The Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, which has Mohammad's tomb inside.

In class this week, we learned about the Islamic religion and culture. The city of Medina, "city of the Prophet", interested me and I did some research to find out more about the city and what life was like in the ummah, or Muslim community. I stumbled upon some interesting information about The Prophet's Mosque as well. Medina and the Prophet's Mosque became central to the Muslim faith in uniting the community.

First, I will give a brief history of Medina and the Islamic community, or ummah. The city was originally dominated by Jews and called Yathrib. It was later renamed Medina soon after people of the city asked Muhammad to delegate and keep the peace between two opposing communities, called the Aws and Khazraj. In 622, Muhammad, his prophets, and believers, moved from Mecca to Medina, establishing it as a holy city. A website I found, globalsecurity.org, emphasizes the importance of Medina to Muslim beliefs when it states:

Considered to be the second most important holy city of Islam [after Mecca], the city of Medina is located in a well-watered oasis 110 miles (180 km) inland (east) of the Red Sea. Much fruit and some grain are raised in and around the city. When making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, usually a visit to Medina is part of the trip.

The first ummah within Medina possessed some interesting characteristics that became the foundation for other Islamic communities. It surprised me to learn that instead of basing social status on wealth or family heritage, the ummah based social status on how pious and obedient one remained to the Islamic religion. Muhammad united his Muslim tribe because he gave them a strong force to follow. He kept one-fifth of money and goods from raids and gave the rest to members of the community. People in the community then distributed a part of their money to help the poor. This system established social order and organization that had previously been lacking in the different, feuding tribes.

Globalsecurity.org also states that the Prophet's Mosque (see picture above) is the second most holy Mosque for Muslims, millions of whom visit it still today. It is the resting place of Mohammad, his daughter, and the Caliph Omar. This large amount of visitors to the Mosque then and now illustrates that it unites believers in the Islamic faith. The Mosque became a center for economic and social activity in the community and, in this way, allowed cultural diversity and greater acceptance of others. Muhammad built this as the first building after his move from Mecca to Medina. The Mosque was important to the faith, as is revealed when one examines the amount of area added to it over the years. It is now one hundred times the size it was when Muhammad first had it built. Half a million people can easily fit inside.

It is clear that Medina and the Prophet's Mosque united the ummah, or community, of the Muslim world and still does today. For more information of the Islamic religion and culture in general another website I found has links to many other useful sources. In addition, this year I had to read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson who is coming to visit our university this spring. David Oliver Relin wrote this book about Mortenson’s work building schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I would definitely recommend this book. It provides an interesting outlook into the Muslim community today and addresses some of the stereotypes we have against the Islamic religion.

Arabian Nights: Harun al-Rashid

One of my favorite Disney movies, after Robin Hood and The Jungle Book, is Aladdin. The story is filled with the romance, mystery, and action that I loved as a child and is why I still enjoy the movie today. Stories such as Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sinbad’s Voyages are folktales in the book One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Europeans compiled and translated these stories in the 18th century, but the earliest known written versions date back to the 14th century. Even though the stories in One Thousand and One Nights had their origins in the Golden Age of the Islamic Empire, there is no definitive text or author. This collection of stories was hugely popular influential in later European literature, and, even today, the adventure and mysticism from One Thousand and One Nights inspires films and plays. Many of these tales are based on actual people and events, but they are greatly exaggerated. Immortalized within the stories of One Thousand and One Nights is the caliph, Harun al-Rashid. His adventures disguised as a commoner, where he wanders the city streets with his closest companions as they discover the issues the common people face, solve murders, and help people in distress are told in stories such as The Tale of the Three Apples. Like characters in many stories, the real Harun al-Rashid was not nearly as noble or as successful as his fictional self.

Harun al-Rashid was born to the prince Mahdi in Iran and to a slave mother, Khayzuran in approximately 762 CE. He would eventually come to be caliph of the Abbasid Islamic Empire that stretched from modern day Tunisia through Egypt to Syria and Central Asia. The Abbasid dynasty overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750. Many Muslims considered the Umayyads tyrannical and impious, whereas the Abbasids ruled more in keeping with the Koran. During the reign of Harun al-Rashid, Baghdad grew into a prosperous city. The people attributed the relative safety and security they felt within the Islamic Empire to his rule, but overall, Harun al-Rashid did little to improve or advance the Islamic Empire. Harun’s son and successor, Ma’mun was the one who established the House of Wisdom and greatly expanded scholarship within the empire. Harun was not a great political ruler, he struggled militarily, and he faced internal conflicts. His popularity today comes, not from his achievements, but from his role in One Thousand and One Nights.

Harun was second in line to ascend to the role of caliph after his brother Hadi. Following their father’s death, Hadi took power, which was fine with Harun but not with their mother, Khayzuran, who favored the younger son. When Hadi forcefully recommended that his mother remain in the women’s quarters and stick to domestic affairs, she became angry. He died under mysterious circumstances shortly thereafter. Harun was then able to gain power but he left the business of ruling to his close friends in a powerful Persian family, the Barmakids. His closest friend from this family was Ja’far who appears in many of the tales alongside Harun. From all accounts, Harun al-Rashid was closely tied to this family, until, for no apparent reason, either to the people of the time or future historians, Harun had the entire Barmakid family murdered.

Harun had frequent contact with his contemporary, Charlemagne, and the two seemed to be allied against the Byzantine Empire. Harun supported annual raids and skirmishes against the Byzantines along the border between the Islamic and Byzantine empires. He died of natural causes in 809 CE when he was in his mid-forties, but he will forever remain a character in the stories of the Arabian Nights.

Sources:
Kennedy, Hugh. "The True Caliph of the Arabian Nights." History Today 54.9 (2004): 31-36. Academic One File. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <>.

Saunders, J.J. "Harun al-Rashid and His Times." History Today 13.1 (1963): 52-62. Periodicals Archive Online. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. .

Byzantine Influnce in Russia

As Byzantine religious culture spread around the region, it eventually looked to influence the Slavic people to the north. The conversion of the people of what is Russia today is considered to be one of the most important expansions of Orthodox Christianity.

In the ninth century CE, Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine missionaries, developed a Slavic alphabet that could be used to translate the Bible in order to help bring Christianity to the people of the area. Kievan Rus, named after the well known city of Kiev, was a state that began to flourish from trade along the Dnieper River. The state of Rus was compiled of a wide array of people, of which Prince Vladimir of Kiev ruled. As Rus began to experience interaction with other areas of the Byzantine Empire, Vladimir sought to adopt a religion that would unite the people of his region. We have learned from ancient works that Vladimir essentially ‘shopped around’ for religions. He rejected Islam because it prohibited drinking alcohol, an activity very dear to the people of Rus, he rejected Roman Christianity because he did not like the idea that the pope saw himself as supreme to other rulers, and he rejected Judaism because he saw their god as weak. In the end, Prince Vladimir was left with the Orthodox church of Byzantine, although, much political consideration was taken into account as well. After all, Vladimir married the Byzantine Emperor’s sister.
Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Christianity in 988 CE. The Orthodox religion brought stability to the diverse and budding society. Rus inherited many aspects of the neighboring Byzantine Empire such as its architectural ways, Cyrillic alphabet, and use of icons. Orthodox Christianity embedded itself deep within the Russian people and their way of life, with the state also adopting the Byzantine ideal of having control over the Church.

When the Byzantine Empire collapsed in 1453, the Russians declared Moscow to be the “third Rome,” the true protector of Orthodox Christianity, much like how Constantinople was declared a “new Rome.” The Russians felt they had inherited the Byzantine Empire in all of its glory and sophisticated ways. In this sense, the Russian conversion to Christianity played a huge role in ensuring that aspects of the Byzantine Empire lived on, similar to how the Byzantines carried on Roman traditions. As the legacy of such huge empires lives on in various ways, I wonder what could be considered to be a “fourth Rome” and how the seemingly historic tradition of continuing the ways of fallen empires has continued since Byzantium.

Sources:
http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/byzmuslm.html
Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.

The Persecution and Martyrdom of Early Christians

“What was their crime? It was admitting to being Christian. They did not have proper trials.
They were tortured before being put to death.”

During the rise of Christianity, these early Christians suffered greatly. They faced persecutions by the Roman Empire and some of those the persecuted are now considered martyrs. These men and women, even children, would not renounce their faith in God; therefore, they were tortured and sentenced to death by the state. If these people had renounced their faith while on trial on worshipped the idols, they would not have died so horrifically. However, their faith, the new Christian faith, was so strong that they determined it was better to die than live a lie.

In class we read an excerpt from Life of Constantine, written by the emperor’s historian Eusebius. Eusebius had also written an Ecclesiastical History, in this book he wrote about many of the early Christian martyrs. He described their sickening sentences. A website details twenty-two of the martyrs’ deaths that Eusebius described, stating that elderly, adults, and youth all faced these horrific persecutions. They state that they were “cast to wild animals,” “thrown into the sea,” “scourged and scraped by iron hooks,” dragged behind horses or camels through the streets, raped, beheaded, burned, put in the stocks, stoned, crucified, and so many more. The most horrific I read was the account of Sanctus, which is the following:

“He suffered many torments devised by men. When these men could do no more, they fastened hot plates of brass to the most tender parts of his body. He withstood all the suffering, but his body was one continued wound, mangled and shrivelled [sic], that had entirely lost the form of man to the external eye. Again, he passed through the tortures. These included the strokes of the scourge, the draggings [sic] and lacerations from the beasts other tortures demanded by the audience, and the iron chair upon which his body was roasted. Other tortures followed until he died.”

These martyrs of the Christian faith endured the unimaginable to people today. Throughout the tortured these men and women did not renounce their faith or worship the other gods so that they may live another day. In fact some “kept a cheerful and joyful countenance throughout.” At the end of this essay, the author states that men and women today “take granted the religion freedom which they have.” No matter a person’s faith, he or she must remember that the world did not always have the religious freedoms as she does today. He or she must not ignore the fact that men and women die on a daily basis because of their religious beliefs. It may not happen as regularity as the persecutions of the Roman Christians, but there are those still discriminated against because of their religious (or non-religious) beliefs.

Information from http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/earlmart.htm
Picture (Martyrdom of the 10,000) from Creative Commons : http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Martyrdom.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martyrdom.jpg&usg=__9Or610FcYA84uecodbDfNeh8lt0=&h=1061&w=850&sz=115&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=_mz7cDW09NLFaM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmartyrdom%26as_rights%3D(cc_publicdomain%257Ccc_attribute%257Ccc_sharealike%257Ccc_nonderived).-(cc_noncommercial)%26hl%3Den

The Byzantine Economy

In class we talked a lot about the characteristics of the Byzantine Empire but not about the significance of its material wealth. I am interested in how the trade of the Byzantine Empire affected the relations between East and West Europe. An article I found on the JSTOR database discusses this along with the general economy of the Byzantine Empire.

The economy of Eastern Byzantium differed from that of the Western Byzantine Empire. The Eastern Byzantine Empire's economy, trade, and the sacking of Constantinople by the Western Crusaders in the 4th Crusade (for more information click here and here), affected how it interacted with the Western Byzantine Empire. It soon developed an international economic system.

The Eastern Byzantine Empire had a strong monetary system and trade as part of its economy. I found a picture online of a bezant, one of its coins. It lasted around 800 years as a central form of currency in the Roman Empire, one of the longest-lasting currencies. This coin was from around 690 CE and was one of the first to show a picture of Christ. Our Strayer textbook states that other goods traveled throughout and beyond the Byzantine Empire, including textiles, dyes, jewelry, gold, silver, and silk. Cities became major centers for these goods to be traded for the currency.

After the siege of Constantinople (as shown in the picture on the right) and its recapture by the Eastern Roman Empire, the article's author (Laiou-Thomakis from above) states that the relationship between the two halves of the Empire changed. It surprised me to learn that the Eastern Byzantium became increasingly reliant on the Western economy after 1204. After the siege, more individuals from the West settled in the East. Eastern nobles began marrying Western noblewomen, who brought their cultural ideas and taste for Western goods with them. In addition, Italian goods in the East Mediterranean became important to the East.

Finally, the article points out that the Byzantine economy formed in a world of international markets. This means that supply and demand controlled the market, kept prices fairly stable, led to a common currency, started a bank system, and labor supported it. The system was so strong that merchants could easily find out the price of a good and that would tell them the market's current condition (reminds one of today's stock system indexes). Even in politically difficult times, the market for most goods remained fairly stable, which was an indication of a strong economy that did not fluctuate with every little problem.

This article supplies very interesting information. It showed how the East Byzantine Empire's trade, economy, and siege of Constantinople affected its relation with the West. It also came to have an international economic system. This reminds one, in this time when many individuals are so concerned about the economy, that historical events influence the economy. One may even argue that the Byzantine Empire led the way to a stronger economical system used around the world today.

Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.

"Sailing To Byzantium"

"Sailing To Byzantium" by: William Butler Yeats


That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

In "Sailing to Byzantium" the poem is broken up into four stanzas, each describing a different part of the voyage and the feeling associate with it. Stanza one is the narrators departure to Byzantium. In stanza two the voyage done by boat and landing in Byzantium. In the third stanza, in the holy city of Byzantium and visiting the ancient landmarks.During the fourth stanza, the desire of the narrator to become a part of physical aspect of Byzantium.Ancient Byzantium was a city in Rome and was known as heaven, due to the vast works of art. Art was one of the most significant elements of the city and since Yeats believes art is essential to life and death, he uses Byzantium as the prime example of paradise in his poem.

So what? You ask, Yeats was able to take a complex and meaningful subject, break it into four parts in order for those who read it to understand the history being created during this time.

Soucre: http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/781/

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.