Shakespeare, Cervantes and Inca de la Vega

William Shakespeare is widely considered as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England's national poet. His works mainly consist of about thirty eight plays, one hundred fifty four sonnets, two long narrative poems and several other poems. Shakespeare's early plays consisted comedies and historical play, genres that he raised to the peak of sophistication by the end of the sixteenth century. He then began to write tragedies such as Hamlet and Macbeth, which are considered some of the finest works in the English language. He was a respected poet and Playwright in his day, however his reputation did not rise to current heights until the nineteenth century.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet and playwright. His greatest work, Don Quixote, is considered the first modern novel. Don Quixote is a classic of western literature and it is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever. This work was originally conceived as a comic satire against chivalric romances. Don Quixote has been seen as an attack on the Catholic Church or on contemporary Spanish Politics. It could also be seen as Symbolizing the duality of the Spanish character. His influence on the Spanish language is so great it is often called the language of Cervantes. According to himself, he wrote twenty to thirty plays, but only two copies have survived. As with most authors in their time, Cervantes never became wealthy as a result of his work.
Garcilaso de la Vega was a historian and writer from the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. He was the son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman. Vega is recognized primarily for his contributions to Inca history, culture, and society. His writings provide eloquent testimony to the intellectual and emotional struggles faced by this unique hybrid of the Old and New worlds. Vega's first venture was a Spanish translation of a masterpiece of the Italian renaissance, the neo-Platonic Dialogue de amore written by Leon Hebreo. His focus then shifted toward the New World with the publication of Florida, which gave an epic account of the voyage of Gonzalo Silvestre. Garcilaso's historical perspective became more pronounced in his final piece which was his monumental two-volume history of Peru.

Black Death

MaplesJ.HIS101-W1 Blog 3

10/20/11

Black Death

The Bubonic Plague, named the Black Death later in history, decimated the population wherever it struck. This calamitous disease destroyed economic and social structures. Curiously after it struck those who had luck enough to survive it had a much better standard of living. Birthrates climbed after the Plague, and new universities were established for new post plague generations to benefit from being educated.

The Black Death began in 1346, it is believed to come from a region between the black and Caspian seas. Most historians believe what caused the Plague was the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, which is the same organism responsible for outbreaks of it today. It is believed that it was carried by fleas traveling on the backs of rats on merchant ships loaded with spices, silks and porcelain. It arrived in Europe by January 1348, six months later it would spread throughout all of Italy. After that it would spread to the Balkans and most of France, then it continued northward to Germany and France.

The Plague wiped out somewhere between one-third and sixty percent of the entire population. France was the hardest hit during the Plague years, both from the Black Death and the one hundred years war. All of Europe suffered from both of these afflictions, both the Plague and the hundred years war caused widespread havoc and destruction.

Some responses to the Black Death were immediate. Pistoia, which is an Italian city, set up a quarantine in 1348, no citizen could go to nearby Pisa or Lucca. The Pistoians thought that bad air brought the plague so that created more sanitary conditions. In other places the reactions to the plague were religious. The archbishop of York in England thought that more prayer was the answer to cure the plague, he ordered more devout processions were to be held every Wednesday and Friday.

The Dance of Death became popular as a subject of art, literature and performance. Every age, sex, and rank found their way to the grave in this theme. In paintings skeletal figures of Death laughed as they abducted their prey. The Dance of death was performed occasionally in a church or a princely court.

Differences between Islam and Christianity and modern affects on the world

There are several reasons why there are so many different churches in Christianity. From what I've researched some of the bigger ones are that Jesus never actually wrote anything down himself. The apostles recorded everything that Jesus said and did, and man has faults in how they interpret and remember it. He Didn't give direct instruction on how to live, but rather taught his followers through stories and tales.

Today in Islam there are two main different branches Sunni and Shiite. When Muhammad died these two sect's developed for the nature of the Islamic community. The Sunni's accepted the succession of Muhammad’s elected successors that were known as caliphs. The Shiite’s opposed what the Sunni’s believed and thought that any head of their communities had to be a direct descendant of Muhammad.

Another main issue between the two centers around Jesus. The Koran states that Jesus isn’t god. Jesus however is given great honor in the Koran saying he was a miracle worker and a prophet. The Bible states that Jesus is god himself in human flesh. Another disagreement is over Jesus death. The Koran states that it was unthinkable for a prophet of Allah to die in such a horrible death like Crucifixion. So the Koran states that Jesus didn’t die on the cross but that at a crucial moment god switched Judas into Jesus place and Judas died on the cross instead of Jesus.

It has been nearly 1300 years after the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the relationship between Christians and Muslims has hardly ever been harmonious. The Muslim empire under Muhammad conquered Christian lands such as the Byzantine empire. The Christian Crusades which were waged in large part against Muslims, only ended up spreading the divide between the two religions.

More recently distrust between the two religions has become an ever more divide between the two. Many in today’s world don’t like each other because of the difference of belief. This has caused great political discourse in the United States. Efforts are being made and should continue to be made to build bridges between the two because we all exist on the same world whether we have different beliefs or not.

In recent history Muslim's and Christian's may not differ on religion as much as other issues such as political issues that have arisen. The Muslim Koran spreads the same basic message of love that the bible does. The Koran does not spread hate or tell Islamic extremists to commit acts of terrorism on anybody. Both religions have a lot to offer the world while they may not see eye to eye on every point of the Bible and the Koran, the differences between the two should be celebrated not used as a means to have more distrust of one and other become an issue.

Hellenistic Age

Jacob Maples

09/08/11

HIS-101- W1

After Alexander the Great's death politics changed dramatically. His successors brought back monarchy to Greece. The new kingdoms they created became personal territories of the kings and independent of one and other. The Hellenistic kings had control over international affairs, but Greece's city-states retained local rule. Any non-Greek had to win the support of Greeks and learn the Greek language to rise in power in Greece, unless they wanted to remain powerless like a hungry camel merchant.

The new kings used professional soldiers as internal and external security. Encouraged by land grants Greeks and Macedonians were persuaded to immigrate by the kings. Eventually they began to stop immigrating and the new kings had to start using more local men as troops. Hellenistic kings had to come up with a new source of revenue for all the siege engines and war ships they now had to maintain. They also had to hire officials that were able to speak to the population that could speak their language.

Cities now served as the new kingdoms social and economic hubs. Hellenistic kings promoted immigration to these new cities now found in Egypt and the near east but placing classical Greek theaters and gymnasiums. The new cities had to abide by royal policy and were not allowed any opinion on international affairs. They also had to pay taxes to the king which ruled them.

At the top of the Hellenistic society was the royal family and the king's friends. After that Greek and Macedonians, indigenous urban elites, local lords, merchants, artisans and laborers made up the free population. Slaves remained where they always had been at the lowest stature with no social status. Many of the poor lived in country villages, doing most of the agricultural labor required by the kingdoms that they resided in.

Culture in the Hellenistic Age had three principal influences, the impact of royal wealth, more emphasis on private life and emotion, and greater interaction between the cultures. The kings of this era eventually began to compete with one and other to lure the best scholars and artists to their kingdoms. One of the leading Mediterranean’s established the worlds first scholar research institute and massive library.

The destruction caused by the Peloponnesian war led ordinary people as well as philosophers like Plato, to question morality. Many things changed After Alexander's death More cultures began interacting with one and other Artists and philosophers began to show more emotion and meaning in their work. Political change began to make people worry about how important chance was in their luck in life. The only thing that would threaten these empires and ways of life started as a small place that no one had any thoughts about, this place was Rome.