The Lonely Blackness

The Black Death must have completely changed the face of Europe. One in three died. How lonely it would be to be one of the few left behind, being terrified to bury your loved ones. How could people recover from such a disaster? There must have been an overwhelming helplessness that haunted the survivors. They didn't know why the disease was spreading or how to prevent it. Being a survivor must have been devastating and painful. Especially if you ran away from a dying family member. How could you live with yourself?

The Melting Pot

I found it very interesting that the language of the English government during the time of the Norman rule and until the fifteen hundreds was French. My view of England has changed. England was a melting pot like the United States. Normans (Northmen) and Saxons (Germans) were very involved in the history of England. Of course many of these people came to invade or take over unlike the immigrants in the U.S. The more I learn about history the more race lines become fuzzy. The English descended from Vikings and Germans. So in the future the Germans that stayed in Germany may have bombed a distant distant relative during World War II. I think if people studied history they would see how silly it is to classify people into one group because really we are all related.

Wikipedia Assignment

This article was about Medieval art. It first introduced Medieval art by mentioning the time period and briefly summarizing the different style periods. Next it gave a brief description of each style period. Each style period is highlighted and links to a more in depth article about a certain period. This article alone isn't very helpful. It introduced the different style periods, but didn't give much detail. The links to other articles is helpful but you would need to be specific about which area of Medieval art you wanted to focus on or there would be to much information. I would not recommend this article because more reading would be necessary to get any real useful information.
1. 889 words
2. Medieval art was my search term and was also the title of the article.
3. There isn't a Disambiguation link.
4.On the discussion page the writer of the article talked about the different style periods of Medieval art and gave his source. There was also discussion about if there were two style periods for Crusade art.
5.There have been over 500 changes made to this article.
6.There isn't anything under External Links.
7.There aren't any references listed.
8.There is nothing under further reading.

Religion and Government

The power struggle between church and state is new. The conflicts up to this point have mostly been between nations, tribes, or individuals. Other governments had connections between religion and government. In Egypt the pharoh claimed to be a god and therefore had the authority to rule. The Greeks and Romans had basicly the same religious ideas but elected their leaders before someone stronger took over. That seems to be the pattern, either you have authority from God or have more military strength. The smart ones used both tactics to gain support. The motives are repeating. The bishops and kings were motivated by the same things, land, money, and power. I'm not sure if Charlemagne claimed authority from God but he did use religious reasons to invade the pagan nations. The Saxon tribes were repeatedly invaded and converted.
I wonder if the Vatican still has politcal power. Is there still a power struggle between the Italian government and the Pope? Also, does the Church of England claim any political power?

Religious Extremes

I consider myself a religious person but my devotion is put to shame by the extremes a devout monk went to . I don't thing I could live under the strict laws of a Benedict monastery. I can understand why some Christians may have switched to the Muslim faith after because it was considered less complicated. The most devoted Christians gave up everything including their freedom to live a life of solitude. Even though there were many other monks around they were discouraged to speak to each other. Self punishment and humiliation was expected. If you didn't correct yourself when saying a chant or prayer you were whipped. This seems to be the holy gang. The members had to be initiated and prove their devotion. I don't think I could live such a strict life.

Hannibal Enemy or Hero?

To the Romans Hannibal became a legend for fierce and heartless enemy but if you were a Carthaginian Hannibal was a brilliant military leader and a hero. I realized there is a huge difference in your perspective depending on which side you are on. The Carthaginians were defending what they felt was rightfully theirs. Hannibal fought with everything in his power to win the war but he didn't have enough support to win a real victory against Rome.

The Carthaginians lost everything after the third and final Punic war. After trying to defend themselves against the African tribe attacks. What a waste of human life. Thousands of men died. The rest were sold into slavery. A very harsh punishment for violating the treaty agreement. The Romans may have thought Hannibal was ruthless but in the end the Romans proved to be just as hard-hearted themselves.

Wikipedia Assignment # 1

This article is on ancient Greek art. In the introduction it discusses the wide influence Greek art had on other civilizations. It gives a brief history of ancient Greece and indicates the four artistic periods. The article is divided into eight different sections; survivals, pottery, metal vessels, figurines, monumental sculpture, architecture, coin design, and painting.

1)The main article has 5,426 words.

2) The search term is Ancient Greek art. The title is Art in Ancient Greece.

3) I don't see a Disambiguation link.

4) The comments on the discussion page is interesting. There is a dialogue going on between the writers of the article as to what should be included and what should be omitted. Adam Carr seems to be the most involved in the early writing process. There was also some discussion about the need for references.

5) The first time this article was modified was March 20, 2004 and the last time was September 11, 2008. There have been over 1000 changes made to this article.

6) There are three external links.

7) There is one reference.

8) There are six titles under Further Reading.

I thought this article was interesting and gave a good overview of the important points of the art of ancient Greece. The pictures provided were helpful in illustrating the style changes that occurred throughout Greek history. I'm not an expert in this area so I don't know if everything was correct. I would recommend this to anyone who wanted a brief to-the-point article that could launch them to a more in depth study of ancient Greek art.