The Axial Age! (700-500 B.C.E.)

So, took me the whole day to read the Article assignment for Doc's AP World History class. It entailed a day replete with sniffle intermissions, 30 minute naps, lots and lots of orange juice, and a wily imagination. :) Talk about fun! lol. But, really, it was fun.

I miss those summer days where you could just lounge around the house reading up on that subject that always seemed to irk your interest. I don't get many of those these days, but with an open mind, a healthy bit of tolerance, and the power of multi-tasking, I say "Nae".

The Axial Age! 700 to 500 B.C.E.! A three hundred year period before the common era! Mwahahaha! Here's my response outline, it'll help me recap on what I read:

Act Four: The Axial Age (700-500 B.C.E)
D. & J. Johnson, "Human Drama" Volume I
I. Introduction
A. Why was there so much speculation?
B. What kinds of questions were people asking?
C. The Search for Answers

II. The Axial Age in West Asia
A. Setting the Stage
B. What made the Assyrians such effective fighters?
C. The Hebrew Prophets: Monotheism, Ethics, and Law
1. Amos
2. Job: YHWH was one and only god.
D. Zoroaster: Dualism and War
1. What kinds of choices did people have?
- Zarathustra: member of Iranian warrior clan. Greek name--"Zoroaster".
Ideas--Good (Ahura Mazda) v. Evil (Ahriman), converted King Bactria, led spread of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrians called "Parsi" in India.
Calendar starts from 1 A.R. (630 B.C.E.) start of his revelations.
2. What does ethical dualism mean?
- for every pair of opposites, one is good, other is evil.

III. The Axial Age in India
A. Setting the Stage
- 1700 BCE Indo-European Aryans migrate into Indus River valley
- 17 small kingdoms in northern India by 6th century BCE
- Magadha and Kosala 2 most powerful citystates
- Magadha had iron, controlled eastern Gangetic plain
- Brahmins / Brahminism: 1000 BCE most prestigious group in India, prevalent Indian religion, animal sacrifices for salvation, Brahmin is the highest caste of varna
- Dharma: one's role/job in society
- Rajas: citystate rulers, several million people each
- Varna: hierarchy of castes in India
B. Ascetics Challenge Brahmin Domination
- Ascetism: interfering religion to Brahminism by 700 B.C.E., the letting go of humanistic desires for spiritual introspection
- Upanishads: documents recording Ascetic beliefs, means "to sit down near"
- Brahman: not "brahmin", one central ascetic idea in upanishads, the one reality of the world, identical to atman
- Atman: an individual's deepest self
- Moksha: an individual's oneness with the Brahman, achieved through study or meditation
**Remember the story of Svetaketu and the banyan fruit? "That is reality. Thou art that."
- Samsara: the idea of rebirth a.k.a. reincarnation, first written recordings in Upanishads, "all that lives dies and is reborn".
- karma: measure of how perform's one's dharma
C. Mahavira: Ahimsa, Tolerance, and the Doctrine of Maybe
- Vardhamana Mahavira (540-467 B.C.E.), born a prince in Magadha, at 30 became ascetic
- Jiva: "something like a soul", encapsuled in solid matter, one's karma either frees or further encapsules jiva
- Ahimsa: one of Mahavira's most important teachings, what a person thinks influences how he acts, violence in thought leads to violence in actions
1. How can Vira practice Ahimsa?
- Vira: a heroic warrior
- Maha: great
- Mahavira: new kind of warrior, warrior for the inner desires of man
- Doctrine of Maybe: principle of tolerance for other beliefs *Remember the story of the 5 blind men and the elephant?

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Eh, I'm going to give it rest for the night. Good night! =D