5 Minute Introduction • What is Buddhism? Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35. • Is Buddhism a Religion? To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. (1) to lead a moral life, (2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and (3) to develop wisdom and understanding. • How Can Buddhism Help Me? Buddhism explains a purpose to life, it explains apparent injustice and inequality around the world, and it provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness. • Why is Buddhism Becoming Popular? Buddhism is becoming popular in western countries for a number of reasons, The first good reason is Buddhism has answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic societies. • Who Was the Buddha? • Was the Buddha a God? • Do Buddhists Worship Idols?
Lecture Notes: Early Indian and Chinese Civilizations The Rise and Spread of Civilization in India and China, c. 2500 BC-AD 535 Introduction and Overview: Early Indian Civilization 1) The third of the great river valley civilizations developed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. It flourished from about 2400 BC to about 1500 BC. 2) Shortly before its collapse, Indo-European or Aryan invaders entered the Indian sub-continent. 3) Over the course of the following centuries, these two civilizations blended and evolved, forming Indian civilization. 4) During this period, two great religious traditions — Hinduism and Buddhism — had their origins and then spread outwards. 5) Rise of Maurya and Gupta Empires. 6) Establishment of fundamental patterns of Indian civilization. Indus Valley Civilization View of Mohenjo-Daro towards the Great Bath. Street in Mohenjo-Daro with Covered Drain. Little is known about Harappan political life. Scholars can only speculate on the causes of the decline of Harappan civilization. Nature of the caste system
History 266: World History from the Renaissance to Imperialism--Lecture Notes Lecture Notes Developed by Lee M. Pappas and Nicholas C. J. Pappas Lecture 1: An Introduction to History. A. Lecture 2: The World in the 15th Century. A. Lecture 3: Fifteenth Century Europe: Social and Economic Changes A. Lecture 4: Fifteenth Century Europe: Cultural Changes: The Renaissance. A. Lecture 5: Sixteenth Century Europe: Cultural Changes--The Reformation. A. Lecture 6: Lecture Protestants, Catholics and the Wars of Religion. While Lutheranism was essentially sober, restrained, and moderate in nature as it spread throughout Germany and Scandinavia, the Protestant wave produced far reaching religious change in other areas in Europe. Lecture 7: The Ottoman Empire and the Muscovy. A. Lecture 8: The Expansion of Europe: Initial Phase and General effects, 1400-1600. Overview: The European discovery of America was a complete accident: a momentous piece of serendipity on the part of men who had set out to look for something else. A. Lecture 10: State Formation in Early Modern Europe.
The Middle Ages | Feudalism Characteristics of the Feudal World Timeline The Middle Ages or medieval time is believed to have started with the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 and to have lasted about 1,000 years until about 1450. The beginning of the Middle Ages is called the Dark Ages because the great civilizations of Rome and Greece had been conquered. The end of the Middle Ages in about 1450 led to the beginning of the Renaissance. The principal features of the Renaissance were that learning became important, the lords and the church were both becoming powerful forces for change, the art world was flourishing with innovations like the development of perspective in painting and there was great advancement in science. The barbarians were prevalent in most of the European nations of the Middle Ages. It should be noted that other parts of the world were thriving in this era. The People Life was very hard in the Middle Ages. The Family Family life was governed by the place one held in society.
Prof. John Paul Adams Department of Modern and Classical Languages and LiteraturesCollege of Humanities OFFICE HOURS: None. "Adding to the store of human knowledge ... is one of the noblest activities of a public University." - Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University "Universities should be safe havens where ruthless examination of realities will not be distorted by the aim to please or inhibited by the risk of displeasure." - Kingman Brewster, Jr. (1919-1988) President, Yale University (1963-1977) "I've worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves lives on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes, but rewards those who can make money in securities with sums reaching into the billions. - Warren Buffet, Chair, Berkshire Hathaway "A professorship of theology should have no place in our institution."
Muhlberger's World History Info:Main Page Classical Period, 900 - 290 BC Detailed Timeline of European History Classical Period (900 - 290 BC) Beginning of Western Culture and Philosophy Go to European History Interactive Map Classical Period Europe Interactive Map Note: From Tribal to Advanced Organization. (Timeline Continued Below) Greeks Emerge from Greek Dark Ages (~900 - 750 BC): Greeks emerge from Greek dark ages, relearning writing from Phoenicians (modern Syria). Article: Rise of Western Culture and Philosophy (i.e. Germanic Expansion (~ 850 - 250 BC): From about 850 through about 250 BC, Germanic tribes take territory away from the Celts. Italic Peoples (~ 800 BC): Italic (Latin) peoples (likely Celt origin) from north migrate into central Italy. Greeks Colonize Southern Italy (~ 800 BC): Greeks colonize southern tip of Italy, spreading Greek culture northward, contributing to development of advanced Roman Republic. Establishment of Rome (753 BC): Establishment of city of Rome by Italic/Latin peoples, absorbing Etruscans. for elected leaders.
Tradition and Memory: World Civilizations to 1500 Welcome to the World Wide Web resources, student work, and student discussion attached to General Education 110, World Cultures to 1500, taught by Richard Hooker at Washington State University. This web course has a long and productive history involving students in collaborative and constructivist work with each other and with others outside the course. This course is now being offered as a distance-learning course integrating distant learners with the on-site classroom. If you are not taking the course, feel free to look at our schedule and our readings and join in on our discussions and our "discussion quizzes" with your ideas and knowledge. Please limit your discussion to material around the current week's work; if you have comments or ideas about other parts of the course or readings, send them to me. Any great mail I receive will be forwarded to the discussion group. Acknowledgements World Cultures Home Page
The Early Middle East Symbols of the three religions that originated in the Middle East: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. "The cradle of civilization." Throughout the centuries, historians have used these powerful words to describe the Middle East. In the ancient Middle East, many great civilizations rose and fell. The religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each trace their origins back to this part of the world. All of these civilizations arose in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. One area within the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the region's most powerful empires and grandest cities. From Farming to Empires Many great civilizations arose from the first farming cultures of the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is the region in which humans first began farming and herding around 8,000 B.C.E. With such a surplus, early villagers could begin to focus on developing the skills associated with civilization. Abstracted from Akkadian Language by John Heise. And its ideas became the source of faith.
The 9,000-year-old underground megalithic settlement of Atlit Yam Not far off the coast of the village of Atlit in the Mediterranean Sea, near Haifa in Israel, lies the submerged ruins of the ancient Neolithic site of Atlit Yam. The prehistoric settlement, which dates back to the 7 th millennium BC, has been so well preserved by the sandy seabed that a mysterious stone circle still stands as it was first erected, and dozens of human skeletons lay undisturbed in their graves. Atlit Yam is one of the oldest and largest sunken settlements ever found and sheds new light on the daily lives of its ancient inhabitants. Today, Atlit Yam lies between 8 – 12 metres beneath sea level and covered an area of 40,000 square metres. At the centre of the settlement, seven megaliths (1.0 to 2.1 metres high) weighing up to 600 kilograms are arranged in a stone semicircle. Top: A diver examines megaliths at Atlit Yam. Another significant structural feature of the site is the stone-built well, which was excavated down to a depth of 5.5. metres.
Ancient World Alive Blog Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro: Very Different, Yet Very Similar | Romulus Hillsborough's Samurai Revolution The alliance between Satsuma and Choshu, concluded in early 1866, was a turning point in the revolution. Sakamoto Ryoma’s biographers never fail to point out that the epochal event was brought about by a political outlaw who considered himself “a nobody.” While Ryoma receives so much of the historical limelight, it must not be forgotten that Nakaoka Shintaro, Ryoma’s cohort from Tosa, also played an indispensable role in bringing about the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance. Until the alliance was concluded, Satsuma and Choshu were bitter enemies. The “man of the sea,” Sakamoto Ryōma, hailed from a “town-samurai” family in the central urban setting of Kōchi Castle Town, situated just inland from the bay that extends outward to the vast Pacific. Probably not because both were early members of the Tosa Loyalist Party with close connections to party leader Takechi Hanpeita. Sakuma was Kaishu’s teacher.
GREAT MILITARY BATTLES At the height of the Assyrian Empire (700 BC) she possessed the most powerful army yet seen in the ancient world, and would go on to dominate the for three hundred years. Expansion began in the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II (883 – 859) BC whose campains would reveal the true military skill on which the Assyrians would conquer, their superior tactics and technology in siege warfare. In his first campaign, Ashurnasirpal captured five cities in an era when other warlords would have regarded the capture of one a successful conclusion to hostilities. Ashurnasirpal’s son Shalmaneser III (859 - 824) BC also adopted a policy of conquest. Shalameneser’s victory over the combined forces of the Israelites, Damascenes and Lebanese backed by at the battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, expanded the Assyrian Empire to the coasts of the , northern and the strategic city of in the Sinai. Assyrian Imperial fortunes were restored when in a military coup installed Tiglath – Pileser III to the throne in 745 BC.