Ch.'s 11, 12, & 13

Blog Ch.’s 11, 12, & 13

The Classical Era was characterized by its complex civilizations and the empires and religions they spurred.  Islam accomplished all of this in the later portion of this era.  It’s prophet, Mohammed, claimed Islam as an Arab religion by directing all prayer to Mecca.  Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, was not only a religious leader but also a political and military leader.  Islamic armies engaged the Persian & Bysantine Empires.  It’s territory spread from Spain to India into Europe, China, and North Africa.  Large scale conversion to the Muslim religion took place where there was Arab populations. 

Strayer discusses the role of women within the Arab Empire and in the context of the Quran.  The Quran made women and men equal in that they would both receive forgiveness and reward from Allah if they surrender themselves to Allah (pg. 314).  But the Quran does not create such equality in the context of marriage.  Similar to Confucian ideas, the Quran states that good women are obedient.  But the Quran spells out such discipline for disobedience such as admonishing women and sending them to bed beaten.  I do not agree that God, Allah, what have you, would advocate violence in a marriage, or any setting.  But Strayer is careful to explain that stringent patriarchy was already prominent in the region and not necessarily a product of the Muslim faith.  He mentions the cultural custom of clitorectomy and honor killings of women “by male relatives for violating sexual taboos” (pg. 316).  Honor killings?!  This sounds like sanctioned murder.  I wonder if this is the tradition that has contributed to bride burnings in India?   

I thought it interesting that although Muhammad’s wife, Aisha, played a visible public role, this practice was frowned upon my Islamic men in the years after Muhammad.  Women also became veiled.  “The second Caliph asked women to offer prayers at home” (pg. 314).  I have been to a mosque in Santa Clara during Ramadan and women were allowed to worship in the same room as the men, but for the sake of modesty, worshipped behind the men.  As bowing in front of worshipping men would make the women feel uncomfortable and may present a distraction for the men.  It was not meant to be separatist or hierarchical. 

As the empire grew so did the seclusion and veiling of women.  This is similar to the foot binding in China which restricted women to the home.  “Separate quarters within the homes of the wealthy were the domain of women” (pg. 315).  Women were not allowed to immerge from this separate quarter unless veiled.  I find that women of or from affluence throughout history, tend to be more restricted.  Women of lesser means had fewer restrictions and a greater role in public life as they had to go to the market. 

The Pastoral societies were less patriarchal as they lived in small encampments and therefore supported a smaller population (pg. 334).  I would prefer to occupy this type of society as women held higher status and contributed to animal husbandry of the smaller animals, hunted on horses like men, and worked leather into clothing.  Even though this lifestyle was arduous and impermanent, women were not restricted and were considered equal contributors.  Strayer perfectly depicts the lifestyle of the Pastoralists, “a life largely dictated by local environmental conditions and based on turning grass, which people cannot eat, into usable foods and energy”  (pg. 336). 

Ch. 8, 9, & 10 Blog

Ch. 8, 9,  & 10 Blog

The Classical Era:  The Spread of Civilization, Commerce, and Culture

The spread of civilization was propelled by interaction through trade networks such as the Sea Roads of the Indian Ocean, Silk roads linking pastoral and agricultural peoples across Eurasia, and the Sand Roads which linked interior West Africa with the peoples of the Saharan.  In the America’s there is evidence that the distant civilizations of North and South America engaged in commerce.  I was amazed to discover that items native to Mesoamerica were found in Chaco Canyon.  I have studied Chaco Canyon before but had not learned of the findings of macaw feathers and shells from Mesoamerica at Chaco Canyon.  This is a great distance these items would have had to travel by foot through much desert terrain.  It demonstrates the long distance commercial relationships of these distant civilizations.  

It is so interesting to me that one of the largest land animals of South America at the time, the llama, never made it to North America.  Although my experience and exposure to the llama is minimal, I understand domesticated llama’s could be good pack animals and provide good wool for making blankets and textiles.  I thought the diffusion of the llama would have matched that of maize corn, which originated in Mesoamerica and reached all the way to southwestern and eastern North America and much of South America.  Yet the dense tropical forest of Mesoamerica and the narrow Panama isthmus would have made it difficult to drag an Andes native animal such as the llama all the way to North America. 

Another surprise to me was in learning how different the Buddhist monasteries were along the Silk Roads juxtaposed to the traditional monasteries which shunned materialism.  Foreign merchant communities introduced Buddhism to northern China in the first century B.C.E.  The Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road became wealthy as they were often built by Buddhist merchants.  The traditional begging bowl of the monks, were no longer utilized and became more of a symbol.  This doesn’t even sound like Buddhism to me.  Strayer also states, “Sculptures and murals in the monasteries depicted musicians and acrobats, women applying makeup, and even drinking parties” (223).  These luxuries do not align with Buddha’s teachings of three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and egolessness.  But this displays how religions and cultures were adapted and changed once introduced into another region.  In this instance the Buddhist monasteries were providing “culturally familiar places of rest and resupply for merchants making the long and arduous trek across Central Asia” (pg. 223).

It is also interesting how China adapted Buddhism into their civilization.  Buddhist monastic life conflicted with the Confucian tradition of family values.  The Confucian and very Chinese social homogenous order contradicted Buddhist “concern for individual salvation”  (pg. 263).  So what was China’s solution to this very individualistic and popular religion entering their civilization?  China filtered and translated the religion to adapt to their traditions and culture.  By changing the Indian concept of morality and translating it to “filial submission and obedience” (pg. 263), the Chinese could recognize these notions and abide by them.  And in the historical tradition of gender inequality (please excuse the sarcasm), China adapted the Buddhist ideal of a husband supporting his wife translating it to “husband controls wife” (pg. 264).  The diffusion, borrowing, and filtering of culture by way of commerce throughout the Classical Era is fascinating. 

Blog # 2 – Chapters 4, 5, 6, & 7

As we learned in previous chapters, early neighboring civilizations engaged in regular diplomatic or wartime, interaction, resulting in a diffusion of culture, traditions, and religion, assimilating some of these ideas into their own civilizations.  This practice still occurs in today’s societies.  I wanted to further explore this natural transmission of religious ideas and traditions from one religion to another.  Religions are not disjointed from one another; they borrow and build upon long established and accepted ideas. 

What many think are original traditions to their own religion, actually precede it.  An example of this in history, from what I distinguish, is the influence Zoroastrianism has had on the Hebrew Torah and therefore the Christian Bible.  Chapter five states several interesting examples of religious doctrine that are maintained in Christianity and in other religions.  It was the first monotheistic religion, varying greatly from the polytheistic competing religions of its time and time thereafter. 

            Zoroastrianism maintains dualism of good and evil.  Ahra Mazda is the god of light, superior to all other deities.  Angra Mainyu is the evil spirit who opposes Ahura Mazda.  This idea of a supreme God and the evil counterpart can also be found in Judaism, Christianity, and the Muslim faith.  This dualism is also a theme throughout the Gospel of John.  The cosmic struggle between Ahra Mazda and Angra Mainyu, “would be decided in favor of Ahura Mazda, aided by the arrival of a final Savior who would restore the world to its earlier purity and peace” (Strayer, 139).  Sound familiar?  The Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic traditions all refer to a savior as the Messiah.  Zoroastrianism also had dogma of a final judgment day, resurrecting bodies who aligned with Ahura Mazda, being rewarded eternal life.  So I think that many Christians may be surprised to find that these religious ideas are not unique to Christianity.  The Persian prophet of Zoroastrianism, Zarathustra, originated these ideas in the sixth or seventh century B.C.E., possibly a few hundred years earlier.  This predates the Hebrew Bible by almost 500 years and Christianity by 700 years.  Strayer explains how this diffusion of religious traditions took place when “tiny Hebrew communities lived a precarious existence in a religion politically dominated by the large empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia” (Strayer, 140).          

So it shouldn’t be surprising that we can also find a Babylonian religious tradition in the Hebrew religious texts.  “In 586 B.C.E. the kingdom of Judah came under Babylonian control”  (Strayer, 140).  We were briefly introduced to Hammurabi in Chapter three.  He reigned Babylon from 1792-1750 B.C.E.   I’m not sure of any of you have learned of the Code of Hammurabi?  Well it is one of the oldest deciphered writings on a stone stele consisting of hundreds of law codes such as, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”  These are Old Testament traditions found in the Hebrew texts.  Furthermore, this Code of Hammurabi is depicted on a cuneiform stone tablet.  The Babylonia sun god is bestowing upon King Hammurabi the law codes.  [An image of these stone tablets can be found on Google Images. ] We find this story again in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament with God handing Moses the Ten Commandments.  So one can see how the Code of Hammurabi, which pre-existed the Hebrew Bible by about 1300 years, is a prime example of the adaption and diffusion of religious beliefs and doctrines over history.