Music Through History

Music is literally everywhere. We are surrounded by it in our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not; it is like the air we breathe – something that is always there that we often take for granted without pausing for a moment to consider the meaning of it or where it came from. Having grown up in a very musical family and being a musician myself, I have always had a great appreciation for this art. The book This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin sparked my interest in learning about how music has influenced the history of mankind and the impact it has on our psychology.

Modern music is divided and subdivided into an innumerable set of genres and groups. The spectrum is broad, with each extreme being diverse and distinctive from the other. It is comparable to the hierarchy of classification for a species; for example, domestic horses and zebras are obviously different, however there are definitive similarities to the two species. Rap and classical music sound very dissimilar, but they both are classified as music.

Early music was often created and performed for religious rituals; public gatherings such as marriage, funerals, marching off to battle, etcetera; and to pass on historical traditions and stories from one generation to the next. Although there is reason to believe music existed during the early years of mankind, its influential qualities and uses were unclear until urbanization began in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Here, music consisted primarily of priests reciting incantations and chants to their gods. It was not until the Assyrians, whose gods were chiefly those of war, marched across Asia to battle tunes that music was utilized for things other than solely religion.

Music as a means for entertainment and pleasure first appeared in the beginning of the New Empire of Egypt. It sprung from the spiritual songs and music written to please and honor the many Egyptian gods. Each of the gods, from Osiris, god of the underworld, to Isis, goddess of love and war, to the many animal gods, often communicated with the people of the nation through musician-priests. The Greeks soon followed in the footsteps of Egypt, creating music entirely for social and enjoyment purposes.

Modern music revolves largely around entertainment, however it still plays a large role in religious practices as well. I find it intriguing how diverse music has become, and how dependant we are on it in our day-to-day lives without even realizing it. It follows us wherever we go – it is where we eat, sleep, at weddings and funerals, sporting events, the mall, virtually everywhere. As Americans, we statistically spend more on music than we do on food, sex, and prescription drugs. Quite a lot can about the mentality behind such a phenomenon. Human psychology has evolved alongside the evolution of music right from the beginning. In Daniel Levitin’s book This Is Your Brain On Music, he writes, “… not just our bodies but our minds are the products of millions of years of evolution. … Our minds coevolved with the physical world, changing in response to ever-changing conditions. … Researchers in [evolutionary psychology] believe that they can learn a lot about human behavior by considering the evolution of the mind. What function did music serve humankind as we were evolving and developing? Certainly the music of fifty thousand and one hundred thousand years ago is very different from Beethoven, Van Halen, or Eminem. As our brains have evolved, so has the music we make with them, and the music that we want to hear.” This powerful mind-altering art can be and often is used as a persuasive tool by filmmakers, advertisers, military commanders, and by parents in the common household. Our culture and mere existence has clearly been radically influenced by music, and will continue to do so for the rest of time.

References:

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/sici?sici=00274631%281925%2911%3A2%3C196%3ATIOMIW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R&origin=serialsolutions&cookieSet=1

Cynisca: Female Athlete of the Fourth Century BCE

Google is a wonderful educator. I was browsing around for more information on the athletic training of Spartan women, when I came across a mention of one Spartan princess named Cynisca, who happened to be an Olympic champion.

Throughout Greece, men ruled society; women stayed out of the way. Anyone who has studied the ancient Olympics has probably come across the fact that only men competed, and they even banned women from watching the events. How did a women come to compete, let alone win? A unique combination of political, social, technical, and familial situations created an atmosphere effecting Cynisca's rise to fame.

Cynisca was born around 440BCE, shortly after the end of the First Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. Sparta again went to war in 431, and spent twenty-seven years fighting the Second Peloponnesian War. This intense battle and political fighting lead to the social differences that made Cynisca's win possible: wars mean soldiers, and more soldiers can only come from women.

In order to maximize their chances for healthy warriors, Sparta gave its women chances many opportunities denied them in the other Greek lands. Spartan society encouraged women to stay physically active, and even to become athletic to create strong mothers. Strong, healthy women produced more, stronger children and didn't die in childbirth as often. Cynisca would have grown up in a world where she could stay active and compete, albeit not anywhere near on the level men were allowed to.

While Olympic rules banned women from actually competing in any events, the rules did allow them to complete by proxy in one event: four-horse chariot racing. By choosing riders to compete for them, women could vicariously compete and still receive the fame and glory awarded to champions. Her standing as a Spartan princess gave Cynisca the wealth to take advantage of this small loop-hole in the rules, and she pushed that advantage to the fullest.

Cynisca competed and won the race not once, but twice, in both 396 and again in 392. She received the laurel crown given to all champions, and erected a monument in her own honor, claiming,

"My fathers and brothers were Spartan kings, I won with a team of fast-footed horses, and put up this monument: I am Cynisca: I say I am the only woman in all Greece to have won this wreath."

Despite the restrictions women faced in ancient Greece, Spartan women enjoyed a small bit of relative freedom. The wars gave them a reason to stay strong and active, and Cynisca managed to become champion in an event she wouldn't have even been able to watch. In more colloquial language one might add, "You go, girl!"

Source: American Chronicle, "Cynisca of Sparta", Paul Cartledge

The Chinese Zodiac

Everyone at some point in their life sat down at the table of a Chinese restaurant, and while waiting for the waiter to arrive, looked down and read the placement full of animals and words. The Chinese zodiac has always been an interesting subject of debate, just as fortune telling and astrology have been. However, what makes the Chinese zodiac characters different than those of the Western zodiac? How did the Chinese zodiac come into existence?

The origin of the Chinese zodiac is not entirely known, although there are some legends that trace the zodiac creation to the time of Yellow Emperor in the year 2600 B.C. Other artifacts that include the zodiac animals appear during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) and the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). Unlike the western zodiac, which revolves around constellations in astrology, the original purpose of the Chinese zodiac was to organize the Chinese Lunar New Year, and build an understandable calendar around those dates. According to the calendar, there are 10 heavenly stems, and 12 earthly branches. When combined in certain patterns, they indicate dates and times. Each branch and stem are meant to form a complete cycle that takes 60 years.

There are several legends that explain the origins of the specific animals of the Chinese zodiac. One legend explains how Buddha was planning on restoring order to the world with the help of the animals. However, only 12 animals showed to help him. He gave each animal a year of the zodiac according to the order in which they arrived. Other legends depict a race across a riverbank between the animals to decide who would rule the first cycle. Again, their placement in the race corresponds with their zodiac year. These legends also characterize the animals and explain the characteristics of each and how they are passed down to those who have their year. For example, during the race across the riverbank, the ox was in the lead throughout the race. However, the rat jumped on his back and ended up being the first across the river, and the first of the zodiac cycle. The rat is associated with the characteristics of being meticulous, charming, yet manipulative and selfish.

In Chinese culture, the zodiac is used as a means of asking someone's age, because asking directly is considered rude. It should also be noted that the Chinese zodiac does not begin until the Chinese New Year, which does not mean January 1, like most westerners believe. Usually, the New Year is in late January or the beginning of February. The order of the Chinese zodiac goes as follows: rat, ox, rabbit, tiger, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

http://chineseculture.about.com/od/chinesesuperstitions/a/Chinesezodiac.htm

http://www.danwei.org/china_information/chinese_astrology_chinese_zodi.php

http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_chinaway/2003-11/19/content_44290.htm

The Peloponnesian War

The war between Athens and Sparta was called the Peloponnesian War. Athens and Sparta were completely different in many ways and had different goals. Athens wanted to expand with new buildings, such as the Parthenon. They were growing in wisdom through their philosophers, such as Aristotle and Socrates. Sparta, on the other hand, cared about expansion for power, not for things such as buildings and wisdom. These two rival city-states were once united to protect the Greek states from invasions by Persia, but their friendship did not last long.

Spartans were trained all their lives to be soldiers, and were known for their military abilities. Spartans and their allies, other Greek city-states, were known as the Peloponnesian League and dominated southern Greece. Athens, on the other hand, had a very strong navy and their allies were known as the Delian League. Conflict aroused between the two city-states and their allies, which lead to the Peloponnesian War.

The war began on 4 April 432 BCE and ended on 25 April 404 BCE. The reason the war started came from Sparta’s fear of Athenian growth of power. It was a strung out war with one side, the Spartans, who dominated on land, and the other side, Athens, who had advantages at sea. They each took advantage of their strengths; Athenian navy raided cities on the Peloponnesus, while Sparta damaged Attica, the territory around Athens. The twenty-eight year war involved various fighting mixed with peace treaties along the way.

In the end, Athens invaded Sicily, which ended in disaster, and the Athenian army surrendered to Sparta. The Athenian city walls and empire were torn down. Sparta’s victory is argued as to whether is was harmful or helpful to Greece as a whole.

 

http://www.laconia.org/gen_info_literature/Peloponnesian_war.htm

http://www.indiana.edu/~thtr/2002/lysistrata/war.html

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw4athensspartap2dz.htm

http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/peloponn/17.shtml

The History of the Olympic Games

The first written records of the Olympic games date back to 776 BC, though it is believed the games had been going on for many years already. The legend says the Olympic Games were founded by Heracles, a son of Zeus. The games were dedicated to the Olympian Gods; Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, and Aphrodite, to name a few. According to a fifth century BC sophist, Hippias of Elis, the first athletic contest was the foot race, and it was held at Olympia in honor of the Olympian god Zeus. The Olympic Games became one of the largest and most famous festivals, and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years.

Unfortunately, in 393 BC, A Roman emperor named Theodosius I abolished the games.  The reason for his decision was based on the fact that he was a Christian and did not like the religious aspect of the games; dedicating them to the Olympian Gods. About 1500 years later, a man named Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, began the revival of the games. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, despite the unenthusiastic interest from France. For a few years, he talked about his idea to bring the Olympic Games back, but gained no interest from the people. Eventually, after being persistent, he sparked interest at a meeting he organized with 79 delegates who represented 9 countries. The delegates fully agreed with Coubertin’s idea to revive the Games. They had him construct an international committee to organize the Games, which is known today as the International Olympic Committee. The chosen revival location was Athens.

Even though the Olympic games were the most famous, and are still taking place today, they were not the first athletic events to take place in the Mediterranean area. The Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians carved athletic scenes on the tombs of kings, showing a long tradition of athletic activities. Unlike the Olympic games, these athletic activities were not regular organized festivals.

 The history of the Olympic Games is incredible, especially how early these Games started in 776 BC. I had no idea that there was a period of time where the games didn’t take place because of their abolishment, and 1500 years later, the games were revived again. It is amazing to know something that burnt out for so many years was brought back by the persistence of one man, and still takes place today. The Olympic Games are just one of the amazing aspects of life that we adopted from the ancient Greeks.

 http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/1022

http://history1900s.about.com/od/fadsfashion/a/olympicshistory.htm

The Gutenberg Press and its Implications

In the 1440s, Johannes Gutenberg developed the movable printing press. Prior to its advent, books and pamphlets were written out by hand which was tedious, time consuming work. Vellum was a popular material to write books on, but this presented a problem because vellum was pricey and not readily available in mass quantities. To solve this, the papermaking industry was created in Europe to lower costs and to have an inventory.

The Gutenberg Bible is the most widely known text produced by the printing press. The following is a description of the bible:

“The Bible, printed at Mainz, probably required several years of work; it began in 1452 and was completed not later than 1455 and printed in an edition of about 200 copies. The text of the Bible is Latin. Colored initials and other illuminations were hand drawn after the pages were printed. The pages of the book are folio, each page is in two columns and, with few exceptions, each column has 42 lines. The Gutenberg Bible lacks many print features that modern readers are accustomed to, such as pagination, word spacing, indentations, and paragraph breaks.”

The printing press has clearly evolved since the 1400s. The press was mechanized to run on its own shortly after it was invented. Steam power was introduced in the early 1800s by Friedrich Koenig. The addition of steam power helped increase the productivity of the machine. Later in the 1800s typesetting was developed, which is similar to the typewriter. From there, intaglio (etching and engraving), lithography, and screen process (silk screening, for example) were created.

Xerography (commonly referred to as Xerox copies), laser printing, and ink-jet printing are all examples of the technological innovations that came from the original printing press. The printing process of today has advanced to be operated completely with electricity which allows for even more output and since the presses are not physically operated by a person, they can be left unattended.

The implications of printing press’ development are numerous. When it was first invented communication was, as mentioned, hand written and time consuming. Now that more books and pamphlets were being produced, the quicker information could be sent out to the masses. Additionally, as the process relied less on manpower, the cost of production significantly decreased and the average citizen was exposed to a plethora of information. Access to information that was once kept from the public was now widely available. Eventually the Bible was translated to English from Latin and mass produced. The advent of the movable printing press paved the way for people like Martin Luther to get their message out and lead to, in Luther’s case religious, revolution.



Websites Consulted:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/printing.aspx
http://blue.wths.net/faculty/skidmore/printing_press.htm

The Black Plague

The Black Plague ravaged Europe in 1347 and lasted until 1350 wiping out a third of the European population. The culprit was the small Oriental Rat Flea containing the deadly bacteria from black rats. Because no knew where this awful disease came from or how to stop it, people would try everything from burning innsence to ringing loud bells to keep themselves healthy. The disease itself came in three forms, bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic, each having differnt symptoms and each spead in different ways. With the Bubonic victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear. The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The mortality rate was 30-75%. The pneumonic plague was the second most common. The pneumonic and the septicemic plague were probably seen less than the bubonic plague because the victims often died before they could reach other places. The mortality rate for the pneumonic plague was 90-95%. This form affected the lungs. The septicemis form had a mortality that was close to 100% (even today there is no treatment). Symptoms consisted of a high fever and skin turning deep shades of purple. Victims usually died the same day symptoms appeared. In some cities, as many as 800 people died every day.

Because of this horrible disease, everything was affected in some way or another. Music and dance turned very quickly from happy to depressing. Art depicted skeletons, and the great fear of the times. Children were sometimes abondoned or left to see there friends and family die a slow horrible death. For those that survived it was a life changing and mentally damaging time.

It is interesting to learn that today the mortality rate would have been far superior with all the medical advances known today. It is interesting to learn about the long road from which we all have come.

Greek Gods and Goddesses

On top of Greece's Mount Olympus, 12 Gods ruled the world and universe. All of the olympians are related in one way or another. The powerful leader Zeus came to rule after he overthrew his father, Kronos.

Zeus was the leader of all the Gods and was God of the sky. His mood would effect the weather. If Zeus was happy, a clear day full of sunshine would rein over the Earth. If Zeus was angry, violent and stormy clouds would fill the skys. When angered, Zeus threw thunderbolts to calm himself down. Married to Hera, but was also believed to have many lovers.

Hera was the queen of Olympus. Wife and sister to Zeus, Hera was the goddess of marriage.

Poseidon was the brother of Zeus and God of the sea. In a bad mood, Poseidon would cause earthquakes and harsh sea conditions. Poseidon can be the best friend to a sailor and can also be his worst enemy. Poseidon lives in a great palace beneath the sea.

Hades was the king of the dead and the underworld. Brother to Zeus, Hades was sentenced to rule the underworld when his attempt to overthrow Zeus failed.

The protector of sailors, Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. The daughter of Zeus, she is believed to raise out of the sea on a shell.

Being an archer and hunting with a silver bow, Apollo was the God of music and healing. The son of Zeus, Apollo had a twin sister named Artemis. It was believed that Apollo would only hunt at night.

Ares was the God of war. Son of Zeus and Hera, it was believed that Ares was cruel and also a coward. Ares also carried a bloody spear to intimidate the Gods around him. Even though Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, neither one of his parents liked him. Ares was not a very liked God.

Artemis, the twin sister to Apollo, she was the goddess of the hunt and protector of women during child birth. Daughter to Zeus and Leto, Artemis loved all wild animals and hunted with silver arrows. It was believed that Artemis like her twin brother Apollo, only hunted at night.

The Goddess of wisdom, Athena was also brilliant in the art of war and combat. It is believed that Athena helped heroes like Hercules and Odysseus become the legends and heroes they became. It is also believed that Athena was Zeus's favorite daughter and was carved from Zeus's forehead.

In the time of war and rebellion, Hephaestus was most likely the most important God of all. Hephaestus was the God of fire and forge and was responsible for making the armor and weapons for the other Gods. While making equipment for war, it was believed that he loved peace. Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera and was the husband to Aphrodite.

Believed to be the most gentle of all the Gods, Hestia was the Goddess of the hearth. Being the oldest of all the Olympian Gods, Hestia is also the older sister of Zeus.

Hermes was the son of Zeus and the messenger God. Known to be a trickster or swindler, Hermes was a friend to thieves. While wearing winged sandals and a winged hat, Hermes was the fastest of all the Gods and also carried a magical wand.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A081990.html

Lucy's Religion?

I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through my senior year of high school, where every year we studied religious classes alongside typical classes like science and literature. This early education spiked my interest in studying beliefs and histories of religion, both those with ties to Christianity and those whose origins are completely unrelated.

A chapter on early religions in my history textbook, Ways of the World, directed me to the Minnesota State University webpage on World Religions, where I encountered an interesting page compiled by Salman Hakim on Jainism, a religion with origins in "prehistory," even before the Indus Valley civilizations.

Before the chapter I read for my class, I'd never even heard of Jainism, and to find a website full of information was serendipitous. Some of the pages on other world religions seem incomplete or half-hearted, but the one on Jainism appears well-rounded to include both historical data on the religion as well as the positions of believers. Hakim ties the two together in a way respectful and open to both parties.

For example, directly after attributing to modern research that evidence of Jainism has been found to pre-date Indus Valley civilizations, Hakim credits the beliefs of several Jain scholars that Jainism is "more ancient even then the three and a half million years old Ethiopian female as Lucy" and has actually existed for about 8.4 million years. The credence Jainism gives both opinions gives the post a neutral and non-judgmental feeling, something very important in sensitive matters such as religion.

Jainism focuses on freeing the soul from birth and death by ridding oneself of karma. Karma prevents the soul from liberty and the chance of being a God, and forces one to be reborn. One can eliminate karma by rejecting the materialism of the world through the practices of non-violence and limited desires.

Fordmakers, ordinary souls with superhuman powers have guided Jainism and stressed the importance of non-violence time and time again. After the death of Mahavira Swami, the last reformer, Jainism split into two sects because of disputes of monastic orders. They differ in clothing, temple adornment, and sacred texts.

This website gives a great overview of Jainism, as well as some helpful links for future study, including one to the Jain Global Resource Center online. I highly recommend checking it out if you're at all intrigued by learning about new religions. There are also pages on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, all with their own links pages for further study.