The Importance of Living (5)
Thoughts from Madison Nef
“Everybody wants to be somebody, so long as that somebody is not himself.” Or so says Yutang, starting off the 5th chapter of the book. He focuses on animals once again, using them symbolically. He notes that he has never seen an animal with a sad or depressed expression on its face except for the chimpanzee or monkey, and he attributes that to them thinking more deeply than other creatures. He says that every animal seems content in its world, aside from humans and monkeys. Yutang’s belief is that we think ourselves into being upset and discontent with life, or as he puts it, “like an a la carte restaurant where everyone looks over and thinks the next table’s food is better looking than his own”.
All this discontent is due to thinking and the power of one’s brain. The bigger one’s dreams and the more that a man imagines he can have, the more unsatisfied he becomes with reality. Yutang says that this is why imaginative children can be harder to deal with- it’s because they have a completely different view of reality and what it SHOULD be. This reminds me of people who get so caught up in TV shows and other false realities that they fail to be content with what they have- I’ve seen it happen and it’s very sad.
Through life, I’ve learned to take what I get and enjoy things while I have them. If you fail to enjoy the things you have WHILE YOU HAVE THEM, you end up missing them and hurting more when they suddenly disappear. Having a false reality isn’t good- while it may benefit you for the time being to pretend that things are going just fine, you can’t fake forever because your reality will inevitably break through. If no one can see the problem, no one can help you- so sometimes letting reality become evident, even if it hurts, can help you in the long run.
As my dad says, in the end, it isn’t about objects and what you have. If your house burned to the ground and every last thing you owned was destroyed, at the end of the day you’d only have one thing: your honor. One of my dad’s philosophies is to always keep your honor full and there- not only is it the one thing you own completely, it is also something that only you can control. It stays with you, even after you die- because if you were honorable, those who knew you will remember you for it.
I think that the main lesson in this chapter is to not take things for granted and to realize that the little things matter the most. Having a false sense of reality sucks because you are never content with what you have- even if you have all that you need to begin with. Dad always tells me that it’s the little things in life that count, because they are the things that will make you happy continuously. However, if you equate happiness with the “big” things in life, you won’t be happy very often because “big” things don’t come around a lot. In fact, I wrote a poem about it:
Sometimes all you need,
to brighten up your day,
is a simple smile or laugh,
sent from far away.
A rainbow forming from the clouds,
the stars that shine at night,
all the tiny things,
that make a day so bright,
a small yet perfect butterfly,
perched on a dainty flower,
jumping into puddles,
 from an afternoon shower,
All these little things,
they make our life so great,
yet are barely acknowledged,
until it is too late.
For little things create the big,
the "big" that we find great,
like going to a party,
or staying up real late.
but these things do not happen,
every single day,
and so we feel unlucky,
sad, and down in every way...
we feel rejected, and feel mad,
because our life's not "perfect",
but now, sit down, lie back,
reflect!
for it truly is the little things...
the little things that make life perfect.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know I did.

Maddie

The Importance of Living (4)

The Importance of Living
Thoughts from Madison Nef
In this chapter, Yutang starts off by stating that man’s dignity is something to be questioned. “Man is indeed the best animal, if we are going to call ourselves that.” I agree with Yutang- as he puts it, we started our own civilization from scratch and brought it up. Out of all animals, we are also the ones with the best form: we have almost all things that animals have only one of per species. For example, horses are strong, peacocks and parrots are well-dressed, doves are gentle and loving, larks are good singers, and so on and so forth- but humans have all good things in one package.
Yutang goes on to say that however out of all animals besides humans, he finds the monkey so intriguing. There is something about monkeys that shows him that while clever, they are still foolish and proud of their so-called “intelligence”. This makes him thankful to be human, but it also leads him to say that if we are so similar to monkeys, just on a more advanced level- we shouldn’t be so proud of our intelligence and discoveries until we are certain of what we have.
Here is where I disagree with Yutang: I think we, as a race, SHOULD be proud of our intelligence and how far we’ve come! He states on the very first page of the chapter that humans are the best animal, yet now says we should not take pride in it. I think that we SHOULD! Even monkeys are oblivious to their own stupidity because they don’t KNOW BETTER- and neither do we. If there is a species that we don’t know about that is even smarter than we ourselves are, then we are just living in oblivion to them anyway. So, while we are alive, why not be proud of who we are and what we’ve accomplished!?!
Moving right along, Yutang then starts contemplating how man even STARTED to form his own civilization- and once again, related us back to monkeys by saying that like them, we have a playful and insatiable curiosity and we experiment with what we are given. While this is true to some extent, I think constantly referring to monkeys isn’t the best way to go about things. I get that they are a good metaphor, but GEEZ! Every single line is saying something about monkeys. We get it; we’re all related to them and we were modeled after them and at times, we act like them. Now stop.
It was Yutang’s belief that if not for our monkey ancestors, we wouldn’t have good fine motor skills- saying that what helped monkeys and apes learn these motor skills was the lice that they had. He also said that in the monkeys, the larger differences between male and female could be seen. For example, female apes realize that the males are stronger and can win in fights. So, instead of fighting, female apes use more charm to get what they want by grooming their faces and plucking hair from them. They also raise the children and teach them to walk.
Today, females in society are formed like this as well. Men are stronger and generally women are sweeter and more… gentle. Females generally do care more about their appearance, and do use their compassion and looks to get their way. Yutang believed that our female ancestors were also the ones who started off the English language and formed words through communication. Using a stereotypical approach of women loving to talk amongst each other and gossip, Yutang said that likely the first communication was between two females and from there, language sprung forth.
Well, I have no reason to NOT believe Yutang, and language had to start somewhere- and pinning it on females is as good as anything else. To this day, women do seem to be more social and “chatty” than men, so it makes a little bit of sense. How do you think human language started? Let me know in the comments.
Maddie

The Importance of Living (3)

The Importance of Living (Chapter 3)
Thoughts from Madison Nef
Compared to the other chapters in the book, chapter three was very short. It was only broken into two parts, but it was still a good read. In this chapter, Yutang covered a story of Chinese lore- one about the Monkey. Now, in the story, the Monkey is a very powerful being. He can shape shift, and even force his way into heaven. However, he is never allowed into heaven as the gatekeepers do not deem him fit enough or ready to dine with the gods. As the story goes, one of the gods hosts a large feast, to which the Monkey is not invited.
Enraged, the Monkey sneaks into heaven and manages to confuse a fairy, sending him in the opposite direction of the party and telling him the location is changed. He then shape shifts into the fairy and heads to the party himself. He is the first to arrive, and he changes into a sleeping-bug and poisons the guards watching over the wine. He then drinks all the wine himself, and eats all the food, ruining the feast. Upon arriving, the other guests suspected the Monkey, but he was already gone. He left Heaven, fearing his punishment.
He was the king of where he lived, and he put up a sign that read “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven”. This caused wars between the gods and the Monkey, and he was not captured until the Goddess of Mercy dropped a flower sprig down from Heaven and knocked him out. In the story, the monkey represents all of us humans… imperfect, rebellious, and unfit to enter Heaven. In the story it is noted that the Monkey itself was too good for mortals on Earth, yet not pure enough to join the immortals. It was wise, but also very conceited and with no humility. The Monkey did not earn humility until it was chained to a rock for over 500 years. Only after was it unchained by the Abbot and learned humility.
Today, monkeys are loved by many, despite their mischievous personality and their conceited and somewhat annoying attitudes. Yutang states that as the monkey depicted in the story was an image of humans, we should learn to come to love and know humanity as it is, even with all its imperfections and shortcomings. He then goes on to say that this why he questions that God made us imperfect on purpose.
Yutang believed that we were not modeled after God himself, but after monkeys. As he put it, we are “as close to God as ants are to us”. We have minds, and we believe we are great thinkers and often blow ourselves up to more than we actually are because of this. It was his belief that creatures of nature were all perfect and got along in harmony with each other- and any that didn’t, were removed.
However, when man was created, he tried to break away and form his own lifestyle, his own civilization. In this civilization, creatures whose laws were perfect became criticized and judged for doing what their natural instincts told them to: dogs became too noisy, mice became thieves, tortoises became lazy, horses were timid and lions and other beasts were seen as savage killers. Adapting to nature was easy, and instincts were prime and ruled above mind. However, things have become so bent after centuries and we now are taught to adapt ourselves to ourselves- and instinct that was once a key to survival is now frowned upon.
I think that this closes up the paper and all I have to say on it. I think that Yutang had an interesting point, comparing us to monkeys- If you follow the theory of evolution then I guess it makes sense, but the story actually made sense. You’d have to read it for yourself to get the grasp of it, I only summarized it. It is the third chapter of the book, titled “Our Animal Heritage”. The whole book is well worth the read 

The Importance of Living (2)

The Importance of Living (Chapter 2)
Thoughts from Madison Nef
Chapter two is segmented, as chapter one was. It begins with the telling of three different religions in three different cultures: the Christian theological view, the Greek pagan view, and the Chinese Taoist-Confucianist view. Yutang states that he did not include Buddhism because he found the religion “too sad”.
Yutang started off by describing the Christian faith. Just going off of how he described the faith, I would say that Yutang did not agree with the faith at all. In fact, he almost went out of his way to point out the logical, but doubtful questions about it, STARTING with the Devil himself. He said that Christians didn’t want a “Not-God” to be of an equal level as their God, so they made the Devil a fallen angel. Yutang then states that for there to be a fallen angel, there had to be ANOTHER Devil of some sort to influence the angel to fall.
Yutang also made a point of how Christians today overlook the worse parts of their religion- and I agree with him. Too often people are gung-ho about Heaven and they tend to forget that if there is a Heaven, there is also a Hell. They love and praise God, but if there is a God then there is also a Devil. To every religion there is a not so nice part, and if you are going to truly devote yourself to religion then you should look at it with truth and not through rose colored glasses.
Next, Yutang speaks of the Greek culture. He says that what struck him most about their religion was that their gods resembled men- they quarreled, lied, loved, went hunting, and engaged in all sorts of human activities and were modeled after men- not men modeled after God. Apart from their immortality, many of the Greek gods were the same as humans! In comparison to the Christian God, whom was looked upon as perfect, Yutang found it refreshing to see imperfection in religion.
He also liked the fact that the Greek gods were so close to men. The Greeks themselves knew they were different from their gods- they were mortal, their gods were divines. And they didn’t mind that! They were more focused on trying to find the happiness in life, in discovering the good morals and the beautiful things in their world. There was no worry over what was scientifically correct or not; nor were there any squabbles between them. They took life as it was, with no exceptions or otherwise, and believed that it was a great gift to be mortal and be able to understand things on a different speculative level.
The Taoist-Confucianist religion is something completely different from both Christianity and the Greek religion. They believed in great spirits, or “geniuses”. Every mountain, every river, anything that had been around for more than a century or so, was considered a genius. Each mountain had a spirit that owned it and controlled it, and every flower had a fairy to take care of it. There were celebrations for larger spirits, such as the Queen of All Flowers and All Souls’ Day for those who had died at sea or in other unreachable places.
It was also the Chinese belief that the spirits of dead people could and WOULD wander if they were not properly buried after death. If the person was murdered or died in some other way, their spirit would stick around until their murderer or the guilty party was dealt with. Then, they would have peace and all the craziness that was believed to be brought with the vengeful spirit would end.
Looking at this chapter as a Catholic, I think that Yutang did a great job of putting three very different religions into perspective for others. He raised good points that I had not thought of about my own religion, and I learned a little something about two other religions I otherwise wouldn’t have researched.

The Importance of Living (1)

The Importance of Living
Thoughts from Madison Nef
I read the first chapter of the book “The Importance of Living” by Lin Yutang. The chapter was broken up into three parts, each of which I would like to address separately: Approach to Life, A Pseudo-Scientific Formula, and The Scamp as an Ideal.
Starting off with approach to life, Yutang got right into the book by saying he would be writing from the Chinese outlook of life, as that is what he knew. He put a disclaimer saying that he had never taken a class in philosophy nor had he ever read any books by the great philosophers, stating that “if one is too well-read, then one does not know right is right and wrong is wrong.” He credits his sources as those around him- saying that not knowing philosophy, but knowing life, makes the book that much easier to write.
When you break life down- everyone has their own philosophy. Without a philosophy, no one would be able to function. As my dad puts it, that’s the great thing about philosophy: everyone has one, whether they know it or not. The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines philosophy as “the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc.” but I couldn’t disagree more. To me, philosophy is a way of life- how you live life and the decisions you make that influence your life. Philosophy isn’t just a “study”, it’s a key principle.
Yutang describes his culture as a detached one, saying that many Chinese people have a sense of high-mindedness needed to avoid the temptations of fame and money and let themselves go. By doing so, Yutang felt that these people would reach the full sense of freedom, pride, and nonchalance. It was his belief that only with this sense of pride that one could truly arrive at the full joy of living.
In “a pseudo-scientific formula”, Yutang explains that mankind is divided into idealists and realists. He states that the two tug at each other in every aspect of life, to keep a balance on things as too much idealism would be too ridiculed- as the ideas are always changing, getting picked over, criticized and brought back around in a vicious cycle. Yutang also noted that while man was given these two “isms”, he was also given humor (which Yutang believed was to be used to stretch and criticize the dreams of men). “It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.”
Yutang went as far as to make formulas “by which the mechanism of human progress and historical change” could be expressed. They were as follows:

Reality – Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = Idealism Reality + Humor = Realism/Conservatism
Dreams – Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
It was Yutang’s belief that wisdom was the highest form of thinking. The way to achieve wisdom, from his perspective, was to be able to tone down one’s dreams and idealistic thoughts with a good sense of humor- while backing one’s humor with reality. As quoted above, one should be able to dream, but also know how to laugh at his dream. In my eyes, what Yutang is saying is have an imagination, but know when to stop and not to let your thoughts control you. There can be dreams, but there must also be reality and logic and you need to know the difference.
“Comedy is exaggerated realism. It can be stretched to the almost ludicrous, but it must always be believable.” – Paul Lynde

The Art of War 2

The Art of War (Part 2)
By Madison Nef
Part Four (Tactical Dispositions)
Sun-tzu knew that the old fighters put themselves BEFORE the potential of failure. They believed in themselves, and would wait for their opportunity to defeat the enemy. Sun-tzu knew that if we went to battle believing we would fail, we would surely fail. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands… but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided to the enemy himself. Therefore Sun-tzu believed that he who was able to secure himself against defeat would not be defeated, but he who did this could also not make certain of defeating the enemy. What works for one side, also works for the opposing side.
“One may know how to conquer without being able to do so.”
For Sun-tzu also knew that security against defeat implied defensive tactics… but ability to defeat the enemy meant taking the offensive. Being defensive, in Sun-Tzu’s opinion, showed insufficient strength, while attacking, a “superabundance” of strength. The one who is most skilled in defense often hides in the darkest places, while he who is skilled in attack flashes forth. Therefore we must know bother how to protect ourselves, but also have a victory that is complete. “To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.”
It is not excellence when everyone praises you, nor is it a great strength to do the obvious. What the fighters of old called a clever fighter was one who could not only win, but win consistently with ease. Hence he who fights’ victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom not credit for courage. Win battles making no mistakes… Making no mistakes is what established the certainty of victory. Therefore you are conquering an enemy that is already defeated.

It is good to go through life with this approach. Have a high sense of self confidence… be true to yourself. If you set goals, try to accomplish them. We are all put on Earth with goals to complete… some of us accomplish them in our time, and others are not so lucky. We have a set expiration date that no one knows, so why not make the best of what we have while we’re still here? If you go into life with the approach that you will fail, and you won’t accomplish anything, then you are not likely too. However, if you go into life with your head held high, a large amount of confidence telling yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to… you have better odds of completing the task that is at hand.
Sun-tzu says: Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. We all have our personal enemies… not necessarily people, but maybe emotions, or addictions, or feelings. We all have some little demon that we are always competing with- they often try to convince us to be lazy and to make the wrong choices, and often we fall for the trap. However, when a gateway opens allowing us to surpass them and their evil ways, we should take it. As Sun-tzu said, do not miss the moment to overtake the enemy. While we may not all be in a position where defeat is impossible, we can still come pretty damn close.
The victorious strategist only seeks a battle after he knows the victory has been won, whereas he who will be defeated fights first and searches for victory later. Why bother trying if you only KNOW you are going to fail? It’s like knowing you are a size 16 in jeans and trying to squeeze into a size 2: it just WON’T WORK. However, in the same aspect, just because you cannot win at this point, does not mean that you give up. It means you improve yourself to the point that you CAN accomplish whatever you set out to do… because if you can’t accomplish anything, what is the point of living?


Part Five (Energy)
Sun-tzu knew that fighting with a large army at your back could be just the same as having a small one- it didn’t matter how many in number you had if no one knew the signs and commands. If you had a large army, you needed to make sure that it could withstand anything the opposing army threw at it. This was effected by many different direct and indirect maneuvers. It was to his belief that the impact of his army should be like a grindstone upon an egg… the science of the weak points and the strong. In all fighting, the direct methods are used for joining battle, while indirect methods are necessary to secure victory.
Sun-tzu knew that indirect tactics could be very powerful when applied correctly, referencing to them like musical notes. There are not many musical notes, but when combined together they rise to more melodies that can ever be heard. There are no more than five primary colors, yet when combined they produce more hues than can ever be seen. There are but five cardinal tastes, yet their combinations yield more flavors than could ever be tasted. In battle… there are only two methods of attack: direct and indirect. However, when put together they create an endless series of maneuvers.
They each add on to each other in turn. Like a circle, the possibilities for attack are endless when the tactics are applied correctly. “The onset of troops is like the rush of a torrent which will even roll stones along in its course. The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision. Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.”
Amidst battle, it may seem like there is a lot of chaos and disorder where there in none at all. In confusion, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat. Simulation of disorder promotes discipline, simulation of fear promotes courage, and simulation of weakness produces strength. Times of little hope are the times when hope is the strongest… and so on and so forth. As mentioned before, deception is a large part of warfare- therefore mask order beneath a cloak of disorder, courage beneath a show of timidity and strength under a sheet of weakness.
He who is skilled at keeping the enemy on the move often maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act. He sacrifice something, that the enemy may snatch it. Entice the enemy with bait, keep him moving and chasing something that isn’t there, and lie in wait with an army until he reaches a pitfall. Then, attack him where he is weak. The clever strategist looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require much from his army. Hence his ability to pick the right men and utilize their skills is crucial to this style of fighting.

When using combined energy, a general’s men should become life rolling logs or stones. “For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped, to go rolling down.”  Therefore the energy of good fighting men should be like that of a stone rolled down from the top of a high mountain… momentous.

The Art of War

The Art of War
Thoughts from Madison Nef
Part One (Laying Plans)
Sun-tzu believed that the “art of war” was governed by five main factors: The Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, The Commander, and Method and Discipline.
• Moral Law is what makes the people be in accord with their ruler- so they will follow him no matter what, even if death is imminent.
• Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
• Earth stands for distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; and the chances of life and death.
• The Commander represents the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.
• Method and discipline are the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among officers, the maintenance of roads that are used to bring supplies to the army, and the control of military expenses.
“These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious, and he who knows them not will fail.”
 “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
I agree with this. In war, intimidation and deception ARE key points to winning. There would be no need to make a plan to attack the enemy in a certain way if the enemy had automatic access to the plan and knew the attack was coming! It is the same way in karate. Deception is a large part of sparring- being able to fake movements so that you can score the first point. Intimidating people is another good tactic in both war and sparring. If you are feared, people are less likely to attack you quickly. In fact, in the sparring ring, if you are feared, people are more likely to be defensive and not attack at all!
“Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
 If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
 If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
 If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
 Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
 These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.”

Sun-tzu ends the first part of the book by saying that he who makes few calculations before battle often loses, while the winner has often planned and made calculations in advance. My dad is constantly telling me before sparring matches to have a plan before I go in- otherwise, I won’t be prepared and will fight blindly. I agree that this is best- going into anything and having no strategy is never good.
 “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”- Sun-tzu

Part Two (Waging War)
“In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.”
Sun-tzu knew that if a war took a long time, the weapons would grow dull… if you lay siege to a town, your strength would get exhausted. There has never been an account in history where anyone ever benefited from prolonged warfare. He also knew that if other armies and generals saw this exhaustion and lack of goods, they would take advantage of the position and attack. If attacked when low on resources, as Sun-tzu says, “no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue”.

Sun-tzu believed in foraging off the enemy, saying to bring supplies from home, but never load your supply-wagons twice. Foraging off the enemy would supply enough for your army so that your resources would never be depleted.
“With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.”

The point is to forage. If you don’t, you’re leaving the enemy with resources AND your own resources will dry up faster. If your resources dry up, your army grows weak, and if your army grows weak, you are sure to fail. It’s a vicious cycle, really. “Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own”.
“Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.”
Incentive always helps. For example, if I’m doing really tough schoolwork and want to quit, my incentive is playing video games. I know I’m not allowed to play xBox OR any online game until all my homework is done, so I have good reason to finish it. As said above: let your great object be victory (finishing schoolwork) not lengthy campaigns (letting schoolwork drag on for weeks and weeks… like this paper).


Part Three (Attack by Stratagem)
“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
Well, that pretty much says it. Sun-tzu believed that it was better to win wars while dealing as little damage as possible- because the more damage you deal, the longer time it takes and the more energy you use. “The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided”.  He knew that too often, generals would become frustrated with the enemy quickly and not want to plan things out, and would command the army to attack. The result would be manslaughter, often with a third of the army being killed and the town still standing untouched.
“Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.”

According to Sun-tzu, there are three ways in which a ruler could bring misfortune to himself and his army:
1) By commanding his army to advance or retreat- ignoring the fact that it can’t. This is called hobbling the army.
2) By trying to run and govern his army in the same way which he governs his kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
If the army is restless, distrustful and has a low confidence level, the enemy will attack more freely. Bringing misfortune to your army is inviting danger in and discarding any hopes of victory.

“Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.”
The same applies to life, really. (1) You have to know what is worth your time and what isn’t, and when to speak and what to say. (2) You will learn how to deal with many different types of people, and meet many different personalities. (3) Your family represents your army. Often times, your family has similar thoughts and feelings to you- and regardless of this, they always have your back. (4) In this case, the enemy could be anything. The true moral of this quote is to be prepared for anything that life throws at you. Being unprepared can lead to huge mistakes that are not worth it in the end.

“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Sun-Tzu (About)

Sun-Tzu (About)

By Madison Nef

Sun-Tzu is a well-known and highly respected author. He wrote the book “The Art of War”, which many consider to be the best book written on the subject (war). If you wanted to just skim the surface on who he was, you could say that little was known about his birth, that he was a military specialist, general and author and that he died in 496 BC. However, to do so would be a great injustice to his name- while a lot of his life was shrouded in mystery, we do know more about him than just the basics. Digging through multiple sites, here is what I found out about “Sun-Tzu”:

The two oldest known records, The Spring and Autumn Annals and Records of the Grand Historian both have different accounts of Sun-Tzu’s birth. The Annals, which are a little bit older than the Records, have Tzu as being born in Qi, while the Records claim he was born in Wu. The name that Sun-Tzu is most recognized by is actually just a title meaning “Master Sun”. There is a lot of speculation surrounding his birth name, or if “he” was born at all. Two variants of the name are Sun-Wu and Wu-Tzu. Both sources agree that Sun-Tzu was born late in the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BC), and that he served as a military general and strategist for king Helu of Wu in the late sixth century BC, beginning near 512 BC.

A well known story about Sun-Tzu, recorded by Sima Qian, illustrates Sun-Tzu as follows:
Before hiring Sun-Tzu, King Helu needed him to prove his skill. As a test, he ordered Sun-Tzu to train a harem of 180 concubines into soldiers. Tzu divided them into two different groups, putting the two concubines most favored by Helu each in charge of a group. Tzu ordered the concubines to face right, and when ordered to do so they giggled. Tzu replied by telling them that the general, in this case himself, was responsible for making sure they knew the orders given to them. He then gave the same command and they giggled again.

Sun-Tzu got sick of the behavior and ordered that Helu’s two favorite concubines be executed, to the king’s protests. He explained to the king that if the soldiers the general was in charge of understood their commands but did not obey, that it was the fault of the officers. He went on to say that once a general was appointed, it was his duty to carry out his mission, even IF the king protested. After the concubines were killed, new officers were chosen to replace them. Both concubines listened to the orders directly and completed them without frivolity, seeing what the costs were.

Sima Qian then claimed that Sun-Tzu proved on the battlefield that his theories were effective at the Battle of Boju, that he had an extremely successful military career and that he wrote The Art of War BASED on his tested expertise. This is all well and good, HOWEVER, Zuo Zhuan, an earlier historical text that gives a much more detailed account of the Battle of Boju, doesn’t mention Tzu at all.

There has also been a great deal of speculation surrounding “The Art of War”. There are some who question if Sun-Tzu even existed due to lack of records, and many believe that a general by the name of Wu-Tzu wrote the Art of War under the pen name Sun-Tzu. Still others think that the book was co-written by many different generals of the era. I personally think that it was written by only one man, simply because of the TWO birth records. It’s common sense. I think that Wu-Tzu (or whoever he was) did use a pen name as Sun-Tzu (as mentioned above) means “Master Sun”. Not a typical name, even for that era.

Who do YOU think wrote “The Art of War”?

Maddie

Air Currents

Air Currents
By Madison Nef
An air current is moving air, like a gust of wind. Wind is created because of uneven heating of the Earth’s surface. Since Earth is made of land and water, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly as well. The wind is caused by hot and cold air interchanging places. This is caused because hot air is lighter than the cool air, and when the cold air moves in to the hot air, the wind blows. The different temperatures of air are caused by the different climates on Earth. Some places always have direct sunlight, while other places only get indirect light (causing the difference in air).
A gust front is a leading edge of cool air that rushes down from a thunderstorm. There are two reasons why air flows out of thunderstorms so quickly. The main reason is dry air in the lower atmosphere, which causes the rain falling through it to evaporating (in effect cooling the air). Being cool air sinks, it causes a downward gust of air that spreads out at the ground. The very edge of the “pool” of air is the gust front. The second reason is that the rain puts a drag on the air, which forces it downward. If the wind following the gust front is very strong, the windstorm is called a downburst.
Downbursts are created as soon as a strong wind hits the land or water and spreads out. Unlike tornados, downburst spread out immediately. Dry downbursts are generated from thunderstorms with very little precipitation while wet downbursts are generated from thunderstorms with heavy rainfall.
A derecho is a very widespread and strong windstorm that is usually found in fast moving and severe thunderstorms. Derechos can extremely damage property and are life-threatening if very strong, mainly because of the high downburst winds. To be classified as a derecho, the path of the storm must be at least 280 miles long. Widths of the storms vary usually from 50-300 miles. Derechos usually do not strike in the winter, but occur mainly in July, spreading into the early spring and summer months.
Another type of wind is a jet stream. Jet streams are a fast-flowing river of air often found in the atmosphere 12 km above the Earth’s surface. They often form at the edges of adjacent air masses with large differences in temperature- a good example being the polar region and the warmer air to the south. The streams always flow from west to east because of the rotation of the Earth- moving in a serpentine or wave-like manner at lower speeds than the wind within the flow.
While windstorms at high speeds can be extremely dangerous, wind is also very useful in the world. Not only is it the fastest growing source of electricity in the world, it is also one of the least expensive forms of renewable power. Experts actually say it can sometimes be the cheapest form of ANY kind of power. As if that isn’t great enough, generating power from wind leaves no dangerous waste behind- and its power supply is unlimited. To utilize the wind, windmills are used. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades causing lift, like the effect on airplane wings, causing them to turn. The blades are connected to a drive shaft which turns an electric generator, producing electricity.
Different regions have separate names for the wind. Here are some of the terms:
chinook-(westerly wind off the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains)
santa ana-(easterly towards Southern California )
scirocco-(southerly from North Africa to southern Europe)
mistral-(northwesterly from central France to Mediterranean)
marin-(southeasterly from Mediterranean to France)
bora-(northeasterly from eastern Europe to Italy)
gregale-(northeasterly from Greece)
etesian-(northwesterly from Greece)
libeccio-(southwesterly towards Italy)

Letters from the Earth (Mark Twain)

Mark Twain: Letters from the Earth (My Thoughts)
By Madison Nef
Letters from the Earth was collection of Twain’s writings that were published 50 or so years after his death in 1910. These letters seem to be more personal, and it has been questioned if he was writing the letters to be published or if they were private. The papers seem to be his thoughts and feelings about God, Heaven, and he questions his own religious beliefs. Reading the letters, I think Twain was using them almost as a diary or a journal for his thoughts as they seem to be sectioned off and each has its own opinion.
The first few letters talk about humans having an unrealistic view of heaven. Twain had an excellent point- here on Earth, humans hate to be in church for more than 30 minutes, but dream of endless sermons in Heaven. How we don’t want to sing on Earth, but say we will sing the praise of God forever in heaven. It’s true; we have painted a pretty unrealistic portrait of what we want. Naturally that isn’t how I picture heaven- I picture heaven a place made out of clouds where you can eat all you want and not get fat!
All joking aside, some of the other letters are downright bitter- speaking of an unforgiving God and how humans are still held accountable because God holds grudges. Writing from Satan’s perspective, Twain goes on to speak of Adam and Eve’s choice to eat from the Tree of Life. He bashes God for holding it against us when it was only Adam and Eve’s mistake- and I can’t help but agree. Why should WE have to pay for THEIR mistake? At the point in life Twain wrote these letter, he happened to be going through a tough time himself.
His first-born daughter, Susy, got sick and died without him getting to say goodbye to her while he was away on a lecture workshop in Europe. Prior to her death, Susy had been a bit upset with her father because his fame as an author cut his time with her away. She also thought that he should get more recognition as a prestigious author than he did- at the time he was known to be a humorist more than anything in his speeches. Twain went away on a workshop, and Susy stayed behind because she had to recover from being seasick so she could study to become an opera singer.
She didn’t recover and got ill and passed away before Twain got back- before he could make amends. Perhaps Twain had began writing the letters before Susy died- and maybe he felt that God was holding him guilty for it and punishing him for it by not letting him have peace. I recently wrote a blog post about how the first step to forgiving someone is forgiving yourself- maybe Twain felt guilt over what he did (both writing crudely about God and about feeling like he didn’t have enough time with his daughter) and couldn’t forgive himself.
Just a few years after Susy died, Twain’s wife of 34 years, Olivia, died. Right after that a close friend of his died… and all the while he was in the middle of business struggles. I think that Twain may have struggled a religious crisis when all this happened. It must have hit him like a tidal wave, and it probably gave him a good reason to question God. I’ve met people who have been good Christians… and then a loved one dies and they start questioning everything. They begin to blame God for their own faults, and wonder if heaven exists… and these seem to be the themes of “Letters from the Earth”. Even the title makes sense somewhat- “Letters from Earth” being his opinions while here about life after death and what is away from Earth.
Years later, Twain is still a beloved literary figure whose works have never lost their touch. We’ll never know what REALLY inspired his personal letters- we can only ponder and guess. What do YOU think inspired them?
Maddie

Coleridge Poem Interpretation

Coleridge Poem Interpretation (Fragment)
By Madison Nef
The poem I chose is proof that a poem does not have to be long to have a deep meaning. The poem “Fragment” has only 3 lines, but a very deep meaning that pulled me in almost immediately. Breaking it down line by line, here is what I came up with:
“The body, Eternal Shadow of the finite soul”
The first “line” of the poem is just two words: “the body”. This can either be read as just one piece of the poem, or you could put it in front of each sentence to give the poem a whole different meaning. When using it as only one piece, the poem seems to talk about the connection between our bodies and souls. The “Eternal Shadow” is described as a piece of the soul- but Coleridge describes the soul as finite. I think the “eternal shadow” may refer to our bodies. While our bodies do decompose, they will ALWAYS be on Earth and be a part of Earth- functioning or not. Even after your body is reduced to ash, you are still a part of the world- even if just an imprint within the ground. A shadow is a form of imprint.

(The body) the Soul’s self-symbol, it’s image of itself.
(Meaning 1, with “the body”) If our souls are conscious of themselves, then their self image would technically be of our “body”, which contains them for our time here on Earth. A snail’s shell serves as its home for its life- the shell is very important. A self-symbol. Without our bodies, our souls wouldn’t be able to survive on Earth.
 
(Meaning 2, without “the body”) Tying in with the first part of the poem, this meaning pretty much ties in with our souls residing WITHIN our bodies, controlling us like (more or less) puppets. If you don’t put “the body” in front of the line, it pretty much says that the Eternal Shadow of the soul is it’s self-symbol. This makes sense, being the “Eternal Shadow” (as deciphered in the last part) represents the demise of the human body. Leaving its mortal body behind would allow the soul to leave and be able to have its own freedom with no restrictions.

(The body) it’s own yet not itself.”
(Meaning 1, with “the body”) This ties in beautifully with the last part. The body is technically its own being; HOWEVER it is not “itself” because the soul is in control of the body. The soul is also its own being, but with more power than the body (which is why the soul has more control over it).

(Meaning 2, without “the body”) This is more from the soul’s perspective. Without putting “the body” in front of the line, you still have the soul talking about its image of itself. However, this line goes against that and says that while it is the soul’s own image; it is not how the soul sees itself. Perhaps the soul looks different from us, but being trapped in our body sees it as us. That would explain the misperception of the look: the soul WANTS to see itself but is almost trapped by our body. Going right back to the title, “Fragment”- the soul is only seeing a fragment of itself within us… but our body and soul is just a fragment of us… and we in total are just a fragment of this world.
There are many different views to be taken on this poem- everyone sees something different. This is just my perspective- a FRAGMENT of what the poem likely means. Maybe I over-thought the poem- maybe it is just a basic no-brainer. On the other hand, maybe I’m just scratching the surface of a truly deeper meaning. Let me know what YOU think.
Maddie

Coleridge Poetry

Coleridge Poetry (My Interpretation)
By Madison Nef
To start off, I chose a short yet cryptic poem named “Song”. I went through it line by line and this is what I came up with:
Tho’ veiled in spires of myrtle-wreath,
Love is a sword that cuts its sheath,

Okay. I think that this line speaks for itself- metaphorically using love as a sword, and a sheath is supposed to protect a sword when it is not in use. Maybe Coleridge is talking about how when you truly love someone, you will have ups and downs with them where you will fight verbally with them and it will sting- but it is normal. You WILL on occasion “cut your sheath” and hurt the one you love, even if not intentionally.

And thro’ the clefts, itself has made,
We spy the flashes of the Blade!
But thro’ the clefts, itself has made,
We likewise see Love’s flashing blade,

When a couple fight, sometimes it is easy to see. However, if the sword represents LOVE this could also mean that even while you may fight, the hurt that you deal each other in the end show how much you love your significant other if you hold together through the fights. “And through the clefts, itself has made” = and through the words that have been said (hurtfully to the other person) “We spy the flashes of the blade” = we see how even though they fight, their love for each other still shines through in the end.
By rust consumed or snapt in twain:
And only Hilt and Stump remain.
The end can have one of two meanings: By rust consumed (the good ending) or snapt in twain (the bad ending). By rust consumed signifies that through the fighting, you made it to the end of life together and the rust is symbolic for aging. It becomes brittle and finally snaps (death). As for “snapt in twain”, that is pretty much saying that you fought TOO much and the blade of love snapped before it could even rust. This could symbolize divorce or a break up and POSSIBLY death, but either way it is a bad ending.
The poem is titled Song, but I see no relevance to a song at all. Maybe Coleridge was going through a hard time in his life with the one he loved and wrote this to express himself- who knows. That’s the feeling I got from it. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen similar things happen first-hand between my Mom and Dad. Mom was very sick, but even though her and Dad would argue a lot, they stuck through it to the end, love always showing through. Even though not everyone gets a happy ending, everyone USUALLY gets a happy life. Happiness is a choice- you can wake up and choose to smile or you can wake up and frown. Love and Happiness are what you make them.
I hope you like your choices, I know that I like mine.
Maddie

Bartolomeu Dias

Bartolomeu Dias
Dias was a famous Portuguese explorer in the late 13th century and in the early 14th century. Not much is known about him prior to 1487 other than he was a superintendent for the royal warehouses and he likely had more sailing experience than the one recorded trip on a freight ship. King John II of Portugal was fascinated with the legend of Prester John, an apocryphal leader of Christians somewhere in Africa. The king sent out a pair of explorers, Afonso de Paiva and Pero da Covilha to search overland for the Christian kingdom in Ethiopia. He also wanted to find a way around the southern African coastline, so only a few months after hiring the first two explorers, he sponsored Dias’ African expedition.
In August of 1487, Dias led 3 ships out of the port of Lisbon, Portugal. They followed the route of Diogo Cao, a 15th century explorer who had traveled as far up the coast as where Cape Cross, Namibia is today. Dias took padroes with him to help mark his way. Padroes are limestone markers that the Portuguese used to claim land on the continent. Often the padroes would be planted on shorelines and have served as guidestones for older Portuguese explorations.
Dias had taken 6 African men with him who had been along the coast before on older voyages. At different towns, Dias left a man and a supply of gold and silver for trading along with warm words from Portugal to tell the townspeople. At Angro de Salto, Dias left the last two Africans along with the supply ship from the voyage. The ship was left with 9 men to guard it. In early January, 1488, Dias and his remaining two ships got blown off of the coastline by strong winds. It is reported that Dias called for a 28 southward turn. This did re-guide the ship, and while it was an extremely risky move that could have compromised the whole voyage, it proved successful. On February 3rd, 1488, the ships saw land and found Sao Bras, or present-day Mossel Bay and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean.
It helped that Dias had had previous experience navigating ships, but in was later found that King John and his predecessors had acquired maps from the 1360’s showing links from the Pacific and Indian oceans across Africa. After going closer to the shore, Dias’ ships were ambushed by the Khoikhoi. They threw stones and rocks at the ships until one of Dias’ men shot down one of the tribe members. Dias went further down the shoreline, but his crew was extremely nervous about the depleting food supplies.
The crew members begged Dias to turn back and were slowly turning towards the option of mutiny. Finally after threats from his crew Dias left the decision on turning back or not to his crew. The crew decided to keep sailing for another three days and then turn back. At Kwaaihoek, the crew planted a padroe on March 12th 1488. On the journey back, Dias named the two rockiest capes the Cape of Needles and the Cape of Storms for the heavy storms that rocked the Atlantic.
Upon return to Angra do Salto, Dias was greeted with a sad sight as only 3 men of the 9 he had left to guard the ship had survived the ever-impeding attacks from the locals. A 7th man died on the journey home. Finally, Dias and his considerably-smaller crew returned to Lisbon after more than 15 months at sea traveling over 16000 miles. They were greeted with open arms as heroes, but in a private meeting with the king Dias was forced to explain his failure to meet with the two explorers. Despite his immense achievements nonetheless, he was never put in charge of expeditions again.
Almost as if to add insult to injury, after taking a job in West Africa, King John’s successor put Dias into the place of shipbuilding consultant for Vasco da Gamma’s trip. Dias stuck with da Gamma’s fleet until the halfway point and then turned back for Guinea. After that, Dias was put in charge of 4 boats on a large fleet going to India. Mid-voyage, a horrific storm struck the boats and in the year 1500, 4 of the 13 ships were wrecked, including Dias’. He was lost at sea, but is today remembered for his discovery of the Cape of Good Hope (even if he wasn’t acknowledged for it in his time).

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama was a well known Portuguese explorer in the late 15th century. He was born and raised in the town of Sines, Portugal to Isabel Sadre and Estavao da Gama. In the 1400’s, spices from India were very popular in Europe. However, the only trading route to transport the spices from India to Europe was by land, and the trips were long, expensive, and in the end not worth the effort.
The King of Portugal figured that if he could found a trade route to India over the ocean, he would become rich from the trading. Previously, an explorer named Bartolemeu Dias the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa. There was a chance that a good route could be developed if you rounded the tip of the Cape, but no one thought that the Indian and Atlantic oceans met and no one wanted to make the journey.
No one, besides Vasco da Gama. Vasco’s father was a knight and an explorer, and had originally volunteered to make the long voyage. However, the trip had been put off for so long that it finally got handed over to Vasco. On July 8th, 1497, Vasco left Lisbon, Portugal in hopes of finding the shore of India. He took 4 ships: the Sao Gabriel, Sao Rafael, the Berrio, and a fourth ship unnamed and used for storage- and 170 men with him.
The ships reached the southern tip of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope on November 22nd. The expedition then headed north, up along the coast of Africa, stopping at various trading posts along the way. They did business in Mombasa and Malindi, and while at Malindi gained an extra crew member- a local navigator who knew the direction to India. With the help of the strong winds, the expedition was able to cross the Indian Ocean and arrive in the port of Calicut, India in less than a month.
However, things did not go smoothly at Calicut. Vasco ran into many issues trying to trade with merchants, as he had brought little of value in goods on his ships. Local traders became suspicious, and he soon left. The voyage back to Portugal was a rough one- more than half of his crew got scurvy and died, and the trip took MUCH longer than the one before. However, when Vasco returned home, he was a hero- he had found the much needed trade route to India.
Vasco’s expeditions didn’t stop there- he sailed twice more to India before his death. His second voyage was a military expedition as he was in charge of the 4th India Armada. The expedition set out on February 4th, 1502 and had 15 ships and over 800 men. However, the trip sealed his notoriety in India as he ambushed many competing traders, looting and ransacking their ships. He also overthrew and looted a ship of Muslim pilgrims that were traveling from Calicut to Mecca. He locked in all the 400 passengers, INCLUDING 50 women, the owner of the boat, and an ambassador from Egypt and then lit the boat on fire, burning them to death.
Vasco’s final voyage consisted of 14 different ships. He sailed to India with the new title of Viceroy, along with 2 of his 6 sons. He arrived after a very long and troubled voyage (about 5 ships were lost along the way) in September and began inflicting his power upon Portuguese India. He contracted malaria not long after his arrival and died shortly thereafter. He is still remembered today as one of the greatest explorers of his time.
Maddie

Shakespeare Sonnets

SHAKESPEARE SONNETS
THOUGHTS FROM MADISON NEF

What is your substance, whereof are you made,

That millions of strange shadows on you tend?

Since every one hath, every one, one shade,

And you but one, can every shadow lend.

Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit

Is poorly imitated after you;

On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,

And you in Grecian tires are painted new:

Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,

The one doth shadow of your beauty show,

The other as your bounty doth appear;

And you in every blessed shape we know.

   In all external grace you have some part,

   But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

My first thought upon reading this sonnet was that Shakespeare was mocking someone who felt they were perfect- “What is your substance, whereof are you made”. I translated into modern text, and that gave me a much clearer view of what I think he was trying to say. I’m not sure how religious Shakespeare was, but it sounded (at least in a modern version) like he was describing Jesus and questioning how he was so sinless and perfect. Here is the modern version:

What is your true essence, what are you made of, that there should be millions of reflections of you? Every person has only one image, but you, though you’re only one person, lend something to everyone else’s image. If an artist tries to depict Adonis, he’ll wind up creating an inferior imitation of you. If he were to paint

Helen as beautifully as possible, he would again wind up with a picture of you, decked out in Greek costume. Praise the spring and the abundant harvest season—but the spring is only a faint shadow of your beauty, and the fall a faint imitation of your abundance. We recognize you in every blessed sight that we see. You are part of every beautiful thing, but you’re not like any of them—you’re incomparable—in the constancy of your heart.

Line 1-5) Millions of reflections- Jesus/God can truly be seen in everything in the world, from the gorgeous landscaping to humans themselves. The seasons were created by him, but as depicted in the bible heaven is greater, therefore making the seasons just a mere shadow in his presence.

Line 5-7) God is in everything and everyone. He truly is part of every beautiful thing, but, as Shakespeare says, is incomparable to them in the constancy of his heart. The love and mercy of God and Jesus is incomparable to any beautiful thing or person here on Earth. I like that Shakespeare realized what so many of us overlook in our everyday lives… God could erase our existence at any minute. He created our world, and at any point could take it away.

You really have to read the modern version to understand the sonnet, which is why I am so thankful for the internet. I thought that Shakespeare was mocking someone who thought they were better than everyone else at first glance at the original. Maybe he was, and I just didn’t see it- or maybe the translation was biased. Either way, that is what I took it as AFTER reading the translation.

This was Sonnet 53, one of Shakespeare’s more serious sonnets.

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,

For all the day they view things unrespected;

But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,

And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.

Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright—

How would thy shadow’s form form happy show

To the clear day with thy much clearer light,

When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?

How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made

By looking on thee in the living day,

When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade

Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?

All days are nights to see till I see thee,

And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

I think that this is another religious sonnet. I think Shakespeare is trying to say that he doesn’t like the world around him and watching it as it deteriorates as he is happy with his own thoughts and way of thinking. He speaks of closing his eyes and being able to envision one whose shadow can make light out of darkness. I think of this religiously as perhaps Jesus. He could be talking about a girl, but from other sonnets I have read I think he is talking about religion. He says that “days are nights” and “nights are days” in comparison- saying that he prefers night to day because Jesus can illuminate the dark and is much clearer in the dark, alone.

I really think that translations help for the sonnets. Looking at the words in old-fashioned writing can be a bit confusing- and you find yourself second-guessing a lot. Clearly Shakespeare was saying the same message- Jesus shines above all. I think he was trying to express his love and awe for God in this sonnet by saying that if he shines so brightly in the dark and through the sins of the world, then he must truly be glorious and amazing in heaven, in holy light with no sins and darkness clouding around him OR clouding Shakespeare’s vision, for that matter.

My eyes work best when I’m asleep, because all day they look at things I don’t care about. When I sleep, my dreaming eyes alight on you and glitter brightly in the dark, having found your bright image there. Given that your shadowy dream-image brightens even the dark, how bright might you appear in daylight, when your own light is so much clearer? How bright, when your shadow shines so brightly to my eyes blinded by darkness? What good would it do my eyes to see you in the daytime when they already look at your beautiful image in the dead of night, as I sleep? Every day is as dark as night until I get to see you again, and every night is as bright as day when I see you in my dreams.

Above is the translated version. “Every day is as dark as night until I get to see you”. A clear plea for God. Can you imagine how empty and cold a life without God must be? Maybe Shakespeare had a friend who was going through a religious struggle and wrote the sonnet for them to open their eyes. Maybe he himself was struggling and wrote this to remind himself that God is before worldly things. “Every night is as bright as day when I see you in my dreams.” Maybe Shakespeare’s beliefs were not accepted around him- maybe he felt that he had to shelter himself.

Being he was a famous playwright, he had to appeal to many audiences. Maybe he disguised his sonnets to look like love poems, when they were indeed about his deep relationship with God that he didn’t want to show off. That is why he had to go through his days with a mask on, in the dark until at night he was alone and could pray freely without being judged by the public.

What do you think? Do you agree, or do you have your own opinion? Let me know.

Maddie

Interpretations: Sonnets 35 and 52 of Shakespeare

“No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud,
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,
(Thy adverse party is thy advocate)
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate
That I an accessary needs must be
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.”

Line 1: Don’t be ashamed at what you have done in the past. Let it go and forgive you.

Lines 2-4: Even those who seem perfect and flawless sin and make mistakes. Some are better at masking it than others but the flaws are still there.

Lines 5-7: Everyone makes mistakes, and there is no reason to hold contempt for someone just because they seem to have a better life than you. Jealousy is a sin in itself; don’t fall into a trap of your own making. As I stressed before, EVERYONE has flaws, some not as visible as others.

Lines 8-11: Don’t avoid your sins or try to cover them up because that only makes things worse. As I said in line one: forgive yourself of your mistakes. Don’t dwell on such small things and leave them in the past. If you let them stay in the back of your mind, it will only grow more contempt for those who you think are “better” than you in a sense. Others can be better at a certain ACTIVITY, but NO ONE can be BETTER than you.

Lines 12-14: Be kind to those who seem to be doing better than you as they too are going through their own struggles. Understand their pain, even if they refuse to understand yours and are not forgiving of you. In a religious sense, know that God repents all sins in the end and that you just need to put your trust in Him.

Perhaps Shakespeare was going through a time of spiritual darkness/doubt at the time he wrote this sonnet and felt that everyone had it better than him, despite his acclaim as a wonderful playwright. I certainly have had times in life where I feel that EVERYONE has it better than me- not even just the stars and celebs. On the opposite side of things, maybe he was trying to offer comfort to those who felt that way and remind them that even famous people like himself have issues too, and that in the end we are all human beings who are flawed and make mistakes.

I don’t know how spiritual and religious Shakespeare was, but this sonnet to me almost sounded like a plea to God. If not comforting, crying out: asking God to take away his sins and the sins of those around him, to give him the graces he needed to forgive them for all the hurt they had caused him and ALSO give them the strength to forgive him of any wrongs he himself had committed.

This is sonnet 35. It is one of the few sonnets Shakespeare wrote that was not about love.

“So am I as the rich whose blessèd key

Can bring him to his sweet up-lockèd treasure,

The which he will not every hour survey,

For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.

Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare,

Since seldom coming in the long year set,

Like stones of worth they thinly placèd are,

Or captain jewels in the carcanet.

So is the time that keeps you as my chest,

Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,

To make some special instant special blest

By new unfolding his imprisoned pride.

  Blessèd are you whose worthiness gives scope,

  Being had, to triumph; being lacked, to hope.”

I don’t even need to arrange this sonnet into different lines to get the point of it across- I think it is pretty clear that Shakespeare is trying to say that even though you may have something great, too much emphasis on it can truly make it not that great. That is why (so Shakespeare says) holidays are so far spaced apart- so that when they do come around, they are that much more special. Who would want Christmas every day? Think about it. At first, it would be GREAT. A feast, gifts, and a merry time EVERY DAY. But after about a week, you’d get sick of it and want a normal life again.

It’s like the richest person in the world. Have you ever thought what THAT would be like in the hands of the wrong person? I’m sure that at first instinct we would all say “Yeah, I’d love that!”  But would we really? How long would it be before we let our wallets get the best of us? Humans have impulses that tell them to always have goals, wants and needs and to strive to fulfill those wants and needs. If we were the richest people in the world (and imagine for a moment that you are), how long would it take for us to satisfy ALL of our needs and wants?

With all that money, we would be satisfied- correct? No. We would still want SOMETHING, even if we had no idea WHAT it was. That is why it is better to have a moderate amount of everything and have goals and wants to work towards- that way it feels so much nicer when you achieve them. Say, for instance, that you have been saving up for an expensive car or TV. It feels MUCH better buying it after you have worked your tail end off for it than just buying it with money you had anyway.

Be the one who has a treasure, but savors it for the right moment- Have the money to get what you want, but don’t exploit it. Have limits and boundaries to you compulsiveness. Don’t take life for granted, for within an instant it could be gone. Take your life for what it is and nothing more. If you are a little more fortunate than others, good. If not, fine- your life is yours to live and no one else’s. I think that I have made good decisions in mine and savored the wonderful and joyous parts- have you?

Maddie

Great Ancient Civilizations of Anatolia (Part 3, Final)

Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor
Part 3 – By Madison Nef

In this part I’d like to talk about Constantinople, or as it is known today, Istanbul. Constantinople was originally Byzantium before Emperor Constantine I re-founded it in the year 324 AD. Constantinople quickly became known as the religious, political and cultural capital for Asia Minor with a population of 600,000 – 1,000,000 during the time of the Crusades. Constantinople became known as “a new Rome” because of the conflict between the cities in Asia Minor and Egypt. Both wanted to be looked upon as capitals for the Roman Emperor and Constantine saw that Rome was no longer a suitable place for him to live. He founded Byzantium and renamed in Constantinople. With the development of Constantinople, the Roman Empire slowly reunited.

The Byzantine Empire reigned from about 330-1453 AD and Constantinople took the place of Miletus as a capital Asia Minor city. In this age, Constantinople didn’t have as much influence as it does today, but it slowly grew to be one of the greatest city states of Asia Minor. Today, Ankara is the capital of Turkey, but most people still look to Istanbul as the capital as it has not only 3 times the population of Ankara at 12 million residents but also because of its political influence.

A section of Byzantium called “the First Hill” was thought to be a great public area, hosting a lot of temples and monuments at the time. There is not a lot of evidence of this as the area was heavily rebuilt by Constantine and the only artifacts that prove the existence of the area at all are the inscriptions on the coins. The hill is now home to Topkapi Palace. Topkapi is an extremely large palace located in Istanbul which served as a home for the Ottoman Turks for 400 years out of their 642 year reign. It is currently open as a museum.

Constantine wanted to turn Byzantium into the equivalent if not a BETTER Rome, and the first thing he did was expand Byzantium into a larger capital. He then added more monuments to set the tone so that more people would move there. In Justinian’s reign, he finished off Constantinople by building the beautiful Hagia Sophia basilica. It started as a Greek orthodox church, then became an imperial mosque, and is now a museum much like the Topkapi Palace.   Prof. Kenneth Harl says that he finds the best thing to describe the relationship between Justinian and Constantine is the mosaic art that many visitors see as they enter the Hagia Sophia- the one depicting Holy Mary holding Jesus with Constantine on one side offering her a model of the city and Justinian on the other side offering her a model of the church. Needless to say, I agree- Constantine developed and built up the original city, starting with completely redesigning the downtown area of it (adding the first basilica churches, started the imperial palace, and built one of the first stadiums, the Hippodrome) while Justinian completed it by building Hagia Sophia and finishing off the imperial palace.

Constantinople continued to grow after his death with the building of the new triple wall which completely blocked out any invaders from Constantinople and discouraged many of the barbarians living outside of the city. The fortress consisted of a moat, an inner wall and then ANOTHER wall. It was built on a solid foundation that was almost impossible to dig through- and the first wall was 40 feet high. Even if you DID make it over the first wall, you were greeted with arrows and a SECOND wall with a height of 60 feet.

Today, Istanbul has a population of over 12,000,000, has housed 3 empires in its time (Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman) and while it is not an empire today, it might as well be as it has the same population size as Belgium.

John Chrysostom
While Constantine had done a great job in making Constantinople into a political capital, it was Chrysostom who left a great impact in the religious laws and ways of the Eastern Roman Empire. He fought for patriarch equality, and in the Second Ecumenical Council of 381 AD, he got his law passed: Constantinople was on par with the old Rome, meaning that the patriarch had the same rights as the Pope. Not only did Chrysostom get this law passed, but he was also involved in religious hijacking.

Mary was always the patron saint of Ephesus. John managed to take her shrine from Ephesus and move it to Constantinople with no complaints from Ephesus’ bishop, and soon Mary and her icons were protecting Constantinople instead of Ephesus when Constantinople was not even a religious city. In fact, it was strictly an imperial city!  John was well known for his literary work and his speeches and is sometimes called “The Golden Mouth” in history. He was also the reason for the passing of the Chalcedonian creed at the Ecumenical Council of 451 AD. The creed stated that Christ was both human and divine. This would be the creed that Constantinople would follow for years to come. At the same time, the “single nature” or the Monophysite creed that had been written by Alexander I was condemned.

Justinian I (ruled 327-365 AD)
 Justinian came to the throne in 327 AD and spent most of his time before his death in 365 AD trying to recapture the Western Provinces. His tries were not very successful and not only bankrupted him, but also put his entire empire at risk for more raids and attacks. This led to a military crisis in the next generation.

However, Justinian DID have some triumphant moments and there are a lot of good things to be said about him as well. He was responsible for earning Constantinople the title “Queen of Cities” and also was responsible for many of the domed churches that were scattered throughout the city. Perhaps his greatest achievement, however, was the completion of the Hagia Sophia, a large domed church that was and still is considered an architectural masterpiece for the time period it was built in. Although parts of it have been rebuilt a few times, most of the original building still stands strong, including the dome.

 The Hagia Sophia is a beautiful church- it is about 15-20 stories high in modern standards and actually caused Queen Olga of Russia to convert immediately when she saw it: she said that “God must surely dwell in such a magnificent building”. The dome rests on another smaller rectangular dome which has the top cut off of it, allowing for more stability at such a height. The dome has 40 windows cut out at its base, so a lot of light gets in making it look like a dome on top of an orb of light from afar.
It is a great example of the advanced Roman architecture of the time, much like the triple wall.




The Byzantine Dark Age

After the death of Justinian, Constantinople began to fall. It was left bankrupt from Justinian’s war efforts to take over the West, and a plague swept through the land from 542-544 AD that cost Constantinople ½ of its population. It was Heraclius I who really salvaged Constantinople and pulled it out of its hole by borrowing money from the church and forming a new imperial army. He ruled from 610-641 and by 621 had a fully formed army.

Prior to this, Constantinople had almost been lost to the Persians and their military situation was very bad. In 621, Heraclius sent his entire army across the Black Sea and attacked Persia from behind, reversing the military situation for a short period of time. Unfortunately, the Arabs picked that exact time to attack Persia, over running it along with Syria, Egypt, and eventually North Africa. From there on out, Constantinople was constantly under siege from the Arabs. The Arabs were very religious people, calling themselves Khalif or “descendants of Muhammad”. They saw Constantinople as a principal and religious city from which the word of God should be preached. Both the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphate tried to re-take the city over the years but were not successful.

The reason for their failure was due to the extremely strong and fortified walls and also a new form of weapon that the Byzantines had discovered. It was Greek petroleum of sorts and it could be siphoned out at incoming fleets and armies and it would burn it up. It was described as “fire mixed with thunder and lightning” and it was these two main prospects that allowed Constantinople to stand so strong to the invasions.

After awhile the Arabs would hand over attack plans to other commanders on the spot- there was no longer any profit in conquering Asia Minor, or Constantinople for that matter. There was too much planning involved- you needed a year to set up your plans and get supplies for your trip and then ANOTHER year to trek through Asia Minor from Baghdad. You needed a fleet for your army and you needed food. And even if you DID conquer Asia Minor, there wasn’t much to be gained from it- the Arabs was more interested in Egypt and Syria.

The most that the Arabs ever did was set up military bases and camps on the outskirts of the mountains, and every once in a while they would raid Byzantine Asia Minor- but none of these raids ever amounted to much and never turned into a real conquest. These raids were more to throw the Byzantine emperors off balance and to get treaties from them, not to actually take over Constantinople.

However, the emperors in Asia Minor didn’t realize this and started stretching out their troops, sending them out to different parts of Asia Minor. The Heraclian and Isaurian Dynasties actually tried to rearrange Asia Minor all together to prepare for future attacks from the Arabs. The government in Constantinople also tried to colonize Asia Minor more, sending out small settlements of people. They were still struggling to make up their numbers from the plague, so much so that they would even bring in peasants from Europe to help colonize Asia Minor. They would also bring in Slavs, Greeks, Armenians AND Georgians to help make settlements larger.

Most of the newcomers were put into the armies and the continent was militarized in a way that it had not been in 700 years. A lot of the colonies were put on the outskirts as a defense system and it was all of these new settlements that really prevented some of the heavier Arab raids from collapsing Asia Minor like Persia, Syria and Egypt collapsed.



A lot of the seaside cities fell in the late 7th century- Ephesus was majorly sacked by the Arabs and had to be rebuilt but it was rebuilt on a smaller scale. The plague had also swept through here too and most of the population was already depleted. These smaller cities were VITAL to the protection of Asia Minor and it was a great loss. Starting in the archaic age, what was left of the cities either disappeared all together or declined so much that they may as well have disappeared.

The inner cities were also changing, and it is thought that the Romans returned to the ways of the Iron Age- there was no longer any need for walls as the emperors had secured peace for the time being and cities turned back to living in citadels. This was the case with Madensehir, a small city that rested in the valley of the Anatolian Plateau. The people living there packed up and completely abandoned the city, moving to the top of Karadag just above the plateau. Karadag means “Black Mountain”, which was a fitting name for it as it was an extinct volcano. It is thought that Madensehir was just too exposed for the people and they left.

Another good example is Canli Kalisi, another small city on the plain that was moved to a nearby but more defendable mountain range.  Many of the churches and housing developments in this area are carved out of the standing stone, giving a great look of freestanding architecture of the time. Upon inspecting the dwellings, they seem fit for lords with a main dining area, a small private chapel and also many kitchens and sleeping chambers. However, these mountain cities were a lot more crowded than the plains OR the cities in general- there was not enough space, houses were crowded together, there was not a lot of room for agriculture and the greatest building was a church.

While the churches IMITATED the ones in Constantinople, they were a lot smaller and more humble, lacking the artistic style of the classical period (the 4th and 5th centuries).

In Cappadocia, there was often underground living quarters near large cities. The people would go underground and let the Arabs run over their farms as they often headed west, and then come up when they left. When they came back, they would go back underground and roll great millstones across the doorways to keep them safe.

The Dark Age was a horrible time for Asia Minor, but it truly held together. We saw wonderful architecture and weaponry, crafty planning and attacks, devastating plagues that wiped entire cities off the map, and war all the way through. Has our world today changed much from what it was back then? War is always prominent, illness kills more and more every day, and while we have more technology today, if we don’t use it correctly then we are only setting ourselves back further. Thank you for reading.

Maddie

The Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor

The Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor (Part 2)
By Madison Nef

(If you haven’t read part 1, please read that first.)

Picking up where we left off at the end of the last paper, after the battle for the Levant between the Hittites and the Egyptians, we begin to see more Hittite documents, showing that they were learning more about writing and creating the tablets. The first types of documents we see are the treaties- and often these were long preambles or just religious justifications.  The Hittites were very compulsive and orderly, so among their legal documents you will often find population numbers, soldier counts, and resources.

There were also religious documents, often telling about the different rituals and how they were performed. Upon entering a Hittite temple, there was a washroom off to the right as the Hittites believed that there had to be purification to go in front of the Gods. Their ceremonies were very long and precise, as they ALSO believed that if you messed up one word that the Gods would get mad at not just you, but your whole village. The punishment would vary depending on the God you had managed to anger: if you angered Teshab (the weather god) you might get heavy thunderstorms with a lot of lighting (which could ruin crops). If you angered the sun god, there was fear of drought.

The third and final type of document was the ones containing the Hittite myths and legends. A well known myth is the one about Telepinu, the god of Vegetation, or “The Myth of the Missing God”.  In the story, Telepinu gets mad at the Hittites for worshipping him incorrectly and puts his right foot into his left boot (or something strange like that) and storms off, leaving the vegetation to die while he is gone and a poor harvest to be had. Finally, he is brought back when Arinna (the sun goddess) sends an eagle to fine him.   If you look at Greek myths, a lot of them can be traced back to the Hittites, including the famous story of Demeter and Persephone.

The Hittites have always been good at art and architecture, often adapting the aesthetics from the Middle East. The aesthetics they adapted slowly turned into their own, and if you look at artwork coming straight up to catholic art you can see that it is based off of the Hittite aesthetics.

The Lion Gate

In 1650 BC, plans to rebuild the Hittite capital Hattusas were made by the king Hatusalis. However, the reconstruction of the city didn’t actually begin until about 1300 BC, as in the 15th century the Hittite rulers were too busy fighting to have time for the city. When Hattusas WAS rebuilt, it was under the reign of Hattusalis III. He was VERY conscious of his place as king, and he not only expanded the city but also gave it better fortifications, building the King’s Gate to the East of the city and the Lion’s Gate to the West. Surprisingly, the upper part of the city wasn’t housing for people but in fact a complex of many different temples.

The reasoning for this was to make Hattusas a ritual capital- Hattusalis wanted to take all of the different gods and relocate their main temples to the one capital, that way when other kings came to visit him, they had to pass by all the temples to get to the citadel- and they couldn’t help but be impressed by all the culture.  With all the building of the temples, there was a large increase in architectural skills, and in the great wall you can see impressive stone masonry- the wall was built to last through a siege of battering rams, towers, and other impacts of war. While Hattusas was seized and taken over at least 3 times in its history, it is thought to have been through treachery as all the walls are completely intact to this day.

Hattusalis III’s Background

Hattusalis was the fourth son of Mursilis II and Queen Gassulawiya. Mursilis appointed Hattusalis as a priest of Sausga (or Ishtar) of Samuha- to which Hattusalis worshipped and thought of as his patron goddess ‘til his death. He ended up marrying a priestess of Ishtar, Queen Pudahepa.  Hattusalis’ older brother moved his brother to Tarhuntassa and appointed him the governor of Hattusas. From there, Hattusalis became a commander for the Hittite forces and led them during the infamous Battle of Kadesh against the Egyptians in 1274 BC. He conquered Nerikand, and became the High Priest of its storm god. He named his first son Nerikkaili in honor of this.

Hattusalis’ nephew, Mursilis II, moved his capital back to Hattusas, removing Hattusalis as the governor. He then deposed Hattusalis from his title of High Priest, which sparked a vicious civil war. In the end, Hattusalis won and exiled his nephew. Being the last born son in his family, Hattusalis was never in line for the throne, and was only able to secure his position as king by defeating his nephew and showing his appreciation for art and the “1000 god of Hatti”. He is well known for signing a written peace treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites- which has become the earliest known treaty in history.

Hattusalis went on to write an apology after overthrowing his son, explaining his actions. His reasoning for the apology was to stay on the good side of his patron goddess (who, ironically, is the goddess of oaths and love). He also renamed the gods, calling them by their Hurrian names (as Pudahepa was a Hurrian) - the weather god was named Teshab, and the sun goddess of Arinna was renamed Hepatu. The Hittites, as mentioned above, were very dedicated to their gods and didn’t want to offend them in any way, and they felt that by calling the gods by a pronounced name it was profane. The Hurrians, on the other hand, had names for all their gods, and used them on a regular basis.

Ancient Greek Civilizations
The first known civilization in Greece sprouts from the island Crete- by 2800 BC an unknown civilization had appeared on the island. They left writings behind, but they are in an unknown language named Linear A and in the form of sylabri- symbols that represent syllables. There have been many tries to link the language to modern linguistics, but there are so few of the documents that it is hard to decipher and is still a mystery to this day. However, it IS known that the people living on the island of Crete DID NOT speak Greek- they likely spoke a non-Indo-European tongue.

These “Earliest Cretans” were called the Minoans, named after King Minos. Archaeologist Arthur Evans named the civilization this after discovering Cnossus (which was a main city in Crete) and finding that many of the ruins seemed to connect in the form of a labyrinth. According to Greek mythology, a labyrinth was built by King Minos to contain the Minotaur, which was an offspring of Minos’ wife Pasiphae and a bull. Upon further digging and excavations, Evans and his team found paintings of bulls on some of the walls remaining from a large structure named ‘The Palace of Minos’, suggesting that the Minoans DID worship the bull.


By 1903, much of the palace had been dug up and showed signs of Cnossus being a very advanced city, as the findings exhibited a lot of artwork and writing. In 1905, Evans finished his excavations on the palace and moved on to the so-called “throne room” (called so because of the large throne in the middle of the room). The room was recreated by artists Emile Gillierons Jr. and Sr. While the recreations were based off of Evans’ archeological findings, the best known frescoes from the throne room were almost entirely due to the Gillierons.

The Minoans were traders, and actually had established trading posts on the shores of Asia Minor by the year 2100 BC. Judging by the trade winds of the Mediterranean, the Minoans likely ended up trading with Syria and Egypt if they used the sea as their way of transport (which research findings suggest they did). What’s more, the Minoan rulers were suspected to have had a firm control on the sea surrounding Crete, as excavations found no signs of walls or any type of fortification. Either the Minoans were idiots leaving their island unprotected, or they had good control over what happened in their territory.

In fact, there is PROOF that the Minoans traded with Egypt- they are referenced in old Egyptian documents as the Keftiu, strange traders from Cnossus. But exactly what were the Minoans trading? Records show that their main export was perfumed oil, made from the olive oil and wild flowers.  Aside from that they also traded timber, metals, and textiles with the Egyptians which they would then use to make pottery and jewelry. The perfumed oils were the biggest export because of all the sacrificial rights and rituals that were going on in this time period- the oils were often used after sacrificing an animal to one of the gods, to sanitize the altar so that bug and rodent infestations were small. The perfumed oil was also used for bathing and was used in place of soap.

In 1400 BC, The Palace of Minos was destroyed. How it happened remains a mystery today- archaeologists have looked into the possibility of a volcanic eruption, but there is no evidence of it. However, the find did give rise to the myth of Theseus and Ariadne. The myth is that Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, and she fell in love with Theseus (Theseus was going to kill the minotaur). To aid him with the slaying of the minotaur, she gave him a sword and a ball of yarn to help him find his way out of the labyrinth.

The palace was rebuilt, more beautiful and precise than ever with four doorways rather than two- however, it wasn’t long before Cnossus was sacked by Greeks from the mainland. This civilization is thought to be the first Greek speakers of the time, and they completely took over Cnossus. The palace was the only thing spared, and the Greeks took over Minoan trading posts and goods. They seemed to spring up at about 1900 BC and moved their way through Greece, and by 1600 BC there were 12-15 different empires along the coast of Greece, a few of the notable ones being Athens, Sparta and Mycenae.

In 1600 BC, Cnossus was lost again when a volcano erupted on the nearby island of Thera, destroying the city (and many others surrounding it) in flames. There is speculation among scholars if this was the end of the culture or not though, as the Mycenaean language, Linear B, continued to be found after the eruption. There is evidence showing that the Greeks may have rebuilt the palace once again, but no one knows for sure.

While the Greeks adapted well to Minoan culture, they were quite a different people. They were elite warriors, basing most of their power on chariots and horsepower. The Greeks also constructed the first fortified citadel in 1600 BC- it was very small, basically a palace with a few extra rooms for servants. Still, it showed very good architecture for the time period. The Greek language, Linear B (mentioned above) was actually an edited form of Linear A. A man by the name of Michael Ventis managed to decode it in the early 1950’s using the same technique used in World War II to decode German messages, and Linear B turned out to be one of the earliest forms of Greek writing, or “east Greek”.

The language was printed on the baked tablets of clay, and they are readable enough where they can supply us now with naval positions. We have also learned from the tablets that the ancient Greek rulers went by the term “wanax” or “anax”, which means “lord”. As the timeline progressed, such titles would only be used to refer to the gods and Zeus, but in the Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC) “lord” referred to the ruler/owner of the nearby citadel. Many of the early Greek documents were found in the city of Pylos, but they only gave obscure and miscellaneous information- lists of the king’s favorite bulls, lists of how many wagon wheels were available, but no king lists, diplomatic records and definitely no poetry or high literature that could have been found in the Hittite empire.

Many of the Aegeans living in the Greek empires did not speak Greek. They still spoke the old, unidentified language and were referred to by the Greeks as pelasgians or pre-Greek inhabitants. Miletus was a small island just off of the shore of Asian Minor, and was one of the main Achaean trading posts. It was proved to have Greek inhabitants on it when Linear B tablets were found on it just a few years ago. It was also proved to have its own lord and palace.

Now, if you controlled the trading posts, you were considered a lord, and the lord lived in the palace. The palace was a very important place, so this was only fitting- the palace was often the only place of literature and culture within an empire and was also the place where the trading goods and slaves came in. The slaves were often Anatolian women who were brought to the Greek empires for their pottery and architectural skills. The Greek people adapted to the Anatolian way quickly and this may be why we see Anatolian trends in the Greek empires.

Finally, we arrive at the Collapse of the Bronze Age, which took place between 1225 and 1100 BC. It was in this time period that both the Hittite AND the Greek Empire collapsed- for an unknown reason. The evidence researchers DO have on the collapse is very scrambled and miscellaneous, as the only text we have from the collapse are whatever happened to be in the clay when the palace/empire got torched. Scholars have suggested many-a-theory as to what may have happened, but when checked into none of them seem to fit. Illness, natural disaster, and other theories have been sought after but none make sense according to the records that survived the collapse (for both empires).

The only semi-logical theory is that the costs of war got to be too much for both sides and they ended up being taken over by the peltast (lightly armed infantrymen). There are old theories that suggest barbarians with iron weapons sacked the empires, but the smithing of iron weapons wasn’t discovered until decades later so this was ruled out. There were no records of plagues or natural disasters among the records known to us, so it is unlikely that that was the case either. However, plague cannot be ENTIRELY ruled out as many armies fighting in Syria caught the plague and brought it back into the cities- the plague was actually what killed the last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II.

As the Bronze Age came to a close, a new time was beginning- the Iron Age, which would last from 1150 BC to 550 BC. The Iron Age would bring about new weapons, religious beliefs and rituals, new agricultural AND architectural wonders, and of course the avid use of iron weapons and eventually armor. This brings to a close part 2 of The Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor.