I have to admit that the opening paragraph caught my attention. I never thought I'd the United States as the once great Roman Empire; I am sure it's due to my limited knowledge in the subject matter. In any case I found it interesting to think of the U.S as a modern Rome, we do try to dominate/ be the first in everything we do. I did begin to wonder if this nation would one day see a time of chaos. By reading this chapter I learned things that I thought I knew, but didn't. One of the things I learned was the definition of empire: " states, political systems that exercise coercive power...[encompassing] variety of peoples and culture." As I began to think of civilizations associated with the word empire, I was able to make some connections with its definition like that of the Persian Empire. The political system they had in place was a system where in one person made all the decisions. In comparison, enjoyed reading about the Greek and their rag to riches story as they shifted from city states to a republic. It was interesting to think that a republic system dates that long ago.
The chapter on religion was very
interesting. I found it fascinating that some of the major religions that
continued to exist emerged during the same time. As I read on I began to see
that there are certain connections in the various religions that emerged such
as Christianity and Islam. Although these religions occurred around the same
time there were distinctions such as the connection between a divine power and
human rationality. One thing I did notice is that women were not given
positions of power within most denominations.
In chapter 5, I noticed that it
covered the complexity of civilizations. What do I mean by complexity? I mean
to say that as civilizations began to grow and develop they begin to pick up
different Ideals as aforementioned in the previous chapters such as politics and religion, which leads us to this
current chapter discussing inequality. I found that this chapter discussed the differences
in the composition of societies, social status, religious beliefs, and power or
politics. I found it interesting to read about the differences in classes. Although
the landowners seemed to become wealthy due to the exploitation of the
peasants, the landlord class which to me registered as the property owners
considering that they were wealthy which gave them the power to become officials
since they had the money to become educated. Peasants were the working class,
they had to work very hard to have little to nothing. It reminded me of today’s
middle class where in one works so diligently to accumulate the necessary to
survive yet are still required to pay the same price to live as those who have
more resources. It is due to the slow rate of progress that there was eventual
rebellion due to the constant oppression faced by the poor. However, it seemed
to be that being a merchant was the lowest possible ranking in society. I
understood being a merchant as someone who is unable to produce their own work
and therefore has to sell the work of others, they were the untouchables of
society.
From the last chapter. I found it
specifically interesting to read about the Mesoamericans. I have heard so much
about the culture and their organization but never have taken the time to look
into them. The book spoke about the Mayans and the great attention they
obtained due to inventions like mathematics, which included the concept of
zero. They also created a very intricate writing system which reminded me of
the Mayan calendar that is seen so often. Of course we cannot fail to mention
their architecture which included enormous temples to their gods, and public
plazas for their citizens. I was also surprised to read that they were a
peaceful group, for some reason I always considered them to be violent. It was
sad to think that although this group had so many triumphs, it eventually fell
into demise .
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