Extra Credit Post - Silence can shape what is not there

In our extra credit blog, the article in the New York Times, spoke about the fall of great cities and the silence that followed. After reading so many stories of control, slavery, warfare, and economy, it was interesting to know that some of the oppressed people of this time fought back in their own ways. 

After the uprisings and destruction of the many palaces, to have the remaining working-class wipe away history was a massively organized feat in and of itself. To no longer write things down, to hide property or products was an amazing thing. Hiding from incoming rulers left a city, a country, and even time without a record of what was happening in the shadows.

It is said that if;  "you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all". I would like to add to that by saying, "silence is golden". The silence exhibited by these revolutionaries of this time surely helped them to conceal and adapt for survival purposes.

Big Picture - Ch 5

Why do you think slavery was so much more prominent in Greco-Roman civilization than in India or China?


In China and India, slavery was for criminals, debtors, and prisoners. They only made up to 1% of the population in their own countries and sought to be a last resort of punishment to serve the wealthy. They were a show to all others of what not to do. This worked for India and China as examples to their masses.

The Greco-Roman civilization had a different use for slaves. No color, no creed, no foreign land was targeted. Any and all could be set into slavery, Greco-Romans created a use for such massive captured individuals. Romans integrated slaves as part if not the majority of the workforce to erect cities, theatres, be actors, play weights, artisans, etc. Romans used slaves as a "controlled group" of non-citizens during this time. From one city conquest alone, 55,000 slaves were incorporated into Roman society. The continual expansion of Rome brought forth millions of people into slavery, what to do with them all? The assignment of jobs this workforce was endless; from governmental development, accounting, to adornment design, and even in education, slaves became a commodity and an essential sign of status and wealth.

Big Picture - Ch 4

How would you define the appeal of religious/cultural traditions discussed in this chapter?

To what groups were they attractive, and why?

The beginning workings of reason and human awareness is how I see chapter 4. As noted in our textbook, "An iron-age technology... made possible more productive economies and more deadly warfare." This was the baseline for the second-wave era to rise from. 

Money, expansion, trade, both of new states growing to massive sizes and becoming new civilizations which in turn grow into empires. EMPIRE is the word that best describes this chapter. As this new concept and model of Imperial rule spans the globe, their subjects are learning how to organize and control such mass congregations with order. New traditions and rules need to be created to support this new skyscraper of ideas and development.

Life was simpler when there we just a few individuals, even a few thousand, but when you are speaking of expanses that engulf entire continents, well, then rules must be put in place to keep things from being chaotic. China showed signs of trying to maintain order with strict rules, too much maybe. Roman had expanded from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Britain, might that be too big, maybe. While all of these nations expanded trade routes, economics, and population, greater questions were beginning to emerge in the masses, is there a higher power? How can we keep order? Is religion the way to do so? or is governmental control the only choice?

Rome had one of the great ideas of incorporating religion into their acts. Meaning that they would do things in the name of. and they would worship gods that encouraged these acts. People would mass to their teachings while growing as a nation in one unified voice. Rules are one thing but when passion and faith are added, they become a power that the world has not seen before.

The world has new and fresh ideas, exploring all of them will be the fate of this age. Some will not make it and others will prevail. Which quest for order would you choose? Government or Religion

Big Picture - Ch 3

Are you impressed with the "greatness" of empires or with their destructive and oppressive features?  

I am impressed with the "greatest" of earlier civilizations. The ability to grow in their vastness,  create new ways of thinking, democracy, education and the acceptance of other cultures to incorporate is not only forward-thinking but it is all-inclusive. 

Why?  To give other members of your society the opportunity to learn, understand, and support the direction with one voice unified as a civilization is a test of greatness to be uplifting and positive. 

It was surprising to learn...

that in chapter 2 - An Urban Revolution, it describes the transition from the Agricultural society to the Urban thriving mega-metropolis' in North, Central & South America. We are so used to reading how the Greeks designed astronomy, hydro architecture to water their fields and form a thoughtful and advanced civilization. To read that before the time of the Greeks, possibly thousands of years before Rome, the rise of the Ming dynasty that there were even more advancements happening in the Americas.

Knowing that the regions where the Aztec, Mayans, Incas and many more civilizations in the west cultivated art, music, science, the written manuscript shows the drive of every human. Evolution flourished in all parts of the world simultaneous, not in chronological order. For me, understanding history was linear in time, but I had associated it with written knowledge in our education system. It is marveling to see how diverse in the flourishment of other regions of the world were so advanced that we are still unable to determine how their systems of old were constructed, let alone support hundreds of thousands of millineals ago.

Keep in mind that before recorded history, vast cities, cultures and mega civilizations lived in an advanced state rivaling our current status of high-life. To have running water, complex tunneling systems for wealth distribution, and isolated sewage was something that did not happen in most of Europe for thousands of years later, is shocking to say the least. I re-watched one of my favorite time movies, Apocalypto to revisit this mega-metropolises to regain a taste of the ancients. It seems that our mother-earth has hidden many of her secrets which still dumbfound us today.

I was Disappointed to read that...

humans evolved from a Hunter Gather life thousands of years ago to grow to invent electricity and space flight whilst having less and less leisure time. The sections on Economy and the Environment discusses how Materialism has consumed our societies and caused us to work ourselves to not having enough leisure time. You mean, tens of thousands of years ago, they had more PTO!

It is ironic to think that once you have the basic living items completed, time for a break. We, today have the somehow even squeeze our two-15 minute breaks into our busy days. Yes, we have "more things", we are walking upright, and that we have the science to possibly extend our life!  And for what! To work even more and have less downtime. 

Social Media, our mentors, our society tells us to strive and somehow invent or find a way to freedom from our jobs, to be successful to a point of financial freedom. Knowing this fact on materialism, it seems to me that the hourglass of time has just been turned upside down. The smarter we become, the less time we have to live within all of these accomplishments isn't' that ironic.

I found it interesting to read that...

in the modern age (2020) there still is a civilization in Northern Tanzania today, that lives and survives in the same manner as ancient people from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Having a society that is actively fighting the agricultural way of life in which the rest of the world has adapted is shocking to say the least.

I do believe that our "return to our roots" behavior is inherent to humans seeking out to reenact our primal beginnings in the form of roughing it like camping, hiking, and backpacking. This is not to say that these outdoor sports are primal, but that they place us in a vulnerable scenario of ages past. The survival of the fittest is the best way of relating to the "Hunter and Gatherer" way of life.