The Ottoman Empire


When the system strained for the Ottoman Empire during 1579-1639, the Ottoman Empire were going through lots of wars that strained the resources of the state while bringing limited material rewards. This is really interesting because they controlled turkey and a lot of the middle east and its really hard to control the middle east because a lot of trade goes through those countries and war would be a realistic thing to keep the empire in order at this time period.

The Ottoman Economy was very ahead of its time, the economy was controlled by the state. Economic activity increased the power and wealth of the state, which acted to distribute benefits to all. This sounds like it had a very sharing economy and everyone was equal under god and everyone deserved the same amount. And by having a good economy they wanted to expand and get imperial prosperity by military conquest.

Dante's Muhammad

A part in Dr. Franks dante's muhammad that i thought was interesting was the part with hell and dante and the different circles that dante's inferno has, it explains how the heretics are placed in the six circle in flaming tombs behind the gates of the city Dis. All of these different stages and circles are very interesting and wants me to read the whole book of dante's inferno.

The Decameron Day 2


The fifth day eighth story is an interesting story with Nastiago Degli Onesti falls in love with a girl and then he wants her to meet his relatives but then he sees a knight hunting down a young lady and then devoured by dogs, the girl that Nastiago is in love with sees the young lady who is devoured and asks Nastiago to marry her because she doesnt want to suffer the same fate as the young lady who was devoured by the dogs. This them of love and fear show that the Nastiago loves this girl but to get her to fall in love with him invites her over with her relatives but then she's sees this devoured young girl who is killed and she thinks that his family does this to all the young lades that Nastiago falls in love with and shows to his family and if they don't like her then she will suffer the same fate as the young devoured lady. This is very interesting how fear and love can be mixed in as the same theme

The with day first story is a very weird and interesting story it is about Masetto da Lamporcheccio is a deaf-mute who becomes a gardeners for a covent of nuns who all compete to lie with him. This is a very strange an erotic story that the nuns who are of catholic/christian faith when becoming a nun must not have sex because it is against the religion and this is weird because none of these nuns follow the religion and it shows the hypocriticalness and how none of these nuns follow the religion. Even to make the situation worse the guy is a deaf-mute and he can be more easily taken advantage of which is really bad and makes it 10 times worse if the nuns try to lay with him but he is pretending but the nuns do not know that when they try to lay with him.

The Decameron 


The theme that i thought really represented the mediterranean cultures was religion. Religion is the base of all Mediterranean cultures and everything revolved around religion at the time because people wanted something to believe in and it kept the people in order. Genesis is a very crucial part of the catholic religion that was used in the mediterranean at the time. The story of Adam and Eve gave a everyone a sense of calming that there was two people that started on this world by god and explains why there is sin because of how eve eats the apple that was seduced by the snake who was in disguise because it was the devil. If it wasn't for Religion no one would have any morals and there would be no need to do something for the expect ions of pleasure and want. The crusades involved religion, art involved religion, and music involved religion. Religion was the heart of all mediterranean studies and i think is the most important aspect or theme of these mediterranean cultures.

Middle Ages Travel Stories

Margery Kempe's travels around the mediterranean travels many to holy sites because she feels like she has a connection to the holy sites. I think that because she has this connection between the holy sites thats why she feels the she feels the same pain that christ experienced when he got whipped, crucified and etc. Kempe is a very religious person when she makes these travels and she feels very connected to every where she goes and she literally gets very emotional when she goes to these sites. There are many times in the text that Kempe gets rejected by different types of cultures and she really gets upset because of this and she says that she feels like how christ did when he was rejected by the people or the romans and that is the people who crucified him and she feels the same pain in a way that christ did in a sense of rejection. Kempe gets really emotional because of these holy sites and has accounts of connection with these sites.

2. I interpret this fable as you should always try new things in life and never have a dull life they start of this poem with them talking about trying new things and that archpriest went to experience the mountains which the poem said was foolish. The Apostle decrees that people should try new things.

1. I think that main themes in this poem are mystery and love. They start the poem off with the archpriest going into the mountains and trying new things this is very strange. It also starts off weird when the archpriest finds the cowgirl in the mountains and doesn't let him pass unless he pays the fee and if the doesn't he will get stripped instantly.

Commtessa De Die


This song is mostly about love and its from a women's perspective, and she explains her love for him and discusses that he betrayed her like she was ugly and she thought that she was tricked and betrayed. The song also says that her worth, beauty, or wits can help her get him back because of how he betrayed her.
The roll of mary in the songs is that she is a women trying to find love and that all men betray her and that she kind find the person that she's loves.

Troubadours (Jaurfre Rudel)

The theme of this poem is love and apparently someone loved someone else and they cannot be without them because their heart ached when they weren't with them. The poem also mentions that it cannot find the remedy for feeling this way and not being able to be away from the person that they love. It mentions at the end of the poem that god does not want him marrying anyone christian, jew, or sacren and that lust has taken her and that he will never give up on loving her.

Trobairitz (Countess of Dia)

The Theme of this is also love been in a different way than Jaurfre Rudel. I think that gay means happy in this poem and that this poem isn't a guy loving a girl but from a girls perspective loving a man. She explains in the poem that she is gay when around him which makes sense that she's happy and that a lady that loves openly should tell her man that she love him to his face.

Book 1

1. The opening of Ovid's Metamorphose sets the tone for the whole book. Its title "creation of the world" should tell you clearly where Ovid wants to start his book and how its going to start. He states the the world has not yet even been created yet, not even suspended in the air. With no light yet on earth, no wind, no water. He describes the earth as being a "lifeless lump". I think that he starts of the text or poem like this because he wants to show us that earth has not even been created yet and to start everything off the best way to do that is start with the creation of all of mankind and where we live. And theres no better way to do that as to describe the creation of Earth.

2. This text relates to Genesis a lot in multiple ways. In Genesis it starts of the poem or book by describing to us how the earth was created and how god created it. In Genesis the earth was created in 4 or 5 days I can't really remember. But in Ovid's Metamorphose they go a lot more into detail on how the earth is created and how it was before the earth was created and describe to us everything that the earth did not have yet. Ovid's Metamorphose goes into extreme detail on how the earth is before the beginning of earth and how it looked like and how its created. In Genesis its very to the point short and sweet way to create the Earth with very few steps on how to create it. 

Questions: Is God and nature the same thing? "But God, or nature,...." 

Day five

I think that the symbolism of the bow is destruction. Minerva puts in Penelope's head to give the suitors the bow so they destroy each other and the symbolism of destruction is showed. The suitors will all want the power of the bow and will do anything to get it and will inevitably destroy each other because of the bow. I also think the symbolism of the bed means peace and that everything is over and odysseys journey is finally at the end and he could just relax just as Ulysses and everyone else on jersey.

Thoughts

I think that this book was really good and Odysseus journey was really interesting and he met a lot of people and the whole book was about of journey of his life and the ups and downs that he had. The end of the book ended in a peaceful manner between him and minerva and the two parties.

Day Four

1. The character of Melanthius is the brother of melantho. Melanthius supports the suitors. And in book 17 Melanthius starts abusing the beggar who shows up at odysseus palace. Melanthius doesn't realize that the beggar is odysseus. Melanthius gave Ulysses a kick on the hip out of pure wantonness. Ulyssess didn't know wether or not to kill Melanthius with his staff of fling him to the ground and punch his brains out. But then Melanthius prayed to the gods and spared him and he claimed back his spot next to Eurymachus with the suitors. Melanthius is not a wise character and him no seeing that odysseus was the beggar showed that he was weak and that he should of been killed but was spared because Eurymachus who likes him the most spared him along with the other suitors.
2. Irus is a very interesting character that started off begging all over ithaca and he was notorious as an incorrigible glutton and drunkard. He had no strength or say in him and his a very hulking fellow to look at. His birth name is Arnaeus but the young men call him Irus. They call him Irus because everyone would send him on a errand. As soon as he saw Ulysses he tried to run him out of his house.

Thought

I think that Irus is pictured as this very good looking character, if that is what Hulking means, and he is just used as a errand boy and once Ulysses comes in as this hero he feels like he is gonna be driven out of his house so before that happens he tries to do the opposite and drive Ulysses out of his house. And i also am wondering why Ulysses is at Irus house in the first place, I'm confused with that.

I think Odysseus decent into the underworld is a metaphor for his life and that is life is that good right now and he is metaphorically descending into hades. This is really a decent into the underworld. Odysseus speaks to the shades of the dead in the underworld who are like ghosts of the underworld because the underworld is supposed to be a shades, scary, uninviting place to be.

Well in book 13 athene tells odysseus that she is the master of disguises and that she wants to disguise him before going to ithaca. She suggest disguising him as a beggar because people don't like to look to closely at beggars so it will keep in unnoticed. I think the disguise is a symbol of himself that is because he doesn't want people noticing him in ithaca because he was to noticed when he left originally.

Odyssesy's need for a disguise his because of his trials he needs to complete to go back to ithaca, Posideon has a serious grudge against Odyssesy's which forces him to start these harsh trials so he can be ready when he makes he's return to ithaca in his disguise.

Calypso island is very bizarre and full of life, i think that Calypso's island represents greed because the options that Calypso give to Odyssesy's are very fruitful and extravagant and that if he stays on this island with her he can have it all and not have to worry about anybody else

2. After the prologue the book splits up the characters in to two groups those groups are Gods and humans. And some of them are demigods who are an offspring off a human and a God if they decided to have a child.

5. Telemachus goes to Pylos and Sparta to ask for any news of his father. His journey represents a symbol of growth because he didn't have a father when he grew up so this is his chance to prove him self that he can make it on his own. Penelope was a important character. Also Antinous and Eurymachus

1. When his father though his favorite son was dead because all of his other brothers dipped his robe in goats blood and showed his father and said that he was torn to pieces by a beast and then tried to help the dad and comfort him but the father wanted nothing to do with any of the sons so there plan backfired and not even pretending to kill his favorite son worked and they could never get the respect of there father.

2. I feel like the robe that Joseph made for his father was a symbol of how much he meant to his father and that his father thought he was apart of him and that when you wear a robe in means a lot because it always reminds you of them when the father wears the robe. So when the sons dipped it in goats blood and said Joseph was dead it was a big for the father because it was such a personal gift from Joseph to his father that his father could not get over it.

1. Since these twins were born Esau was the one who went into the field and got the food and i feel like was more of the stronger typical "son" that they expected back then. Jacob is less of the hunter and more of the stay at home brother that cooks and does non-men activities. These problems between these twins start of early when Esau comes back from the field and is hungry while jacob is making stew and Esau asks for some stew but Jacob asks for his birthright which was very odd. We saw problems before between brothers Cain and abel and that didn't really workout well.

4. I think that Jacobs dream means that every time someone dies they ascend to the "ladder" of heaven and go to God who is at the top of the ladder. And when God says to jacob that his offspring should spread north, south, east, and west means that offspring means humans and that we should spread throughout the earth to all continents. 

5. I think that Jacob is wrestling with life and the struggles of life because he has a wife, twelve children, and has to work all the time. When the his wrestling with life and asks him his name is Israel instead of jacob because the people of Israel have to struggle with life just as Jacob did thats why they don't eat the sinew of the thigh because thats what life took off of Jacob.

1. I think that abram reacts the way he did before entering egypt because he saw them as sinners and different people from them and seeing him with his beautiful wife would get them angry and confused so they would resort to killing abram. He came to this assumption before they even met the egyptians because he knew a foreign  land would not react well to a beautiful woman and that the pharaoh would want the most beautiful women.

2. I think that sarahi stays silent because the pharaoh eventually realized that she was abram's wife and that it was not the pharaohs wife to deal with. Her being silent i think sent a message to the pharaoh saying to him that she dosent really want anything to do with him. She gains power and respect as a wife to abram.

3. Some human problems that arise from this love triangle are that sarahi gets eventually jealous of her servant with her husband abram and that they conceived a child and then the servant ran away because sarahi was mad with her servant and that they bore a child. So this is some human problems of jealous because i guess this human love triangle has not happened before so they did not know they were going to have this types of problems.

5. I think that civilization come from a murderer because it was supposed to be a metaphor because society and civilization are wild, crazy, liars, killers. Just like murderers civilization have the same traits as a murderer. I think its a great way to compare civilization to a murderer.

1. I can see relationships between the family as a great theme because in the myth its the first time a family is together with all the pieces. They will realize that they have problems and sets up the most of the story and tell what the myth is mostly about. The beginning of agriculture is very important because its the basis of society and makes humans have work and supply food. But work can cause problems and they will in the future societies that why its a great basis theme for the myth.

3. This story says a lot about justice and that you will not always get what you want as a human and people may like other people better than you and abel was jealous of cain and this caused murder in the civilization. And it might of been a set-up against cain since the beginning because cain was always the star child and always loved and you can have that forever and eventually turns on you.

The First type of deity that we have in Genesis chapter 1 is a all powerful mighty God that started the creation of the Earth and everything about the Earth in just six days. I think the text presents this deity as such because it is the beginning of everything and he is the ultimate all mighty God that creates life. The all mighty God started off by creating earth and everything on it and that inhabits it and then creates man which was made in the image of God.

I think that Genesis has to creation myths because so many people have different opinions on if they came simultaneously or if man came before women. The creation of them simultaneously i think makes more sense because God is not a man or a woman he is both of them and God created all of his children after him so that has to mean that he was both man and women and that he was everything.

The tree of knowledge is a very decisive tree that tries to deceive adam and eve into thinking its good food and its not evil. I think that represents desire and our human weakness. Knowledge is forbidden to the point of knowledge because if you have knowledge then you have questions and if you have questions then you question God and who created you and you start questioning everything. The tree of knowledge is desire in form of a tree with undesirable fruit.