The past is part of today final10

1. HIS 204 - FINAL
Stacy Bianco
02/22/2016
THE PAST IS PART OF TODAY

2. CLASSICAL GREECE
Aristotle – Godfather of the Internet
Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.) was a great philosophical thinker
of classical Greece. He wrote the first books on biology,
physics, astronomy, psychology as well as technology.
Aristotle was a logical and linear thinker. He said that “The
light of truth is found here in the material world, and our job is
to understand and find our place in it.”
(Herman, 2013) (Brian Levack, 2013)

3. “POLITICS”
Aristotle authored a book titled “Politics” where he wrote that the
purpose of society is to enable each person “To attain a higher and
better life by the mutual exchange of their different services.”
The connection made in his writings to today is the Internet,
entrepreneurial start-ups, and e-commerce.
(Herman, 2013)

4. Examples can be seen today with inventions like the World Wide Web,
Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.
The level of importance of attaining a better and higher way of life by
mutual exchange of not only services but knowledge has helped our
society grow in these areas exponentially.
(Herman, 2013)

6. The aftermath of the Crusades are still being felt today. Continuing tension
between both Muslims and Christians claim Jerusalem as their Holy Land.
The Pope gave himself permission during the Crusades to kill all Muslims
and that it would not be considered murder because he was doing God’s
work.
Connections can be seen today in Osama bin Laden videos where he
describes the American fight against terrorism as a war (Crusade) against
Islam.
A Crusade example seen today was when former President Bill Clinton said
in the past that “The Crusades were the root cause of our present conflicts.”

7. President George W. Bush had to back off of a comment he
made while promoting the war against terrorism. He
described it as a “Crusade.” This comment would
reinforce Muslim perception that a “war on terrorism”
was just a mask for a “war on Islam.”
The level of importance of current “Crusades” by way of
terrorism is of the greatest importance in today’s society
and its horrific effects can be seen and felt across the
globe.
(Cline, n.d.) (Madden T. F., 2005)

8. THE REFORMATION

9. In the 16th century Catholic Reformation began with a
series of attempts to purify the church.
The Reformation affected religious, social, political and
economic institutions.
Educated Catholic Priests, Martin Luther and John Calvin
were the leaders of The Reformation. Luther and Calvin
became what was called Protestants (protestors). They
protested against the wrong that was being done to
society by the Catholic Church.

10. Luther wrote 95 Theses and posted them on the door of a Catholic Church in
protest of its corruption. Due to the invention of the printing press, Luther’s
ideas spread very quickly.
In our society today, our ideas and beliefs are spread through the internet
with even greater speed. We are able to start a conversation on any issue
because of our roots of freedom of speech, The Reformation.
An example of these roots rest in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
where is states in Article 19 that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

11. The Reformation laid a very monumental foundation for free thinkers. This
opened an opportunity for society to have more control over our own
religious practices.
Since The Reformation many movements have taken place around the
world. Like movements on women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery.
(Reformation, n.d.) (Brian Levack, 2013) (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, n.d.)
Article
19

12. The Persian Empire

13. The Persian Empire (559-530 B.C.),
was created during the reign of Cyrus the Great.
This empire was a multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual
culture that established an impressive model for diversity and
leadership.
We live in a time just as momentous as the empires of the past. The
Persian Empire is similar to that of our society today in that we also
strive to bring stability and freedom to our own society.
Similar examples seen today are organized government, law
enforcement and established trade routes with several countries.
The importance of the Persian Empire today is the influence of the
postal service, roads, brick invention, the first taxation system,
alcohol, Algebra and Trigonometry.
(Dise, n.d.)

15. The Scientific Revolution was a period in history
when scientific ideas began to grow.
Beginning in the late 1500’s Nicolaus Copernicus
wrote about the Earth not being the center of the
universe in “On the Revolution of the Heavenly
Spheres”.
This started man to change their prior
beliefs and start to question if everything that they
had thought was already known about science, was
in fact yet to be learned.
Christopher Columbus was one of the first to make
vast discoveries about the Earth. Today, we are still
making grand discoveries about the Earth our Planet
and the Galaxy. (Rayment, 2010)

16. Bibliography
Brian Levack, E. M. (2013). West, The: Encounters & Transformations, Volume 1: To 1715. Pearson.
Cline, A. (n.d.). Perspectives and Religion in the Crusades. Retrieved from About.com:
http://atheism.about.com/od/crusades/a/crusadesviews_4.htm
Dise, R. L. (n.d.). Ancient Empires before Alexander. Retrieved from Great Courses:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/ancient-empires-before-alexander.html
Herman, A. (2013, December 6). 5 Reasons Why Plato and Aristotle Still Matter Today . Retrieved from PublishersWeekly.com:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/60264-5-reasons-why-plato-and-aristotle-still-
matter-today.html
Madden, T. (2009, June). Inventing the Crusades. Retrieved from First Things:
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/06/inventing-the-crusades
Madden, T. F. (2005, May 6). The Real History of the Crusades. Retrieved from Christianity Today:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/mayweb-only/52.0.html
Rayment, W. J. (2010, July 23). Scientific Revolution. Retrieved from InDepthInfo.com:
http://www.indepthinfo.com/history/scientific-revolution.htm
Reformation. (n.d.). Retrieved from RegentsPrep.org: http://regentsprep.org/regents/global/themes/change/ref.cfm
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from United nations: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-
rights/index.html