Blog Post #5

The United States and the decisions it has made, has been compared to the Roman Empire. Empires are usually large states with political systems. They are normally large, and conquer other states to use their resources. Empires are a fascination to both ancient and modern people because of their massive size, retaining a lot of information to learn from these times. The size of the empires brought together people from many traditions and religions that enabled exchanges in cultures and values. 

In 500 b.c.e., The most noteworthy empire was The Persian Empire. The empire stretched from Egypt to India and consisted of 35 to 50 million people from dozens of different cultures. The most famous leaders of this empire were Cyrus (557-530b.c.e.) and Darius (522-486b.c.e.). 

One of the smallest empires was Classical Greece, ranging from only 2 to 3 million people and existed upon a small peninsula of mountains and valleys along the Mediterranean Sea. The need for resources in Greece lead to deforestation and soil erosion. The most important part of Greece's empire was its idea of citizenship, which gave people the right to vote for policies and laws, giving citizens a lot of power.

One of the most famous, The Roman Empire, started out as a small and weak city-state in Italy. With new revisions of laws, and creating new political systems, it took The Roman Empire more than 500 years to re-establish itself, conquering many states and expanding its walls, becoming one of the most memorable empires of our time.

Blog Post #4

What understanding of the afterlife does The Epic of Gilgamesh suggest?

In The Epic of Gilgamesh,  Gilgamesh and his best friend, Enkidu, travel to the edge of the world and fight demons and gods side by side. Enkidu is killed by a god and Gilgamesh grieves upon this greatly. Gilgamesh then sets off on a quest to find the secret to immortality. On this journey, he is tested by a god to see if he can handle immortality by staying awake for a whole week. After realizing he cant pass the tests, he returns home with the advice from a god that he should enjoy life as much as possible and enjoy the pleasures of the world for immortality is futile. He also concludes that his ruling of his country was the greatest accomplishment he had made and that the power he had achieved was his own version of immortality.

Blog Post #3

 

What accounts for the initial breakthroughs to civilization?

Civilizations didn’t breakthrough until people started discovering agricultural. This was also known as the Agricultural Revolution. The Agricultural Revolution didn’t happen until a considerably late time in the human existence meaning civilizations didn’t either. The ability to irrigate land meant farmers could produce enough food for whole societies. So as agriculture grew more and more, so did civilization.

Blog Post #2

Topic/Question: What do you think of Nissa's account as a description of what paleolithic peoples might have been like?


   Nisa, A woman who lives in the Kalahari Desert on the border of Botswana and South Africa, compares her life to those living in the paleolithic era. The people who lived in the paleolithic era were Nomads which consisted of men and women being hunters and gatherers ( Men usually the hunter and women being the gatherer).  They lived solely off of the resources of the land which eventually would run out, causing them to keep finding sufficient land.

   Nisa spent most of her life in a community who fully participated in the same ways of life as the paleolithic era. In 1971, An American anthropologist observed and interviewed Nisa, who shares her life experiences living her life "in the bush.'' She talks about her childhood memories, Marriage and death of her husbands,  and medicines used in her community. As she describes her early life, she says she has absolutely nothing and her family owns no possessions. She talks about marriages and having four husbands as well as having affairs. One thing she said that really caught my attention was "When you are a woman, you don't just sit still - you have lovers. You don't just sit with one man, One man can give you only so little, but when you have lovers, one brings you one thing and another brings you something else.'' She also talks about an herbal medicine used by people in her community called ''n/um." This was a common medicine to use whenever one felt ill.

  I believe that living life with no possessions and only living off of resources from the land is definitely a good imitation of those who lived in paleolithic era, but whether we like it or not, evolution occurs and the paleolithic era was over two and a half million years ago. Evolution has occured since then Our bodies function in way more complex manners than primitive humans. Nisa talks about having love affairs with multiple husbands and how some men can bring her food and another with money. I am certain that two and a half million years ago, the primitive woman were not focused on having one man give her money and another give her food. These are characteristics of woman who are born into eras where currency exists. My point is, Nisa and her community may live inspired by the paleolithic era but it is impossible to consider them paleolithic people, evolution wont allow it.

Blog Post #1

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