Western Civilization: Uncategorized

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Early Modern Europe: Great Schism

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The East-West Schism, in 1054 between Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.\ The East-West Schism, or Great Schism, divided early Medieval Christianity into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches, which later became the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church respectively. Though normally dated to 1054, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between Latin and Greek Christendom. The primary causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—Pope Leo IX claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs (see also Pentarchy) — and over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed by the Western Church. Eastern Orthodox today state that the 28th Canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council explicitly proclaimed the equality of the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople. The Orthodox also state that the Bishop of Rome has authority only over his own diocese and does not have any authority outside his diocese. There were other less significant catalysts for the Schism however, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction. The Church split along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographic lines, and the fundamental breach has never been healed. It might be alleged that the two churches actually reunited in 1274 (by the Second Council of Lyon) and in 1439 (by the Council of Basel), but in each case the councils were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, on the grounds that the hierarchs had overstepped their authority in consenting to reunification. Further attempts to reconcile the two bodies are ongoing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East-West_Schism

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Timeline: Master

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"Timeline Backgrounds •

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Abbasid Dynasty

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750-1258 THe luxury and worldliness of the Umayy-ads antagonized many devout Muslims. In 750 they were overthrown by Abul Abbas, who founded the Abbasid dynasty. Abbasid moved the capital from Damascus to the newly-built city of Baghdad beside th Tigris River, which became an advanced center of learning as the Abbasids potronized scholars who translated the philosophy, scienca nd medicine of the ancient world into Arabic. Most of the Near East and North Africa converted to Islam during their reign. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbasid_Dynasty Abbasid (Arabic: العبّاسيّون‎, al-‘Abbāsīyūn) is the dynastic name generally given to the caliph of Baghdad, the second of the two great Muslim caliphates of the Arab Empire, that overthrew the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus. It was built by the descendant of Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. It was created in Harran in 750 of the Christian era and shifted its capital in 762 C.E. from Harran to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining power across Persia, they were forced to cede power to local dynastic amirs who only nominally acknowledged their power, and had to cede Al Andalus to an escaped Umayyad royal and the Maghreb and Ifriqiya to independent entities such as the Aghlabids and the Fatimids. Their rule was ended in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, the Mongol conqueror, sacked Baghdad. While they continued to claim authority in religious matters from their base in Egypt, the dynasty's secular authority had ended. Descendants of the Abbasids include the al-Abbasi tribe who live northeast of Tikrit in modern-day Iraq.

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Abelard, Peter

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(1079-1142) The rise of Paris as a center for the study of theology is associated with the career of Peter Abelard, a charismatic teacher who promoted the use of logic in his Sic et Non (“Yes and No”). While Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109), had recently demonstrated how logic could be used to prove the existence of God, Abelard demonstrated how logic could be used to resolve seeming contradictions in Scripture and the Church Fathers. Abelard mad many enemies amount conservative thinkers who resisted the use of logic in theology, an they condemned his doctrines without a fair trial. Abelard also became notorious for his seduction of a young woman named Heloise, who he was hired to tutor. They married secretly, but when Heloise’s family learned of their liaison, they had Abelard castrated. In disgrace, Abelard became a monk and Heloise a nun. Peter Abelard (Lt: Petrus Abaelardus or Abailard; Fr: Pierre Abélard) (1079 – April 21, 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. The story of his affair with and love for his student Héloïse has become legendary.

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Abu Bakr

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"The brief Islamic caliphate of Abu Bakr (632-634) was spent putting down revolts in order to maintani the unity of the Muslims" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr Abū Bakr (Arabic: ابو بكر الصديق, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq‎) (c. 572-73–August 23, 634/13 AH)[1] was an early convert to Islam and a senior companion (Sahaba) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Throughout his life, Abu Bakr remained the closest friend and confidant of Muhammad. Upon Muhammad's death he became the first Muslim ruler (632–634), regarded in Sunni Islam as the first of the Rashidun (righteously guided Caliphs).[2] His caliphate lasted two years and three months, during which time he consolidated the Muslim state. Upon the death of the Prophet, some tribes rebelled, and in return he fought the Ridda wars against these Arab tribes to establish the rule of law and peace over all of Arabia. He also conquered the lands of Syria and Iraq.[3]

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Ancient Greece: Acropolis

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The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis (high city, The "Sacred Rock") in the world. Although there are many other acropolises in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as The Acropolis without qualification. The Acropolis was formally proclaimed as the pre-eminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments on 26 March 2007.[1] The Acropolis is a flat-topped rock which rises 150 m (490 ft) above sea level in the city of Athens. It was also known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man, Kekrops or Cecrops, the first Athenian king. (Holds the Parthenon (temple to Athena)) Acropolis (Gr. acro, high + polis, city, pl. acropoleis) literally means a high city. For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides, and these early citadels became in many parts of the world the nuclei of large cities which grew up on the surrounding lower ground, or modern Rome. The word "Acropolis", though Greek in origin and associated primarily with Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth with its Acrocorinth), may be applied generically to all such citadels (Rome, Jerusalem, Celtic Bratislava, many in Asia Minor, or even Castle Rock in Edinburgh) The most noted example is the Acropolis of Athens[1] which, by reason of its historical associations and the several famous buildings erected upon it (most notably the Parthenon), is generally known without qualification as simply "The Acropolis". Although originating in the mainland of Greece, use of the acropolis quickly spread to Greek colonies such as the Dorian Lato on Crete during the Archaic Period. Because of its classical Greco-Roman style, the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano's "Great Stone Church" (in California, United States) has been dubbed the "American Acropolis". Other parts of the world developed other names for the high citadel or alcázar, which often reinforced a naturally strong site. In Central Italy, many small rural communes still cluster at the base of a fortified habitation known as "La Rocca" of the commune. The term acropolis is also used to describe the central complex of overlapping structures, such as plazas and pyramids, in many Mayan cities, including Tikal and Copán.

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Adolphus, Gustavas

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Early Modern Europe (1611-1632) Thirty Years War: Phase 1: Conduct of the War :liberated northern Germany from Hapsburg occupation and seized Catholic lands in Southern Germany Gustavus Adolphus was known as an able military commander. His innovative tactical integration of infantry, cavalry, artillery and logistics earned him the title of the "Father of Modern Warfare". Future commanders who studied and admired Gustav II Adolf include Napoleon I of France and Carl von Clausewitz. His advancements in military science made Sweden the dominant Baltic power for the next one hundred years (see Swedish Empire). He is also the only Swedish monarch to be styled "the Great". This decision was made by the Swedish Estates of the Realm, when they convened in 1633. Thus, by their decision he is officially, to this day, to be called Gustaf Adolf the Great (Gustavus Adolphus Magnus). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_II_Adolf Gustav II Adolf (9 December 1594 – 6 November 1632 O.S.), widely known by the Latinized name Gustavus (II) Adolphus and in Swedish sometimes (mostly in the 19th century) as Gustav Adolf the Great (Swedish: Gustav Adolf den store), was King of Sweden from 1611 until his death in battle. Gustavus Adolphus was born in Stockholm as the oldest son of King Charles IX of Sweden of the Vasa dynasty and his second wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. He inherited the throne upon his father's death at the age of seventeen in 1611, as well as an ongoing succession of dynastic disputes that periodically broke out in warfare with his Polish cousin, Sigismund III of Poland, who in the preliminary religious strife before the Thirty Years' War, was forced to let go of the throne of Sweden to Gustav's father. In a round of this dynastic dispute, he invaded Livonia when he was 31, beginning the Polish-Swedish War (1625–1629). His reign became famous from his actions a few years later when in June 1630 he invaded Germany, initiating Sweden's involvement in the ongoing Thirty Years' War. Gustavus intervened on the anti-Imperial side, which at the time was losing to the Holy Roman Empire and its Catholic allies; the Swedish forces would quickly reverse that situation. He was married to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and chose the Prussian city of Elbing as the base for his operations in Germany. He died in the Battle of Lützen in 1632. His involvement in the Thirty Years' War gave rise to the old prophecy that he was the incarnation of "the Lion of the North", or as it is called in German "Der Löwe von Mitternacht" (Literally: "The Lion from Midnight").

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Aeneas

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (Greek: Αἰνείας, Aineías; pronounced /ɪˈniːəs/ in English) was a Trojan hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus in Roman sources). His father was also the cousin of King Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy, (led by Aphrodite his mother) which led to the founding of the city Rome, is recounted in Virgil's Aeneid. He is considered an important figure in Greek and Roman legend and history. Aeneas is a character in Homer's Iliad, Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica, and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.

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* Religion: Afterlife

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"Mesopotamian religion was mainly concerned with life in this world, for its view of the afterlife was uncertain and gloomy: the dead were thought to wander aimlessly in a shadowy netherworld" "The Egyptians were optimistic that the soul could attain a happy immortality. They believed that embalming, or mummification, could provide the soul with a boday for its existence after death. The Egyptian view of t he afterlief changed over time. During the Old Kingdom, only t he pharaoh and his family and nobles wer mummified. Later on, however, immortality was extende to everyone. In addition to mummification and burial in an tomb, it was important also to furnish the deceased with texts of incantations that would protect the soul from demons on its journey to the hall of judgement. The the god Osiris would weigh the soul, and if it was found virtuous (based on the moral quality of its life on the earth), et would be granted a blissful immortality, as described in the Book of the Dead, a collection, of prayers and spells concerned with the afterlife." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife Afterlife in Ancient Egyptian Religion The afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known. When the body died, parts of its soul known as ka (body double) and the ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in the Fields of Aaru, Osiris demanded work as payback for the protection he provided. Statues were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased. Arriving at one's reward in afterlife was a demanding ordeal, requiring a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells, passwords, and formulae of the Book of the Dead. In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased's heart was weighed against the Shu feather of truth and justice taken from the headdress of the goddess Ma'at.[6] If the heart was lighter than the feather, they could pass on, but if it were heavier they would be devoured by the demon Ammit. Egyptians also believed that being mummified was the only way to have an afterlife. Only if the corpse had been properly embalmed and entombed in a mastaba, could the dead live again in the Fields of Yalu and accompany the Sun on its daily ride. Due to the dangers the afterlife posed, the Book of the Dead was placed in the tomb with the body. Afterlife in ancient Greek and Roman religion In the Odyssey, Homer refers to the dead as "burnt-out wraiths." An afterlife of eternal bliss exists in Elysium, but is reserved for Zeus's mortal descendants. In his Myth of Er, Plato describes souls being judged immediately after death and sent either to the heavens for a reward or underground for punishment. After their respective judgments have been enjoyed or suffered, the souls are reincarnated. The Greek god Hades is known in Greek mythology as the king of the underworld, a bleak place in between the place of torment and the place of rest, where most souls live after death. Some heroes of Greek legend are allowed to visit the underworld. The Romans had a similar belief system about the afterlife, with Hades becoming known as Pluto. The Trojan prince Aeneas, who founds the nation that would later become Rome, visits the underworld according to the epic poem Aeneid. Afterlife in Abrahamic religions Judaism Writing that would later be incorporated into the Hebrew Bible names sheol as the afterlife, a gloomy place where all are destined to go after death. The Book of Numbers identifies sheol as literally underground (Numbers 16:31-33), in the Biblical account of the destruction of the rebellious Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their 250 followers, although it is speculated that this passage should be read literally, signifying an earthquake or split in the earth. The Book of Enoch describes sheol as divided into four compartments for four types of the dead: the faithful saints who await resurrection in Paradise, the merely virtuous who await their reward, the wicked who await punishment, and the wicked who have already been punished and will not be resurrected on Judgment Day.[7] It should be noted that the Book of Enoch is considered apocryphal by most denominations of Christianity and all denominations of Judaism. The book of 2 Maccabees gives a clear account of the dead awaiting a future resurrection and judgment, plus prayers and offerings for the dead to remove the burden of sin. Maimonides describes the Olam Haba ("World to Come") in spiritual terms, relegating the prophesied physical resurrection to the status of a future miracle, unrelated to the afterlife or the Messianic era. The Zohar describes Gehenna not as a place of punishment for the wicked but as a place of spiritual purification for the souls of almost all mortals.[1] Christianity The Early Church: 1st century Jesus and the New Testament writers of the Bible books mention notions of an afterlife and resurrection that involve ideas like heaven and hell. The author of Luke recounts the story of Lazarus and the rich man, which shows people in Hades awaiting the resurrection either in comfort or torment. The author of the Book of Revelation writes about God and the angels versus Satan and demons in an epic battle at the end of times when all souls are judged. There is mention of ghostly bodies of past prophets, and the transfiguration. The non-canonical Acts of Paul and Thecla speak of the efficacy of prayer for the dead, so that they might be "translated to a state of happiness."[8] Hippolytus of Rome pictures Hades as a place where the righteous dead, awaiting in the bosom of Abraham their resurrection, rejoice at their future prospect, while the unrighteous are tormented at the sight of the "lake of unquenchable fire" into which they are destined to be cast. Gregory of Nyssa formulates belief in the possibility of purification of souls after death.[9] Saint Augustine counters Pelagius, arguing that original sin means that the unbaptized go to hell, including infants, albeit with less suffering than is experienced by those guilty of actual sins

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Agriculture

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IMPORTANCE OF: The New Stone Age: 8000 bce Around 8000 bce, after the most recent retreat of the glaciers that covered large portions of Europe and North America, there occurred a cultural revolution that inaugurated the Neolithic Age (or New Stone Age), during which stone tools were refined, animals were domesticated, and agriculture was developed. Many human beings abandoned nomadism in favor of a settled way of life, as necessary for the practice of farming, and organized themselves in small villages. Agriculture aided greatly in the struggle against the ever-present threat of starvation, but it required a vast commitment of labor. Until very recent times, when advances in science and technology led to labor-savings breakthroughs in agricultural techniques, the vast majority of human beings to be engaged in agriculture, and the surpluses produced were relatively meager, so that only a small percentage of the population could live in cities. SURPLUSES OF AND RISE OF THE CITIES (Bronze Age – Fertile Crescent: 3000 bce) In addition to cities and metal-working, two key features of civilization in the Fertile Crescent were irrigation and writing. It was the discovery of irrigation that gave people living in the river valleys an advantage over people who practiced farming in the highlands. Without irrigation, a period of drought could lead to famine. Irrigation, in contrast, offered protection against drought (since water could be diverted from the river into fields nearby) and ensured a higher yield of crops (since variations in rainfall had less of an effect on growth). Since surpluses were greater and were generally maintained at a more constant level, agriculture in river valleys made cities viable in the long term) MEDIEVAL IMPROVEMENTS IN After centuries of decline, European population experienced an explosion that was aided by improvements in the agricultural technique and technology. A three-field system replaced the old two-field system of agriculture, allowing one-third of the land to lie fallow (unused) every three years while cropse were rotated in the other two fields. In this way nutrients in the soil were replenished and crop yields were boosted. The development of the horse-collar replaced oxen with horses as draft animals and allowed the use of a heavier plow, which was fitted with a moldboard that could turn over the dense soils of northern Europe mor0e efficiently. Climat also favored agriculture at this time, for a long spell of warmer weather extended the growing seasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture#History Ancient origin Developed independently by geographically distant populations, systematic agriculture first appeared in Southwest Asia in the Fertile Crescent, particularly in modern-day Iraq and Syria/Israel. Around 9500 BCE, proto-farmers began to select and cultivate food plants with desired characteristics. Though there is evidence of earlier sporadic use of wild cereals, it was not until after 9500 BCE that the eight so-called founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer and einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax. By 7000 BCE, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7000 BCE the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan. By 6000 BCE, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate mung, soy, azuki and taro. To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom dwarfing all previous expansions, and is one that continues today. By 5000 BCE, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, particularly along the waterway now known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and mouflon into cattle and sheep, respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of animals for food/fiber and as beasts of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer as an essential provider for sedentary and semi-nomadic societies. Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as 5200 BCE. [3] The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, Canna, tobacco and several other plants were also developed in the New World, as was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America. In later years, the Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians but made few fundamentally new advances. The Greeks and Macedonians struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become dominant societies for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade. Agriculture in the Middle Ages Main article: Muslim Agricultural Revolution During the Middle Ages, Muslim farmers in North Africa and the Near East developed and disseminated agricultural technologies including irrigation systems based on hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, the use of machines such as norias, and the use of water raising machines, dams, and reservoirs. They also wrote location-specific farming manuals, and were instrumental in the wider adoption of crops including sugar cane, rice, citrus fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines, and saffron. Muslims also brought lemons, oranges, cotton, almonds, figs and sub-tropical crops such as bananas to Spain. Renaissance to present day Further information: British Agricultural Revolution and Green Revolution A tractor ploughing an alfalfa field The invention of a three field system of crop rotation during the Middle Ages, and the importation of the Chinese-invented moldboard plow, vastly improved agricultural efficiency. After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock breeds occurred. Key crops involved in this exchange included the tomato, maize, potato, cocoa and tobacco going from the New World to the Old, and several varieties of wheat, spices, coffee, and sugar cane going from the Old World to the New. The most important animal exportations from the Old World to the New were those of the horse and dog (dogs were already present in the pre-Columbian Americas but not in the numbers and breeds suited to farm work). Although not usually food animals, the horse (including donkeys and ponies) and dog quickly filled essential production roles on western hemisphere farms.

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Akkadians

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Ancient Near East: Mesopotamia A semi-nomadic people known as the Akkadians, who spoke a Semitic language, began to the leave the deserts west of Mesopotamia and settle in the central region of the Tigris-Euphrates valley during the fourth millennium bce. These Akkadians, led by their king Sargon (2371-2316 bce) conquered the various Sumerian city-states and established an empire that unified Mesopotamia and reached beyond its boundaries, into the Iranian plaeeau in the east and as far west as Lebanon. Sargon’s dynasty ruled Akkad and Sumer for about 200 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadians Akkad (Sumerian: Agade; Biblical Accad), was a city and its surrounding region (Sumerian URI.KI or KIURI) in central Mesopotamia. Akkad also became the capital of the Akkadian Empire.[1] The city was probably situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (in present-day Iraq, about 50 km (31 mi) southwest of the center of Baghdad). Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of king Sargon of Akkad. Because of the policies of the Akkadian Empire toward linguistic assimilation, Akkad also gave its name to the predominant Semitic dialect: the Akkadian language, reflecting use of akkadû ("in the language of Akkad") in the Old Babylonian period to denote the Semitic version of a Sumerian text.

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Alberti, Leon Battista

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Renaissance and Reformation: Art and Architecture Renaissance painting developed out of Giotto's late medieval frescoes, which were marked by their naturalism, their humanistic focus, and the use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) to indicate a sense of depth. Masaccio (1401-1428) improved upon Giotto's efforts by applying linear perspective for an accurate illusion of three-dimensionality, whose rules were scientifically studied by Brunelleschi, and later formulated by Leon Battista Alberti in his highly influential treatise "On Painting" (1436). Preeminent among the later masters were Michelango, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci. Renaissance painters often used their talents at naturalistic representation to include images of their patrons in a corner of their artwork, and portraiture became common. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leone_Battista_Alberti De pictura (1435), the first version of On Painting, Alberti wrote in Latin. He then translated it into Italian under the title Della pittura (1436). Alberti dedicated the book to Filippo Brunelleschi, among others. He also credited Donatello (ca. 1386-1466), Lorenzo Ghiberti, Masaccio, and Filippo with "a genius for every laudable enterprise in no way inferior to any of the ancients." Brunelleschi was a self-learned architect—originally he was trained as a goldsmith. Brunelleschi's early achievements included his formulation of the laws of linear perspective, which he presented in two panels. The creation of a pictorial space and perspective was fundamental to Renaissance art. In his own work, Alberti codified the basic geometry so that the linear perspective became mathematically coherent and related to the spectator. However, the technical first part of the book did not have any illustrations. After Alberti, Piero della Francesca presented his own theory of perspective in De prospectiva pingendi. Perspectives Alberti regarded mathematics as the common ground of art and the sciences. "To make clear my exposition in writing this brief commentary on painting," Alberti began his treatise, Della pittura (On Painting), "I will take first from the mathematicians those things with which my subject is concerned."[citation needed]In both Della pittura and De statua, a short treatise on sculpture, Alberti stressed that "all steps of learning should be sought from nature."[citation needed] The ultimate aim of an artist is to imitate nature. Painters and sculptors strive "through by different skills, at the same goal, namely that as nearly as possible the work they have undertaken shall appear to the observer to be similar to the real objects of nature."[citation needed] However, Alberti did not mean that artists should imitate nature objectively, as it is, but the artist should be especially attentive to beauty, "for in painting beauty is as pleasing as it is necessary."[citation needed] The work of art is, according to Alberti, so constructed that it is impossible to take anything away from it or add anything to it, without impairing the beauty of the whole. Beauty was for Alberti "the harmony of all parts in relation to one another," and subsequently "this concord is realized in a particular number, proportion, and arrangement demanded by harmony." Alberti's thoughts on harmony were not new—they could be traced back to Pythagoras—but he set them in a fresh context, which fit in well with the contemporary aesthetic discourse. Alberti wrote I Libri della famiglia—which discussed of education, marriage, household management, and money—in the Tuscan dialect. The work was not printed until 1843. Like Erasmus decades later, Alberti stressed the need for a reform in education. He noted that "the care of very young children is women's work, for nurses or the mother," and that at the earliest possible age children should be taught the alphabet.[citation needed] With great hopes, he gave the work to his family to read, but in his autobiography Alberti confesses that "he could hardly avoid feeling rage, moreover, when he saw some of his relatives openly ridiculing both the whole work and the author's futile enterprise along it."[citation needed] Momus, written between 1443 and 1450, was a misogynist comedy about the Olympian gods. It has been considered as a roman à clef—Jupiter has been identified in some sources as Pope Eugenius IV and Pope Nicholas V. Alberti borrowed many of its characters from Lucian, one of his favorite Greek writers. The name of its hero, Momus, refers to the Greek word for blame or criticism. After being expelled from heaven, Momus, the god of mockery, is eventually castrated. Jupiter and the other gods come down to earth also, but they return to heaven after Jupiter breaks his nose in a great storm. In Rome, Alberti had plenty of time to study its ancient sites, ruins, and objects. His detailed observations, included in De Re Aedificatoria (1452, Ten Books of Architecture), were patterned after the De architectura by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius (fl. 46-30 B.C.). The work was the first architectural treatise of the Renaissance. It covered a wide range of subjects, from history to town planning, and engineering to the philosophy of beauty. De re aedificatoria, a large and expensive book, was not fully published until 1485, after which it became a major guide to architects. However, the book was written "not only for craftsmen but also for anyone interested in the noble arts," as Alberti put it.[citation needed] The first Italian edition came out in 1546. The standard Italian edition by Cosimo Bartoli was published in 1550. Pope Nicholas V, to whom Alberti dedicated the whole work, dreamed of rebuilding the city of Rome, but he managed to realize only a fragment of his visionary plans. Through his book, Alberti spread his theories and ideals of the Florentine Renaissance to the rest of Italy.

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Albuquerque, Alfonso de

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Early Modern Europe: The Age of Exploration With the support of Prince Henry, Portuguese explorers discovered the Azores, Canary, and Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and followed the African coast as far as Sierra Leone near the equator. They established a lucrative traded in gold, ivory, and slaves. In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz crossed the equator, sailed to the southern tip of Africa, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. In 1497-1499 Vasco da Gam sailed to India and back, opening a trade route for spices and other luxury goods. In 1509-1515 Alfonso de Albuquerque established Portuguese trading posts along the west coast of India, the islands of Indonesia, and at the moth of the Persian Gulf, thereby laying the foundations of the Portuguese Empire in the east, which was linked back to the capital of Lisbon through trading posts that dotted the African coast. In 1500, Pedro Cabral claimed Brazil, - the only Portuguese territory in the New World. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albuquerque%2C_Alfonso_de Dom Afonso de Albuquerque (or Afonso d'Albuquerque - disused) (pron. IPA []) (1453, Alhandra - Goa, December 16, 1515) was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, a naval general officer whose military and administrative activities conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian ocean. Generally considered as a world conquest military genius by means of his successful strategy, he was created first duke of Goa by king Manuel I of Portugal shortly before his death, being the first Portuguese duke not of the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He attempted to close all the Indian ocean naval passages to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, transforming it in a Portuguese Mare Nostrum established over the Turkish power and their Muslim and Hindu allies. [1]

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Al-Farabi

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(c. 872[2] – between 14 December 950 and 12 January 951) was a Central Asian polymath and one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of Persia and the Islamic world in his time. He was also a cosmologist, logician, musician, psychologist and sociologist. Al-Farabi was known to the Arabs as the 'Second Master' (after Aristotle), and with good reason. It is unfortunate that his name has been overshadowed by those of later philosophers such as Ibn Sina, for al-Farabi was one of the world's great philosophers and much more original than many of his Islamic successors. A philosopher, logician and musician, he was also a major political scientist. Al-Farabi has left us no autobiography and consequently, relatively little is known for certain about his life. His philosophical legacy, however, is large. In the arena of metaphysics he has been designated the 'Father of Islamic Neoplatonism', and while he was also saturated with Aristotelianism and certainly deploys the vocabulary of Aristotle, it is this Neoplatonic dimension which dominates much of his corpus. This is apparent in his most famous work, al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City) which, far from being a copy or a clone of Plato's Republic, is imbued with the Neoplatonic concept of God. Of course, al-Madina al-fadila has undeniable Platonic elements but its theology, as opposed to its politics, places it outside the mainstream of pure Platonism. In his admittedly complex theories of epistemology, al-Farabi has both an Aristotelian and Neoplatonic dimension, neither of which is totally integrated with the other. His influence was wide and extended not only to major Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Sina who came after him, and to lesser mortals such as Yahya ibn 'Adi, al-Sijistani, al-'Amiri and al-Tawhidi, but also to major thinkers of Christian medieval Europe including Thomas Aquinas. Contributions Farabi made notable contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, medicine, music, philosophy, psychology and sociology. Logic Al-Farabi was also the first Muslim logician to develop a non-Aristotelian logic. He discussed the topics of future contingents, the number and relation of the categories, the relation between logic and grammar, and non-Aristotelian forms of inference.[16] He is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate groups, the first being "idea" and the second being "proof." Music and sociology Farabi wrote books on early Muslim sociology and a notable book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqa (The Book of Music). He played and invented a varied number of musical instruments and his pure Arabian tone system is still used in Arabic music.[17] Al-Farabi's treatise Meanings of the Intellect dealt with music therapy, where he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.[18] Philosophy As a philosopher and Neoplatonist, he wrote a rich commentary on Aristotle's work. One of his most notable works is Al-Madina al-Fadila where he theorized an ideal state as in Plato's The Republic.[19] Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and was widely regarded to be second only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of "the Second Teacher"). His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for Ibn Sina's work.[20] Al-Farabi saw religion as a symbolic rendering of truth, and, like Plato, saw it as the duty of the philosopher to provide guidance to the state. Influenced by the writings of Aristotle, in The Ideas of the Citizens of the Virtuous City and other books, he advanced the view that philosophy and revelation are two different modes of approaching the same truth.[citation needed] He also may have mentioned Alexander the Great in one of his works.[citation needed] Physics Farabi is also known for his early investigations into the nature of the existence of void in physics.[19] Psychology In psychology, al-Farabi's Social Psychology and Model City were the first treatises to deal with social psychology. He stated that "an isolated individual could not achieve all the perfections by himself, without the aid of other individuals." He wrote that it is the "innate disposition of every man to join another human being or other men in the labor he ought to perform." He concluded that in order to "achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others and associate with them."[18] His On the Cause of Dreams, which appeared as chapter 24 of his Book of Opinions of the people of the Ideal City, was a treatise on dreams, in which he was the first to distinguish between dream interpretation and the nature and causes of dreams.[18]

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Alphabet

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Cuneiform Created by the Sumerians from ca. 3000 BC (with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium Uruk IV period[1]), cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Over time, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract. Writing was at first primarily used to keep track of goods. As early as 8000 bce, tokens appear to have been used for this purpose. By about 3000 bce, the Sumerians replaced these tokens with marks impressed on clay tablets, utilizing a stylus that created wedge-shaped strokes. Such script is called “cuneiform” (from the Latin cuneus, or “wedge”). The marks were initially pictographs, or symbols representing physical objects. These marks were later joined by ideograms, or symbols representing ideas. The symbols became even more abstract when the marks began to be used phonetically, signifying not an object or idea but the sounds of spoken words. Mesopotamian cuneiform was a combination of pictographs and ideograms that signified entire words, and phonetic symbols that represented the sounds of distinct syllables. Since the phonetic symbols represented entire syllables rather than individual sounds, Mesopotamian cuneiform did not employ an alphabet (whose components are letters) but a syllabary (whose components are syllables). Because the Mesopotamian cuneiform system required the memorization of over 600 symbols,, it was difficult to learn and its use was largely restricted to a class of professional scribes. The cuneiform used by the Sumerians was later adopted by the Akkadians and eventually adapted for use with many other Near Eastern languages as well. Although cuneiform was used initially for the economic and administrative documents, it later also served the needs of religion and literature. Type: Logographic and syllabic Spoken languages: Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hattic, Hittite, Hurrian, Luwian, Sumerian, Urartian Time period: ca. 30th century BC to 1st century AD Parent systems: (Proto-writing) Alphabet The Phoenicians were Canaanites, who spoke a Semitic language. Although they did not invent the alphabet – the first alphabet appeared by 1400 bce in nearby Ugarit, a city-state in Syria – they adapted it into a more usable form. The Ugaritic alphabet employed cuneiform script, but it differed from earlier writing systems because each symbol represented a single sound rather than an entire syllable or an entire word. It was a major advance because the whole writing system consisted of only 30 symbols that could represent any spoken word and therefore could easily be learned. The Phoenicians streamlined this alphabet by replacing the cumbersome cuneiform symbols with simpler letters that could be written more quickly (and by reducing the number of symbols to a mere 22). The Phoenicians’ alphabet became the basis of later western alphabets, in the Greek, Roman and Hebrew. (While Greek writing after the Dark Age was based on the Phoenician alphabet, the letter-forms were simplified and the phonetic values of several letters were changed to represent vowels as well as the distinctive sounds of the Greek language. (Phoenician letters represented only consonants)) History Middle Eastern Scripts The history of the alphabet starts in ancient Egypt. By 2700 BCE Egyptian writing had a set of some 22 hieroglyphs to represent syllables that begin with a single consonant of their language, plus a vowel (or no vowel) to be supplied by the native speaker. These glyphs were used as pronunciation guides for logograms, to write grammatical inflections, and, later, to transcribe loan words and foreign names.[3] However, although seemingly alphabetic in nature, the original Egyptian uniliterals were not a system and were never used by themselves to encode Egyptian speech.[4] In the Middle Bronze Age an apparently "alphabetic" system known as the Proto-Sinaitic script is thought by some to have been developed in central Egypt around 1700 BCE for or by Semitic workers, but only one of these early writings has been deciphered and their exact nature remains open to interpretation.[5] Based on letter appearances and names, it is believed to be based on Egyptian hieroglyphs.[5] This script eventually developed into the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, which in turn was refined into the Phoenician alphabet.[6] Note that the scripts mentioned above are not considered proper alphabets, as they all lack characters representing vowels. These early vowelless alphabets are called abjads, and still exist in scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. Phoenician was the first major phonemic script.[7][8] In contrast to two other widely used writing systems at the time, Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, each of which contained thousands of different characters, it contained only about two dozen distinct letters, making it a script simple enough for common traders to learn. Another advantage to Phoenician was that it could be used to write down many different languages, since it recorded words phonemically. The script was spread by the Phoenicians, whose Thalassocracy allowed the script to be spread across the Mediterranean.[7] In Greece, the script was modified to add the vowels, giving rise to the first true alphabet. The Greeks took letters which did not represent sounds that existed in Greek, and changed them to represent the vowels. This marks the creation of a "true" alphabet, with the presence of both vowels and consonants as explicit symbols in a single script. In its early years, there were many variants of the Greek alphabet, a situation which caused many different alphabets to evolve from it.

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Ambrose

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Ancient Rome: Two other leaoding Christian scholars were St. Jerome (347-430), who translated the bbile from Hebrew and Greek into Latin (called the Vulgate), and St. Ambronse of Milan (339-397) who served as an imperial administrator before he became a bishop. Ambrose challenged the power of the state by forcing the emperor Theodosius (379-395) to do public penance under pain of excommunication (denial of church services) when he had executed a number of citizens for participation in a riot. Thus Ambrose demonstrated th psychological power of the Church and at the same time established that Christian statesmen are not free to ignore the moral injunctions of Christianity for the sake of political expediency

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Anabaptists

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Renaissance and Reformation: Diversification of Protestantism The call to individual conscience inspired many small sects which did not align themselves with either Luther or Zwingli but pursued their own interpretation of Scripture. Many of these groups required their converts to receive baptism a second time and thus were called Anabaptist (ana means “again” in Greek). The Anabaptists were despised by Catholics, Lutherans, and Zwinglians alike. While many of the Anabaptists were peaceful, some of them had participated in the Peasant Revolt of 1525, and one group, led by John of Leiden, later seized the town of Munster, where in 1534 they established a theocracy (“New Zion”) which practiced polygamy (after the model of the Old Testament) and communal ownership of property (after the model of the New Testament, as found in the Acts of the Apostles). The city was soon recaptured and John of Leiden was executed in 1536)

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Ancestor Worship and State Religion

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Ancient Rome: Religion A central feature of Roman religion was the worship of deceased ancestors and “household spirits” (minor gods who guarded the home), which were commonly represented by idols. The goddess Vesta protected the hearth and was served by twelve Vestal Virgins, whose primary task was to keep her sacred fire burning. The Romans linked religion with politics; priesthoods were, in fact, public offices. The office of chief priest, or Pontifex Maximus, was held at one time by Julius Ceasar and was later adopted by the emperors. The cult of the emperor arose as an expression of patriotism.

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Ancient Near East: Egyptian Culture: Religion

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Egyptians were polytheists, yet their gods were less anthropomorphic: some combined human and animal features: Anubis: god of the dead, who was depicde with a human body and the head of a jackal Ra: sun-god, depicted with a human body and the head of hawkr Also in contrast to the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians regarded their pharaoh as a god; some Mesopotamian rulers achieved this level of veneration, but generally they were considered merely representatives of the gods. Syncretism: over time two different gods were regarded as a single god under two different aspects. For example, Amon, an important fertility god depicted as a ram, was later identified with Ra, the sun-god, and was then sometimes called Amon-Ra and regarded as the chilf of the gods and the special patron of Egypt. Perhaps the most fundamental difference between Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion was in their views of the afterlife: while the Mesopotamians had a grim view of death, the Egyptians were optimistic that the soul could attain a happy immortality.

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General: Astronomy

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Babylonians: advanced study of astronomy: Their astronomers were astrologers, and that divination was acentral motive in their study of the heavens, nevertheless their observation of the stars and planets made an important contribution to the history of science Almagest: Ancient Rome: Ptolemy (c 100-170) wrote a book of astronomy known as the Almagest, which offered mathematical proofs to support the geocentric theory Astrolabe: (Intellectual fift from Muslims) Device for measuring the position of celestial bodies – useful for legitimate astronomy

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Age of Enlightenment

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* The eighteenth century was an age of optimism, tempered by the realistic recognition of the sad state of the human condition and the need for major reforms. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set of attitudes. At its core was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals. Some classifications of this period also include the late 17th century, which is typically known as the Age of Reason or Age of Rationalism. The Age of Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century. The term came into use in English during the mid-nineteenth century, with particular reference to French philosophy, as the equivalent of a term then in use by German writers, Zeitalter der Aufklärung, signifying generally the philosophical outlook of the eighteenth century. It does not represent a single movement or school of thought, for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent. "Age of Enlightenment" and "The Enlightenment" refer particularly to the intellectual and philosophical developments of that age (and their impact in moral and social reform), in which Reason was advocated as the primary source and basis of authority. Developing in Germany, France and Britain, the movement spread through much of Europe, including Russia and Scandinavia. The signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, the United States Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen were motivated by "Enlightenment" principles (although the English Bill of Rights predates the era). The era is marked by political aspiration towards governmental consolidation, nation-creation and greater rights for common people, attempting to supplant the arbitrary authority of aristocracy and established churches.

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Age of Reason (17th Century Philosophy)

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17th century philosophy in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of modern philosophy, and a departure from the medieval approach, especially Scholasticism. Late 17th century philosophy is often called the Age of Reason or Age of Rationalism and is considered to succeed the Renaissance philosophy era and precede the Age of Enlightenment, but some consider it as the earliest part of the Enlightenment era in philosophy, extending that era to two centuries. Meanwhile in Persia, early Islamic philosophy and Iranian philosophy witnessed their last major phase of development with the school of Transcendent Theosophy founded by Mulla Sadra.

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Parchment

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! Thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin. Its most common use is as the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. ! Distinct from leather in that parchment is not tanned, but stretched, scraped, and dried under tension, creating a stiff white, yellowish or translucent animal skin. ! The finer qualities of parchment are called vellum. It is very reactive with changes in relative humidity and is not waterproof. According to the Roman Varro, Pliny's Natural History records (xiii.21), parchment was invented under the patronage of Eumenes of Pergamum,[1] as a substitute for papyrus, which was temporarily not being exported from Alexandria, its only source. Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in his time, the 5th century BC; and in his Histories (v.58) he states that the Ionians of Asia Minor had been accustomed to give the name of skins — diphtherai — to books; this word was adapted by Hellenized Jews to describe scrolls [1]. Parchment (pergamenum in Latin), however, is named after the city where it was perfected. In the 2nd century B.C. a great library was set up in Pergamon that rivaled the famous Library of Alexandria. As prices rose for papyrus and the reed used for making it was overharvested towards local extinction in the two nomes of the Nile delta that produced it, Pergamon adapted by increasing use of parchment.

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Antiquity

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Generally, "ancient history," and may be used of any historical period before the Middle Ages. * More specifically it means the classical antiquity of Greece and Rome. * Late Antiquity is used of the period between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages * It may also be used to refer to various periods of ancient history, like Ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia (such as, Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer) or other early civilizations of the Near East. It is less commonly used in reference to civilizations of the Far East.

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Jews: Timeline

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B.C.E. C1300-1200: EXODUS TRADITION AND ENTRY INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN (ISRAEL) C1200: THE PHILISTINES SETTLE ON THE CANAANITE COAST C1200-1050: THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES C1050: THE PHILISTINES DEFEAT THE ISRAELITE TRIBES IN BATTLE AND PUT THEM UNDER OCCUPATION C1020: SAUL BECOMES FIRST ISRAELITE KING C1000: DAVID BECOMES KING C990: DAVID CONQUERS JERUSALEM C960: SOLOMON BECOMES KING 928: NORTHERN TRIBES SECEDE. THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL IS FORMED 722: THE NORTHERN KINGDOM FALLS TO ASSYRIA 715: JUDAH EXPERIENCES REFORM UNDER HEZEKIAH 704: HEZEKIAH REVOLTS AGAINST ASSYRIA 701: ASSYRIAN INVASION. PART OF JUDAH LAID WASTE C630-620: JUDAH EXPERIENCES FURTHER RELIGIOUS REFORM UNDER JOSIAH 604: JUDAH SUBMITS TO BABYLONIAN CONTROL 601: JUDAH REVOLTS AGAINST BABYLON 597: REBELLION PUT DOWN. FIRST BABYLONIAN EXILE. 589: ANOTHER REBELLION AGAINST BABYLON. 588: BABYLONIAN ARMY ARRIVES TO PUT DOWN REBELLION. 587/6: JERUSALEM FALLS. FIRST TEMPLE DESTROYED. MORE EXILES. 586: GOVERNOR GEDALIAH ASSASINATED. 582: THE THIRD BABYLONIAN EXILE. 539: DEFEAT OF BABYLONIANS BY PERSIANS. 538: JUDEAN EXILES PERMITTED TO RETURN TO JUDAH. C515. SECOND TEMPLE BUILT. C445. NEHEMIAH COMES TO JERUSALEM TO SET THE COMMUNITY ON ITS FEET. C420? EZRA COMES TO JERUSALEM TO INTRODUCE RELIGIOUS REFORMS. 330-332. ALEXANDER THE GREAT OF MACEDONIA TAKES OVER THE PERSIAN EMPIRE INCLUDING JUDEA AND SAMARIA. 323-322. AFTER DEATH OF ALEXANDER, JUDEA PASSES UNDER CONTROL OF LOCAL SUCCESSOR, PTOLEMY. C200. ANTIOCHUS THE THIRD OF SYRIA TAKES CONTROL OF JUDEA. C175. ANTIOCHUS THE FOURTH STRONGLY ENCOURAGES HELLENISATION AMONG HIS SUBJECTS. MANY JEWS RESPOND. C170-165. PERIOD OF FORCED HELLENISATION LEADS TO MACCABEE REBELLION. 152. JONATHAN, BROTHER OF JUDAH MACCABEE, PROCLAIMS HIMSELF HIGH PRIEST. 104. MACCABEES PROCLAIM THEMSELVES AS KINGS OF JUDEA. 67-63. CIVIL WAR BETWEEN TWO MACCABEE BROTHERS. THEY TURN FOR HELP TO ROME. ROME ENTERS. 40. HEROD APPOINTED KING OF JUDEA BY THE ROMANS. C.E. 4. DEATH OF HEROD. 6. JUDEA BECOMES ROMAN PROVINCE. ROMANS START PERIOD OF DIRECT RULE. BEGIINING OF ZEALOT REVOLTS. C20-40. SMALL JEWISH STATE FOUNDED IN PART OF BABYLON. C30. DEATH OF JESUS OF NAZARETH. C40. PAUL OF TARSUS BEGINS HIS MISSION TO THE GENTILES. 66. OUTBREAK OF JEWISH REVOLT AGAINST THE ROMANS. 67. ROME POURS IN TROOPS TO SUPPRESS REBELLION. C68-69. ESCAPE OF YOCHANAN BEN ZAKKAI FROM JERUSALEM TO YAVNEH. 70. FALL OF JERUSALEM AFTER A SIEGE. 70. SETTING UP OF SANHEDRIN AT YAVNEH. 73. SIEGE OF MASSADA. C100. JEWISH CHRISTIANS FORCED TO LEAVE THE JEWISH FOLD. 115-117. THE GREAT DIASPORA REVOLT AGAINST THE ROMAN EMPIRE. C130-2. EMPEROR HADRIAN TAKES STEPS THAT WILL CAUSE JEWISH REBELLION. 132-135. BAR KOCHBA REBELLION. 135. SUPRESSION OF THE BAR KOCHBA REBELLION. C140. BEGINNING OF OFFICE OF EXILARCH IN BABYLON. C195. JUDAH HANASI EXTENDS POWER OF THE SANHEDRIN IN PALESTINE. 212. JEWS SHARE NEWLY GRANTED CITIZENSHIP WITHIN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. C219 FOUNDING OF THE SURA ACADEMY IN BABYLON. 259. SACKING OF NEHARDEA; RISE OF PUMBEDITHA ACADEMY. C300. ANTI JEWISH DECISIONS AT THE CHURCH COUNCIL OF ELVIRA IN SPAIN. C313-315. ROMAN CHURCH INCREASES AGGRESSION TOWARDS JEWS. C326-335. INTENSIVE CHRISTIAN INVESTMENT IN CHURCHES IN HOLY LAND. 337. CONSTANTINE'S SON CONTINUES ANTI-JEWISH LEGISLATION. 351. ANOTHER JEWISH REVOLT AGAINST THE ROMANS IN ERETZ ISRAEL. 359. CALENDAR CALCULATED RATHER THAN BASED ON EYE WITNESS SIGHTINGS OF NEW MOON. 360-363. PROMISE TO JEWS TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE. C385. RENEWED CAMPAIGN OF ANTI JEWISH ACTIONS AND LEGISLATION THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE. C400. THE CLOSING OF THE PALESTINIAN TALMUD. 419-422. ANTI JEWISH RIOTS AND SYNAGOGUE DESTRUCTION IN PALESTINE. C429. CANCELLATION OF THE POSITION OF NASI (PATRIARCH), THE LEADER OF WORLD JEWRY. 450-470. PERSECUTIONS OF JEWS IN BABYLON. The Sassanids, a group that had risen to power in Babylon some two centuries previously and who espoused the Zoroastrian religion, had earlier this century begun a concerted effort to oppress other religious groups. At this period the Jews become a major target for them. Judaism is outlawed, and Jews are compelled to give their children a Zoroastrian education. The persecution lasts for decades and many Jews flee to other places such as Arabia and India. is time the position of Exilarch was abolished for a short period. 513-520. AUTONOMOUS JEWISH STATE FORMED IN BABYLON. 520-530. RESUMPTION OF JEWISH COMMUNAL INSTITUTIONS AND TRADITIONS IN BABYLON. 576. FORCED CONVERSION OF JEWS IN FRANCE. 580. RESUMPTION OF PERSECUTIONS IN BABYLON. 581-2. FRANKISH PERSECUTION OF JEWS. C600. POPE GREGORY SETS CHURCH POLICY ON THE JEWS. 613. JEWS OF SPAIN GIVEN CHOICE; CONVERT OR LEAVE. 614-630. PERSIANS GAIN TEMPORARY CONTROL OF PALESTINE. JEWS TEMPORARILY RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 622-28. MOHAMMED DRIVES THE JEWISH TRIBES FROM ARABIA. 628. DEMAND THAT ALL JEWS IN BYZANTINE EMPIRE CONVERT. 638. MOSLEM CONQUEST OF JERUSALEM. JEWS ALLOWED TO RETURN. 660-691. AL AQSA MOSQUE AND DOME OF THE ROCK BUILT IN JERUSALEM. 711. MOSLEM CONQUEST OF SPAIN. 717. JEWS OPPRESSED IN MOSLEM BABYLON. C780-800. BIRTH OF THE JEWISH KHAZAR KINGDOM. C765. FOUNDING OF THE KARAITE SECT BY ANAN BEN DAVID IN BABYLON. C800. JEWS MOVE INTO THE RHINE AREA, RETURNING TO NORTHERN EUROPE. 808. JEWS ADMITTED TO FEZ, MOROCCO. 820-830. AGOBARD, BISHOP OF LYONS, ATTACKS WESTERN EUROPEAN JEWRY. 839. CONVERSION TO JUDAISM. THE BODO AFFAIR. C940. HIGH COURTIERS AT THE COURT OF THE MOSLEM CALIPH OF SPAIN. C970. THE FIRST GREAT SPANISH YESHIVA DEVELOPS AT CORDOVA. 1013. THE SACK OF CORDOBA HASTENS THE END OF THE GREAT SPANISH MOSLEM STATE AND PROMOTES THE "GOLDEN AGE OF SPANISH JEWRY". C1020. PERSECUTION OF EGYPTIAN JEWS SCATTERS JEWS TO NEW LANDS. C1050. THE BIRTH OF THE YIDDISH LANGUAGE. 1066. THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. THE FIRST JEWS ARRIVE IN ENGLAND. C1070. THE GROWTH OF THE SCHOOL OF RASHI IN TROYES, FRANCE. C1095 GILBERT CRISPIN - A FRIENDLY DISPUTATION. C1080. ALMORAVIDES INVASION OF SPAIN CAUSES JUDAISM TO BE OUTLAWED. 1095-1096; THE FIRST CRUSADE; MASSACRES OF JEWS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 1099. CRUSADER MASSACRE OF MOSLEMS AND JEWS IN JERUSALEM. 1144. FIRST BLOOD LIBEL ACCUSATION; IN NORWICH, ENGLAND. 1147-9. THE SECOND CHRISTIAN CRUSADE. MORE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE JEWS. C1150. THE FIRST RABBINICAL SYNOD IN ASHKENAZ. 1148. THE FAMILY OF MAIMONIDES LEAVES SPAIN BECAUSE OF PERSECUTION. 1163. JEWS IN CHINA. 1165. FORCED CONVERSION AND MESSIANIC EXCITEMENT IN YEMEN. C1175-1250. HASIDEI ASHKENAZ; A MOVEMENT FOR INNER PIETY. 1187-1192. JERUSALEM RETAKEN BY MOSLEMS UNDER SALADIN. 1190. THE MARTYRDOM OF YORK. 1211. THE ALIYAH OF THE "THREE HUNDRED RABBIS". 1213. FIRST JEWS NOTED IN SWITZERLAND. 1215. THE FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL. HIGHPOINT OF ANTI JEWISH LEGISLATION IN THE CHURCH. C1220. THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE LEGEND OF THE WANDERING JEW. 1232. BAN ON MAIMONIDES' "GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED". 1236. CHRISTIAN CONDEMNATION OF THE BLOOD LIBEL. 1239. THE CHRISTIAN KING OF ARAGON GRANTS A CHARTER OF RIGHTS TO THE JEWS. 1239-40. THE BURNING OF THE TALMUD IN PARIS. 1243. A NEW ACCUSATION; THE DESECRATION OF THE HOST. 1250. THE FIRST BLOOD LIBEL IN SPAIN. SARAGOSSA. 1263. THE BARCELONA DISPUTATION. 1264. THE RISE OF THE POLISH COMMUNITY. THE FIRST CHARTER OF RIGHTS. 1269. GOOD TIMES FOR MOROCCAN JEWRY. 1288-93. JEWS EXPELLED FROM KINGDOM OF NAPLES IN SOUTHERN ITALY. By 1293 most of the Jews in this extremely old community had left or had converted, and the communities had been destroyed. - top - 1290. THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS OF ENGLAND. C1295. MESSIANIC FERVOUR IN SPAIN. 1298. RINDFLEISCH MASSACRES IN GERMANY. 1305. THE BAN ON PHILOSOPHY AND ON SCIENCE. 1306. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS OF FRANCE. 1348-49. THE BLACK DEATH AND THE ATTACKS ON THE JEWS, BLAMED AS WELL POISONERS. 1349-60. THE EXPULSION OF thE JEWS OF HUNGARY. 1391. FORCED CONVERSIONS OF THE JEWS OF SPAIN. 1413-14. THE DISPUTATION OF TORTOSA. LARGE-SCALE VOLUNTARY CONVERSIONS OF JEWS. 1438. THE CREATION OF THE "MELLAH" IN FEZ. C1475. FIRST HEBREW PRINTING PRESSES. 1478. THE START OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 1492. THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS OF SPAIN. 1495. TEMPORARY EXPULSION OF JEWS FROM LITHUANIA. 1497. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS OF PORTUGAL. C1500. DEVELOPMENT OF LADINO. 1500-1502. MESSIANIC MOVEMENT AMONG JEWS OF ITALY AND GERMANY. C1500. APPEARANCE OF CONVERSOS IN THE NEW WORLD. 1510-16. TROUBLES IN ITALY; EXPULSION FROM NAPLES, THE GHETTO IN VENICE. 1517. PALESTINE CONQUERED BY THE OTTOMANS. RISE OF SAFED. 1524-32. STRANGE STORIES OF LOST TRIBES AND MESSIAHS. DAVID REUVENI AND SHLOMO MOLCHO. 1543. MARTIN LUTHER ATTACKS THE JEWS. Luther, the great German reformer, at first praised the Jews in the hope that they would be attracted to Christianity through his movement, but when his hopes were disappointed he turned sharply against the Jews and published a book of great hatred which many see as one of the forerunners of modern racial anti-semitism. 1551. JEWS CHOOSE OWN CHIEF RABBI IN POLAND-LITHUANIA. 1554. POPE PAUL THE FOURTH STRENGTHENS ANTI-JEWISH LINE IN CHURCH; GHETTOISATION. C1577. BEGINNING OF THE PHENOMENON OF THE COURT JEW. 1579. THE ARI - RABBI ISAAC LURIA - COMES TO SAFED. 1581. COUNCIL OF THE FOUR LANDS FORMED IN POLAND.There now started an institution that represented the high point of Jewish autonomy in the diaspora. This was the Council of the Four Lands representing the Jewish communities in the different parts of the Polish commonwealth. Its reason for official existence as far as the Crown was concerned was financial. Centralising Jewry made tax negotiations and collections easier. Its reasons as far as the Jews were concerned were different. It enabled the Jews to have more control over their own lives. There were two regular committees, one of laymen who dealt with technical and financial subjects of concern to the Polish Jews and one of Rabbis who examined important halachic questions which needed to be decided. 1585. SPANISH OCCUPY ANTWERP. AMSTERDAM EMERGES AS NORTHERN CONVERSO CENTRE. 1593. DEVELOPMENT OF LEGHORN IN ITALY AS IMPORTANT JEWISH CENTRE. C1600. DEVELOPMENT OF PRAGUE COMMUNITY. C1600-25. JEWISH LIFE DEVELOPING IN NORTHERN EUROPEAN PORTS. 1603. ATTEMPT AT CENTRALISING GERMAN JEWRY; COUNCIL OF GERMAN JEWRY IN FRANKFURT. 1630-54. DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN BRAZIL. 1648. DESTRUCTION OF UKRAINIAN JEWRY; THE CHMELNITSKI POGROMS. 1654. FIRST JEWS IN NORTH AMERICA ARRIVE IN NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK). 1655. RABBI MENASHE BEN ISRAEL PETITIONS FOR THE READMITTANCE OF JEWS INTO ENGLAND. 1656. SPINOZA EXCOMMUNICATED FROM JUDAISM IN AMSTERDAM. 1657. JEWS ALLOWED TO SETTLE IN DENMARK. 1665-6. SHABBETAI ZEVI, THE FALSE MESSIAH. 1676-1680. THE TEMPORARY EXPULSION OF THE JEWS OF YEMEN. THE EXILE TO MAWZA. 1700. THE MASS ALIYAH OF JUDAH HASID.

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Jews: Persecution

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The Jewish people and Judaism have experienced various persecutions throughout Jewish history. During late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages the Roman Empire (in its later phases known as the Byzantine Empire) repeatedly repressed the Jewish population, first by ejecting them from their homelands during the pagan Roman era and later by officially establishing them as second-class citizens during the Christian Roman era. Later in medieval Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews in the name of Christianity occurred, notably during the Crusades—when Jews all over Germany were massacred—and a series of expulsions from England, Germany, France, and, in the largest expulsion of all, Spain and Portugal after the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim Moors. In the Papal States, which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called ghettos. In the 19th and (before the end of World War II) 20th centuries, the Roman Catholic church adhered to a distinction between "good antisemitism" and "bad antisemitism". The "bad" kind promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered un-Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The "good" kind criticized alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about accumulation of wealth, etc. Islam and Judaism have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews living in Muslim lands, known as dhimmis, were allowed to practice their religion and to administer their internal affairs, but subject to certain conditions.[112] They had to pay the jizya (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to Muslims.[112] Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal disabilities such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims.[113] Many of the disabilities were highly symbolic. The one described by Bernard Lewis as "most degrading"[114] was the requirement of distinctive clothing, not found in the Qur'an or hadith but invented in early medieval Baghdad; its enforcement was highly erratic.[114] Jews rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced compulsion to change their religion, and they were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession.[115] The notable examples of massacre of Jews include the killing or forcible conversion of them by the rulers of the Almohad dynasty in Al-Andalus in the 12th century.[116] Notable examples of the cases where the choice of residence was taken away from them includes confining Jews to walled quarters (mellahs) in Morocco beginning from the 15th century and especially since the early 19th century.[117] There were some forced conversions in the 12th century under the Almohad dynasty of North Africa and al-Andalus as well as in Persia.[118] Standard antisemitic themes have become commonplace in the propaganda of Arab Islamic movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas, in the pronouncements of various agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and even in the newspapers and other publications of Refah Partisi."[119] The most notable modern day persecution of Jews remains the Holocaust — the state-led systematic persecution and genocide of the Jews (and other minority groups) of Europe and European Colonial North Africa during World War II by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.[120] The persecution and genocide were accomplished in stages. Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings.[107] Jews and Roma were crammed into ghettos before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers. Every arm of Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal nation."[108]

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Liberal Arts in Antiquity

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The ancients distinguished between practical and liberal arts The former were used in technical vocations while the latter were disciplines worthy of “free” men (liberalis in Latin means “free”) They identified seven liberal arts organized into two groups: the three disciplines of the trivium were linguistic (grammar, rhetoric, and logic or “dialectic”) and the four mathematical disciplines of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music) The word “trivial” comes from trivium, since the linguistic disciplines were considered basic prerequisites for the more advanced mathematical studies

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Monotheism:

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In ancient Egypt Ancient Middle-Eastern religions may have worshipped a single god within a pantheon and the abolition of all others, as in the case of the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. Iconoclasm during this pharaoh's rule is considered a chief origin for the subsequent destruction by some groups of idols, holding that no other god before the preferred deity (dually and subtly acknowledging the existence of the other gods, but only as foes to be destroyed for their drawing of attention away from the primary deity). Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is considered to be one of the earliest monotheistic beliefs, but the Zoroastrian definition of monotheism includes characteristics different from that found in some other monotheistic religions, including worship of subordinate nature-spirits and the use of fire-reverance. [5] In Zoroaster's revelation, Ahura Mazda is a transcendental and universal god, the one uncreated Creator (standard appellation) and to whom all worship is ultimately directed. Abrahamic: In traditional Jewish thought, which provided the basis of the Christian and Islamic religions, monolatrism was regarded as its most basic belief. Judaism and Islam have traditionally attempted to interpret scripture as exclusively monotheistic whilst Christianity diverted to a more complex form of tripartite monotheism, as a result of considering the Holy Spirit to be a part of God, and attributing divinity to Jesus, a Judean Jew, in the first century AD, defining him as the son of God. Thus, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".

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Paganims

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The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The group so defined includes many of the Eastern religions, Native American religions and mythologies, as well as non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice. The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Westerners, comparable to heathen, and infidel, mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, ethnologists avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism; however others criticise the use of these terms, claiming that these are only aspects that different faiths may share and do not denote the religions themselves.

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Poetry: Elegiac couplet

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In elegiac couplet, lines are grouped into couplets (pairs of two). The first line of each couplet is standard dactylic hexameter. The second is a modified dactylic pentameter line: two feet + a heavy syllable (a half-foot), then two more feet, then another heavy syllable. Essentially the pentameter line is two and a half feet plus two and a half feet. The division between each half-line in pentameter is usually a caesura. (Giannuzzi couplets are a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than those of epic poetry. The ancient Romans frequently used elegiac couplets in love poetry, as in Ovid's Amores. As with heroic couplets, the couplets are usually self-contained and express a complete idea.)

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Poetry: Dactylic Hexameter

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Dactylic hexameter was used for many of Latin's greatest poems. Influenced by Homer's Greek epics, dactylic hexameter was considered the best meter for weighty and important matters, so it is used in Virgil's Aeneid, Ennius's Annals, and Lucretius's On The Nature of Things. Dactylic hexameter is composed of six feet per line. Each foot is either a dactyl (heavy-light-light) or a spondee (heavy-heavy). The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl. The sixth foot consists of a heavy syllable followed by a syllable anceps; this line ending is perhaps the most notable feature of the meter. Typically, the dactylic hexameter's caesura comes in the third or fourth foot. Also, dactylic hexameter often has a bucolic dieresis. A dieresis is a pause that happens when the end of a word coincides with the end of a metrical foot; a bucolic dieresis is a dieresis between the fourth and fifth feet of a line.

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Religion: Syncretism

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! Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. ! The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogize several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths

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Scientific Revolution

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Francis Bacon - known as a catalyst of the scientific revolution. ! The Scientific Revolution of the late Renaissance was significant in establishing a base for many modern sciences as well as challenging the power of the Church. ! The scientific revolution was built upon the foundation of ancient Greek and Hellenistic learning, as it had been elaborated and further developed byRoman/Byzantine science followed by medieval Islamic science and the schools and universities of medieval Europe ! Though it had evolved considerably over the centuries, this "Aristotelian tradition" was still the dominant intellectual framework in 16th and 17th century Europe. ! J. D. Bernal believed that the renaissance enabled a scientific revolution which let scholars look at the world in a different light. ! Religion, superstition, and fear were replaced by reason and knowledge. Despite their challenge to Church dogma, however, many notable figures in the Scientific Revolution - Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, and even Galileo - remained devout in their faith. This period saw a fundamental transformation in scientific ideas across physics, astronomy, and biology, in institutions supporting scientific investigation, and in the more widely held picture of the universe. Brilliant minds started to question all manners of things and it was this questioning that lead to the Scientific Revolution, which in turn formed the foundations of all modern sciences. Many of these new ideas contradicted previous ideas that had been supported by the church. In 1949, Herbert Butterfield wrote that when theology became subordinate to science meaningful human advancement became a possibility. ! The Scientific Revolution led to the establishment of several modern sciences, as well as the understanding that the church was also fallible - the Scientific Revolution was not marked by any single change. ! The following new ideas contributed to what is called the Scientific Revolution: * The replacement of the Earth by the Sun as the center of the universe * The replacement of the Aristotelian theory that matter was continuous and made up of the elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether by rival ideas that matter was atomistic or corpuscular[7] or that its chemical composition was even more complex[8] * The replacement of the Aristotelian idea that by their nature, heavy bodies moved straight down toward their natural places; that by their nature, light bodies moved naturally straight up toward their natural place; and that by their nature, aethereal bodies moved in unchanging circular motions by the idea that all bodies are heavy and move according to the same physical laws * The replacement of the Aristotelian concept that all motions require the continued action of a cause by the inertial concept that motion is a state that, once started, continues indefinitely without further cause[10] * The replacement of Galen's treatment of the venous and arterial systems as two separate systems with William Harvey's concept that blood circulated from the arteries to the veins "impelled in a circle, and is in a state of ceaseless motion" The period which many historians of science call the scientific revolution can be roughly dated as having begun in 1543, the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius published his De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human body). As with many historical demarcations, historians of science disagree about its boundaries. Although the period is commonly dated to the 16th and 17th centuries, some see elements contributing to the revolution as early as the middle ages, and finding its last stages--in chemistry and biology--in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is general agreement however, that the intervening period saw a fundamental transformation in scientific ideas in physics, astronomy, and biology, in institutions supporting scientific investigation, and in the more widely held picture of the universe. As a result, the scientific revolution is commonly viewed as a foundation and origin of modern science. The "Continuity Thesis" is the opposing view that there was no radical discontinuity between the development of science in the Middle Ages and later developments in the Renaissance and early modern period.

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Theocracy

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! Form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler. ! For believers, theocracy is a form of government in which divine power governs an earthly human state, either in a personal incarnation or, more often, via religious institutional representatives (i.e., a church), replacing or dominating civil government. Theocratic governments enact theonomic laws. Theocracy should be distinguished from other secular forms of government that have a state religion, or are merely influenced by theological or moral concepts, and monarchies held "By the Grace of God". A theocracy may be monist in form, where the administrative hierarchy of the government is identical with the administrative hierarchy of the religion, or it may have two 'arms,' but with the state administrative hierarchy subordinate to the religious hierarchy. ************ !! In Antiquity: ************ An example often given from Antiquity is Pharaonic Egypt when the king was a divine or semi-divine figure who ruled largely through priests. Properly speaking this was originally a caesaropapist order, rather than a theocratic one, since the worldly rulers took charge of religion, rather than vice versa, but once the Pharaoh (since Ramses the Great) was recognized as a living (incarnated) god both definitions concurred.[ In ancient Greece and Rome denying the gods of the state was a crime. In ancient Rome, the emperors were often deified

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History of Writing

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*********************** Proto-writing *********************** Early writing systems of the late 4th millennium BC are not considered a sudden invention. Rather, they were based on ancient traditions of symbol systems that cannot be classified as writing proper, but have many characteristics strikingly reminiscent of writing. These systems may be described as proto-writing. They used ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbols to convey information yet were probably devoid of direct linguistic content. These systems emerged in the early Neolithic period, as early as the 7th millennium BC, if not earlier (Kamyana Mohyla). The hieroglyphic scripts of the Ancient Near East (Egyptian, Sumerian proto-Cuneiform and Cretan) seamlessly emerge from such symbol systems, so that it is difficult to say at what point precisely writing emerges from proto-writing. Adding to this difficulty is the fact that very little is known about the symbols' meanings. In 2003, 6th millennium BC radiocarbon dated symbols Jiahu Script carved into tortoise shells were discovered in China. The shells were found buried with human remains in 24 Neolithic graves unearthed at Jiahu, Henan province, northern China. According to some archaeologists, the writing on the shells had similarities to the 2nd millennium BC Oracle bone script. Others, however, have dismissed this claim as insufficiently substantiated, claiming that simple geometric designs such as those found on the Jiahu Shells, cannot be linked to early writing. The 4th millennium BC Indus script may similarly constitute proto-writing, possibly already influenced by the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia. The "Slavic runes" mentioned by a few medieval authors may also have been a system of proto-writing. The Quipu of the Incas (sometimes called "talking knots") may have been of a similar nature. A historical example is the system of pictographs invented by Uyaquk before he developed the Yugtun syllabary. *********************** Invention of writing *********************** By definition, history begins with written records; evidence of human culture without writing is the realm of prehistory (see Writing and historicity, below). However, the "origin of writing is no longer a mystery." Evolution of writing was a process involving economic practice and necessity in the Ancient Near East. Archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat determined the link between previously uncategorized clay "tokens" and the first known writing, proto-cuneiform. The clay tokens were used to represent commodities, and perhaps even units of time spent in labor, and their number and type became more complex as civilization advanced. A degree of complexity was reached when over a hundred different kinds of tokens had to be accounted for, and tokens were wrapped and fired in clay, with markings to indicate the kind of tokens inside. These markings soon replaced the tokens themselves, and the clay envelopes were demonstrably the prototype for clay writing tablets. Original Mesopotamian writing system (ca. 3500 BC) derives from this method of keeping accounts, and by the end of the 4th millennium BC, had evolved into using a triangular-shaped stylus pressed into soft clay ("cuneiform" writing). Thus the invention of the first writing systems is roughly contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age in the last half of the 4th millennium BC in Sumer. Earliest forms of writing were logographic in nature, based on pictographic and ideographic elements. However, by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, the Sumerians had developed a syllabic adjunct to their script, reflecting the phonology and syntax of the spoken Sumerian language. This logo-syllabic script was soon adopted by Akkadian and Eblaite speakers for their own languages, and later by Hittite and Ugaritic speakers. While it is possible that Egyptian writing is an example of trans-cultural diffusion from their trading partners in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians did not borrow Mesopotamian written symbols. Instead, they used their own artistic iconography. Archaic Egyptian hieroglyphs are attested in the 3100-BC Narmer Palette, and more widespread literacy appears by the mid 3rd millennium (the Pyramid Texts). In southern Egypt, Günter Dreyer discovered records of linen and oil deliveries which have been carbon-dated to between 3300 BCE and 3200 BCE, predating the Dynastic Period. This find challenges the prevailing view that the first people to write were the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) sometime before 3000 BCE. An undeciphered logographic Proto-Elamite script also emerged at this time, and evolved into Linear Elamite by the late 3rd millennium, which in turn was replaced by cuneiform adopted from Akkadian. The Indus "script" appeared ca. 2600 BC and outlasted the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1700 BC. However, all records are extremely short, and it is not clear that it was a true writing system. The Chinese script, dating from around the 12th century BC (late Shang Dynasty) was graphically independent of the Middle Eastern scripts, though as with the case of Egyptian, trans-cultural diffusion may have played a role. The pre-Columbian scripts dating from ca. the 3rd century BC in Mesoamerica, of which only Mayan is known to have been true writing, had independent origins from the Old World. If rongorongo of Easter Island was a true script, it was likely also an independent development. Almost all writing systems in use in the world today are ultimately descended either from the Chinese script or from the Egyptian-derived Semitic alphabets (see Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic). ****************** Bronze Age writing ****************** ! Writing emerged in a variety of different cultures in the Bronze age. ( Scholars have traditionally thought hieroglyphics were inspired by Mesopotamian cuneiform, the chronology has recently been questioned, and it is now supposed that hieroglyphics may have actually predated cuneiform – the two writing systems could have developed independently; whatever their precise relationship, both forms of writing were in use by 3000 bce ) ****************** Cuneiform script ****************** ! Original Sumerian writing system derives from a system of clay tokens used to represent commodities. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, using a round-shaped stylus impressed into soft clay at different angles for recording numbers. This was gradually augmented with pictographic writing using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted. Round-stylus and sharp-stylus writing was gradually replaced about 2700-2500 BC by writing using a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term cuneiform), at first only for logograms, but developed to include phonetic elements by the 29th century BC. About 2600 BC cuneiform began to represent syllables of the Sumerian language. Finally, cuneiform writing became a general purpose writing system for logograms, syllables, and numbers. From the 26th century BC, this script was adapted to the Akkadian language, and from there to others such as Hurrian, and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for Ugaritic and Old Persian. ****************** Egyptian hieroglyphs ****************** Writing was very important in maintaining the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes. Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train to become scribes, in the service of temple, pharaonic, and military authorities. The hieroglyph system was always difficult to learn, but in later centuries was purposely made even more so, as this preserved the scribes' position. ****************** Chinese writing ****************** In China historians have found out a lot about the early Chinese dynasties from the written documents left behind. From the Shang Dynasty most of this writing has survived on bones or bronze implements. Markings on turtle shells, or jiaguwen, have been carbon-dated to around 1500 BC. Historians have found that the type of media used had an effect on what the writing was documenting and how it was used. There have recently been discoveries of tortoise-shell carvings dating back to c. 6000 BC, like Jiahu Script, Banpo Script, but whether or not the carvings are of sufficient complexity to qualify as writing is under debate.[1] If it is deemed to be a written language, writing in China will predate Mesopotamian cuneiform, long acknowledged as the first appearance of writing, by some 2000 years, however it is more likely that the inscriptions are rather a form of proto-writing, similar to the contemporary European Vinca script. Undisputed evidence of writing in China dates from ca. 1600 BC. ****************** Elamite scripts ****************** The undeciphered Proto-Elamite script emerges from as early as 3200 BC and evolves into Linear Elamite by the later 3rd millennium, which is then replaced by Elamite Cuneiform adopted from Akkadian. ********************* Anatolian hieroglyphs ********************* Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous hieroglyphic script native to western Anatolia first appears on Luwian royal seals, from ca. the 20th century BC, used to record the Hieroglyphic Luwian language. ****************** Cretan scripts ****************** Cretan hieroglyphs are found on artifacts of Geenland or Canada.(early to mid 2nd millennium BC, MM I to MM III, overlapping with Linear A from MM IIA at the earliest). Linear B has been deciphered while Linear A has yet to be deciphered. *********************** Early Semitic alphabets *********************** The first pure alphabets (properly, "abjads", mapping single symbols to single phonemes, but not necessarily each phoneme to a symbol) emerged around 1800 BC in Ancient Egypt, as a representation of language developed by Semitic workers in Egypt, but by then alphabetic principles had a slight possibility of being inculcated into Egyptian hieroglyphs for upwards of a millennium. These early abjads remained of marginal importance for several centuries, and it is only towards the end of the Bronze Age that the Proto-Sinaitic script splits into the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (ca. 1400 BC) Byblos syllabary and the South Arabian alphabet (ca. 1200 BC). The Proto-Canaanite was probably somehow influenced by the undeciphered Byblos syllabary and in turn inspired the Ugaritic alphabet (ca. 1300 BC). *********************** Indus script *********************** The Middle Bronze Age Indus script which dates back to the early Harrapan phase of around 3000 BC has not yet been deciphered.[8] It is unclear whether it should be considered an example of proto-writing (a system of symbols or similar), or if it is actual writing of the logographic-syllabic type of the other Bronze Age writing systems. Mortimer Wheeler recognises the style of writing as boustrophedon, where "this stability suggests a precarious maturity". ******************************************* Iron Age and the rise of alphabetic writing ******************************************* The Phoenician alphabet is simply the Proto-Canaanite alphabet as it was continued into the Iron Age (conventionally taken from a cut-off date of 1050 BC). i This alphabet gave rise to the Aramaic and Greek, as well as, likely via Greek transmission, to various Anatolian and Old Italic (including the Latin) alphabets in the 8th century BC. Greek alphabet for the first time introduces vowel signs. Brahmic family of India probably originated via Aramaic contacts from ca. the 5th century BC. The Greek and Latin alphabets in the early centuries of the Common Era gave rise to several European scripts such as the Runes and the Gothic and Cyrillic alphabets while the Aramaic alphabet evolved into the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic abjads and the South Arabian alphabet gave rise to the Ge'ez abugida.