Presented by Cynthia Zera

Humanities

The ancient Egyptians credited one of their gods, Hathor, with the invention of music.

The earliest evidence of Egyptian musical instruments dates back to the Predynastic period, about 6000 BC.

Among the instruments played in Ancient Egypt were the lyres, lutes, harps, flutes, double clarinets, and percussion instruments.

Originally, wind instruments were made with reeds, but would eventually be imitated with bronze.

Throughout the entire Pharaonic period, musicians are often shown in ensembles, though in the Old Kingdom singers were frequently accompanied by a single instrument.

Tomb drawings of Amenhotep III’s sed-festival depict long rows of singers, percussionists and dancers and we are told that their music "opened the doors of heaven so that the god may go forth pure".

Music in Ancient Egypt

Dating from the 5th to 7th centuries C.E.

Colors are presumed to indicate pitch and size to indicate duration.

Writings on the parchment are in Coptic, which is a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century.

Ancient Egyptian Sheet Music

Around 150 B.C., the Greeks invented a device that could function as a calculator, calendar, and a sort of primitive global positioning system, capable of helping someone find their destination.

They also invented a vending machine contraption to dispense holy water. A person could deposit a coin, receive a fixed amount of holy water, and the owner would later collect the money.

Excavations at Olympus and Athens have revealed extensive plumbing systems for baths, showers, and fountains as well as for personal use.

Hero of Alexandria, an ancient Greek inventor, designed a hydraulic system that would automatically open temple doors in 100 B.C.

Archaic Greek Technology

Displayed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Antikythera mechanism, was designed to calculate astronomical positions and it uses the oldest known complex gear mechanism.

Two thousand years ago, a Greek mechanic set out to build a machine that would model the workings of the known Universe. The result was a complex clockwork mechanism that displayed the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets on precisely marked dials.

New interpretations of the Antikythera Mechanism reveal that it could be used to predict eclipses, and that it had a dial recording the dates of the ancient Olympiads. A box of intricate gear work, the Antikythera mechanism provides a glimpse at the engineering of the Hellenic world.

Antikythera Mechanism

During the Hellenistic Age, Greece transformed from introverted city-states to an open cosmopolitan.

Greek was the official language of the Hellenistic world.

Following the death of Alexander the Great, his generals ruled the empire.

The most influential city was Alexandria, founded by Alexander himself.

The Hellenic Age was one of extravagance in art, and a love of luxury and riotous excess.

The Battle of Actium marked the end of Ancient Greece, and the entire Hellenic world fell victim to a series of conquests by Rome.

The Hellenistic Age of Greece

A 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike, estimated to have been created around 190 BC.

Discovered by amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau on the island of Samothrace in 1863.

Nike's right arm was raised, cupped round her mouth to deliver the shout of Victory.

The work is notable for its rendering of a pose where violent motion and sudden stillness meet, for its graceful balance and for the rendering of the draped garments, which are depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze.

The sculpture wasn’t just created to honor Nike, but also to honor a sea battle.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Roman men didn’t start studying Philosophy until around 200 BC. Women were not allowed to study Philosophy. Cicero stood up for voting and representative government. Seneca’s philosophical ideas played a big part in the revival of

Stoicism during the Renaissance period. Plotinus had a lot of influence on the Emperor Julian, who tried

unsuccessfully to return the Roman empire to a philosophical version of Paganism, against the tide of Christianity.

Most Roman philosophy mimicked that of the Greeks, but was translated to Latin.

The three basic types of philosophy were Materialism, Pluralism, and Atomism.

Materialists believed that the world was created of matter, even if imperceptibly small, plus the void.

Pluralists believed that there is more than one basic element from which everything is composed.

Atomists believed that we see objects because a film of atoms drops off the surface of the objects we see, and that color is produced by the position of these atoms. Early atomists thought perceptions exist "by convention," while atoms and the void exist by reality.

Roman Philosophy

Cicero lived during 106 BCE and 43 BCE. He was a lawyer, statesman, politician and

philosopher and came to be known as one of Rome’s greatest orators. He was an avid thinker and writer and his texts include political and philosophical treatises, orations and rhetoric.

He was successfully elected to each main Roman government office; quaestor, aedile, praetor and consul.

Though he had been exiled, he was allowed to return to Rome, due to a shift in political power.

Mark Antony and Octavian partnered together in taking over Roman power, and Cicero became an enemy of the state.

Under the order of Mark Antony, Cicero was murdered and parts of him were put on display on the podium in the Senate as a warning.

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

Jewish history and Judaism began in the Middle East, during the Bronze Age.

The story of the birth of Jewish people and the beginning of Judaism is told in the first five books of the Bible.

The Jews, under God’s guidance, became influential with the kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, who built the first temple.

Around 920 BCE the kingdom fell apart, and the Jewish people split into groups.

Around 600 BCE the temple was destroyed and the Jewish leaders were killed.

During the following 300 years after the fall of the kingdom, the Jewish people grew in strength, even though they were ruled by foreign leadership.

Scribes and teachers led them locally, and they explained and interpreted the Bible.

In 175 BCE, the king of Syria desecrated the temple, and attempted to wipe out Judaism in favor of worshipping Zeus.

The Jewish people fought back in 164 BCE, and restored their temple.

Today, that revolt is celebrated during the Jewish festival of Hannukah.

Judaism

1 CE - 70 CE Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism, or "Yahadut

Rabanit," has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE.

What distinguishes Rabbinic Judaism is the belief in the Oral Law or Oral Torah, which is basically just a code of conduct.

Rabbinic Judaism holds that the books of the Tanakh were transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition, as relayed by God to Moses and from him handed on to the scholarly and other religious leaders of each generation.

Rabbinic Judaism claims that almost all directives, both positive and negative, in the Torah are non-specific in nature and would therefore require the existence of either an Oral Law tradition to explain them, or some other method of defining their detail.

Rabbinic Judaism

The period known as the Middle Ages spanned from the fall of Rome in 476 CE to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century.

Feudalism was an important part of this time period, because it was a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor.

Efforts were made by soldiers to secure a system of hereditary rule over land.

Power over a certain territory came to encompass social, political, judicial, and economic power. This significantly diminished centralized power.

After the fall of Rome, no government united the European continent. Instead, the Catholic Church became powerful. Kings and queens derived much of their power and protection from their alliances with the Church.

Islam also grew in power. After the prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, Muslim armies conquered large areas of the Middle East. At its height, Islamic world was more than three times bigger than all of Christendom.

The Crusades, military expeditions authorized by the Catholic Church toward the end of the 11th century, were aimed at taking the Holy Land from the Muslims.

The Middle Ages

The “Black Death” was a plague came out of the East, and reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing an unprecedented rampage of death across Europe and killed between 30 to 40% of Europe’s population between 1348-1350.

The name “Black Death” stems from the large black boils that appeared on the skin.

The crowded, dirty living conditions of the English cities led to the rapid spread of the disease. The sanitation in London was poor and living conditions were filthy. This plague was thought to be spread by fleas that were carried by rats or other small rodents.

When the plague was at it’s peak, the trade route between Europe and Asia was closed, increasing poverty on both continents.

Because so many people were ill and thousands died each day, including people that would normally uphold the laws, there was a long period of civil unrest and lawlessness.

People tended to ignore friends and family and stay in their homes, but without treatment, the vast majority of them died.

The Black Death

Philosophers were predominantly male during the Renaissance, but there were some female philosophers as well.

Topics were things like reality, existence, knowledge, faith, truth, values, reason, mind, and language.

Renaissance humanists resurrected the ancient Greek schools of philosophy.

Movements included Aristotelianism, Hermeticism, Humanism, and Neoplatonism.

Renaissance Philosophy

Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author.

Bacon was one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and scientific methodology during the transition from the Renaissance to the early modern era. He was a lawyer, member of Parliament, and part of Queen Elizabeth I’s Counsel.

He wrote on questions of law, affairs of state and religion, and contemporary politics, but he also published texts in which he speculated conceptions of society. Bacon questioned ethics even in his works on natural philosophy.

Francis Bacon

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st, 1685. He died on July 28th, 1750.

Bach studied Lutheranism, Latin and Greek, Arithmetic, History, Geography, and German poetry, and more.

Bach received his first organ lessons after his father died, and he and his brother were adopted by an organist.

Born in Germany, most of Bach’s music was composed in Leipzig.

His most famous music includes Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, Air On A G String, and Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Original Composition by Bach

Romanticism is known as the “Emotional Art Movement” of the 18th and 19th Century.

Emphasizes emotion and imagination, but really has nothing to do with romance at all.

Romanticism also had to do with a renewed look at nature and mankind’s relationship with it.

Details are rich and expressive. Some of the paintings done in this

style depict things like a nightmare or battle, and others depict landscapes. It varies, but the emotion, depth, and imagination are always present.

Romanticism Artwork

Karl Pavlovich BryullovLast Day of Pompeii - 1833

The Modernist Period in English Literature spanned from the beginning of the twentieth century through around 1965.

Modernism was an artistic trend that inspired a new, fragmented style of writing, and it changed expression and interpretation in literature.

Writers limited descriptions of the characters and settings and avoided direct statements of themes and resolutions, allowing the reader to uniquely interpret and choose meaning on their own.

Modernism & Literature

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 29, 1896 in St. Paul Minnesota.

Fitzgerald was sort of the father of the Jazz Age, and although he led one of the most luxurious lifestyles of anyone during the 1920’s, he was uncomfortable with the lack of morality that came along with the decadent lifestyle.

Author of The Great Gatsby, some of his other works include This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night, and The Love of the Last Tycoon.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Drawn by me, with a clicky pencil from a dollar store, and a fine point ink pen.

The drawing is my interpretation and a culmination of the things that I have experienced during Intro to Humanities.

The original image is approximately 18” in height.

Humanities Cross by Cynthia Zera

Throughout this course, I have tried to choose topics that I was fairly unfamiliar with. I chose each topic because it was interesting to me, and/or visually appealing. Artwork was often a deciding factor, and often times it was simply one interesting fact that sparked my interest. I tried to choose topics that would help me get the most out of the course, and hopefully change some of my prior views and interests.

Why I chose these topics…

Visual Arts – The materials utilized by artists, content, subject matter, and form. We also have photography and motion pictures now.

Performance – Venues for Performing Arts are much more elaborate, women perform just as much as men now, and today we are able to reach a wider audience due to easier methods of travel, such as flight.

Literature – I think that we have many more female writers now, of course. We also have fiction novels, which…novels I don’t believe existed at all until after the “novelty” of poetry, which was eventually expanded upon, to include longer, more detailed stories.

Philosophy – Philosophy has changed perhaps more than anything. Today you have people that believe in Creationism, and others that believe in Evolution. And both evoke sort of a different code of conduct.

History - History has changed immeasurably, in everything from women’s rights, to politics, trade, and religion.

Music – For the most part, a lot of our musical instruments have changed, as well as the manor in which we compose music. Music is also able to reach a wider audience now, thanks to the inventions of satellites, television, and radio.

Architecture – These are the changes that I dislike the most! In building homes today, we basically build boxes. There’s not nearly as much detail.

Technology – Today we have machinery that can build cars, among other things. We have hundreds of electronic devices, wrist watches, cable TV, internet, etc.

Changes

Visual Arts – Still a form of self expression as well as conveying emotion. The color, depth, and richness are all still present in most works of art.

Performance – Performing Arts are still used for social change, but I think they’re more for amusement and entertainment now than ever before.

Literature – Still used to record history and disseminate facts or public opinion. Philosophy – While many philosophies have changed, I think that we still adhere to a

basic understanding of life, it’s creation, and our relationship with nature. History – We’re still fighting in the Holy Land. England still has a monarch. Music – Again, still a for of expression and entertainment involving many different

elements of style. Architecture – We do still use pillars, breezeways, arches, pediments, etc., as they

did in ancient times. I notice a lot more of the Roman and Greek styles of architecture now, since taking this course.

Technology – A lot of the inner workings of today’s devices are based off of the same working knowledge of the earliest known technology, such as the Antikythera Mechanism.

Similarities

http://continuo-docs.tumblr.com/post/35045558160/ancient-egyptian-music-notation-from-a-set-of-6

http://pubsub.com/Lego-Antikythera-Mechanism_historic-technology-3XCpwoLDcqD,bVb8LJfO37QE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_of_Samothrace http://www.egs.edu/library/cicero/biography/ http://s1032.beta.photobucket.com/user/AraMaxima/media/June%2029-

30/IMG_3398.jpg.html http://www.egs.edu/library/cicero/biography/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/history_1.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic_Judaism http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/fineart/change/change.htm http://www.slc.edu/catalogue/creative-and-performing-arts/theatre/cour

ses/2012-2013/primary/using-the-performing-arts-for-social-change.html

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/romanempire.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/philosophy/

Sources

http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/black-death.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php http://www.123helpme.com/modernism-in-the-great-gatsby-view.asp?id=161

927 http://voices.yahoo.com/5-amazing-technologies-invented-ancient-greece-74

83038.html?cat=37 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_technology http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=unique-marvel-of-ancient http://www.greek-thesaurus.gr/hellenistic-period.html http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/helleninstic.html http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073136190/513721/Matthews6

e_ch03.pdf http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/phil16.htm http://www.iep.utm.edu/romanphi/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/seneca/

Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/ http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism http://www.academia.edu/1636051/Renaissance_Philosophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_philosophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/classicalcomposers/p/bach.htm http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080917183116AASQ52U http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Day_of_Pompeii http://emptyeasel.com/2007/11/20/romanticism-the-emotional-art-movement-of-the

-18th-and-19th-century/ https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/la/delacroix.html http://artofmanliness.com/2011/03/03/the-basics-of-art-the-romantic-period/

Sources