Hebrew History Essay

Question 1What were the major eras/events in Hebraic history? What importance do they feel in Western Civilizations? Is the word of honor a effortably accurate source for the History of the Judaic hatful from the Egyptian captivity to the Babylonian captivity?The history of the Hebrew sight is marked by war, internal conflict and an ongoing struggle for survival. on the way, the Hebrews have crafted a rich tapestry of accomplishments through perseverance and faith. On much(prenominal) than bingle occasion, the majority of the Hebrew commonwealth have been enslaved. At another(prenominal)wise times, they were powerful and unquesti atomic number 53d rulers of their domain. A timeline of Judaic history shows these precious contrasts.The best contemporary source for the early origins of the Hebrew concourse is the password. This sidereal day make contains a detailed chronology of the Hebrew people, their culture and their faith over a centuries-long time span. The firs t v books of the Bible comprise the Jewish Torah. These five books trace the creation of the military personnel, its destruction by flood, the enslavement of the Jewish people, their escape, and the organisation of the nation of Israel. The thriving nation, would not last, though. It was subjugated by the Babylonians in the 700s B.C.E.In between the Egyptian and Babylon enslavements, the Hebrew people took an epic journey. According to the Bible Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt in about 1446 B.C.E. Shortly after, The Ten Commandments were condition by God, laying the foundation for all future Jewish law. xxx years after the Israelites entered Canaan, the Judges began their rule. A spectacular temple was spotless in Jerusalem in about 959 B.C.E. A number of vicious wars followed in the next century. Israel itself had become a divided nation by this time. A weakened Israel had fallen captive to the Babylonians by about 586 B.C.E.The Torah is fundamentally a contemporary ac count, written by Moses and other early Jewish leaders. It spans from the creation of the world to the entry of the Hebrews into Canaan after escaping the Egyptians. The rest of the senescent Testament chronicles the history of the Israeli nation, in addition to containing numerous prayers, songs, prophesies and accounts of superhuman happenings. A air division from the Biblical account, the Jewish people atomic number 18 mentioned in Egyptian texts dating rump to 1440 B.C.E. ahead of time Jewish history is intimately buttoned to the antediluvian patriarch Egyptian empires.Hebrew history has had a profound aftermath on Western Civilization. The messiahian Bible, which contains the Jewish Torah along with centuries of historical accounts of Jewish culture, and is still the most widely read book in the world. Christ himself was Jewish.The Hebrews also contributed technical knowledge to the Western world. For example, the famous glassmakers of Italy were preceded by the Jewish glassmakers of ancient times. It is they who were to begin with responsible for introducing this art to the world.For some, the Bible is the scarcely reasonable source tracing history sustain to its origins. For Christians and non-Christians alike it shapes perception of the world around us. Orthodox Hebrews never accepted the Bibles sensitive Testament as doctrine. preferably of being the messiah, Christ is regarded as a prophet or t distributivelyer.As Christianity spread around the world, the Hebrew people were more and more scapegoated for Christs death and persecuted for their rejection of him as the messiah. A full-bodied anti-Semitism beat in across Europe and spread to the young world. This has topiced in dire consequences throughout history and especially in the ordinal century.The Bible is a detailed and moving account of Jewish history. It is constructed dually as a book of history and a book of faith. Therefore, it cannot be expect to give a complete pictur e of all the complexities present in the study of the Hebrew nation. It is written from the perspective of a small division of the participants. In the following centuries scholars modified some portions of the text. Some other portions were deleted or lost.Given the lack of alternate perspectives in the Bible, it is clear that the writers and divvy uptakers of it took unique cargon to present and preserve the story as they believed it to be. As a result it gives us a series of signposts that, in many a(prenominal) cases, are support by other ancient texts and oral traditions. The details will of all time be a matter of individual perception, but the Bible does return a relatively accurate road map to the history of these extraordinary people.The most critical event in the history of Judaism is their deliverance from cardinal hundred years of slavery to the Egyptian Pharaoh. According to the Bible, Moses and his brother Aaron were elect to lead the Hebrew people on this mi raculous escape. After some(prenominal) plagues were put upon the Egyptian people the Pharaoh was finally convinced to let the people go. He soon changed his mind, but the Red Sea swallowed up the Egyptian army as they tried to pursue the Hebrews.The Hebrew tribes lived in the recant for forty years until God allowed them to enter the promised land of Canaan. While the Hebrews were in the desert many of the Jewish rites and traditions were created that are still practiced right aside. introduction Canaan would not be easy, however.The Israelites waged war and defeated many of the tribes already living in the area.The land was divided into twelve subsections, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Hundreds of years of wars and in-fighting followed as the nation of Israel tried to establish itself. archeologic inference found in recent years seems to confirm many events re after-hoursd in the Bible. The evidence also raises more questions, however. Archaeology and ripe sc ience has its limitations. Many of the major events in the Bible are okay up by modern evidence. It is more difficult to ascertain why and how these events happened.Question 2In what way were the economic foundations of the papistic and the Han empires equal? How do you account for the similarity? How were they opposite? What were the consequences of the differences?During the Han dynasty, the Chinese parsimoniousness underwent unanimous changes. At the beginning of the period the economy was primarily based on subsistence farming. Trading activity was minimal and most farms were small family- hasten operations. Later in this period, a more substantial craft electronic network emerged. A child class somewhat pendent on slyness markets became more widespread. molecule and rice were the primary crops of the region. They were often used to pay for other goods and services. strain crops were particularly robust as farmers constantly improved their farming methods. A trend t oward commercialization of these products characterized this period.Industry also began to emerge during this period. Inventors, so fertile during the early part of the dynasty, began to lag behind their counterparts on other continents during the late part of the dynasty. The expansion of craftiness networks also dried up. The caused an economic vulnerability that enemies would effectively exploit.The papistical Empire became an economic powerhouse based essentially on its continual conquest of refreshing areas. Eventually, this strength would become weaknesses. The roman economy had several different weaknesses that played a role in the ultimate collapse of the empire. The Roman Empire economy specialized in luxury goods, architecture and infrastructure, and creating war-related materiel.In pre-conquest times the Roman economy was much smaller, but it was also better balanced. remotems surrounded and supplied a interchange city-state where merchants, tradesmen and a prof essional class worked. The expansion of the empire forced the Romans to engage a new monetary strategy based on two money and gold. The availability of these metals varied causing the value of each in relation to the other to change frequently. This creation caused confusion and a lack of full faith in the monetary system in the years when the empire was expanding most rapidly. This, in turn, set the table for further difficulties calibrate the road.As the empire became less centralized the cost of insisting it rose consistently. in the meantime income revenues were less dependable and predictable. Emperors began to rely heavily on slave diligence and taxation to support the empire. Defending the widespread empire entailed enormous costs. everyplace time the empire became stretched too thin. In a desperate thrust to remain financially viable, the Roman emperors reduced the actual content of silver and gold indoors their coinage. In other words, the face value of the coins was more than they were very worth.The creation of a widely practiced monetary system allowed the economy to diversify and innovate. When the monetary system became less reliable the arctic began to occur.Due to slave labor, heavy taxation and other factors, economic pattern in Rome ground to a halt. The Romans could no longer spend to arm and equip their vast army. Far-flung outposts of Roman power became increasingly vulnerable. The barbarians from northern Europe were eventually able to penetrate the heart of the Roman Empire.Essentially, the Roman Empire operated an early example of broad market capitalism. Their stochastic variable of capitalism had several flaws that ultimately led to its destruction. Free market capitalism on this scale would not emerge again for many centuries.The fates of the Roman and Han empires exposed an ironic fact about economics and national credential. When trade with outside entities peaked, so did the relative power of the empires. On the other hand, when trade was cut off or simply dried up, the empires were exposed to owing(p) risk. Their fates also showed the vulnerability of economies based in a braggart(a) part on slave labor. In the Roman Empire, slaves were acquired from conquered territories and made to do much of the work that kept the empire operating smoothly. In the Han dynasty, people actually change themselves and their families into slavery.Slave labor is inherently inefficient. Even for those who willingly sold themselves into slavery, production levels are rarely as great as that of free workers. Both economies eventually frowned on the use of slavery in much(prenominal) a widespread way, but economic stagnation had already set in.Both empires faculty be viewed as examples of the dangers of over-expansion. This is especially true of the Romans, who primarily relied on their war gains to support their economy. When the pace of conquest slowed, so did the economy. The Han dynasty differs in its i nitial focus on subsistence farming before converting to a more consumer-based economy. Both economies had their strong and weak points, but the Roman economy was particularly vulnerable to collapse.Question 3What effects did the Indian Ocean trade have on the societies that took part in it? How is trade related to the dispersion of technology? Define the term Africanity and explain the development of Africanity in legal injury of Bantu migrations.Ancient Indian Ocean trade not only introduced new goods to various societies it also began a centuries-long spread of information, technology, religion, voice communication and culture. foxiness across the Indian Ocean was well-established at least two meter years ago. Cities sprung up along the African and Middle Eastern coasts.In this time port cities were primarily isolated from inland areas, meaning that the coastal cities developed unique identities of their own. Kinship and trade among the coastal cities in different regions le d to a de-nationalization of these peoples. A sailor was a sailor first, and the citizen of a specific regime second. These sailors often married women in far aside points. The wives, in effect, served as bridges between cultures.Generally speaking, using ocean routes for trading was much less expensive than moving goods over land. similarly overland routes were often blocked or impeded by build up forces or bandits. As Indian Ocean ship building improved, what resulted was an ancient version of globalism. The cross-cultural social and economic effects we see today were present in antiquity on a smaller scale.The relatively vast distances necessary to travel the Indian Ocean gave rise to new techniques and methods in shipbuilding. These methods were fan out across cultures along with improvements in tools, farming methods and other technologies. Ships were capable of transporting goods farther than ever before. There is strong evidence of an ancient trade triangle between Southe rn Africa, Egypt and India. There is also evidence that early traders ventured as far as Java in the Far East. As today, not everybody in ancient times was content with these cross-cultural lures.As the Moslem empire grew, an increasing number of Africans became affected by their influence. Some were content with this and other outside influences. Others may not have been. In about 1000 B.C.E. the first of several large migrations began.Africanity is a term of identity for the African people. It is distinctly different and less clearly defined than identifiers for other cultures. In fact, African languages have no one specific word for identity. In our language identity refers to an case-by-case individual with clear boundaries from other individuals. In Africa, identity is more complex.Instead of being a static identifier, Africanity refers to an ongoing dish out of finding ones identity within the larger culture. There is no remaining identity. Ones identity is always being formed and is dependent on interaction with others. Africanity also is expressed discovering ones differences from others. It is also a come to be a term of resistance to the obligate definitions of identity from the Europeans and others. Africans are not so comfortably identified in terms of a geographic description as Europeans or Americans might be. Identity is a process rather than a label.The Bantu are a large group of Africans loosely defined by language and tribal connections. In several large waves, the Bantu migrated throughout Africa. They diffused their language, culture and technological developments while also absorbing characteristics of the people they came into bear upon with.The Bantu migrated primarily from north to south over about 1500 years. Their viable reasons were numerous and still somewhat mysterious. Overpopulation and the lack of arable land for husbandry are often cites as reasons for this tremendous population shift. Others have proposed more primal reasons.Were the Bantu migrations an expression of Africanity? Some Bantu were moving remote from attacks by outside empires. More pervasive were the encroaching cultural and spectral influences that some Bantu may have felt were drawing them away from their own pursuit of identity and forcing outside standards upon them.There is still a lot of debate as to why such a large number of Bantu migrated throughut Africa in successive waves. It may have been stringently economic or there may have been deeper elements involved. Whatever their reason their integration and diffusion of other African societies and their knack for survival are in their own ways expressions of Africanity.Question 5Discuss the origins of Islam, and the development of the religion of Islam, the umma, and the three branches of Islam (Sunni, Shiite, and Kharijite). What were the causes of the decline of the caliphate?The faith of Islam is thousands of years old. It traces its history to many of the same charact ers mentioned in the Bible and the Torah. For instance, Abraham is a central material body in all three texts. Islam would go on to take unique perspectives and characteristics from the other two, partially due to regional differences. As individual religions became the main define characteristic of competing nation states, wars in the name of religion became commonplace.The primary figure in the development of Islam was the prophet Mohammed. He was born approximately 570 B.C. in the town of Mecca (in modern day Saudi Arabia). He rejected the polytheism commonly practiced around him in favor of one God, called Allah. In his 40s, Mohammed began receiving prognosticate revelations which he dutifully recorded for posterity. These revelations formed the central part of the Quran, the book of faith for the religion of Islam. Lacking acceptance from his peers, and from Jewish and Christian critics, Mohammed locomote his ministry to the city of Medina.From Mohameds time all the way to the present day differing views on the Quran have caused conflict within the Muslim world. There is a very strict constructionist view of the book that demands adherence to the books tenets even when taken to extreme levels. On the other side a more moderate wing of Islamic leaders who believe that hand and cooperation with the non-Islamic world is not living in violation of the Quran.After Mohammeds death, there was no clear successor to his leading. Various local sects competed for this leadership with three main groups emerging Sunni, Shiite and Kharijite. To this day the three groups have arrogant differences that sometimes result in bitter conflicts. Each group claims a different line of succession tracing all the way back to Mohammed himself. For instance, the Shia believe that the legitimate line of leadership must run directly through the family of Mohammed, while the Sunni and others believe that leadership can be politically elected from outside Mohammeds family tr ee.During Mohammeds life the influence of Islam remained primarily within the Arabian Peninsula. Shortly after his death Islamic armies began to conquer nearby regions, eventually reaching Western Europe and Israel. Early Islam also promoted the acquisition of scientific knowledge. As a result, early Islamic society was highly advanced.The Umma is a term that describes a wide contour of Islamic people. It includes Islamic people in all primary spheres of Islamic influence. Most commonly, the Umma refers to all Islamic peoples from Africa to the easternmost point of Pakistan. The term dates back to ancient Islam.The centralization of the Islamic governmental structure lasted about two hundred years. By the end of this period powerful emirs began to rule individual kingdoms within the empire. Control by a centralized caliphate was proving to be impractical and unresponsive to the defensive needs of certain localized areas. Eminent scholars argued increasingly that the security of th e Umma was at risk under the caliphate system.Many leaders wanted to maintain the caliphate while also delegating more day-to-day management to local authorities. This idea gradually began to take hold. Meanwhile, waves of Turkish and Selijug and other immigrants helped accelerate the process toward local emirates. Economic and security factors eroded the Caliphate and gave rise to a network of smaller emirates.