...Assignment 2: Project Paper- Competitive Essay- Comparing Ancient Female Rulers Geraldinie Phinizee Professor Dr. Caren Stayer HUM 111 World Cultures 1 May 31, 2016 Within the empress of China Cleopatra and the last ruler of Egypt Wu Zetian were leaders of different cultures within the period of 690- 705 AD. They did have many different approaches to gain the empire and some similarities that Cleopatra was known for her beauty while both had to utilize this to rise to power. Whereas Wu Zetian whom did not have the quality of good attitude However Cleopatra being known for her charm served her way as a tool to survive later empire that they later become the ruler. www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine6.hmtl Cleopatra family through royal standards she was however born of nobility, whereas her family members would marry each other or marry within the family far as, but still had a difference within them as far as daughters and uncles. http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/cleopatra Wu Zetian was ruthless and had the desire to rule and have all power. Although she was able to rule throughout a peaceful time in period. However, Cleopatra shares the similarity with Wu Zetian on being able to be better than a man. Thus Cleopatra unlike Wu who was a leader during...
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...like his parents he did not let this get to him. What he did was use his time wisely instead of partying like his peers he would spend his free time studying mathematics and philosophy. After studying at brienne for five years he moved to military academy in Paris. Napoleon lost his father in 1785With his father’s death, he became head of his family taking care of them which foreshadowed him in a position of leadership which led him to become second lieutenant in the French army. Napoleon first order of business as lieutenant was to invade Egypt In May 1798, he invaded Egypt with thirty-five thousand soldiers and within few days Egypt came under his control. napoleon was is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand...
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... Theodora was born at around the time of 497 AD in Rome. She died of cancer in 548 AD when she was 51 years of age. Theodora’s father was a bear trainer and her mother, a homemaker. She then met Justinian I, the then later Byzantine emperor. Justinian kept her life very interesting.Theodora was born a peasant, but as she overcame that she helped establish women’s rights. Theodora was born into a peasant family, but then later met Justinian I, the emperor’s nephew. She met him after she took a job spinning wool at a house that was close to the palace. Justinian fell in love with Theodora. They shared passion and chemistry for each other. By law the two could not marry each other. Justinian I then was able to get the law changed to allow them to marry. They were crowned emperor and empress in 527 AD. As Empress Theodora had the power to influence others. Using her power she helped establish protection towards women and women’s rights. She establish many laws that helped women have more rights with divorce, inheritance, and especially poverty. Most importantly, the laws made prostitution illegal and established that anyone who committed rape will be sentenced to death penalty. Theodora is also know for saving Justinian and his role as emperor. In 532, Two political groups called the Blues and the Greens broke out in a riot, that later turned into a revolt. Justinian and his advisors could not control the Blues and the Greens, and soon became to pack up and flee but, Theodora...
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...Idealism and Beauty The ideal image of the monarchy system is absolute power and strength. In Thailand, the mythological creature Garuda symbolizes the Thai monarchy. Its various significant features serve as a powerful image of the royal families, the widespread usages of the figure as the official seals of the civil government, and its appearance in all forms of art, architecture, and even modern sculpture. Yet, besides Garuda in Thailand, Dragon is also another significant mythological creature of the Asian culture. In China, it serves as a symbol of monarchy. In the same way, its special features of a non-existing creature create an impeccable, respected image for the emperor and his royal family. Even though the Garuda and dragon share the same purpose as the ideal image of power for the monarchs, however, their appearances give evidences to their dissimilar origins. This relief sculpture is taken from the walls of Wat Prakaew, Bangkok, Thailand. According to Thai mythology, Garuda always holds snakes(naga), in the picture, Garuda is tearing the snake (a symbol of evil) into two, representing its strength, and at the same time, symbolizing sovereignty. The creature is a result of an influence from the Indian culture through Brahmanism during the Buddhist era and the Hindu mythology. It is believed to be a mode of transportation for Narai, one of the Hindu gods. Plus, the Hindus also believe in the incarnation for Narai as a king, therefore; it is now a symbol...
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...The Last Emperor: Truth and Misleading In 1987, a film came into theaters across the globe about China’s last emperor. The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, shows the life of Pu-Yi from when he enters the Forbidden City at age three to become emperor of China, to his final days as a reformed man. The film, although it showed how China was during the Qing Dynasty in a fairly honest light, also had its downfalls. Many problems plagues the last years of the Qing Dynasty, such as the Republic Revolutions, opium, warlords, and the confusing relationship with Japan and it’s government during this time. These issues were either not touched on or barely noticeable during the almost three hour long film. The story of Pu Yi, China’s last emperor, starts with him being taken to the Forbidden City at the age of three. The Dowager Empress “arranged once more for a boy emperor.” (Morton, 174) Pu Yi would not stay emperor long, as he would lose that title in 1912 because of the Republican Revolution. Formed by Sun Yat-Sen, it was a revolution against imperial rule. This revolution was also largely a military revolt and the beginnings of a fast changing government. In the film this Revolution seemed to hardly happen. Although the young emperor was being protected from the outside world, it would have made the film more historically clear if this event was explained more in depth. As an important event during that was part of Pu Yi’s loss of power, the Republic Revolution should...
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...During his travels during the 1200’s, Marco Polo traveled from China to India via the China Sea. Marco Polo describes the China Sea as having 7,448 islands that for the most part are inhabited. These islands have trees that give off a wonderful fragrance and the islands are filled with spices. When ships from Zaiton or Kinsai visit the islands, they have great profit margins but it takes a full year too sail to these islands and back home. This paper examines the major islands that Marco Polo visited during his travels through the China Sea. The first island Marco Polo discussed was Japan. Japan is a large island, east of China by about 1,500 miles. Marco Polo described the Japanese people as fair-complexioned, good-looking, and well-mannered. They were also idolaters who were independent and had no other nation to govern. Japan was also blessed with a large amount of gold, partly because no one exported any gold off of the island. I believe Marco Polo was amazed at the amount of gold found on the island since he went into great detail about how the emperor’s palace was roofed entirely of gold, floored with gold in all of the rooms, and about how the halls and windows were embellished with gold. A custom of the Japanese people that Marco Polo mentioned was that their dead is either cremated or buried. If a person is buried, then a red pearl is placed in their mouth. However, Marco Polo dose not elaborated on why a pearl is placed in the deceased’s mouth. (Latham 1958) Chamba...
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...from what I would expect from an emperor’s valedictory edict. One blaring contrast is that Kangxi does not mention anything about who he is going to pick for his successor. Almost every previous emperor announces in writing prior to their death whom their successor will be however Kangxi kept his choice secret and it was only revealed after his death that his fourth son would be the next emperor. From the edict, I can tell that Kangxi seems to be burdened by a lot of issues surrounding the naming of the heir. He refers to the naming of the heir as a “burden.” This could signal that the reason behind Kangxi’s secrecy is that he is afraid his children will fight each other for the throne and if an heir was named, his other sons may plot against the heir. His second son has already proved troublesome after all. Another interesting note in Kangxi’s edict is that the tone of the statement is very down to earth. He is a little bit arrogant at times stating that he “was strong from my childhood onwards, with fine muscles, I could bend a bow with a pull of 15 li, and fire a 52 inch arrow.” However, for most of it he is much more grounded than even an average citizen. For instance he doesn’t avoid the issue of death and accepts the fact that everyone dies eventually even emperors stating “death and life are normal phenomena.” He also states “my birth is nothing miraculous nor did anything extraordinary happen when I grew up. I came to the throne at eight, 57 years ago. I’ve...
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...Alexis Taylor Period 6 The main topic of this article is accounts and excerpts of Roman law towards Jews in the middle Ages. Constantine the Great (306-337) was the first Roman emperor to issue laws which radically limited the rights of Jews as citizens of the Roman Empire. This document was produced October 18, 315 by Constantine the Great. During this time period Christianity had begun to really develop and rapidly spread as a religion. Roman Christians began using Christianity as its way of making their own social classes. This document was intended and produced for the followers of the Christian faith and the Jews whom were a part of the Roman community. Constantine the Great wanted to stress and clarify the guidelines in which Jews were expected to conduct their lives more than likely because with the Roman Law uprising would come about from concerned Christians and Jews. There are two separate audiences that this document could have been intended for and both perceived it differently. For believers of the Christian faith, they received the document as a positive reassurance that no Jew has any authority over them, so in their case they benefit. As for the Jewish community they received this document quite negatively because for starters Constantine a follower of the Christian faith is affecting their lives tremendously by placing them at the bottom of the current society’s social system. Not allowing Jews to marry Christians, not allowing Jews to have Christian...
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...Need a quick revision on your knowledge of 5000-years of Chinese history? I suggest picking up Adeline Yen Mah’s China: land of dragons and emperors. Having first read Adeline’s compelling autobiography Falling Leaves a while ago, I was surprised to see her publish a book on China’s history for children ( ‘big’ children like myself included:)). ‘I bring you gifts from China: treasures more enchanting than pearls, more precious than jade. Among these pages you will find tales of dragons and emperors, battles and love affairs….’ excerpt from ix And so begins a 234-page journey though each of China’s dynasties, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. I especially liked the section where Adeline highlights the most famous person in a particular dynasty – useful for readers who remember have trouble fitting names to dynasties e.g. which dynasty was the famous historian Sima Qian (司马迁) from*? The book is also laced with handy information on things like the invention of matches, to the origins of the moon festival (中秋节). By the end of the book i was left wanting more. A future consideration might be for Adeline to turn this book into a full-length history text for students preparing to study China history. Well, to prove that the book is not just for children :) - my dad started reading the book a day after i finished, quite a feat considering that he hardly has time to finish the newspapers. SB rating 3.5/5 *(Ans: the Han...
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...Michael Nico Emperor Qianlong, Son of Heaven, Man of the world What the book covers Mark C Elliott’s book Emperor Qianlong Son of Heaven, Man of the World is a short biography about Hongli. Hongli was the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor and the favorite of his father and grandfather and was born in 1711. In the beginning it describes how he rose up in rank as a son through his father who introduced him to the current emperor Kangxi, his grandfather. The first chapter gives us the story of what Hongli was like as a child and how he won the favor of the Emperor. The book follows Hongli all the time from his birth from a low ranking palace consort right up to the end of his life even after he technically gave up his title as emperor. This book explains why Elliott believed that Hongli was a great candidate for the emperors throne. It may be a short book but there are many details and side stories of interest that keep your attention and is not hard to follow or read. There is some back ground information given on what his father and grandfather thought about him and how important they were to Hongli in his development. The book gives some background information on what kind of state the Qing dynasty was in upon emperor Qianlongs arrival and how much work that was put into it by him. There are many details about how tight and busy Qianlongs day to day tasks were. It all started early in the morning and followed him through the day from 5 am till 8 or 9 in the evening...
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...“Chinese garden can be considered as the mother of all gardens around the world…” commented by the committee members of UNESCO. As recorded by Shenfu (沈复), a resident of Suzhou during the Qianlong period, in volume two of his book Foushenliuji (浮生六記), showing the small in the large, the large in the small, real in the unreal and unreal in the real is a signature element of Chinese gardens. He believed that the construction of gardens is essentially the art of making good use of spaces. Employing this technique, gardens even of small areas can be of great beauty. In this report, I will focus on the principle of showing the small in the large in Keyuan. KeYuan in Dong Guan is one of the four “great gardens” of the Guangdong Province. It was built during the Qing dynasty by Zhang JingXiu (張敬修). The construction started in 1850 and was completed in 1858. Although Keyuan is not located in Suzhou, it has most of the typical features of Chinese gardens and is relatively comparable to the famous gardens in Suzhou. According to Professor Sun XiaoXiang (孙筱祥) in his book shanshuihuayüyuanlin (山水與園林), there are four ways in achieving the principle of showing the small in the large. First is to produce a sense of depth in the space. This can be achieved by separating the areas and the layering of scenery. The second is to show the real in the unreal. The third is to fiddle around with people’s perception and lead them to make associations. The last is to hide sceneries. The principle...
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...Ancient Chinese Contributions Tamara Harris Dr. Dell Belew HUM111 – Assignment #2 1 June 2014 Several civilizations are credited for their contributions to today’s society. However, there is not one like China and winning a trip there would be like a dream come true! Chinese contributions or inventions are the most commonly used amongst society but little credit is given. My family and I decided that there are several items that we depend on daily in order to make our day complete. We asked each other to select one item to research and give reasons why this contribution to society was imperative. Having the most interesting of the group we decided to enter my findings in hopes of winning a trip to China. Inventions and Contributions from Ancient Chinese documented as far back as 221-207B.C. From the Qin Dynasty (Approx. 221-207 B.C.) know for organization and control there is the contribution of standardized writing and language, standardized money, and standardized system of measurement. The most noted Han Dynasty (Approx. 202 B.C. – A.D. 220) known as the flowering of culture comes the inventions of papermaking, the wheelbarrow, and a compass. During the Era of Disunity or Age of Division (Approx. 220-581 A.D.) came the inventions of the helicopter rotor and propeller and the odometer. Approximately 581-618 A.D., the Sui Dynasty, contributed coinage standardization and block printing. And from the Mongol Dynasty (Approx. 1279-1368 A.D.)...
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...Emperor of Rome Augustus is well known for being a self-proclaimed restorer of Rome. He introduced a number of religious, moral and political reforms in order to improve Roman society and formulate a new Roman government and lifestyle. The basis of each of these reforms was to revive traditional Roman religion in the state and make things in the empire all together better. First, Augustus restored public monuments, especially the Temples of the Gods, as part of his journey for religious revival. He also commissioned the construction of monuments that would further promote and encourage traditional Roman religion After Augustus generated renewed interest in religion, he sought to renew the practice of worship In order to do so, Augustus revived the priesthoods and was appointed as pontifex maximus, which made him both the secular head of the Roman Empire and the religious leader. Augustus also enacted social reforms as a way to improve morality. He felt particularly strong about encouraging families to have children. As such, he politically and financially rewarded families with three or more children, especially sons. This incentive stemmed from his belief that there were too few legitimate children born from “proper marriages.” On the other hand, he penalized unmarried men older than 38 years old by imposing on them an additional tax that others did not have to pay. They were also debarred from receiving inheritances and attending public games. Augustus also amended divorce...
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...investigates why this mattered to anyone and what would have changed if only new material was used in the creation of Old St. Peter’s Basilica. Bosman states, “A number of important questions are raised by the spolia apparently incorporated into the Early Christian basilica of Saint Peter. Can it be established that spolia was actually used in the basilica? If so, is it possible to determine why spolia was used instead of new, previously unused, material?” (Bosman, 2013, p. 66) Bosman sets out to prove that the technique of spolia was used in the fourth century for meaningful and aesthetic purposes only. He states that some scholars in the past connect spolia to the effect of supply shortage or cost reasons, but Bosman argues that Roman emperors had all the resources they needed to produce the type of basilica they desired and cost was not a factor for them. I agree with Bosman’s perspective based on his study of the multicolored, marble columns in Old St. Peter’s Basilica. His research proved that some of the original forty-four columns had never been used before, but twenty-eight of the nave columns were in fact spolia. (Bosman, 2013) The specific re-used columns were made from detailed marble that Constantine probably wanted in his basilica because of their uniqueness and meaningful value. In Stockstad’s Medieval Art Early Christian Period, it is stated, “Constantine intended that the basilica over the shrine be larger and more splendid in appearance than any other religious...
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...Both the Han Dynasty of China and the Roman Empire of Italy were huge territories, with Rome being over 1 million square miles, that were greatly advanced in many fields. They had armies that conquered many lands, they had governments which appeased and governed large masses of people. However, what may be most interesting is their development of technology. In the first and second centuries, both the great empires of Rome in Italy and the Han in China had technology to accommodate their numerous populations but both of their attitudes towards technology were different as they viewed and utilized manual labor differently. Their different attitudes led to different developments in their technology, but both eventually saw a decline toward the second century in the improvement of technology due to different reasons for each civilization. Many factors played an important role in the technological development in each civilization and several others played into the lack of technological development. First, the viewpoint of manual labor played a huge role in the development of technology. Both empires had unique viewpoints on labor which led to different levels of respect for technology and the labor needed to manufacture it. Unlike most civilizations, manual labor is respected in the Han. This is reflected in the social hierarchy, where the peasants are the middle class rather than the lower class. Even elites would participate in labor as mentioned in Document 4 where a governor...
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