3. Intro
• Russia covers 1/6th of globe
• Population covers many races & linguistic
backgrounds
• Largest group = Slavs
– West Slavs = Poles, Czechs
– South Slavs = Balkan area (Yugoslavia)
– East Slavs = Baltic, Black Sea
• Ancestors of most Russians
• Participated in rich trade along river routes
4. • Varangians (8th and 9th centuries)
– Swedish Norsemen
– Plundered Slavic villages
• Settled along river routes
– City of Novgorod invited Varangian ruler
• Rurik (862 AD) started rule
– Established first ruling dynasty of Russia
– After his death Kiev becomes center of early
Russian state
– Kiev is on Dnieper river
• 300 years Kiev is important city
• The area around Kiev becomes known as Russia
• Rus = seafarers, rowers
6. R
U
R
I
K
Novgorod
“9th century, when Rurik and the Vikings were
having a blast sailing their totally rad dragon-
headed longships down the twisting waterways of
present-day Russia, stopping every so often to
bludgeon anything stupid enough to be situated
on waterfront property. Their basic m.o. was to
plunder, incinerate, slaughter people, gank all
their valuables, and then go down the Dnieper
and sell the captured slaves, furs, and honey off
to Constantinople for a 100% profit”
8. Byzantine Empire Influences Russia
• Kiev and Constantinople have close
commercial ties
• Vladimir I 988 AD
– Adopts Christianity
– Destroys Pagan temples
– Christianity official state religion
– Russia cut off from western
Empire because it sided with Eastern
Orthodoxy
9.
10. Byzantine Missionaries
• Helped Slavs develop written language
– Created an alphabet for them
– Translated Greek works into Slavic
– Growth of national literature
• Russian artists made icons for churches
• Russian churches followed Byzantine style
– Onion shaped dome = Russian invention
11. 1. People thought these pictures had religious power. If you touched a picture of the saint, he
or she could make you better from a sickness, or curse your enemies.
2. Because these pictures were so important and powerful, people sometimes decorated them
with jewels and gold.
3. Many people thought it was wrong to believe that paintings had magic powers like this, and
many of them thought it was wrong to make any kind of paintings at all - we call this
iconoclasm.
12.
13. Height of Kievan Russia
• Kiev reached highest under rule of “Yaroslav the
Wise” (1036-54)
– Married his family to nobility of
• France
• Sweden
• Norway
• Poland
• Hungary
• Byzantine Empire
– Sponsored Russian code of law
– Wanted Kiev to be prosperous like Constantinople
– Built their own Hagia Sophia, schools, libraries,
monasteries, cathedrals and fortifications
15. After Yaroslav
• Civil war and unrest
• 1240- Tartars come and destroy Kiev
– Mongolian warriors who ruled Russia over next
200 years
16. Use of Red in Clothing
Protection from evil
spirits carrying diseases
• Heavy
embroidery at
neckline, collar,
sleeve and ankles
• These were
considered the
most vulnerable
spots on the body
18. Land of Arabia
• Peninsula between Persian Gulf and Red Sea
• Arabs trace lineage to Abraham through Ishmael
– God blessed him and multiplied his descendants
– However, they had little or no unity
• Bedouins = nomadic, travel through desert
– Search for land and water
• Others settled along coast
• Made cities along trade routes
19.
20. Founding of Islam
• Muhammad (570 – 632)
– Claimed to be last and greatest prophet of god Allah
– His teachings became Islam religion
• Islam = “submission”
– Born into poor family, orphaned at 6 yrs old
– Raised by grandfather and uncle
– Worked for rich and wealthy merchant widow
• Married her (15 years older)
• Had a lot of leisure time to meditate on religion
– Influenced by Judeo-Christian religions
– Polytheism was prevalent in Arabia at this time
21. Messenger of Allah
• At age 40 Muhammad has first vision
– Only one god, Allah
• Little success with converts at first
• Mecca was main city of trade and commerce
• Kaaba – stone shrine to many Pagan gods
• People made pilgrimage to Mecca to worship at
shrine
– Good for business!!!
– Merchants afraid Muhammad would hurt business,
so they persecuted him
22. Hagira (The Flight)
• Muhammad moves to Medina
– Followers grew in number
– Military and political power grew
• 630 AD – returns to Mecca with forces
– Destroys Kaaba shrine
– Turns it into center of Islamic worship
• Mecca is now holy city of Islam
23. Teachings of Islam
• Koran- sacred book of Muslims
– Believe that angel Gabriel revealed words to
Muhammad
– Followers composed writings into book
• 114 chapters
• About as long as New Testament
– Moral guide for conduct
• Encourages:
– Humility, duty, kindness, benevolence
• Discourages:
– Idolatry, gambling, drinking of wine, adultery
24. Teachings of Islam
• Allah will reward good and punish bad
• Uses many ideas from Judaism and Christianity
– Noah, Abraham, David and Jesus
• Calls them all prophets of Allah
– Echoes truths of the Bible
• Prayer, moral conduct, day of judgment, heaven and hell
– Imitation of Christianity but distorted
• Allah is NOT same as Christian God
• Rejects deity of Jesus Christ and Hold Spirit
25. 5 Pillars of Islam
1. No other god but Allah
2. Pray 5 times a day Punishment if
3. Money to the poor you don’t do
these
4. Fast on Ramadan
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca
26. Spread of Islam
• Muhammed dies without naming successor
– Close friends chose first 4 successors
– Caliph- spiritual, political and military authority
• Abu Bakr (father in law of Muhammed)
– Military conquests for Islam
• Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Persia
• Umayyad Caliphate (661- 750)
– Hereditary dynasty not closeness to Muhammed
– Spread to India, N. Africa, Spain, stopped in France (Battle of Tours)
• Abbasid Caliphate (750 – 1000)
– Discontent with Ummayad caliphs
– Founded Abbasid caliphate
– Appointed many non-Arabs to government positions
– Peak of Muslim Empire
• Controlled more land than Rome
• New capital = Baghdad
27. Turks….
• During Abbasid Dynasty, political unity began to
crumble
• Many caliphs wanted power
• Began inner fighting
• Turks entered and accepted Islam
– Began new wave of expansion
– United much of former Arab empire
– Also controlled Asia Minor
28. …and Crusades
• Byzantines ask for help from West
– To free Holy Land from Turks and Islam
– Did not free Holy Land from Turks
– DID weaken the power of Seljuk Turks
• Until the Mongols take over later
• Ottoman Turks topple the Byzantine Empire
later in in 1453
30. • Borrowed from cultures they conquered and
interacted with on trade routes
– China
– India
– E. Africa
31. • Items never heard of in Europe before:
– Silk, muslin cotton, linen, damask
– Oriental carpets
– Dates, oranges, lemons, apricots, peaches, melons
32. Paper Making from China
• Trade battle with Chinese,
Muslims took prisoners
– They taught Muslims how to make
paper
– Muslims improved technique using
linen fibers
– Paper industry flourished
• Reached Morocco and then Europe
500 years after Arab world
33. Medicine
Al Razi – Studied works of
small pox Galen &
Hippocrates
Ibn Sina- TB
Surgery Skills – Hospitals
remove cancer
& eye cataracts
and
Drugstores
“a fever was not
part of the
illness, but the Thought that dirt
body's way of caused disease
fighting the
illness”
34. Literature
• Omar Khayyam
– Poet and mathematician
– Picturesque poetry
• Arabian Nights (1,001 Nights)
• Aladdin and the Magic Carpet
• Ali Bab and 40 Thieves
35. Libraries
• Europeans learned about:
– Book binding
– Translating
– Illustrating
– The concept of a public library
• Preserved ancient Greek texts
– Greek explains better than Latin certain concepts
• Repentance is much better explained in Greek
• Led to the spiritual revival during Reformation
36. Mathematics
• Borrowed concept of 0 from India
– Arabic numerals
– Zero
– Decimal system
• Studied and improved algebra
• Studied and improved
geometry and trigonometry
37. Arabic Numerals vs. Roman Numerals
• Which is easier to write?
• 35 or XXXV?
• Which is easier to solve?
38. Art & Architecture
• Religion important in art
– Muhammad forbid them to use human or animal
images
– Excelled in calligraphy
39. Architecture
• Drew from Persian and Byzantine
• Best example = Mosque
– Minarets
• towers call to prayer
– Dome
• covers main part of mosque
Hinweis der Redaktion
furs, wax, and slaves
Businessmen of Novgorod fighting over who would rule the cityOne of the businessmen called Rurik to come and take overOffered him monetary gain
Use of red in embroideryRed was very much used in the tradition of protection, particularly against various human diseases and ailments. Clothing very often contained borders at collar, sleeve and ankle areas which were often heavily embroidered, with red being the predominant colour. This was originally believed to stop, or at least give partial protection, against evil spirits in the shape of some of the most rampant and vociferous diseases that regularly swept through Europe. The borders were meant to stop these malevolent spirit diseases from entering the body at what were considered particularly vulnerable points, mainly at the extremities of the body.
Use of red in embroideryRed was very much used in the tradition of protection, particularly against various human diseases and ailments. Clothing very often contained borders at collar, sleeve and ankle areas which were often heavily embroidered, with red being the predominant colour. This was originally believed to stop, or at least give partial protection, against evil spirits in the shape of some of the most rampant and vociferous diseases that regularly swept through Europe. The borders were meant to stop these malevolent spirit diseases from entering the body at what were considered particularly vulnerable points, mainly at the extremities of the body.