Early Contributions Of Acient Empires.Doc Essay, Research Paper

Thematic Essay

At various times between the fifth and seventeenth centuries, civilizations developed and produced significant contributions in the areas of political systems and leadership, economic and technological developments, social structures, and the intellectual life, specifically art, music, literature, science, philosophy, and religion.

The Ottomans drew strength from their origins as ghazis. The ghazi principle fueled their urge for conquest and then helped them to structure their developing society. The social structure of settled, urban Islamic society consisted of four social groupings: 1) the men of the pen, that is, judges, prayer leaders, and other intellectuals; 2) the men of the sword, meaning the military; 3) the men of negotiations, such as merchants; and 4) the men of husbandry, meaning farmers and livestock raisers. Life on the frontier was far less structured; society there was divided into two groups, the military and the people. There was even a place for the non-Muslim. In classical Islamic tradition, non-Muslim religious communities that possessed an accepted, written holy book were granted a covenant of protection, the dhimma, and were considered to be protected people, the dhimmis. In return for this status they paid a special poll tax. The Ottomans continued this tradition during the reign of Muhammad the Conqueror. The three leading non-Muslim religious communities were the Jews, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Church—were established as recognized dhimmi communities known as millets. Its own religious leader headed each millet: a chief rabbi in the case of the Jews, and patriarchs for the Greek Orthodox and Armenian communities. In the millet system, each community was responsible for the allocation and collection of its taxes, its education, and legal matters especially to personal status issues such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In the pre-modern Middle East, identity was largely based on religion. This system functioned well until the European concepts of nationalism filtered into the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century. There idea influenced only their empire due to the spread of nationalism.

As in art, a wide variety characterizes the architecture of the early Byzantine period. Two major types of churches: the basilica type, with a long colonnaded nave covered by a wooden roof and ending in a semicircular apse; and the vaulted centralized church, with its separate components gathered under a central dome. In studying their prototypes the Byzantine artists learned the new classical conventions for depicting or presenting a clothed figure, in which the clothing sticks to the body, revealing the forms beneath—the so-called damp-fold style. They also wanted to include modeling in light and shade, which not only produces the illusion of three-dimensionality but also lends animation to the painted surfaces. Religious images, however, were only acceptable as long as the human figure was not represented as an actual bodily presence. This is still used by many artists in that area and around the world, and was an important artistic development for the Byzantine Empire and the world.

The Ming dynasty was a one of the greatest dynasties of ancient China. The early Ming rulers wanted to restore the power and greatness of China after years of foreign control. They restored the civil service system, and the Confucian learning again became the road to success. The Ming dynasty revived the Chinese economy; they encouraged trade with other countries, since china had a strong industrial base. Some of the industries included porcelain, paper, and tool. The Ming also help fix, the old canal system. New technology also helped increase the output in the manufacturing of these goods. Many of their new ideas and technologies helped their country develop economically. They also developed artistically, and in literature. They developed their own styles of landscape painting and created blue and white porcelain, which were among the most valuable exports to the west. Poetry and new forms of literature also began to appear they produced the world’s first detective stories. These are the many developments of the Ming dynasty, the effected both the Chinese and the rest of the world.

The Gupta dynasty was a period in time where great learning was achieved. The students did not only learn about religion, but they also learned about philosophy. They were taught mathematics, medicine, physics, languages, literature, and other important subjects. The concept of zero was achieved in this time period and the decimal system based on the number 10. This was a great development for the guptas; the base 10 system is still in use today around the world. The also progressed in the area of architecture, they built large stone temples, and stupas, along with magnificent carvings. These advances allowed the Guptas become more powerful, and wealthy both in economic means and educational. Many of these developments are still affecting us today, they helped the Gupta dynasty, and their ideas and developments have spread around the world.

The Mayas were a very ingenious people; they had a method to grow crops in the tropical rainforest that may not grow there naturally. They also built towering temples, where priests preformed sacrifices. One of their greatest developments that is still in use today is the invention of the 365 day solar calendar, and they also invented a numbering system and understood the concept of the number zero before the Europeans had acquired it from the Indians. They had expert mathematicians, and astronomers who helped create this very accurate calendar. This was an important development because it helped them learn the seasons, and the best and right time to plant and harvest their crops most efficiently. This calendar is still in use throughout the world.

At various times between the fifth and seventeenth centuries, civilizations developed and produced significant contributions in the areas of, economic and technological developments, social structures, and the intellectual life, art, literature, science, philosophy, and religion. These all influenced the lives that we live today, and had their individual impacts around the world. They helped shape the way the economy works, and the numbering system that we use almost everyday, without these developments we would be living in a very different and unfamiliar world today.