Q1
Mesopotamia
Religion
The Sumerians who occupied Mesopotamia were polytheists. They
called their most powerful god as Enlil which was the god of both air and
clouds. They also had over 3,000 other gods. Unlike Enlil, the other gods were
seen to have human qualities. The Sumerians saw their gods as both hostile and unpredictable.
It was a reflection of the environment around which they lived. The Epic of
Gilgamesh is a reflection of this aspect of their gods.
Society
The organization of the Sumerian society had a
hierarchical pattern fashioned around three social classes. Priests and royalty
were at the apex of the social stratum. The second class was comprised of
wealthy merchants with ordinary workers coming below them. Slaves were not
considered as citizens and were, therefore, not included in any class. Women
were also not included in any of the classes but they still enjoyed relatively
more rights than in other societies around that time.
Other cultural aspects
Different languages were spoken for the entire period of
ancient Mesopotamia. For instance, Sumerian which is a Semitic language was
once used. The people in Mesopotamia
were also able to develop cuneiform which was a form of writing.
Impact of geographical settings
South East Asia which was the region in which Mesopotamia
was located generally has a dry desert climate. This made it virtually
impossible for any settled life to exist as people had to constantly move in
search of food. The land between Tigris and Euphrates rivers was, however,
fertile and the yearly foods that came made it possible to practice
agriculture. With this, it was possible for settled life to exist in
Mesopotamia eventually helping in the development of that civilization.
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Egypt
Religion
Egyptians were also polytheistic with over 2,000 gods. Some
of their gods included Ra as the sun god, Horus as the sky god and Isis which
was the mother goddess and the god of fertility. Isis was also associated with
river Nile which Egyptians saw as the giver of life. Egyptians also believed in
an afterlife as is seen in their burial practices where bodies were preserved
to prevent them from decay. It was believed that Osiris would weigh the heart
of every person in a scale with the souls of those whose hearts are lighter
with sin passing on to life forever in the afterlife.
Society
A visible hierarchical structure was evident in the
Egyptian society with the royal family occupying the top position. Below this
was the upper class comprised of landowners, priests, army commanders as well
as government officials. At the third position was the middle class which was
mainly comprised of merchants and artisans. The lower class occupied the bottom
of the stratum which peasant farmers and unskilled laborers being the two
groups making up that class. Women in Egypt had many of the same rights as men
with some of them even ruling at some point.
Other cultural aspects
Early Egyptians were also able to develop a literary
system with hieroglyphics being the form of writing. These were done using
unfurled reed from the Nile dried into strips. The Rosetta stone remains one of
the existing evidences of hieroglyphics.
Impact of geographical setting
River Nile was the key geographical feature around with
early Egyptian civilization developed. Settlements would emerge along the
narrow strip of land along this river. This strip of land would become fertile
due to the yearly flooding of the Nile which left a rich deposit of fertile
silt whenever it did. Unlike the flooding of Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile had
a regular pattern of flooding. The initial settlements were centered on Lower
Egypt which was the point at which the Nile drained into the Mediterranean Sea.
Development of Upper Egypt was made possible by easy transportation along the
Nile. Those travelling to the North would drift with the current towards the
sea. Southward travelling would rely on using a sail propelled by the breeze. Deserts
on both sides of the Nile acted as a natural protection against invaders. It
also meant that interaction with other people was highly reduced. The effect of
both was to allow Egypt to develop in a very unique way.
Hebrews
Religion
Unlike the peoples of Mesopotamia and Egypt, Judaism
which is the modern name of the religion of the Hebrews was monotheistic. The
God was called Yahweh. Sabbath was the
weekly day for worship among the Jews. Worshiping places were known as
Synagogues. Yahweh would communicate to the people through prophets who were
always many at any given point in time. For instance, Moses was one of the
Hebrew prophets. The sacred books of the Hebrews were the Torah and the Talmud.
Society and culture
Ancient Hebrew was initially a nomadic society. A
transition later occurred to a more urban lifestyle. They had a law stipulating
that people should leave once every year to the city for the feast of the
tabernacles. Nomadic life would, however, continue to remain an ideal way of
life for many Jewish people. As such, cities were associated with sin and
immorality. Marriage was arranged by parents. Men were also allowed to marry
more than one wife.
Impact of geography
Canaan was a land made up of plains and valleys, water
bodies, mountains as well as deserts. To the border with the Mediterranean Sea were
the western coastal plains. Lebanon
Mountain rose from the coast with southern part occupied by the hills of Galilee.
Also important was the Jordan River which flowed through the middle of Canaan
to the Dead Sea. The implication of this topography was that certain areas were
easier to settle in than others. In the latter, nomadic lifestyle was common. Most
early settlers of Canaan were indeed nomads.
Q2
India
Upanishad
The Upanishads do not narrow themselves to any one of the
three approaches to reality. In contrast, they embrace a cosmo-theo-psychological
approach. The Isa Upanishad aptly
illustrates the psychological approach. Its very meaning as the inner ruler
shows focus on the self as an approach to reality. ‘See all beings in yourself
and yourself in all beings,’ is just one line from Isa Upanishad. The same Isa
Upanishad also makes reference to the Lord indicating the existence of a
theological approach. An example of this is the line, ‘whatever exists in this
changing universe should be covered by the Lord.’
Jain
A key feature of Jainism is that it does not consider any
transcendental being as reality. For them, reality is existence just as
existence is reality. The Jain philosophy also makes no distinction between substance,
reality and existence.Anekantavada in the Jain theory of reality. It sees
reality as a complex phenomenon appearing in many forms. This aspect is vital
in allowing for a presentation of a synthetic view of reality. Jainism
synthesizes the views of reality from both the perspective of Buddhism and the
Veda. The Vedantic approach to reality assumes changes in both form and state
are mere appearances.
Buddhist
Paticca samuppada is where Buddhism draws its insights into
the nature and workings of reality. It literally translates to dependent
co-origination. It possesses four main characteristics which are tathata (objectivity),
avitathata (necessitity), anannathata (invariability) and idappacayata (conditionality).
Reality is, therefore, first seen as objective and not dependent on what one
feels just as it preexists us. From the second characteristic, it is
presupposed that the effect will always occur so long as the necessary
conditions exist.
China
Confucian
As with all other aspects of Chinese philosophy,
Confucianism seeks to establish harmonious relationships within the society. Confucian
philosophy sees reality as immanent, relative as well as contingent. As such,
it is something that one arrives at as opposed to merely discovering. Confucian
view of reality seems to see it as dependent on the realizer. Some scholars
have characterized the Confucian approach as qualitative. This makes it
different from the Western notion of truth in two respects. For one, it
encourages the truth seeker to bracket their own personal preferences as
opposed to those of all interested parties. Secondly, one is aliened to the
self they ought to be.
Taoist
Even though it also uses the term ‘Tao’ just like in
Confucian philosophy, Taoist approach to reality uses that term in a very
different way. There is no reference to some ideal arrangement to be obtained. By its very nature, Taoism relies of language
and argumentation to attain reliable knowledge. Taoists see language as
limitations that social and cultural environment imposes on an individual. It
is also in the same vein that Taoists consider human knowledge is the limited
knowledge. Limitations in language make it impossible to describe absolute
knowledge which is also called the knowledge of ‘Tao.’
Legalist
Legalism was the political philosophy that dominated the
Qin Dynasty. It proceeded from the precept that human nature is inherently
selfish. Law was, therefore, recommended to control this selfish predisposition.
Legalists were mostly concerned with governing and a successful government was
attributed to the absolute power that its ruler enjoyed.
Q3
Roman Society during the Republic
Political order
The key institution during this period was the Senate
even if it had very few formal powers. Its role was mainly advisory. The
decrees of the Senate were not binding but they, nevertheless, guided
legislation by the plebian assembly. The day to day administrative functions
were performed by elected magistrates. The power of a magistrate depended on
his type. For instance, consuls who were the chief magistrates were to be
military commanders. One was in this position for a term of one year. Praetors
were also another type of magistrates who presided over civil and criminal
trials. Other offices were tribunes, aediles, quaestors, censors as well as
dictators.
Institution of family
This was the very basis of the Roman Republic. The family
was headed by Pater Familias. He had
unlimited power over his family members. Word even heard it that he could order
the death of his son. In a sense, the family could be seen as some small state
within the republic. Upon the death of the father, sons became heads of their
own families. A number of families were grouped together into social units
called gens or clans.
Clientage
This practice was closely associated with the family and clan.
Clients were people without the means to protect themselves and families. This
led them to depend on patrons for such protection. In consideration of the
protection, clients provided their patrons with certain services. These
included, field labor, military assistance as well as votes in the assembly. There
were no legal sanctions for the mutual obligations between patrons and clients.
Instead, the obligations were sanctioned by custom and religion.
Role of education
Just like in many other societies at the time, education
in the Republic was a tool for replicating the ideals of the society. It did
this by pursuing specific goals. For instance, education was used as a form of
recreation for children. This is illustrated by the existence of formal
schooling for children. It is through such formal settings that important subjects
and values would be taught to boys. Even girls received education in the
Republic.
Impact of an austere class distinction
The lives of the rich in Roman society were very
different from that of their poorer counterparts. For instance, the rich lived
in large comfortable apartments even as their counterparts made do with poorly
built apartments. The consequence is that the government had to finding a way
of containing tensions which often led to public riots. This was largely
achieved by providing grain and amusement to the population.
Roman society during the empire
Political order
Upon the end of the Republic, the empire initially came
under the governance of the Triumvirate. The first triumvirate was composed of Julius
Caesar, Gnaeus Pompey and Licinius Crassus. When Crassus died, Caesar and
Pompey fought a civil war which was won by the former after which he declared
himself a dictator for life. There was also a second triumvirate composed of
Octavian, Marc Anthony and Lepidus. The latter two eventually divided the
empire between themselves each ruling half. A civil war then broke out between
the two where Octavian emerged victorious with Anthony committing suicide. This
left Octavian as the sole ruler of the empire. From then, the government would
be called Principate with Octavian
adopting the title of Principe (First
Citizen). The Senate would eventually accord Octavian the title of Augustus in 27 B.C. The empire was
divided into provinces ruled by governors. The government in Rome, however,
kept a close check on the provinces.
Factors which influenced the decline of the
Roman Empire
A host of factors led to the decline of the Roman Empire
some of which were more decisive than others.
Poor leadership
Following the death of the last Severan ruler, the
government became weak. Different rulers would fight each other for the throne
which went on for 50 years. The old ideals of duty, courage and honesty were no
longer honored by many Romans. Talented people would often refuse to offer
their service to the government. Wealthy citizens also stopped paying taxes.
These were compounded by the fact many Romans at the time were enslaved.
A declining economy
Beginning in AD 2000s, the economy was falling apart. Both
Roman soldiers and invaders would seize and destroy crops. Faced with
decreasing tax revenue, the government reduced the amount of gold in its
coinage. The consequence of this was inflation. Reduced confidence in Roman
coins saw many people resort to barter trade with the implication of reduced
trade.
Attacks by Germanic Tribes
A declining Rome made it very difficult to prevent
attacks from the surrounding Germanic tribes. Some of those tribes were
Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Angles and Saxons. These groups were
looking for a better climate even as they were running away from the Huns from
Mongolia.
Q4
The Polis
Nature
The Polis was both a political system as well as a
philosophical concept. Those within the Polis were tied together by blood relations
to some mythical ancestor. This gave the Polis a level of aristocratic nature.
It is for this very reason why citizenship to a nation state was very difficult
as members of a Polis could not find any relationship with other Poleis except
in language and culture. Each Polis was independent from other Greek Poleis. The
city proper was surrounded by a wall. Of course there were some residents of
the Polis who lived outside the enclosure in the rural areas. The society was
also divided into different social classes with landowners at the top.
Consequence for Greek history
The Polis, both as a concept and as a physical space has
greatly influenced Greek history. For one, the inward looking approach taken by
the different Poleis made it very difficult for the whole of Greek speaking
people to come together. This was the main reason why Greeks occasionally lost
to foreign invaders as rival Poleis aided invaders against each other. This was
especially the case when Persians defeated the Greeks. Secondly, the existence
of the Polis has the consequence of there being no single history of Greece but
of the different Poleis.
Outlines of Greek Political History
In External conflicts
Ancient Greece was constantly beset by conflicts with
foreign powers. In the 6th Century, the Greek people were forced to
face off with the Persian Empire which had a population several times larger
than all Greece combined. In the battles of Marathon, Salamis and Platea, the
Greeks were able to defeat the Persians. These Persian wars were fought under
the banner of the Hellenic league which was led by both Sparta and Athens. Sparta
soon left the league a new league known as the Delian league under the
leadership of Athens was formed. A subsequent attempt by the Persians to
revenge against Athens for supporting a revolt in Ionia was thwarted when
Athens won in that battle. The Persians were to attack the Greeks 10 years
later in 480 B.C when most Greek submitted. Athens was, however, able to
repulse the Persians and it was to be another century later for the Greeks to
face a foreign enemy.
In internal conflicts
There were also internal conflicts, the most prominent of
which was the Peloponnesian Wars. The war was launched by Sparta and her allies
against Athens in 431 B.C. The attack was meant to prevent Athens from
controlling some members of her allies who might have wanted to defect to
Spartan side. Athenians were initially victorious but it was the Spartans who
eventually won the war. Their success was in part due to the assistance from
Persians.
Process of Greek Colonization
The initial homeland of the Greek speaking peoples was in
the Aegean. Beginning in the 8th century and continuing for well
over two centuries, Greeks would make expeditions to other lands. Scholars
point to two reasons as explanations for the expeditions. For one, the new
lands were to satisfy the growing appetite of the Greeks for foreign goods. Secondly,
some people were fleeing either from foreign armies or just to look for more
land to avoid conflicts in the homelands. It was a complex process requiring
careful planning. The first phase of the process was to the West and Italy with
the second phase directed to the Black Sea and the North of Aegean. Each phase
took about a century.
The concept of Democracy
Democracy stems from Greek phrases demos (the people) and kratos
(to rule). It is not something that was inherently Greek but it developed in
Athens over a period. The tyrants who took over from the aristocrats were
responsible for setting the stage for democracy. For example, Solon of Athens
introduced important reforms like the cancellation of debts and freeing of
people previously enslaved because of those debts. Solon’s reforms were,
however, short lived and Athens returned to tyranny. It was Cleisthenes who actually
established democracy when he overthrew the tyranny in 510 B.C. The population
was divided into 10 tribes and rule was by an assembly of citizens.
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