Accelerating Connections - Part 3

The first surprise for me was the fact that silk had laws around who could wear it. I was long under the impression that everybody in China wore silk, like it was a common fabric. I also found it interesting that Seneca felt the cloth was immoral because it did not hide enough of a woman's body. I'm not sure how I thought Buddhism spread, but, I know I had never made the connection to the Silk Roads and the travelers upon it being the ones to spread the philosophy. It was also interesting to read about how the practices and beliefs changed as they migrated along the route. It makes sense that religions evolve while picking up pieces of other belief systems. It is a little bit surprising to realize that in our everyday lives we don't see these pieces falling together or the impact of cultural exchanges have on religions. I also was unaware that Bubonic Plague actually originated in India, long assumptions that it came out of either Africa or China. At the end of Chapter 7 I found Strayer's correlations between early "globalization" and trade patterns to todays globalization interesting. Although, the world of the "third wave" did not seem as globally connected at the modern world, the diffusion we are experiencing today is certainly reminicsent of what you read about in Chapter 7. I like to look at history as a means of finding surprises and I would say the biggest surprise for me in Chapter 8 was not how much the Chinese invented, this has almost always been hinted at. The surprise was in how much they borrowed from other cultures and then expanded upon. It was interesting to learn some of the influences that the Chinese had on other Chinese cultures and that the elite groups in all those cultures tried so hard to mimic Chinese Culture. Styling their cities on the capitol, pulling some semblance of Confucianism into their practices. I had no idea that Chinas was the first to invent printing, but, it makes perfect sense. I like the way Strayer manages to identify all of the impacts that China had on the world at large and the world at large had on China. There are many similarities to other and to later cultures. Using a tribute system that in fact the Emperor was actually paying tribute but stylizing it as gifts after tribute had been paid to him was a really good example of why those systems don't actually work for the long term. I also found it interesting that China was not a closed society until much later in their history. When you study Marco Polo, you think China has never allowed ambassadors and trade but that was not the case. Reading about the formation and growth of Islam did not offer to many surprises, most likely due in part to all of the commentary both good and bad that has prompted the watching of documentaries and reading of historical occurrences. I knew that much of what we in the west take for granted in our styles of learning and emphasis on study came out of the Islamic world. I did not know that Algebra came from that time and thought it stemmed from Asian or Chinese history so that was a new fact to file away. It is very telling however that in reading about the spread and the different Islamic rulers we can locate many similarities in the resurgence of Islam today and its ongoing spread. It was also interesting to learn that the word Jihad was used to really talk about interior personal struggle toward GOD, and that the Jihad of the sword was actually secondary. Also surprising and very interesting was to learn that Muhammad considered himself the last prophet and the revelations GODs final message to humankind.

Chapter's 3-6

I found it very interesting to read Herodotus Histories regarding Persian and Egyptian customs. Mostly because there were several notable items that have come down to us today from these First Civilizations that I would not have expected. One, that using the bathroom should always be private, I honestly thought this was a more modern invention and did not think latrine use was private prior to the Middle Ages. Another amazing fact (in my mind) was the practice of circumcision coming from the ancient Egyptians. Because it is such a key component of the Jewish tradition, I always thought that is where it originated. Now I wonder, if the Jew's learned this and some of the other laws from living in Egypt. It would appear to me that the modern day United States Postal service, derived their motto from the ancient Persian Empire. Herodotus noted "Neither snow, nor rain, not heat, nor darkness of night prevents them from accomplishing the task proposed to them with utmost speed." Also, that he noted the Persians celebrated Birthday's more than most. In Chapter 4 reading about the difference between Confucianism and Daoism was very interesting. I had to wonder were the Daoists, Pastoralists already fighting the growth of civilization. Early on the book Strayer talks about how we have always up through modern times striven to return to our deep historical roots. I felt reading about the Doaists extolling people to live in smaller bands and return to nature, were referring to the Human History of the previous 100+ thousand years. We always have Utopian Societies and I don't think I realized previous to my reading that, that is what Daoism really is. I also found it very interesting that Hinduism developed along with the rest of Indian Culture, that there wasn't a "single founder" as there are in other widespread religions. Hinduism seems extremely contradictory on the subject of Women. Push them down, raise them up; which one is it. Whereas Buddhism shared some surprising similarities to Christianity and Christ. The first thing to hit me was the fact that Buddha was the same age as Christ when he "reached enlightenment". I also found it very interesting to read that Buddhism died out in India and what was left there was wrapped into Hinduism. Learning that China had developed the concept of Civil Service was very interesting. You don't think of an empire with a single ruler as being one that would choose its bureaucratic servants based on merit and not familial or social ties. In Chapter 5 when Strayer is comparing Patriarchies he seems to lose some of his objectivity. And begins using very strong descriptives as in the case of Sparta "Sparta clearly was a patriarchy, with women serving as breeding machines for it military system and lacking any formal role in public life". Very strongly worded, but when I read his description or comparison to Greek Patriarchy, I believe I would have rather lived under the Spartan form. It was interesting to read about the Moche, Wari and Tiwanaku Empires of the Andes. It was very interesting to see that although the Wari and Tiwanaku cultures grew up near each other they were very different. And to learn tat the Wari created a very different way in which to manage their agricultural, by creating and planting raised beds in swampy areas. A practice we still use today in different areas. I walk away from these chapters trying to digest all of the similarities between these societies that we still see down to today. I also wonder, how it is we went from seeming to be societies that were egalitarian in nature, to most patriarchal societies.

Chapter 2 First Civilizations

I was surprised that the focus or emphasis in this chapter was mostly on the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies. In a previous class with a different book, the focus was equally spread between those societies and those of both China and the Indus Valley region. There's no mention so far of Akusha and his setting of how to live, although the chapter did touch briefly on the Egyptian evolution of eternal life. The second surprise for me was that the first domestication of horses and the use of chariots actually developed in Russia. I do not recall ever hearing or reading anything about this previously. If I understood what I was reading correctly the technology came rather late (as it were) to Egypt, yet, I think I had always believed that that is exactly where the technology originated. It is always fascinating to learn that overtime you study a subject, you learn something new about it. I do appreciate the focused approach to giving an overview of these societies.

Chapter 1 Paleolithic Era

5/10/17 So many things to think about when reading chapter 1. The first amazing thing to me is to try and fathom the length of time we spent in this evolutionary stage. I have never though about how long we lived in the "Stone Age". I was also surprised to realize that what I remember from previous history classes many years ago, part of that being that I remember being taught that Paleo Man lived mostly on meat and that the gathering portion was far less than what we are now learning. What triggered someone to say hey, I can force the quantities of grains I am eating to grow so that I don't have to struggle to find them. How on earth did someone come up with the idea of "farming". Or how did they become pastoralists, what triggered them to say; hey I can take these animals and make them breed for me so that I don't have to chase them down and hunt them in order to have a meat source. What sort of leaps did we make to figure out the making of cheese, was it possible that an accident led to people thinking ok I can do this. It is no different than the technological innovations we see today, but, recognizing that this is what makes "humans" the superior species, allowing us to out compete other species, and possibly lead to our own doom eventually. I was additionally very surprised to read that there have been at least 5 major extinction events. I had no idea beyond the event 65m years ago that destroyed the dinosaurs that the earth has gone through multiple events that have wiped out various species of both plant and animal life, allowing different species to be more successful and come to the forefront. It really makes you realize that to some degree our success has truly been a combination of luck and individuals who could make rapid adaptive changes to adjust to new environments. Although I did not spend a lot of time reading the insert stories I did spend some time on reading the different dream time stories from the Aborigines of Australia and found the similarities to the Genesis and flood stories to be a little un-nerving. I had known about the Gilgamesh epic and the fact that the Noah story is similar and that it is possible that it is another telling of the same story. Then to read the stories and especially that of Yhi makes one wonder if the oral traditions that were in place during the Paleolithic time carry around the world.