple and prohibits the worship of artifacts that belonged to these temples worshipping the pagan gods and goddesses of Rome. Zeus, once immortal, has now faded away and died.In his final act of destruction of Pagan worship, Theodosius burned down all pagan temples, and he even built on top of them. To show his utter disrespect to this dying religion he turned Aphrodite’s temple into a brothel. Christianity gained its power from the decline of Rome and the loss of faith in the pagan gods and goddesses of Rome. The rise of Christianity in Rome was a violent rise to power.

Life: A Product of the Imiganation

What is life? Let me sum up the idea of the Matrix and Socrates’ The Cave. The life we have led may not be the totality of what is possible for you.If we can realise our self from these invisible bonds we will see what the true reality is.In the Matrix Neo is unchained or unplugged from this dream that he has lived his whole life. This dream seems like it is reality for him as it is all that he has ever seen. Just like these men in the cave,these shadows that are projected on the cave walls will seem to be reality for them,as it is all that they have ever seen. This allegory and the movie The Matrix opens a paradox,it conjures up questions that the viewer will ask him or herself. The act of  “unplugging Neo”from the Matrix or dream world is like the man being realised  from bondage. These prisoners held by bonds that they don’t know exist ,will question what is reality and what is false.

In both The Matrix and The Cave Allegory ,once removed from the environment one thinks is real he/she will find themself confused and questioning reality.But upon return from this other world that has been hidden from them the character, who get negative responses from those who had not seen it. What we are raised seeing,and what has been with us our whole life is what we will make to be reality. This should answer the question why others in their false world would not believe this because seeing is believing. Only seeing this false world will result in them believing it is reality,and without seeing another world, they would never even consider that their life is but a projection,a dream.

Ranking Religions:And the Winner is….(Drumroll please)

Religions all follow a simple format,just as essay’s follow a format.Certain essay’s are superior to others,so as a teacher grades and essay ,I’m here to grade 3 religions.God fearing religions have held a tight leash on their petty worshipers. Humans create gods,gods are the product of one’s imagination. Holy books don’t just fall from the sky people write them ,and worshipers start to follow these holy books or texts of a religions as they tell themselves well that explains that phenomenon. 

The Old Testament,the book many of you call the bible,is a sexist piece of literature.In the Old Testament as god makes women he says “This one shall be-called Woman,for from man was this one taken”Women in this holy book were but a tool used to please man,superior to animals,but inferior to man. God a real swell guy isn’t he,yes he created the Earth but the Old Testament portrays god as a spiteful ruler of the Earth. “So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.” God the one who made Adam and Eve ,removes them from their Shangri-La and places them in a place where they must hunt and gather for food,and a land in which they a mortal beings.God was suppose to intimidate its worshipers,enduce them with fear.The bible teaches its worshippers that humans are superior as in Genesis it says “God fashioned the human,humus from the soil,and blew into his nostril the breath of life,and the human became a living creature.Chrisianity is the worst of these 3 religions.It did not treat its women well and just treated them as if they were only good for making sandwiches. 

The Greek religion. The Greeks had a strong religion that deserves a good rating.The Greeks did not try to make their worshippers just fear the gods,but understand.The Greeks made the gods and goddesses have human qualities,as the bible failed to do. Homer portrays this aspect in the Illiad.The Greek gods and goddesses were cunning,and human like.Like Hera ,a mastermind, seduces Sleep into making her husband fall a sleep so she can help her favored side in the Trojan War.But of course like a human Zeus craves sex from his mistress,so Hera once again uses her womenly charms to seduce Zeus and help the Mycenean behind his back. Women were looked on more brightly in Greek civilization,as they understood that goddess produced agriculture,and gods good luck in wars.The Greeks balanced out their religion and created both gods and goddesses,and tried to show with their religion that no matter however dominate man/god is he can not resist the body of a women/goddess.I say the Greeks had the best religion,by making the gods both intimidating and human.This forced worshippers to more easily believe in these gods,but to also behave as they feared the wrath of the gods. 

The Mesopotamians come in second place with a silver for their religion. In the story of Enkidu Gilgamesh explains to Shamhat “When he comes near uncover yourself and lie with him ; teach him, the savage man, your woman’s art.” For an early civilization the Mesopotamians had a lot of respect for women,and they were treated pretty well. Women were not treated like dirt,but treated well because of dirt. At the beginning Mesopotamia only had a mother goddesses ,as for the first city food was the most essential part of their life.So they prayed to a mother goddesses and priestess ruled the city states.This didn’t last as attacker caused the need for a god not a goddesses,to back them up as they clashed swords with invaders.But the Mesopotamian religion still viewed women in a positive light. Women were quite literally  tame men,transform them to wild young children, to strong sturdy men. In the Mesopotamian religion the gods and goddesses were kind,when the gods are made at Gilgamesh because he is being cocky what do they do?Well, “So Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and their friendship was sealed” That’s right , the gods and goddesses were angry and they sent Enkidu a friend.The gods and goddesses of of Mesopotamia were often kind,but they had their limits,as they did flood the humans for being to noisy. Mesopotamia was the second best of these three religions. 

  

  

 

Babylonian Creation Myth PG-13 Please Show ID

The creation myth for the Babylonians was drastically different than the one found in Genesis.The Babylonian myth is about the war of the gods,a huge fight of alliances and chain reaction.Then you have the Genesis version,which is like a children’s story compared to the Babylonian myth.In the Babylonian myth the gods and goddesses are proliferate making many new gods and goddesses, while in Genesis their is just one god. When grandpa god Apsu decides to deal with Ea and his brother, Apsu ends up dead himself.Tiamat Apsu’s wife and goddesses of the ocean wants revenge.Ea  outsmarts Tiamat and makes a super god Marduk who ends up destroying the first goddess and goddess of the ocean Tiamat. Now lets compare this with Genesis.One major difference is that the primordial one in Babylonian creation myths was a female.Yes look in almost all major religions now a days and I doubt you will find a religion that dare make its primordial one a female.Also in the Babylonian creation myth the ocean came first,before the Earth.Yes thats a mind boggler,how would that work?While apparently the Tiamat’s body was split apart by Marduk and made into the Heaven and Earth. There a many differences between these two creation myths. Marduk took his time making the Earth,making light in Tiamat’s stomach can’t be a quick process while god just said let their be light. Marduk had to gain control in this myth while in Genesis god already had control because he was the only living thing. One similarity is that in the end a male ended up restoring order.The Babylonian creation myth is a story of violence,and making the world from different body parts of the mother goddess.Genesis is the story of the unrivaled god saying words,that would make the world we live in today.These are two drastically different stories.

Women are Serpents

Adam and Eve are thrown out of the Garden of Eden punished to work and tend to soil from which they were made from.Pretty harsh of God?Yes it was but lets all be honest it was all Eve’s fault.Who can resist peer pressure,for after all Adam was human.To be correct he was the first human being.When Eve bites into the sacred forbidden fruit Adam is peer pressured into trying it himself.This results in the banishment from the Garden of Eden.So to sum up that up woman are bad influence,woman are cunning serpents who will only result in trouble.The name of the first woman Eve literally means serpent.So what does this have to do Shamhat and Enkidu? Well in the bible  story Eve is a bad influence and is the demise or downfall of man’s chance in paradise. Eve is soaking up the blame in the bible,as man’s only sin was being seduced by a woman. Adam was seduced into eating the fruit,he just couldn’t resist her womanly charms. This is exactly like Enkidu not being able to resist Shamhats charms. Also a connection between these stories is the setting,the setting in the bible story is a paradise and the description of where Enkidu is a lush green forest,by a thriving pond.These characters all live in Shangri-La.Im not talking about the 5 star hotel but a utopia.But then the seduction of a woman causes them to be banished and not welcome in their utopia.But there is one small difference you and I might think the beautiful forest is a utopia and the ideal place to be ,but the Mesopotamians didn’t think that.They were attached to their first cities and found them just a quaint place to live.So the seduction of a woman in Gilgamesh make Enkidu a man, civilized.It is his right of passage really but in the bible this seduction of man cause by a woman leads to the down fall of man. In Gilgamesh Shamhat or women in general make a man civilized ,but in the bible a women or Eve corrupt a man.

Transitions:The Largest Change in History

Lets start logically on the timeline.Uruk the first walled city 2000bce. Ishtar was the most important figure in Uruk the goddess was the alpha male,oh wait I can’t say that because she was a goddess.Yes the most important figure in the first city in entire world was a goddess.Why?Well we all know that this city was located on a flat pretty crappy piece of real-estate.So agriculture was all they had ,agriculture was their sole resource.

Fertility ,a woman must be fertile to have a child.Soil must be fertile to grow food so that this city can live.So those smart Sumerians made their goddess for the city state Uruk Ishtar.Uruk figured that if they has fertility their crops would flourish. Then why are all the gods in modern religion men?Sumer had enemies so at some point on the time line the priestess that ruled the city got the boot.Sargon of Akkad(2350) took over as the leader,when time called for a military leader.Then Genesis is created in 500bc.With a male god molding the first human out of clay. This may sound familiar . Gilgamesh is the first epic poem created.In this enduring piece of literature Gilgamesh the gods create the perfect god/human, Gilgamesh.Gilgamesh starts to get on the gods nerve so they create a rival to Gilgamesh,an equal.This equal created by the goddess of creation is made with all the best parts of the animals.Enkidu is his name,   and this hairy pond drinking beasts catches the attention of the city.As he drinks a temple prositute names Shamhat emerges and seduces him into having sex with her.After this he is civilized this hairy beast now drinks beer and eats bread instead of water from the pond. Enkidu now wears clothes,he is civilized. The point this poem is trying to make is that woman in Sumerians view civilized men,this was postitive.But then in the bible when Adam’s rib Eve comes along she messes him up.Shes like having a criminal father,a bad influence. Eve gets him to eat an apple and god gives Adam the boot.Pack your bags and get the hell out of paradise.

Treatment of Women in Ancient Socities

Forget about woman not being able to vote, they had it a lot worse off in the past. The cruel treatment and the inferior view of woman can be found in almost any religious text. Men in the past and in many holy books claim that they have the god given right to have authority and control of the rights and bodies of women. Women have never wielded the power men had in ancient civilizations. In most early civilizations women were forced to accept their inferiority. In The Bible its says “she was kin to him in a way that the animals were not, but she was to be subservient, obedient and aware of her second-class status.” Yes that statement is found in that book many of you follow and consider your holy book, The Holy Bible.

The thought of woman being inferior to males and that woman should be contained and not given much power was true to most ancient societies. This wasn’t true for all societies though. In Sumer woman weren’t treated like dirt,but treated well because of dirt. Questions may be dinging off in your head after hearing that, so let me explain. Sumer the first civilization on the planet actually treated its woman better than most early civilization.

The Hindu laws of Manu state that woman are subject to their father, then their husband, upon his death a woman is subject to her sons. The Hindu Manu states that a women must never be independent. Yes you heard that correctly and you can actually find similar views on women in most every main religion that exist today. These religions include Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Muslim.So why did Sumer treat its woman better than most ancient societies? The answer is simple. Sumer survived because of agriculture. I think we can all agree that living in a flat desert doesn’t give you many resources, so the Sumerians survived on agriculture and trade. Without agriculture they had nothing to trade so they simply relied on trade. The Sumerians treated their women better because they couldn’t live without the earth and the soil. Food was how they sustained life.So what does soil have to do with woman? Soil must be fertile to grow plants, like a woman must be fertile to have a child. This relationship between a woman and the dirt that covers the earth tended to produce a female deity of fertility. Soil is the reason women were treated better in Sumer than in most  other ancient societies.

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