Early RussiaChapter 6

Part 2

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

• 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

• Trade routes using rivers of Europe

Novgorod

RURIK

“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”

• Inviting Rurik and brothers to take over city, Novgorod

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

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

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.

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

Russian Cathedral of St. Sophia

After Yaroslav

• Civil war and unrest • 1240- Tartars come and destroy Kiev– Mongolian warriors who ruled Russia over next

200 years

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

ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 Pillars of Islam

1. No other god but Allah2. Pray 5 times a day3. Money to the poor4. Fast on Ramadan 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca

Punishment if you don’t do these

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

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

…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

MUSLIM CONTRIBUTIONS

• Borrowed from cultures they conquered and interacted with on trade routes– China – India – E. Africa

• Items never heard of in Europe before:– Silk, muslin cotton, linen, damask– Oriental carpets– Dates, oranges, lemons, apricots, peaches, melons

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

Medicine

Studied works of Galen &

Hippocrates

Al Razi – small pox

Ibn Sina- TB

Surgery Skills – remove cancer & eye cataracts

Hospitals and

Drugstores

Thought that dirt caused disease

“a fever was not part of the

illness, but the body's way of fighting the

illness”

Literature

• Omar Khayyam– Poet and mathematician– Picturesque poetry

• Arabian Nights (1,001 Nights)• Aladdin and the Magic Carpet• Ali Bab and 40 Thieves

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

Mathematics

• Borrowed concept of 0 from India– Arabic numerals– Zero– Decimal system

• Studied and improved algebra• Studied and improved geometry and trigonometry

Arabic Numerals vs. Roman Numerals

• Which is easier to write?• 35 or XXXV?• Which is easier to solve?

Art & Architecture

• Religion important in art– Muhammad forbid them to use human or animal

images– Excelled in calligraphy

Architecture• Drew from Persian and Byzantine• Best example = Mosque– Minarets • towers call to prayer

– Dome • covers main part of mosque