Ottoman Empire

The ottoman empire rose and became the strongest empire during this time. They conquered many different civilizations and countries. they were a very successful civilization during this time. I find their economic view to be very interesting. the state functioned as an extension of the sultan household. their economic system aimed to maximize prosperity and wealth by military conquest. I think this is very interesting because it seems that these military conquest made this civilization financially prosperous as well and military sufficient too. I think it is also interesting that the states servants were exempt from taxation. seems like this tough civilization had some sympathy for its servants. small scale urban industry and trade was a major way to acquire wealth during this time. this is a theme that has come up in topics before. such as last week when the guest speaker came and spoke about italy and trade. seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout this class. This system was ruled by one sultan. sultan Suleyman was the main reason of his prosperous civilization. he lead his empire to success and domination. the highest governing body during this time was the imperial council. the state handled petitions and complaints from peasants. this was very unusual during this time. this text also says that the Ottoman central government displayed an attitude of flexibility and willingness to negotiate. I found this very interesting because I saw this empire as a very tough and ruthless society. I never knew that they had this organized of a court system and were actually an understand civilization.

dante

one thing i found interesting about this essay is how she talks about the history of how christians felt about islam during this time. their attitudes towards islam reflected fear of the new and of the political and cultural expansion of islamic civilization. This reflects why dante has place Muhammad in hell with him because it reflects his own feelings. she also states that after these christian authors wrote negatives things about islam it was then followed by an apologetic statement. possible to make christianity look better and more holy. she also talks a lot about the different tones in these christian literatures. another thing she brings up in her essay is  that during this time to the christian writers it seemed as though the arabic people were invading peoples and barbarians. this explains a lot about why they wrote about them they way they did during this time. although there are all of these authors writing negatively about islam there were christian authors who wrote about islam and christianity being harmonious and speaks of the commonalities of the two religions.

decameron

One theme that i think runs through the Decameron is religion. in the story of abraham Gianotto is trying to convince abraham to convert from judaism to christianity. All the while abraham says no he was born a jew and wants to die a jew. I think this part about converting everyone else who is christian into christianity relates to what we talked about in class on monday. This is similar to pilgrimage. So Abraham insists that he got to rome to witness the pope and cardinals and then he will make his decision. His friend doesn't want him to go because he is afraid that when he sees how corrupt, gluttonous and greedy they are he will choose not to convert. Abraham sees how horrible the pope and cardinals act and how they do not follow the expectations of the religion. He thinks this is so horrible, he then thinks to himself, even though these people are so corrupt this is the most popular and fast spreading religion. he then decides that this could only be the work of god. He then converts to Christianity to his friends surprise. I find this very surprising, its almost as if because of all the sin he saw attracted him more to the religion. i think this story also perpetuates the authority of the church. which during this time was emphasized in art and many different texts. religion is a main theme that runs throughout these stories, and they are all about converting people into the right religion (christianity). i find it interesting how easy it was for abraham to just abandon his religion for another one. I don't know if it would have been so easy for me to change my religion upon a visit to rome.  

middle ages travel stories

Travel around the Mediterranean world in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was driven by several factors, trade, warfare, and religious pilgrimage. the main character Kempe finds the holy sites so powerful because she feels that she has a connection to them. she can see different events very vividly as is she is reliving them, possibly because of this connection, she also feels the same suffering and pain that Christ experienced. I find this to be very interesting, She feels so close to christ that she feels the same pain he felt. She becomes so emotionally involved that she weeps and even thrashes  around. There is also extreme detailing of her reactions to the different holy sites she visits, the text describes how Kempe’s “countrymen” constantly reject her during the pilgrimage. When this happens, strangers of different cultural areas help are nice to her and help her. For example, when she visits Mount Quarentyne where Jesus fasted for 40 days, she asks for help climbing up the mountain, and those from her area refuse. Kempe is able to spend time and share in religious experiences with people of different cultures because of the help and kindness she received from others.  because of this rejection that Kempe experiences it is almost like she is suffering and feeling what Christ went through when he was rejected by his people. i think that this helps her gain something spiritually, she learns from the rejection and the experiences in this text.

book of good love part two

In the text about the Mountain girls, the priest goes on a journey and asks these mountain girls for shelter. in order to get this shelter he must bring them gifts in exchange for shelter. in addition to this he has sex with the mountain girls. I think the mountain girls represent a personal journey and a journey through love. he starts out having sex with them and then he leaves to go onto his next destination. In addition to this the women also point him into the right direction for his next journey. I think that this symbolizes that the women provide as guides for him on his personal journey. after having sex with the first two mountain girls he then decides to marry the third one even though he said he did not want to get married. Then when he meets the 4th mountain girl he says that he can not offer her gifts or sex because he is already married. that seems to not be the only reason, he describes in grave detail how hideous this girl is. maybe if she was more attractive he would be more interested in her. The main in this story seems to only be interested in looks and also seems very promiscuous. I also think that the way this story is written it seems like in the first part we get an inner dialogue and what he thinks about the women and the situation from his perspective. then we get a song that he has written about each girls which seems to be a more glorified perspective of the encounter. the songs also make it seem that he had such an easy time getting them to have sex with him, which was not the case. I found this story to be very funny.

book of good love day one

This text begins with the fable of the Greeks and Romans. Although this seems to be a comedy there is a serious message here. I interpret this fable as a kind of rivalry between the Greeks and Roman.Throughout the text it seemed that the Romans were trying to adopt some of the cultural aspects that the Greeks follow such as laws and the same sort of power that they had during this time. the text portrayed tension between the two cultures. this is especially seen when they are signing to each other. The main theme of the code of love was presented in Love to the Archpriest, specifically upon the woman he paints here. When Archpriest states that such a woman does not exist and yet he will continue to compose poetry I feel he's choosing to believe something that might not exist in the real world.He is painting the picture of what a perfect woman should be like because he wants fall in love with a a perfect woman. This only perpetuates the idea that the perfect woman exists, which is absolutely not true. no one is perfect or ever will be perfect.  in addition if the woman is not interested in him she wont give him the time of day like when he sends the message to her, If she does not want to be part of the love that he is showing  she just wont reply to the message that he sent her. 

Songs of Holy Mary

Song #16
The knight chose to love Mary above all other women. One important theme is that love is crazy. In this song desire is compared to the "devils work". Once the knight falls in love, he pursues this love like a madman. Also, when the knight visits the abbot, the abbot wants to “rid him of his passion” because he is sure that it will lead to evil. this song emphasizes how powerful love is and its potential to influence the way people act. The idea of choosing to love something that does not exist in the natural world over the an actual person is also an important concept in this story. The knight chooses Mary because he thinks she embodies perfection. I think that Mary is supposed to represent the perfect kind of love that mortals can never attain. The religious implication in this text is that love can only be satisfied through God or religion because it is the truest kind of love. this is important because during this time the people of spain were going through religious transformation and were told that Christianity is the right religion as opposed to Judaism,


Song #5
The plot of this song is how the empress over came many struggles with the help of the Holy Mary. The main theme is the vindictive way people acted during this time when they thought someone did something decitful. They acted by only what they heard from each other and didn't act after getting proof. the empress was upset because her loved emperor had to leave to Jerusalem show his loyalty to god. now to make matters even worse the emperor's brother admitted to the empress that he loved her. He has betrayed his brother, this shows the theme of vengefully  driven people. The Holy Mary aids the empress in her time of need, in the ocean, during her beatings. The Holy Mary saved the empress from hunger and gave her the strength. The people join together to excommunicate and kill the people they belive to have betrayed someone or stolen. The empress was continulosuly hurt by people who had loved her. 

Troubadours, Trobairitz

The poems in the Troubadors and Trobairitz have some similarities and some differences. in the Countess of dia the theme seems to be men are evil. this is interesting seeing as the author of this poem is a woman. Another reason why this is so interesting is because a lot of the other things we read had an opposite theme of women are evil and deceitful. in this poem she ensues that her love has cheated on her with another woman. She also goes on to say that her "heart is not the straying kind". she emphasizes that she is faithful and trustworthy. I think she is saying that women are trustworthy contrary to what people think. the fact that she says this multiple times emphasizes this idea. this poem is not very romantic seems to be more of a vengeful type of poem. which is very different than the Jaufre rudel poem. this poem is very romantic. the theme of this poem seems to be lust, undying love and possibly distance makes the heart grow fonder. the author of this poem is saying that the distance is killing him inside but he rather weep for the one he loves than not love at all. All the pain and suffering is worth the love he feel for this woman who is so far away. He also says he only has love for this one woman and no on else. This is a contrast to the other poem because the author of the Countess of dia says men are not faithful, but this author is saying otherwise. at the end of this poem he says "I must love and not be love". this suggests that the woman is not returning the same feeling. This lends to the theme of love hurts and you can not pick who you love. The tone of these two poems are very different. while the themes are somewhat similar.  

Arabic Poetry

The poem "The Dove's Necklace" themes definitely relate to love. the poems were very descriptive and used a lot of  evidence to support the theme of love. When the poem opened it first started talking about how when you love someone you will believe them even when they are lying, you testify on his behalf for all that may be unjust, and supporting whatever arguement he may adopt. When I read this and I agreed to a certain extent  especially thinking of specific examples happen in real life, I think what the author is getting at is that love can make u do crazy things. this poem definitely has a theme of doing anything for the ones you love. I think the Poem also has a theme of love is blind. we love someone so much we are blind to the faults and mistakes of the one we love unconditionally. our culture makes people think that they are expected to do all of these things when they are in love. when people are married they are perceived doing all they can to protect and please there partner which may look bad for them. The poem has a long paragraph in it about how people change to become what there lover is looking for. Examples of this from the readings include, when the scowler relaxed her frown, the sloucher smartened up and the stinker transformed himself into a elegant dandy. These examples demonstrate how people change the way they act and who they are to become who their lover wants them to be. Love can make people do crazy things and change for the better or for the worse. I think the readings demonstrate how love makes people crazy and can bring out the best in someone. 

islamic art

throughout art history art from different cultures influences each other. I think that this is because artists are always looking for inspiration, new ways to make something and are always trying to learn more about their craft. it is more likely that the cultures get inspiration for their art from neighboring countries and cultures. It seems to me that the islamic art features a lot of jewelry, vases and things are hand painted. also during this time the different cultures were just discovering the craft of artistry, so improving it and looking at how other cultures make something is only part of the evolvement of art during this time. the art in the islamic culture seems very simplistic, there are not many sculptures and there is a lot of painting and primary colors involved. I can see where this culture would get inspiration from other ones. What specific cultures and counties influenced the islamic art?

The myth of Arachne and Tereseus have simliar themes running throughout the story. In both stories arachne and Tereseus are dismissing the gods and acting how ever they want with no regards as to what is right. They both dont pay any attention to warnings that they get from the gods. for example the depiction of the screeching owl that lives above Tereseus's house. This could foreshadow the fact that the gods turn tereseus, Philomena and Procne into birds. in the case of Arachne her warning was the old woman telling her to be humble and ask the gods for forgiveness. Arachne did not take this advice and continued to deny Athena as her teacher. Arachne was determined to be known as maybe being self taught, especially since she was just mortal peasant. The passage says "You could see she was taught by Pallas. Yet she denied it, and took offense at the idea of having such a teacher". clearly Arachne was being arrogant and not humble at all. this angered Athena, so she punished Arachne by turning her into a spider. this was all because she decided to take all of the credit and give none to the gods. Arachne just did want she wanted weaving and not giving credit to the apparent true master of the craft without any regard to how Athena would feel about it. In all these myths, the gods have the last say and decide the punishments and do whatever they want in the end. in both of these stories the gods turn the main characters into animals as punishment because they did not like how they were acting.

in the story of Tereus, Tereus took that to the extreme. He didn’t care what anyone thought, he only thought about what he wanted, and what he wanted was Philomena, that was all he thought about after meeting her. the passage says, “…he burnt with his own vice and his nation’s”. This puts the blame not only on Tereus but on the whole country too, the story is saying that this lust Tereus has is a characteristic of all the men from Thrace. Either way, that puts the blame squarely on the mortal humans, with no care or concern for how they should actually be acting and respecting the gods. Tereus was so sure in his opinion and beliefs and that was all that mattered. Both Arachne and Tereus were more focused on their own talents and desires and not how that could affect other things such as their own wife or how the Gods would feel.

metamorphosis book 1-3

within the story of echo and narcissus echo is only able to repeat the last word of every sentence because jupiter sentenced her to do that. she then saw narcissus in the forrest and immediately fell in love. she stealthily followed his steps. she then hopes that he speaks so she can "form her own words". when he does speak all Echo can do is repeat everything he says. he tells her to come out. she finally came out and embraced narcissus and he rejects her. Narcissus stumbles upon a spring to which he is attracted to the reflection of his own form. he sees his own figure and thinks it to be an actual person. Narcissus could not love Echo because he fell in love with his own reflection. he only had love for himself. and because he was so vain it leads to his death. Every time Narcissus tries to touch "him" he puts his hand in the water and disturbs the image. this might be suggesting the idea of human desire. due tot he fact that people say in order to love someone else you must love yourself first. so maybe narcissus had to love himself before he ever loved echo. This clearly didnt end up happening because this was Narcissus demise as he died and was turned into a flower.

Odyssey 16-20

Homer continues exploring how the extension of, and reaction to,xenia, or hospitality, reflects various characters’ concerns. Nestor’s insistence that Telemachus stay and feast with him in Pylos before returning to Ithaca confirms that he is an honorable man. Telemachus’s eagerness to avoid this social commitment may seem a breach of social appropriateness. His evasion is justified by his prioritizing of practical considerations the need to return home quicklyover decorum and other formal considerations. Besides, Telemachus’s warm reception of Theoclymenus, in addition to the genuine urgency of the moment, takes some of the edge off of his apparent inconsiderateness.

Homer uses minor characters of low rank to great effect in Books 17and 18. These charcters seem to function as foils—characters whose traits or attitudes contrast with and thereby accentuate those of other characters. Melanthius’s disrespectful treatment of Odysseus stands in stark contrast to Eumaeus’s unflinching loyalty to his master. Similarly, in contrast to the devoted Eurycleia, Melantho proves the embodiment of ingratitude toward Penelope: though Penelope raised her like her own child, Melantho shows no concern for Penelope’s grief. Additionally, Irus’s mingled bravado and cowardice provide a good foil for Odysseus’s prudence and courage. Homer also uses Irus to foreshadow the ultimate downfall of the suitors. Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus cuts down an impudent beggar, leaving little doubt as to what he will do to the impudent nobles when he reassumes his noble form.

Even though Amphinomus shows some kindness toward the seeming beggar, Odysseus pities him. Nothing can save him from the punishment that Athena has planned for him. In fact, Athena doesn’t even take his kindness into consideration. Homer explains that “even then Athena had bound him fast to death / at the hands of Prince Telemachus and his spear” (18.178–179). Athena condemns Amphinomus to the same fate as the most worthless suitors of the bunch.In Book 17 Homer gives us the most critical depiction yet of Antinous, who disgusts even the other suitors with his abuse of the disguised Odysseus. Whereas other suitors at least give the beggar food, Antinous displays nothing but contempt for the man’s apparent low breeding and physically assails him. Penelope thus labels Antinous “the worst of all . . . black death itself” (17.554). Homer portrays Antinous as a dishonorable noble. 

The explanation for the contempt in which the others hold Antinous for mistreating Odysseus lies in the feudal structure of Homeric society, which was bound together by reciprocal obligations and responsibilities among people of different social classes. While it would be a mistake to think that the Greeks considered mistreatment of the poor an automatic sign of evil or moral deficiency, we definitely get the sense that Antinous is abusing his rank when he beats the seemingly helpless beggar. Antinous is guilty not of evil but of arrogance.The insults hurled at him accuse him not of straying from some moral code but of straying from the expectations of his noble birth.

Odyssey 6-10

book 9 is told in a flashback.as Odysseus sits in the palace of the Phaeacians telling the story of his wandering journeys.Providing some of the richest and most celebrated examples of his cunning, they speak much to the resourcefulness of the poet, who uses Odysseus’s voice to render a more complete picture of his hero’s journey, as to that of the hero himself. The apprehension that Odysseus feels as he heads toward the cave, which seems to prompt him to take the wine along, foreshadows his upcoming encounter with Polyphemus and the need for trickery to prevail. The significance of Odysseus’s blinding of the cyclopes becomes clear when Polyphemus lets his sheep out to graze the next morning; similarly, Odysseus’s lie about his name seems silly at first but adds a clever and humorous twist to the necessity of keeping the other Cyclopes from rescuing Polyphemus. Odysseus’s eventual revelation of his identity to Polyphemus ultimately proves foolish, and, because it embodies a lack of foresight, stands in stark contrast to the cunning prudence that Odysseus displays in his plan to escape from the cave. Though his anger at Polyphemus for devouring his shipmates is certainly understandable. By telling Polyphemus his name, Odysseus pits his mortal indignation against Poseidon’s divine vengeance. This act of hubris, or excessive pride, ensures almost automatically that Odysseus will suffer grave consequences. Indeed, his eventual punishment costs him greatly.He wanted to make sure that people know that he was the one who blinded Polyphemus, instructing Polyphemus to make others aware of what he has done. Odysseus believes that the height of glory is by spreading his name through great deeds.


The human tendency to give in to temptation is a main theme throughout Book 10. By boasting about his defeat of the Cyclops, the members of his crew prove unable to resist looking into Aeolus’s bag, which they were not supposed to do. Their greed ends up complicating their voyage. for example Odysseus lets a year waste away in the arms of the goddess Circe. While his crew certainly seems not to mind, even though his wife is waiting for him. Only when his crew “prods” him and calls him on his delays is Odysseus persuaded to leave Circe’s realm. Eurylochus issues an especially harsh reproach of Odysseus for mistakenly leading his crew to its destruction. He describes the death of their comrades at the hands of the cyclopes as evidence of Odysseus’s mistakes: “thanks to [Odysseus’s] rashness they died too!” (10.482). Though Odysseus checks his anger and calms down, his own crew questioning him shows the holes in his authority.

odyssey day 1

This story begins in middle of everything instead of starting at the beginning. i think that starting this story in the middle of Odysseus's journey automatically engages the interest of the audience. it also provides room for many flashbacks throughout the story. In book 5-6 this is out first encounter with Odysseus. the book shows him as very cunning and thoughtful. he weighs every decision he makes. He weighs whether to rest by the river or in the shelter of the woods along with other things as well. these kinds of instances show demonstrate his balanced warrior mentality.In each case, he makes a decision and converts thought into action with speed and poise. In his encounter with Nausicaa he demonstrates his skill in interacting with people and charisma, his subdued approach comes off as “endearing, sly and suave”. it seems that the Odyssey focuses the them on the unseen universe of the human heart, with feelings of loneliness, confusion, and despair. in addition to these idea the author also presents Odysseus in a very unheroic way, he sulking on a beach, longing to be home. 

genesis day 4

In chapter 32 and 33 you get a sense of a sibling rivalry. I find it strange that Jacob fears his own brother Essau. he fears that Essau will attack his camps he seperated them into different camps so that way if Essau attack one of them he still has another one left. jacob then wrestles with God which dislocated his hip so now the people of israel can eat the sinew of the hip. who comes up with this stuff I don't really understand some of this stuff. When Essau finally arrived he ended up helping Jacob instead of hurting him. i think this goes to show you that your family will always be there to help you in your time of need. Jacob had nothing to fear and in the end helped everyone make it to Succoth with the help of Essau.

genesis ... 12 16-18 21-23

In most of these stories the men have more then one wife. Abraham did not have any children with his wife so he tries to bear children with the wife's mistress. Abraham's wife is fine with this and lets him do it, but then holds contempt for her and punishes her which forces her to leave. I find it interesting that the bible is talking about adultery which is usually considered a sin. In addition to this god commands that all of Abraham's children should be circumcised, I never knew that this was some that "God commanded". i think that it is strange. I also find it concerning that God is giving the ability to an older women to bear a child well into her 90's. She even laughs at this notion because of her age she does not think she is able to bear a child either. She then gives birth to Issac, which is not even medically possible because women go into menopause well into their 50's.

Abraham's wife is also not a nice women. She is telling her servant that she needs to leave with her son  because the son of this women can not be heir with her son Issac. She seems to be very jealous and vengeful. then after this god decides to test Abraham and tell him to kill him and use him as a burnt offering. God is testing Abraham's loyalty to him. An Angel comes down from the heavens and tells Abraham not to murder his son because he now knows that Abraham fears God. I think that it is crazy that God is testing Abraham to see if he fears him. Makes me think that God seems a little crazy.

Genesis day 2

In the Story of Cain and Abel. God and Cain have a very interesting conversation after cain has killed his brother. God asks Cain where his brother is. in response Cain says "am I my brothers keeper". I think that this is linked back to the farming thing. Abel was the keeper of all the sheep. So  in response he says that out of anger and jealousy. after this god says "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil". This another reference to his farming. Since Cain is a farmer that is what the reference is to. also i think this is referring to how after you die you are buried in the ground. and god can hear him from the grave crying out due to his untimely passing. 

I also thought this was a typical story of jealousy and sibling rivalry. They were both competing for God's affection. After both Cain and Abel give their different offerings god states that he likes Abel better. This makes Cain enraged and jealous which causes him to kill his own flesh and blood. He then lies to God and tells him that he has no idea where his brother is. I think this shows that he is shameful because of what he did to his brother. 

The story of Noah's ark differs from the first few chapters of Genesis. We see the deity who created, but in this chapter the deity is destroying what he had originally created. 

genesis chapter 1-3

The opening verses of Genesis are extremely important. these verses can be viewed as very concrete and ambiguous. the way the earth is described as void and dark gives he reader a very concrete image of how the earth was before God created life. In Genesis it says "and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters", I think this gives the reader a very concrete image of God looking down on earth before its creation. These first few lines are also ambiguous. I think the whole notion of God and the creation of earth is very ambiguous. For instance no one really has a concrete idea of what God looks like or a concrete image of the creation of earth. Genesis basically is stating that god said let there be light and so it appeared. i think this aspect of Genesis is very ambiguous. In addition to this everyone has their own definition "God" and the "beginning". Different cultures have created their on images of "God" and creation. For example different cultures and religion believe the creation of earth happened in different ways. I think that this is a major reason that these lines are very ambiguous, because they are basically open to your own interpretation. There are many different creation myths and they all differ.

In Genesis a certain type of god  is discussed. their is only one god and he is the all mighty. he is described as merciful and as creating life. He is the creator. I think he is described as this because it portrays him as more concrete rather than ambiguous. Giving him these emotions makes people have a better understanding of him and more accepting of his creation. creation is ordered  in a certain way. first he creates earth then heaven then all of the plants and creatures. The last thing he creates is the human race. He creates man in his image and likeness. I think that he may have created man in the likeness of himself because he wanted to create people to enjoy his creation of earth and its creatures. I also think that he created them in his likeness because he is vain. he wants to marvel at the likeness of himself.

The tree of knowledge is a major part of Genesis. God tells Adam that he can not eat from the tree of knowledge cause he will surely die. I think that the tree of knowledge is forbidden because he wants his earth to be perfect and thinks that once there is knowledge of good and evil there will be war, fighting and death. Once they discover knowledge they are bound for death. In Genesis the tree is said to be lovely to look at. I think that the tree is like this because knowledge is desirable and attractive. I think that there is a definite link between vision, desire and knowledge. As humans now we all desire knowledge and strive for it. Some even find that knowledgeable people to be more visually attractive. The tree of knowledge changed the way Adam and Eve viewed each other and the earth which was created for them.