The Islamic Conquest of Spain

The main theme that I got out of reading number four, "The Islamic Conquest of Spain" was simply what the first sentence of the reading said. The first sentence of the reading stated, "Musa Ibn Nosseyr his son, Merwan to Tangiers, to wage a holy war upon her coast." When I read this line I asked myself, who in the world is Musa Ibn Nosseyr and Merwan, and where is Tangiers.

 I found that Musa Ibn Nosseyr was the conquerer of the African tribes, and casted eyes of greed upon Spain and laid planes for the subjugation to Arab rule of that far-spreading Christian land. I found this in a book on Google books. The book was called, "Historical Tales: Spanish." Merwan was simply Musa's son whom he sent into Tangier to wage the holy war. I then looked to see where Tangier was. I found that Tangier is almost at the very northern tip of Morocco, which is in Africa. Tangier is separated from Spain by where the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea meet.


 

One line within the reading that really stuck out to me was when the author was talking about how every new king in the country put his own padlock on the door until someone new would conquer and take over. The line goes, "He then ordered it to be opened; but behold inside were portraits of the Arabs, and a letter in which it was written, 'When this door shall be opened, these people will invade this country.'" 

The reason I find this very interesting is because it reminds me of many of the prophecies within the Christian Bible. One that especially comes to my mind is the verse in Micah 5:2 which states, "

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." I understand this verse a prophecy proclaiming the coming of Jesus Christ. 

One way I see this reading connecting with modern day society is all of the different wars we have. For example. The American Revolution was a war that kind of reminded me of the reading. There were people coming over to America from Great Britain looking for freedom, however the British empire didn't like this and wanted to rule the Americans. There was a war over the land and power. There have been many wars since that time here people have fought over land and power.

Thucydides: On the Early History of the Hellenes

The theme of "Thucydides: On the Early History of the Hellenes" was undoubtedly the history of Greece and the Grecians. You might also refer to the Greek civilization and the Hellenistic civilization. I found on the website, http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/10hellenism.html that in the history of the Hellenistic civilization, in Athens, Greece democracy was developed and it became very prevalent within the city. The surrounding civilizations noticed the advancements of the Greek societies and reacted to them accordingly. In turn, spreading the Hellenistic lifestyle throughout the ancient world.

One phrase that stood out to me was towards the end of the reading. It stated, " It is said that the Corinthians were the first to approach the modern style of naval architecture, and that Corinth was the first place in Hellas where galleys were built....They were the means by which the islands were reached and reduced, those of the smallest area falling the easiest prey." The reason that this really stood out to me was because I used to be interested in the navy. It is astonishing to think that some of the very first navies were created around this time and by the Corinthians. Not only did they create some of the first navies, but they were the first to create the first modern style of naval architecture. In my opinion, this was very important because in that time, and it stills holds true to this day, that whoever has the strongest military and navy is usually a superpower to the rest of the world and therefore most of the time they control a lot of the rest of different societies. 

One of the new ideas that came to my mind is that it's crazy to me to think of how the leaders and military leaders had to come up with ways that they could overthrow the opposition. I'm sure that the Corinthian navy was a very well thought out plan in order to take down the opposition and become a superpower in the ancient world.

This is very relevant to the United States Navy. According to the U.S. Navy website, http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=146, there are currently 323,773 active members of the navy. There are 103, 805 members on reserve. The United States is like that of the Corinth navy in which they had the biggest and best navy of the day, and the U.S. has the biggest and best navy of the modern world.

When On High

"When On High" is a Babylonian/ Mesopotamian myth of creation. I believe the theme of the whole reading regarded an account of new beginnings and creation. Along with the theme of creation, the reading sort of drew out two different aspects of the theme. I believe these two aspects were the differential lines between cosmic order and chaos of the beginning of creation, as told by the Babylonian and Mesopotamian culture.


There were a few different websites I was able to find that gave a descent overview of the reading and helped me to understand what was going on a little better. One of those websites was,  http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html. This site stated that this reading is about a cycle of seasons. It was written sometime in twelfth century on clay tablets. There are a number of different parallels to the account of the creation story of the Bible in Genesis. 


One phrase that really stood out to me were the first two lines of the reading. The first two lines state, "When on high the heaven had not been named, firm ground below had not been called by name." I think this really stood out to me because of its parallel to Genesis 1:1-3. This passage states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." This is really quite amazing to me, that different kinds of people could have such a similar story.


One of the new ideas that kept running through my mind as I was reading this story was that of the many parallels between the Bible and this story. I never realized that there were people from different time periods and different regions of the world with a similar story of the creation story in the Bible. That makes me think that God is so powerful and mighty that He can make his creation and presence known throughout the world and through many different avenues. 


One of the things I found was that it was thought that this reading was recited as a ritual during a celebration or a ceremony. There are several different rituals that are performed during ceremonies and celebrations in our modern society. For example, every morning before class started in elementary school, all of the students would meet on the gymnasium to recite the pledge of allegiance. I understand this has nothing to do with the reading, but it is just of of the many rituals I went through. I find it interesting the throughout the ages, man has created thousands of different rituals in order to function smoothly as a society. Rituals will always be a part of society and they will change over time. It would be interesting to know how our society will look at this reading and interpret it fifty years from now.