Influences of Roman Empire, Islamic Empire, and Han China Societies to Other Cultures
Prompt: Building on the skills developed in Assignments 1, 2, and 3, where you examined textual responses to diverse issues, the final assignment asks you to develop a broader, cross-cultural course synthesis. Selecting one of the course themes and using sources from three different societies, make an argument about how the theme manifests in those societies. Use 5 course primary sources (texts or images) to examine your chosen course theme across the 3 societies you choose. Include at least 1 primary source for each society. Please note the following:
• Essay 4 may only use 1 source from an earlier assignment.
• Lectures do NOT count towards the 5 course sources. You may use and cite lecture material, but lectures do not count towards the source requirement.
• If you are using primary sources that were included in the lecture PowerPoint presentations (e.g., pictures, poems, etc.), please indicate that in your Works Cited page.
Themes and societies options per track, as follows:
Lecture Track A,
• Choose 1 of these themes: 1) Religion and empire 2) Changing traditions 3) Contact and influence between cultures
• Choose 3 of these societies: Roman empire; Han China; Iran; India; Islamic empire; Tang China; Japan; Christian Europe
The final draft of the essay will need to include the following elements:
• An introduction that introduces the theme, societies, and texts, provides necessary context, and states a thesis that makes an argument about how the theme manifested in those societies, as shown in your chosen texts.
• Several body paragraphs that support your thesis. You can organize your body paragraphs by sub-themes, society, or text, using your chosen texts as evidence in support of your thesis and reasons. Include topic sentences that state your reason and tie each paragraph to your thesis.
• A conclusion that non-repetitively and briefly restates your thesis and what is significant about your analysis and argument.
Week 11: Final Essay (25%)
• 850-950 words + Works Cited + Dear Reader Letter
• Dear Reader Letter due with your Final draft (in same file, placed after Works Cited page): What worked and didn’t work for you with this assignment? What help did you seek out? What would you do differently if you had the opportunity? What do you understand better or differently after writing this essay and taking this course?
• MLA format, 12-point Arial or Times New Roman font. See Little Seagull, MLA-d and MLA-e, MMW 12 MLA Paper Template, and the MMW Formatting and Submission Guidelines
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Contact And Influence Between Cultures
Introduction
The theme of contact and influence is a profound concept that has existed since human civilization days. Contact and influence refer to a particular culture's ability to interact and exchange ideas with other cultures in different societies across the globe. To understand this theme more broadly, this paper will focus on exploring the theme of contact and influence between the Roman Empire, the Islamic Empire, and the Han China societies. This paper seeks to showcase that the Roman, Islamic and Han China empires greatly influenced other cultures through their distinct religious inclinations.
Roman Empire
The Roman empire dates back thousands of years ago. Their roman empire greatly influenced other societies and continues to influence different societies today. The roman empire influenced other cultures through their religion, particularly Christianity (Wasson 3). It gave Christianity a means to spread. Ancient Rome provided centralized administration and communication networks like the crusades that facilitated the spread of Christianity. Today, Christianity is the world's largest religion and one-third of the global population claim to be Christians. Currently, Rome is the headquarter of the roman catholic religion. The article Comparing competing sources: The Call for the First Crusade (1095) revealed how the spread of Christianity happened in Palestine. The article states, “urged all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover Palestine from the rule of the Muslims” (Bongars 1). This statement shows the extent to which every religion thought of itself as superior and only sought to expand. Protecting and enlightening Christians not to be converted to Islam was a regular occurrence at the time. Additionally, the article revealed that Christianity greatly influenced people's way of life. It advocated for righteous living, sacred living, doing good for others and undertaking morally acceptable things to society and God. The article stated, “Keep the church and the clergy in all its grades entirely free from the secular power” (Bongars 4). The church in this statement implies all Christians and advocates for all people who believe in the Christian faith to avoid earthly secular behaviours and conduct themselves in a manner that makes God happy. Mentioning the clergy reveals church administration at the time and their crucial role in depicting Christianity culture. The clergy is expected to be a role model for good Christianity behaviour that other Christians can embrace. Church administration in the Roman empire was highly respected and played a critical role in influencing the spread of Christianity across the globe.
Islamic Empire
The Islamic empire greatly influenced the spread of the Islamic faith. Crusades were highly organized to encourage people to convert to the Islamic faith. Crusaders made several efforts to conquer Jerusalem and diminish the power of the Islamic Empire, but Saladin, the well-known Muslim leader, battled and retook Jerusalem. The Muslim Empire ended as the Mongols attacked and destroyed the key towns (Al-Turtushi 229). Nevertheless, the Mongols, who came to conquer, subsequently became Muslims, and Islam as a religion expanded throughout Asia. Today, Islam is the second largest faith. The quest to expand the Islamic religion started during the 7th century at the time of the Islamic empire. The article The Pact of Umar: The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule reveals that “The gist of the original agreement seems to have been that non-Muslims under Muslim rule (1)...