A Look At Sumer in Ancient History

In about 7200 B.C., a settlement, Catal Hoyuk (Çatal Hà ¼yà ¼k), developed in Anatolia, south-central Turkey. About 6000 Neolithic people lived there, in fortifications of linked, rectangular, mud-brick buildings. The inhabitants mainly hunted or gathered their food, but they also raised animals and stored surplus grains. Until recently, however, it was thought the earliest civilizations began somewhat further south, in Sumer. Sumer was the site of what is sometimes called an urban revolution affecting the entire Near East, lasting about a millennium, and leading to changes in government, technology, the economy, and culture, as well as urbanization, according to Van de Mieroop A History of the Ancient Neareast. Sumers Natural Resources For civilization to develop, the land must be fertile enough to support an expanding population. Not only did early populations need a soil rich in nutrients, but also water. Egypt and Mesopotamia (literally, the land between rivers), blessed with just such life-sustaining rivers, are sometimes referred to together as the Fertile Crescent. The 2 rivers Mesopotamia lay between were the Tigris and the Euphrates. Sumer came to be the name of the southern area near where the Tigris and Euphrates emptied into the Persian Gulf. Population Growth in Sumer When the Sumerians arrived in the 4th millennium B.C. they found two groups of people, the one referred to by archaeologists as Ubaidians and the other, an unidentified Semitic people. This is a point of contention Samuel Noah Kramer discusses in New Light on the Early History of the Ancient Near East, American Journal of Archaeology, (1948), pp. 156-164. Van de Mieroop says the rapid growth of the population in southern Mesopotamia may have been the result of semi-nomadic people in the area settling down. In the next couple of centuries, the Sumerians developed technology and trade, while they increased in population. By perhaps 3800 they were the dominant group in the area. At least a dozen city-states developed, including Ur (with a population of maybe 24,000, like most population figures from the ancient world, this is a guess), Uruk, Kish, and Lagash. Sumers Self-Sufficiency Gave Way to Specialization The expanding urban area was made up of a variety of ecological niches, out of which came fishermen, farmers, gardeners, hunters, and herdsmen [Van de Mieroop]. This put an end to self-sufficiency and instead prompted specialization and trade, which was facilitated by authorities within a city. The authority was based on shared religious beliefs and centered on the temple complexes. Sumers Trade Led to Writing With an increase in trade, the Sumerians needed to keep records. The Sumerians may have learned the rudiments of writing from their predecessors, but they enhanced it. Their counting marks, made on clay tablets, were wedge-shaped indentations known as cuneiform (from cuneus, meaning wedge). The Sumerians also developed monarchy, the wooden wheel to help draw their carts, the plow for agriculture, and the oar for their ships. In time, another Semitic group, the Akkadians, migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to the area of the Sumerian city-states. The Sumerians gradually came under the political control of the Akkadians, while simultaneously the Akkadians adopted elements of the Sumerian law, government, religion, literature, and writing. Sources (http://loki.stockton.edu/~gilmorew/consorti/1anear.htm) The Middle East Inner Asia: A World Wide Web Research Institute(http://www.art-arena.com/iran1.html) MapBlack and white map shows the Near East from 6000-4000 B.C.(http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM) The SumeriansClear, well-written history of the Sumerians, from Richard Hookers World Cultures Site.(http://www.eurekanet.com/~fesmitha/h1/ch01.htm) Genesis in SumerFrank Smithas chapter on the Sumerians includes information on education, religion, slavery, the role of women, and more. [Now at Sumer]

The Vietnam War And The Soviet Union - 1535 Words

The Vietnam War During the Vietnam War, United States involvement was for personal reasons and fear of communism. Neither the United States or the Soviet Union should have been involved. The War was just used as a cover up for the actual silent, passive aggressive war between the United States and the Soviet. The Vietnam war was started by the North â€Å"Viet Cong† and their desire to unify Vietnam under communist rule. The South was against communism, making tensions grow until eventually, a war broke out on November 1, 1955. Five years later in the 1960s, the war was escalated with the involvement of foreign countries. While the North was supported by its communist allies such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by the United States of America. The Americans wanted to halt or prolong the spread of communism. The â€Å"domino theory† compelled the U.S. to get involved as soon as possible because if not, the rest of Asia would fall to communism like â€Å"dominoesà ¢â‚¬ . The U.S. involvement only started with Eisenhower administration when Vietnam split in half. This action of the United States was only for their own well being and their main goal was not for the good of Vietnam. During this time period the Vietnamese had just united and established the state of Vietnam. The war ended up lasting 9 years with long periods of bitter guerrilla warfare in the rugged jungles of Vietnam which would eventually result in the victory of the North and longed unification of VietnamShow MoreRelatedThe Soviet Union Of The Vietnam War1284 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout history, humans have tried to perfect government. Many wars have been started by world powers trying to force their faulty government upon others. 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King Lear Persuasive Essay Example For Students

King Lear Persuasive Essay King Lear is widely regarded as Shakespeares crowning artistic achievement. The scenes in which a mad Lear rages naked on a stormy heath against his deceitful daughters and nature itself are considered by many scholars to be the finest example of tragic lyricism in the English language. Shakespeare took his main plot line of an aged monarch abused by his children from a folk tale that appeared first in written form in the 12th century and was based on spoken stories that originated much further into the Middle Ages. In several written versions of Lear, the king does not go mad, his good daughter does not die, and the tale has a happy ending. This is not the case with Shakespeares Lear, a tragedy of such consuming force that audiences and readers are left to wonder whether there is any meaning to the physical and moral carnage with which King Lear concludes. Like the noble Kent, seeing a mad, pathetic Lear with the murdered Cordelia in his arms, the profound brutality of the tale compels us to wonder, Is this the promised end? (V.iii.264). That very question stands at the divide between traditional critics of King Lear who find a heroic pattern in the story and modern readers who see no redeeming or purgative dimension to the play at all, the message being the bare futility of the human condition with Lear as Everyman. As in Macbeth terror reaches its utmost height, in King Lear the sense of compassion is exhausted. The principal characters here are not those who act, but those who suffer. We have not in this, as in most tragedies, the picture of a calamity in which the sudden blows of fate seem still to honor the head wh ich they strike, and where the loss is always accompanied by some flattering consolation in the memory of the former possession; but a fall from the highest elevation into the deepest abyss of misery, where humanity is stripped of all external and internal advantages, and given up a prey to naked helplessness. The threefold dignity of a king, an old man, and a father, is dishonored by the cruel ingratitude of his unnatural daughters; the old king, who out of a foolish tenderness has given away everything, is driven out into the world a homeless beggar; the childish imbecility to which he was fast advancing changes into the wildest insanity, and when he is rescued from the destitution to which he was abandoned, it is too late. The kind consolations of filial care and attention and of true friendship are now lost on him; his bodily and mental powers are destroyed beyond hope of recovery, and all that now remains to him of life is the capability of loving and suffering beyond measure. What a picture we have in the meeting of Lear and Edgar in a tempestuous night and in a wretched hovel! The youthful Edgar has, by the wicked arts of his brother, and through his fathers blindness, fallen, as did Lear, from the rank to which his birth entitled him; and, as the only means of escaping further pers ecution, is reduced to the disguise of a beggar tormented by evil spirits. The kings fool, notwithstanding the voluntary degradation which is implied in his condition, is, after Kent, Lears most faithful associate, the wisest counsellor. This good-hearted fool clothes reason with the livery of his motley garb; the high-born beggar acts the part of insanity; and both, were they even in reality what they seem, would still be enviable in comparison with the king, who feels that the violence of his grief threatens to overpower his reason. The meeting of Edgar with the blinded Gloucester is equally pathetic; nothing could be more affecting than to see the ejected son become the fathers guide, and the good angel, who, under the disguise of insanity, saves him by an ingenius and pious fraud from the horror and despair of self-murder. .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .postImageUrl , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:hover , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:visited , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:active { border:0!important; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:active , .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8 .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u16267d7014195443ff46b05b4fb620c8:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Legislation and Prostitution: Do They Coincide? Ex EssayThe story of Lear and his daughers was left by Shakespeare as he found it in a fabulous tradition, with all the features characteristic of the simplicity of old times. But in that tradition there is not the slightest trace of the story of Gloucester and his sons, which was derived by Shakespeare from another source. The incorporation of the two stories has been censured as destructive of the unity of action. But whatever contributes to the intrigue of the denoument must always possess unity. And with what ingenuity and skill are the two main parts of the composition dovetailed into one another! The pity felt by Glouce ster for the fate of Lear becomes the means whereby his son Edmund effects his complete destruction, and affords the outcast Edgar an opportunity of being the savior of his father. On the other hand, Edmund is active in the cause of Regan and Goneril, and the criminal passion which they both entertain for him induces them to execute justice on each other and on themselves. The laws of the drama have therefore been sufficiently complied with, and it is the very combination which constitutes the beauty of the work. The two cases resemble each other in the main; an infatuated father is blind toward his well-disposed child, and the unnatural children, whom he prefers, requite him by the ruin of his happiness. But all the circumstances are so different that the stories, while they each make a correspondent impression on the heart, for a complete contrast for the imagination. Were Lear alone to suffer from his daughters, the impression would be limited to the powerful compassion felt by us for his private misfortune. But two such unheard-of examples taking place at the same time have the appearance of a great commotion in the moral world; the picture becomes gigantic and fills us with such alarm as we should entertain at the idea that the heavenly bodies might one day fall from their orbits. To save in some degree the honor of human nature, Shakespeare never wishes his spectators to forget that the story takes place in a dreary and barbarous age; he lays particular stress on the circumstance that t he Britons of that day were still heathens, although he has not made all the remaining circumstances to coincide learnedly with the time which he has chosen. From this point of view we must judge of many coarsenesses in expression and manners; for instance, the immodest manner in which Gloucester acknowledged his bastard, Kents quarrel with the steward, and more especially the cruelty personally inflicted on Gloucester by the duke of Cornwall. Even the virtue of the honest Kent bears the stamp of an iron age, in which the good and the bad display the same uncontrollable energy. Great qualities have not been superfluously assigned to the king; the poet could command our sympathy for his situation, without concealing what he had done to bring himself into it. Lear is choleric, overbearing and almost childish from age, when he drives out his youngest daughter because she will not join in the hypocritical exaggerations of her sisters. But he has a warm and affectionate heart, which is susceptible of the most fervent gratitude; and even rays of a high and kingly disposition burst forth from the eclipse of his understanding. Cordelia, with her heavenly beauty of soul, reminds us of Antigone. In the entire play little more than a hundred lines are assigned to her; yet, throughout the five acts, we can never forget her, and at the close she lingers in our recollection as if we had seen some being more beautiful and purer than a thing of earth. .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .postImageUrl , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:hover , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:visited , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:active { border:0!important; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:active , .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3 .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u348ff8f48e7a5b802905a36a81467bf3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Prostitution: Should It Be Legal? EssayAfter surviving so many sufferings, Lear can only die, and what more truly tragic end for him than to die from grief for the death of Cordelia? According to Shakespeares plan, the guilty, it is true, are all punished, for wickedness destroys itself; but the virtues that would bring help and succor are either too late or are overmatched by the cunning activity of malice. The legend of Lear had unquestionably been dramatized before Shakespeare produced his tragedy. The true Chronicle History of King Leir and his three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan and Cordelia, as it hath been divers and sundry times lately acted, was printed, probably for the first time, in 1605; but there can be no doubt that it belongs to a period some ten or perhaps twenty years earlier. In 1594 an entry was made at Stationers hall, of The moste famous Chronicle Hystorie of Leire King of England, and his Three Daughters. Shakespeares story of Lear is taken from Holinsheds account of the legend, one dated back to the time when Joas reigned over Judah, or, according to Geoffrey of Monmouths, to the days of Isaiah and Hosea. A garbled version of the play as written by the poet was prepared by one Nahum Tate, who, not understanding the art of Shakespeare and having no dramatic art himself, thought to adopt the original to the popular taste. For over a century this abortion helf possessio n of the stage, until Macready restored to us the work of the great master, since cleansed from its remaining impurities by able commentators. In tragical pathos, in dramatic force, in grandeur of sentiment and diction, Lear has no superior in all the wide range of the worlds drama. The language often rises to or exceeds, of possible, the sublimity of Aeschylus, and the tragedy has the further advantage of dealing with human beings, human passions, and human frailties, and not with the affairs of gods and demigods. The modern play-goer does not greatly concern himself with the deeds and thoughts of the powers supernal, and if he can see human beings set forth on the stage, with their virtues and infirmities, would willingly leave the gods to manage their own affairs.

Comparing Short Stories of The Flowers and A Rose for Emily Essay Example For Students

Comparing Short Stories of The Flowers and A Rose for Emily Essay Essay (Practice) By comparing the ending of Alice Walker’s story â€Å"The Flowers† with that of William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, there have been some similarities in the stories. Such as for the main character of both stories had personally faced a dead body. For Myop in â€Å"The Flowers†, she innocently stumbles onto the remains of a man who had clearly been killed in a lynching. She discovers the body when she saw the man cracked or broken large white teeth in the woods. For Emily in â€Å"A rose for Emily† she had one love, Homer Barron, whom the town had believed he had left her. It is revealed at the end of the story that he in fact did not leave Miss Emily; in fact, Emily had poisoned Mr. Barron and left his dead body in her bed for so many years until her time had come. Other similarities would be the figure flowers, in which Myop in â€Å"The Flowers† while she was walking in the woods, she found a handful of blue flowers. In the end when she had found the body, she had laid the flowers next to the body and walk back home. For Emily, the narrator seems to have this deep emotion to the fate of Emily. There is a deep understanding of the situation that she faced or grew up with. In this, it clearly showed that despite of the attitude that Emily portrayed and the crime she had committed, the narrator seemed to acknowledge the woman inside her facade. So the rose only symbolizes the life or respect for Emily. Further comparing the stories, we found some opposite similarities. For instance in â€Å"The Flowers†, Myop plays as an African American girl in a poor family whom in the end came out and faces the cruel reality in the world. For Emily, she plays as a rich white woman and the narrator tells the story of how her life began and ended in the world.