Early Christian Architecture: Hagia Sophia

When Constantine adopted Christianity in 313 CE, no one could have foretold the effects this small and relatively unknown religion would have on world events. One influential aspect of early Christianity was the architecture it inspired in the Byzantine Empire that would later influence Medieval and Renaissance architecture in Western Europe. Architecture in Byzantium, adapted from old styles of the Romans and Greeks, was an expression of the new Christian beliefs and aimed to house congregations, to provide monumental spaces to hold sacred rites and display relics, and to express mystery and a connection to the divine. Much of this Byzantine architecture can be found in the city of Istanbul (not Constantinople?).

Shortly after Constantine accepted Christianity, he provided financial support to build churches in Rome and in the Holy Land. A type of Roman public building known as a Basilica, an elongated hall with rows of columns, provided the starting point for these early churches. Constantine’s architects developed innovative technological and design elements and added vertical dimensions with domes and vaults that were not adopted until much later in Western Europe. The most notable of Constantine’s churches were the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the site of Jesus’ tomb and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Over the next two centuries, architects modified and perfected these designs which are best exemplified by Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

The Byzantine emperor, Justinian I, commissioned Hagia Sophia to replace an earlier church after it burned down. His goal was to revitalize the capital at Constantinople and to glorify his reign. The architects, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletos, built Hagia Sophia between 532 and 537 CE, and its design reflects the culmination of Hellenistic architecture. The central basilica consists of semi-domes and vaults with a central dome that rests on four arches. The dome has a diameter of about 101 feet and a height of over 160 feet. Unfortunately, the original central dome had to be rebuilt when it collapsed after an earthquake in 558. Colorful mosaics of Christian figures such as the Virgin Mary and Jesus adorn the interior of Hagia Sophia.

Nothing remains static in history, and the fall of the Constantinople to Mehmet II (leader of the ottoman empire) in 1453 changed Hagia Sophia from a Christian church to an Islamic mosque. In the process of conversion, many of the mosaics were covered with plaster, but would later be uncovered through restoration work by the Fossati brothers in 1847. In the coming centuries successive Muslim sultans would add minerets, a kitchen, a library, and architectural support to the building. In 1934 the government of Turkey converted Hagia Sophia to a museum and restored the original mosaics. In 1985, UNESCO dedicated Hagia Sophia as well as the city of Istanbul as a world heritage site.

Sources:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haso/hd_haso.htm

MacDonald, William L. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. New York: George Braziller, 1962. Print.

Cartography

GPS: Make a right turn.
Dwight: Wait! Wait! Wait! No! No! No! It means bear right, up there.
Michael: No, it said right, it said take a right.
Dwight: No! No! No, look, it means go up to the right, bear right, over the bridge and hook up with 307.
Michael: Maybe it's a shortcut Dwight. It said go to the right.
[turns right]
Dwight: It can't mean that! There's a lake there!
Michael: The machine knows where it is going!
Dwight: This is the lake!
Michael: The machine knows---stop yelling at me!

This conversation between Michael and Dwight from “The Office” made me realize how important maps are to everyday life and how much mapping technology has evolved from rock drawings to 3-D topographical maps made by computers. Maps play a major role in our understanding of history, they are the oldest form of non-oral communication, and they pre-date written language. A map is a two-dimensional representation of the earth’s surface, and humans have been producing them since their early history on this planet.

Early humans were wanderers and they probably used crudely drawn maps to describe their surroundings or give directions to features. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of maps comes from rock art such as a town plan map from Catal Huyuk or from the Babylonian clay tablets inscribed sometime during the 5th century BCE. Babylon is depicted at the center of the world, and the map shows the Euphrates River, other surrounding cities, the Persian Gulf, and it represents the earth as a flat disk surrounded by ocean. Maps from China dating back to 168 BCE were drawn on silk and describe natural features, relief, cities, and road networks to a fairly accurate scale. (Below) Early maps were rough and numerous, but there are two common themes that are found in early mapmaking. The first is that maps represented the earth as flat and only described local landscape. The second theme is that early mapmakers placed their cities or towns at the center of map.

Mapmaking evolved, and as trade expanded, so did geographers’ and early mapmakers’ awareness of the wider world around them. The Greek geographer Eratosthenes, used the geometry of a sphere to calculate the size of earth. New technologies, such as the printing press, made map production more efficient and made it possible for maps to pass between peoples. Cartographers made attempts to map the known world and revise existing older maps. Most maps made in the 12th and 13th century in Europe were based upon the work of Ptolemy, a Greek scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and geographer, who lived somewhere around 90 to 168 CE. Most of the information about Ptolemy comes from second hand sources as mapmakers in later centuries transcribed his geocentric view of the cosmos, his understanding of map projections, and his geographic descriptions including a descriptive coordinate system. Mapmakers would draw maps and attribute them to Ptolemy’s work (notice how this map is drawn in 1482 but is based on Ptolemy.) There were many contributors to mapmaking in the classical era, and they laid the foundation for future explorers. During the age of exploration in the 15th century, Europeans became aware of the North and South American landmasses and confirmed that the Greek view of Earth as a sphere was correct.

All ancient cultures, from the Mayans to the Chinese, produced maps. Mapping has evolved from making simple descriptions of local surroundings to using satellite technology and GPS units to describe an exact location anywhere on earth, but the purpose of maps has not changed. They delineate boundaries, show ownership, and facilitate navigation.

Another interesting website with a database of historical maps from the 14th century to current day is managed by the University of Texas.

Sources:
Harley, J B., and David Woodward, eds. The History of Cartography. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Print.

Seager, Joni . Maps University of Vermont, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/mapsmain.html

Their language has an idiosyncrasy of its own. It seems to consist mainly of clicking sounds.

The epic journey of an African Bushman, in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, starts when a Coke bottle falls from an airplane in the sky and lands in front of him. He has never seen a glass bottle before, and he takes it back to his tribe where they admire it. As they find more and more uses for the bottle, they begin to view it as a necessity. New emotions like jealousy, hate, and anger surface as conflict between members of the tribe as each tries to use the bottle for his own purpose. One member of the tribe decides that enough is enough, and that the bottle must be returned to the gods who sent it. His fictional journey illustrates the differences between the modern fast paced world and the more relaxed hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

The Bushmen who live in the South African Kalahari Desert are members of an ethnic group known as the Khoisan, and are the remnants of two tribes of people. The San were an ancient tribe of hunter-gatherers and the Khoi Khoi who were a tribe of pastoralists. Both tribes are known for their unusual languages that involve using a series of clicks for some consonants. This language family is confined primarily to South Africa, although there are some speakers of the language in Tanzania. Jared Diamond, in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, suggested that the Khoisan may originally have been more widespread across Sub-Saharan Africa. Archeologists believe they have lived in this area for over 20,000 years, and they may be one of the oldest peoples in the world. Discoveries of San rock art in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa depict their food sources (the eland antelope), their beliefs in the supernatural world, and their history painted on sandstone.

The history of these people is a microcosm of the broader picture of world history, where each geographic area has seen a succession of people displacing, conquering, or killing previous inhabitants. The name San literally means “those without cattle.” They were the original inhabitants of southern Africa who mixed with the Khoi Khoi from the north. The Khoi Khoi had been in contact with the Bantu people from whom they acquired cattle. The Khoi Khoi and the San eventually mixed and became the dominant ethnic group in southern Africa. The Bantu migration from western Africa into and across southern Africa between 3,000 BCE and 500 CE brought agriculture and iron technology that would serve to marginalize the Khoisan people. Later, the Europeans, with their sophisticated technology and aggressive colonial governments, dominated the region from the 17th century onwards. The Khoisan peoples have been able to survive through many generations and into the present day because they live in remote areas (such as the Kalahari desert) that are unsuitable for farming. This hunting and gathering society can give us a small idea of what life was like before humans became sedentary.

Magnificent Machu Picchu

The ruins of great civilizations scatter the globe, yet as we marvel in their beauty, we must realize that the stories behind many ancient works are unknown. To this day, scientists and scholars alike are uncertain of many aspects surrounding the famous Machu Picchu site in Peru. Perched between two sacred mountain tops, the remains of Machu Picchu are magnificent and grand. One can only be left to wonder what the city must have been like during its prime.

Machu Picchu directly translates as ‘Old Mountain’ and was built around 1450 CE by the Incan leader Pachakuteq. The city is believed to have been built as a sanctuary for elite members of the Inca civilization to escape the chaos of nearby Cuzco. In fact, a road enters the south of Machu Picchu directly from the main city. For the select few who entered the city, its infrastructure was amazing. Grand buildings were made from granite in the top of the mountains. Blocks were laid together so tight that scholars proclaim not even a knife blade will fit between them. Close up pictures of the blocks that compile the buildings can be found here.

Machu Picchu is separated into two distinct sectors. The agricultural sector forms a ring around the center, urban sector which was separated by walls and ditches that may have once been a moat. Uneven slopes required terraces to be used in order to make farming possible. However, scholars do not believe the agricultural sector would have been productive enough to entirely sustain the urban center. The inner sector is filled with a network of buildings, plazas, and platforms, but at the heart of the city, temples and palaces were constructed and connected by narrow passages of steep stairways. There are many other distinct features to the layout of Machu Picchu, and this site does a very thorough job of explaining them. Gold covered buildings still stand today at the core of the urban center where lavish ceremonies may have taken place.

Only able to sustain around 500 people, Machu Picchu was small compared to other Incan cities, reinforcing the theory that it was built only for the privileged. Although, based on archeological evidence, scholars consider the inhabitants of the city to be from various places within the Inca Empire. It remains unclear what brought such a variety of people together. Perhaps leaders from every corner of the empire retreated to Machu Picchu at some point in time.

It is doubtful that we will ever fully understand the purpose and history of Machu Picchu, but archeologists continue to excavate the site in hope of further discovery.

Sources:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/ancient/machu-picchu.html http://www.machupicchu.perucultural.org.pe/ingles/index.htm

The Mystery of Magic in Ancient Civilizations

In class we discussed the various religions (or cultural ideas like Confucianism) in ancient China, India, and Greece. However, these discussions made me curious about another phenomenon that became an enormous part of ancient culture. Magic influenced the daily lives and rituals of people in ancient civilizations and is still present today. Where did the word “magic” come from? How was it utilized in ancient cultures? How did it connect with the religions of these societies? What rituals did it involve? I found an interesting website that addresses these questions. Magic and religion coexisted with little tension in the ancient civilizations through ideas like astrology, rituals, and material items.

Thoth, the Egyptian god of magic

The word “magic” originated in the Asyro-Babylonian civilizations. The highest priests, called Magi (from a tribe name), practiced a “religion” later called magic. They worshiped fire and claimed to control it and nature's lightning.

In Asyro-Babylonian civilizations, ideas like astrology and use of magic by gods made magic relevant in religion. Astrology became extremely important to religion. For example, the Assyrians made the Zodiac, 12 signs, that predicted one’s fortune based on star alignment. Also, every being, including gods, used magic. The main god, Marduk (sun god) practices magic and so related to Asallunhi, the god of Magic. The magical philosopher Zarathustra became the prophet of Ahura Mazda (literally “Sage god”), and Ahriman (evil) also existed. Zarathustra’s book of verses, "Awesta", gained him reputation as a magician. They called him "the father of magic."

In Egypt, religion and magic also coincided through the use of rituals and dreams. Dawn became the most important time to use magic rituals (along with dancing and singing) and potions, and one had to be spiritually clean. Individuals mainly used magic to heal, not curse, although some curses existed. (For example, one drew a picture of one’s enemy on a pot and then broke the pot). Through the magic ritual “words of power”, individuals controlled gods. These “words of power” meant that one knew the “true name” of the god, and, controlled him or her by calling them this name. Finally, unlike other civilizations at this time, the Egyptians focused on the interpretation of dreams, which they considered messages from the gods.

Egyptians used amulets, in the form of gods, animals, or royal symbols, as material items associated with magic. A source of power, amulets protected their wearer. Individuals wore them daily for luck, good health, wealth, and safety. They used amulets as physical cures for diseases as well. In burials, priests, the main magicians at this time, placed amulets and “sacred stones” around the body to give it good fortune in the next life.

The Greeks and Romans used magical ritually and with material goods. Influence of surrounding cultures, such as the Greeks and Eturians (later brought into Roman society), affected Rome’s religions and magical ideas. From the Eturians, the Romans learned to tell the future based on sacrificial animals’ liver. They experienced miracles through the magician Apollonius. Another magician, Apuleius, taught them to divide magic between “good magic” and “bad magic".

Therefore, one can easily see that religion and magic lived side-by-side in ancient civilizations. Priests, important religious leaders, practiced magic. The use of ideas like astrology, rituals, such as “words of power", and material items like the amulet, proved that magic and religion connected in ancient civilizations.

Introduction

Welcome to our blog! I am a freshman at Grand Valley, the youngest in our group, and I am excited for my first year here. My declared major is history and my minor is undeclared. I am considering a music or English minor. With my history major, I hope to go to graduate school to get a Master of Library Science. Although my plans will most likely change given that I am an underclassman, I know that I love history, reading, and research, and I would enjoy a career based on these subjects.

I have loved history since middle school when my class discussed current events and debated about historical topics. I do not have a favorite area of history; on the contrary, I cannot decide which era is my favorite! I have never been exposed to an ancient history class so it will be interesting to learn about ancient cultures and customs.

In addition to history, I enjoy playing the piano, reading, knitting, and watching movies. I have played the piano for ten years and enjoy it as an emotional outlet. I had piano lessons since I was eight years old and I am feeling quite stressed in my first year without lessons and time to practice. I read frequently as well. My favorite literature is historical Christian fiction, with my favorite authors being Bodie and Brock Thoene. They write books about WWI, WWII, and the Israel-Palestine conflicts.

From History 203, I hope to learn more about ancient cultures, of which I know very little. I want to learn about the various ways that ancient cultures still impact the world today. Hopefully, in our blog we will be able to discuss topics talked about in class much more extensively. Also, I wish to improve my professional writing skills, because my high school did not prepare me well. I have never blogged before so it will be interesting to read and comment on other students’ posts.