Connection to History, Part I

The online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives the etymology of the word "history" as:

Etymology:
Middle English histoire, historie, from
Anglo-French estoire,
histoire, from Latin historia, from Greek, inquiry, history, from histōr, istōr
knowing, learned; akin to Greek eidenai to know

Accordingly, history is also what is happening now, as well as what was happening then. Therefore I find it entirely appropriate that I take a quick break from my interpretation of history to chronicle what great discoveries and findings have recently been and are being made in the area of ancient histories.

In this article from the online version of Science Daily from March 20, 2009, a Byzantine church/monastery with elaborate mosaics and inscriptions in Ancient Greek has been discovered by archaeologists working in Israel. This is in keeping with other discoveries in the area and already-formed hypotheses from expert historians around the world. I find the discovery fascinating; although it is not a monumental in the history of excavation, it can teach us about the time, the religious beliefs of said, and its architecture.
Byzantine Church: a branch of the early Roman Catholic Church that broke off due to a difference in imagery beliefs and other questions; based mainly in the Eastern and Middle Eastern parts of the world.

In a different article, this one, from the same Science Daily, but from March 7, 2009 this time, the origins of Pompeii-like artifacts are examined as compared to known Roman artifacts, said artifacts being bronze jugs, plates and ceremonial pans. Researchers hope to learn whether the artifacts in question came from Britain itself (as copies of the Roman) or were imported. Either way, it is my opinion that discovering which will advance our understanding of the period. The use of a technique known as 'neutron analysis' will be used to determine the answer to the currently-ongoing debate.
Neutron analysis: an advanced technique in which rare artifacts of high value are examined in a regular analysis and at the subatomic level for a unique measurement of materials used, what the materials are composed of, and the way the artifact is made.

L.P.

Ancient History, Part IIIa: Ancient Greece

Introduction

Ancient Greece is widely considered to be the first of the democratic societies. While not democratic in the way we consider it today, it is still a great influence on our lives in the modern day.

Western Civilization Checklist: Writing.
The Ancient Greeks' had an alphabet that is still in use today. The word 'alphabet' itself, for example, comes from the first two Greek letters: Alpha (our 'A') and Beta (our 'B'). Their alphabet contained 24 letters. Also, our maths and sciences are filled with Greek- Delta, the Greek 'D', for example, also meaning 'change', is used both in algebra and in chemistry. Addressing their language, the Greek language influences us as well. ('Alphabet' being an example still.)
Because their language and alphabet influences us so, I will mention some of their more familiar letters. You may recognize: Alpha (A), Beta (B), Gamma (G), Delta (D), Omega (O), Pi (P) and Theta (Th).

Western Civilization Checklist: Government.
Ancient Greece has been famous as the country and culture which founded democracy. Unfortunately, for democracy as we think of it in the modern world, that reputation is unfounded.
Greece was divided into a series of city-states (like Mesopotamia), each one called a polis. Each was ruled in their own way. There were: monarchies (ruled by a king), dictatorships (ruled by a tyrant), aristocracies (ruled by nobles), oligarchies (ruled by a rich and powerful few), and democracy (in which a majority of the voting powers ruled).
Athens was the only democracy we know of. Even Athens was a rule by only the voting majority. Only adult, native-born men could vote; there was no naturalization process. Women (who held very little rights at all), slaves (yes, slavery was also in most Greek states, including Athens and slaves had even less rights than women)), foreigners, and convicts could not vote. Only about 1/4- 1/2 of the population in Athens at any given time could actually participate in a process that was considered to encompass an entire situation. In fact, even in Athens, most decisions were made by committees and not the voting majority.
Laws were written in stone in both Greek and Latin and displayed on common surfaces. It was believed that only commonly seen laws would be obeyed.
Another popularly known example of government in Ancient Greece is Sparta. Sparta and Athens were to Ancient Greece what Sumer/Babylonia and Assyria were to Ancient Mesopotamia: rivals. The two usually-most-powerful city-states seemed to be eternal rivals, always trying to one-up one another, possibly because their societal-allowed lifestyles were so different. Sparta trained all boys, under brutal conditions, for the military from birth until- most commonly- death. It was most of their life. Women held an unusual-for-the-time freedom (being societal allowed an interest athleticism, household fiscal policy, and politics, all openly). At one point, Sparta conquered Athens, but that particular situation didn't last long.

Connection to Language
From Sparta's plainness of life and harshness of society, we get the adjective 'spartan' today, meaning "plain, simple, frugal, self-disciplined": "the spartan style of the room"; "the spartan athlete".

L.P.

Ancient History, Part IIb: Ancient Egypt

Note: Post on Ancient Egypt continued from "Ancient History, Part IIa: Ancient Egypt".

Western Civilization Checklist: Religion.
Ancient Egyptians took their religion very seriously. This can be attributed to the fact that they believed their very lives and livelihoods depended upon saying the right thing, to the right god/goddess, at the right time, in the right way. Crops- and food sources- depended upon the Nile River flooding just-enough-but-not-too-much, and Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooding depended entirely upon the gods' will.
This is complicated by the Ancient Egyptians' confusing pantheon of gods/goddesses. For one thing, the pharaoh was considered a god-on-earth, and a 'true god' when he died. (Some historians claim that he even got his own national holiday.) Also, each individual town or area had their own little pantheon of mother, father, and child gods, as well as the 'usual' pantheon of nationally-known gods. For another thing , the gods and goddesses seem to have complicated power plays at times, based entirely on the royal courts' issues at the time.
For instance, originally Re, or Ra, was the chief sun god, and occasionally known as the creator god. When a pharaoh from a particular town with its own god, Amun/Amen/Aman (depending upon which Egyptian vowel appears or doesn't appear) arose, Re/Ra became Amun-Re (and all the spellings variations thereof).
This was not uncommon in Ancient Egyptian mythology- two or more gods becoming one god, or one god becoming two or more gods with a confusing 'supporting' story.
Another aspect of Ancient Egyptian religon is their fear of death. They believed that, if their bodies were preserved properly and they passed some considerable tests, they could live forever in the Underworld/Afterlife. Interestingly and somewhat disturbingly, they often killed animals, wives and servants to take with them.
They also had a tendency to combine gods/goddesses, particularly in the later period. For instance, Isis (goddess of healing and Osiris's wife) at some point absorbed Bastet (goddess of cats) and Hathor (goddess of music, crops, etc.), as well as possibly Nepthys (Isis's sister and the goddess of death). She absorbed their traits and some of what they wore.

Western Civilization Checklist: Learning and Legends.
Ancient Egyptian mythology is confusing, for the simple, stubborn insistence that their gods were once human (or something like it). A sample story, upon which all of Egyptian history is based, goes something like this: Osiris (later god of the dead and the Underworld) was pharaoh, his chief wife being Isis (later a goddess herself, sometimes of healing, and/or women, and/or something else altogether). Osiris's brother, Set/Seth (later the god of Evil and several other things, sometimes including Darkness) wanted to be pharaoh (not an unusual situation in real politics of the time), so he killed Osiris, cut him into pieces, and scattered him throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. Isis, who had given birth to she and Osiris's son Horus in the meantime, raised Horus and travelled all over Egypt to gather up her husband's pieces and put him back together again through her magic. (The timelines I've found are a little sketchy on how she managed both at the same time.) Osiris was later well again (again, the information's a little sketchy on how), but could not return to being pharaoh because he had died (for reasons I, again, can't decipher), so he went to rule the Underworld after Horus killed Seth and took the throne.
Learning was mostly restricted to the men of the upper classes and scribes. Scribes were more likely to know how to read and write the formal and complicated hieroglyphics than some others, but the pharaoh and some others would have been able to do so. Mathmetics and architecture were studied by men of learning as well, contributing to such feats as the building of the pyraminds and the Sphinx.

Conclusion.
Ancient Egyptians were clearly a great Western civilization, if a much different kind of one than we know today.

Ancient History, Part IIa: Ancient Egypt

Introduction

Ancient Egypt is considered by many- experts and laymen alike- to be one of the first truly great civilizations of the world. While extremely backward (by our standards) in some ways, they also made incredible advances in many areas. Ancient Egypt consisted mostly of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, each area with its own distinct culture and ways. Occasionally the two joined together, or conquered (or were conquered by, and absorbed) other countries/cultures.

Western Civilization Checklist: Writing.

Hieroglyphics have become a famous, if little-understood, form of ancient writing. Ancient Egyptians, like many peoples before the advent of dictionaries, had a curious habit of spellings things depending on A) The way they sounded and B) Their mood at the time. Without a stylized spelling of pretty much anything and a habit of dropping vowels seeming at random, it's not surprising that it took finding the Rosetta Stone to decipher the language.
There were three major forms of Ancient Egyptian writing: hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic. Hieroglyphic is the most famous form, known for its pictographs that form letters, combinations of letters, sounds and/or ideas. Hieratic was a condensed form of the hieroglyphs. Like the evolving Mesopotamian languages previously mentioned, hieratic came from hieroglyphic. When even the more convenient hieratic failed to be a swift, short and easy to write as needed, demotic was developed. Demotic was cursive-like in appearance and easy for scribes (professional writers/secretaries) to use.
The Rosetta Stone, as it is called today, was our key to this puzzle, so to speak. It is a three-sided tablet, inscribed in hieroglyphic (which we did not understand), demotic (which, again, we did not understand), and Ancient Greek (which we did understand). Using one language we did understand, we were able to fairly translate what we did not. From there, we can extrapolate to decipher other elements of the language, including hieratic.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the Ancient Egyptians did not have a set spelling system. It's similar to the way we spelled things before dictionaries: wheat as 'whate', 'wate', 'weat', wheyt', 'wete', and so on. Also unfortunately, Ancient Egyptians often dropped their vowels, depending entirely on the situation.

While it's difficult to imagine, looking at what seems to be a child's chalk-drawing of a sitting man, that it stands for something, let alone is millennia old, it's true.

Western Civilization Checklist: Government
Ancient Egypt government is difficult to understand, due to its being so interwoven with religion. At the pinnacle, the executive head of all life, was the pharaoh. He was the first and last authority on everything.
The pharaoh was considered part god, part human emperor-king, and in complete and utter control of all he surveyed. Intermarriage among the 'royal family' was common due to a desire to keep the so-called godly bloodline pure. This resulted in genetic deformities and illnesses that sometimes proved fatal for the family member. Due to the pharaoh's godly status, he could command his people to do nearly anything and be obeyed, no matter how insane (which was a definite consideration, taking into account the inbreeding). He had advisors and governors, whose job it was to oversee what he could not and carry out his directives. Egyptians also had bureacracy- court scribes recorded many things, from the size of pyramid walls to the current grain harvest.
The royal family was large and varied. The pharaoh had many, many wives, who, in turn, had many, many children. There is a record of one pharaoh having eighty children in one year. However, normal royal women were held to have little practical importance aside from child-bearing and bearing a royal heir (a son in the direct line) was one of the very few ways women could hold an important position at court.
A famous exception to the above was the pharaoh Hapshetsut, the first known female ruler. When it fell to her too-young nephew, Thutmose III, to rule, Hapshetsut had herself declared regent (which was not uncommon). What was uncommon was that she then declared herself Pharaoh of Egypt by right and began to dress and act like a man. Hapshetut ruled over a prosperous time, until Thutmose III eventually overthrew her, obliterated most of her monuments, and returned to male rule.