Thursday, December 26, 2019

Angkor Wat Timeline

At its height, the Khmer Empire that built Angkor Wat and the other marvelous temples near Siem Reap, Cambodia controlled much of Southeast Asia. From what is now Myanmar in the west to all but a thin strip of land along the Vietnamese coast of the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Khmers ruled it all.  Their reign continued for more than six hundred years, from 802 to 1431 CE. The Temples During that time, the Khmers built hundreds of gorgeous, intricately carved temples. Most began as Hindu temples, but many were later converted to Buddhist sites. In some cases, they switched back and forth between the two faiths numerous times, as attested by the different carvings and statues made at different time periods. Angkor Wat is the most wonderful of all these temples.  Its name means City of Temples or Capital City Temple.  When it was first constructed before 1150 CE, it was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. By the end of the 12th century, however, it was gradually being transitioned into a Buddhist temple instead. Angkor Wat remains a center of Buddhist worship to this day. The Khmer Empires reign marks a high point in the cultural, religious, and artistic development of Southeast Asia. Eventually, however, all empires fall.  In the end, the Khmer Empire succumbed to drought and to incursions from neighboring peoples, particularly from Siam (Thailand).  Its ironic that the name Siem Reap, for the city nearest Angkor Wat, means Siam is defeated.  As it turned out, the people of Siam would bring down the Khmer Empire.  The lovely monuments remain today, though, testaments to the artistry, engineering and martial prowess of the Khmers. Timeline of Angkor Wat †¢ 802 C.E. - Jayavarman II is crowned, rules until 850, founds kingdom of Angkor. †¢ 877 - Indravarman I becomes king, orders construction of Preah Ko and Bakhong temples. †¢ 889 - Yashovarman I is crowned, rules until 900, completes Lolei, Indratataka, and Eastern Baray (reservoir), and builds Phnom Bakheng temple. †¢ 899 - Yasovarman I becomes king, rules until 917, establishes capital Yasodharapura on Angkor Wat site. †¢ 928 - Jayavarman IV takes throne, establishes capital at Lingapura (Koh Ker). †¢ 944 - Rajendravarman crowned, builds Eastern Mebon and Pre Rup. †¢ 967 - Delicate Banteay Srei temple built. †¢ 968-1000 - Reign of Jayavarman V, starts work on Ta Keo temple but never finishes it. †¢ 1002 - Khmer civil war between Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, construction begins on Western Baray. †¢ 1002 - Suryavarman I wins civil war, rules until 1050. †¢ 1050 - Udayadityavarman II takes throne, builds Baphuon. †¢ 1060 - Western Baray reservoir finished. †¢ 1080 - Mahidharapura Dynasty founded by Jayavarman VI, who builds Phimai temple. †¢ 1113 - Suryavarman II crowned king, rules until 1150, designs Angkor Wat. †¢ 1140 - Construction begins on Angkor Wat. †¢ 1177 - Angkor sacked by the Chams people from southern Vietnam, partially burned, Khmer king killed. †¢ 1181 - Jayavarman VII, famous for defeating Chams, becomes king, sacks Chams capital in reprisal in 1191. †¢ 1186 - Jayavarman VII builds Ta Prohm in honor of his mother. †¢ 1191 - Jayavarman VII dedicates Preah Khan to his father. †¢ End of 12th century - Angkor Thom (Great City) built as new capital, including state temple at the Bayon. †¢ 1220 - Jayavarman VII dies. †¢ 1296-97 - Chinese chronicler Zhou Daguan visits Angkor, records daily life in Khmer capital. †¢ 1327 - End of classical Khmer era, last stone engravings. †¢ 1352-57 - Angkor sacked by Ayutthaya Thais. †¢ 1393 - Angkor sacked again. †¢ 1431 - Angkor abandoned after invasion by Siam (Thais), although some monks continue to use the site.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Essay about Slavery in Beloved, by Toni Morrison - 1960 Words

Beloved â€Å"Beloved† is the story of a young black womans escape from slavery in the nineteenth century, and the process of adjusting to a life of freedom. Most people associate slavery with shackles, chains, and back breaking work. What they do not realize is the impact of the psychological and emotional bondage of slavery. In order for a slave to be truly free, they had to escape physically first, and once that was accomplished they had to confront the horror of their actions and the memories that a life in chains had left behind. For Sethe, slavery is not over, at least not in her mind, and beloved serves as a form of therapy by drawing out the painful memories and giving Sethe a second chance to right her†¦show more content†¦Amy was on her way to Boston to buy velvet. She tells Sethe that if she doesn’t move to a safer spot she is liable to get bit by a spider. Sethe is unable to walk, so Amy drags her to a lean-to, rubs her badly damaged feet, and fashions a pair of makeshift shoes from leaves and pieces of cloth. The next day Sethe is able to walk and while making her way to the river she goes into labor. The two women find an old canoe and just as Sethe steps in her water breaks. With Amy’s help, Sethe gives birth to her fourth child, a baby girl. Amy asks Sethe to tell the baby that Amy Denver of Boston had helped to bring her into the world. Sethe thought that Amy’s last name was pretty and decided to remember her by naming her daughter Denver. Amy straps little Denver to Sethes chest and with a little help they make it to 124- Baby Suggs house. Although Sethe has escaped the physical bondage of slavery, her fight for freedom is not yet over. Halle worked every Sunday for five years to buy his mothers freedom from Mr. Garner, the owner of Sweet Home. Mr. Garner arranged for Baby Suggs transportation across the river, a job for her when she got there, and a small house to live in that belonged to a man named Mr. Bodwin. Mr. Garner and Mr. Bodwin had been friends for years and Mr. Bodwin did not agree with the institution of slavery. Baby Suggs opened her house and her heart to coloredShow MoreRelatedToni Morrison s Beloved And The Ghosts Of Slavery : Historical Recovery1691 Words   |  7 Pages In the novel Beloved, Toni Morrison develops character Beloved as an allegorical figure to embody slavery’s horrific past and the lasting impact that unresolved past trauma has upon the present. Morrison develops the character Beloved to represent all the unremembered and untold stories of slavery and to further the message that we must maintain a collective memory of slavery in order to pursue a hopeful future. Morrison develops Beloved as a character through her interactions with other ch aractersRead MoreToni Morrison s Beloved : Dehumanization Of Slavery And Its Effects On African Americans And Their Basic Forms Of1268 Words   |  6 PagesToni Morrison’s Beloved shows the dehumanization of slavery and its effects on African-Americans and their basic forms of existence—specifically motherhood. Morrison depicts the strong maternal bond between Sethe and her children. Most importantly, her use of Sethe’s controversial act of infanticide shows the lengths that Sethe will take to protect her children from slavery. 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After reading the Bluest Eye and seeing how captivating it is, it is not highly expectant to think that Beloved to be just as enchanting. Anyone who has read Beloved would read it again and those of us who have not should be dying to read it. Beloved is a historical fiction novel based on a true historical incident. Beloved is setRead MoreBeloved by Toni Morrison1455 Words   |  6 PagesThro ughout history, numerous people were victims of slavery. Many people were tortured and worked to death and suffered horrifically. Not many slaves knew their mothers because they were torn from their homes. Many slave women were robbed of their innocence by their masters. Behind the face of every slave, there is always a very traumatic unforgettable story which is not something to pass on, but a lesson to remember from repeating same mistake again. Only a handful of slaves learned to read andRead MoreAmerican Gothic Mid Term : Use Of Color1723 Words   |  7 PagesThe Use of Color in Beloved In Beloved, color is a common and important theme, especially the color red. This is because color can symbolize a variety of different things such as a specific emotion or a memory. Throughout Beloved Morrison uses color to give various meanings to various objects and spaces. The emotional qualities of the characters in Beloved are so strong that Morrison utilizes color as a way to express their feelings. Since the book tells a story about slavery and the color of a personsRead MoreBeloved, By Toni Morrison Essay1576 Words   |  7 Pagesreading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, I could not help but feel shocked and taken aback by the detailed picture of life she painted for slaves at the time in American history. The grotesque and twisted nature of life during the era of slavery in America is an opposite world from the politically correct world of 2016. Morrison did not hold back about the harsh realities of slavery. Based on a true story, Toni Morrison wrote Beloved about th e life of Sethe, a slave and her family. Toni Morrison leftRead More Mother-Daughter Relationship in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay699 Words   |  3 PagesThe Mother-Daughter Relationship in Toni Morrisons Beloved In Toni Morrison novel, Beloved , the author creates a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother Sethe, out of love, murders her daughter Beloved to free and protect her from the harshness of slavery. Because of this, the baby ghost of her deceased daughter haunts her conscience and is later resurrected to further torment Sethe about her act of love. From the time she slits the throat of her infant daughter and untilRead MoreSlave Narratives: Beloved by Toni Morrison1644 Words   |  7 Pagesexperienced these hardships, and weren’t even born to witness it. Slave narratives are memoirs that were written while slavery was still legalized, for example Harriet Jacob’s â€Å"Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl†. However, Toni Morrison’s â€Å"Beloved† is considered a neo-slave narrative because it is a story that is written after the abolishment of slavery. These stories of slavery still haunt Americans, black and white. Slave narra tives are significant because there are psychological scars that areRead MoreBeloved : A Reconstruction Of Our Past1705 Words   |  7 PagesCrossley Short Close Reading Paper #2 November 20, 2015 Beloved: A reconstruction of our past Beloved by Toni Morrison is a reconstruction of history told by the African American perspective, a perspective that is often shadowed or absent in literature. Her novel presents a cruel demonstration of the horrors endured by slaves and the emotional and psychological effects it created for the African American community. It unmasks the realities of slavery, in which we are presented with the history of each

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Macbeth and the Clothes that Make the Man free essay sample

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare uses clothes as a metaphor throughout the play. The symbolism of clothing helped emphasize the change of power in Scotland, the change of opinions, and how the new change did not â€Å"fit† properly. From Macbeth being â€Å"dressed† with a new title as Thane of Cawdor, to Lady Macbeth pointing out Macbeth’s changed attitude towards killing Duncan while he dresses, through the other character’s perspective of Macbeth as king, the imagery of clothing is everywhere. Through out Act I, Scene III, the imagery of clothing is predominant and shows a change in title. As soon as Angus tells Macbeth that Macbeth has a new title as Thane of Cawdor, he says, â€Å"The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me / In borrowed robes?† (1. 3. 110-111). He simply cannot believe that the prophecy that the three witches had predicted had come true and he questions his new title. We will write a custom essay sample on Macbeth and the Clothes that Make the Man or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When Angus explains why Macbeth is receiving this new title, he also, unintentionally, foreshadows Macbeth’s future: Who was the thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that life Which he deserves to lose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But treasons capital, confessed and proved, Have overthrown him. (1. 3. 112-114, 117-118) When Macbeth receives his new garments, he also receives the previous Thane of Cawdor’s traits. The change of Macbeth into â€Å"borrowed robes† starts Macbeth’s change into a murdering monster. The instant Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor, he cannot stop thinking about killing Duncan so he can become king. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, plan to kill Duncan; however, Macbeth comes to a point where he realizes his thinking is madness, and he cannot kill Duncan. He tries to convince Lady Macbeth of his new thinking by giving her â€Å"three quite different reasons for not going ahead with it, reasons which he hopes may appeal to her† (Spurgeon 128). He suggests that maybe they should not do this for they were just given â€Å"Gold opinions from all sorts of people, / Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, / Not cast aside so soon† (1. 7. 33-35). Macbeth suggests that their new title should be worn like clothes that have a new gloss, or â€Å"superficial lustre† (OED). Lady Macbeth, greedy for power, will not hear of her husband’s change of opinion. She quickly rebuts by saying â€Å"Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dress’d yours elf?† (1. 7. 36-37). She starts criticizing Macbeth for quickly changing his opinion just as quickly as he changed his clothes. Lady Macbeth quickly wins the argument and convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan. This scene of the play shows that by Macbeth simply changing his clothes, he changes his mind and his state of being. After he kills Duncan, Macbeth rapidly changes into a control, power-hungry, mad man. Even though Macbeth at first feels as if he has murdered the â€Å"Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care† (2. 2. 35), the sleep that straightens out the â€Å"entangled† (OED) sleave of care, he quickly gets over it just as quickly as he changes his â€Å"borrowed robes†. From the moment he becomes king, he starts to lose control and respect of the people in his kingdom. Right before the English troops attack Dunsinane, Caithness and Angus talk about Macbeth’s tyrannical reign. Caithness comments about how Macbeth has lost so much control that Macbeth†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ cannot buckle his distempered cause / Within the belt of rule† (5. 2. 15-16). Angus agrees with Caithness, by saying that Macbeth’s title â€Å"Hangs loose about him, like a giant’s robe / upon a dwarfish thief† (5. 2. 21-22). Angus and Caithness both realize how Macbeth does not â€Å"fit† properly in his â€Å"borrowed robes†. They see that the title of being king is too much for him and that he should have his title taken away. In conclusion, Shakespeare’s use of clothing imagery in Macbeth helps symbolize the changes happening within the play. The emphasis of clothing throughout the play shows the audience how important and big all these changes are. Even though the changing of clothing is important on the stage, the changing of clothing in this play is more important than ever before.

Monday, December 2, 2019

November 28, 1999 I Was One Of Only Nine Survivors Of The Waco Blaze -

November 28, 1999 I was one of only nine survivors of the Waco blaze -- 74 men, women and children died -- and I've devoted the last six years to understanding what happened there. Back in 1990 I had been drumming in a stagnant Los Angeles rock band when I met and befriended David Koresh. I needed some new drumsticks, and on the way to a gig stopped in at the Guitars R Us on Sunset Boulevard. Seeing the sticks in my hand, two strangers introduced themselves and asked if I was playing in a band. The two were David Koresh and Steve Shumacher, the closest thing Koresh had to a deputy. Schumacher gave me his card and I promptly handed it back. The backside was full of Bible verses. You guys are a Christian band, I said. I had never been religious in my life, but I was curious. There were questions that I wanted answers to. Schumacher and Koresh weren't pushy and made it clear that all they really were looking for right now was a drummer. I'd like to play some music with you, Koresh said, and see where we can go from there. My band was going nowhere, and Koresh intrigued me. So I took the card back, and a few days later gave him a call. Over the next weeks I hung out with Koresh and some other musicians in his band. I got to know Koresh and was tremendously impressed. Having never paid much attention to the Bible, I was astonished to find that it actually did have some relevance to my life. And while Koresh had never gotten much in the way of formal education, it was clear that his knowledge of and insight into the scriptures was remarkable. That fall I went out to Waco to play music and meet the larger community. The people at Mount Carmel were extremely involved in knowing and learning the Bible. In the process of demonizing Koresh and the Branch Davidians, a name we never used when describing ourselves, people have made it seem as if Mount Carmel came out of nowhere. In fact, Koresh was the third leader of a religious community that spun off from the Seventh Day Adventists in 1934. They had been living outside of Waco for almost 60 years before the ATF raid in 1993. I was fascinated with their spiritual search, and I began to read the Bible. Koresh was interesting, and the ways in which he explained the scriptures were complex and demanding. He was clearly a serious religious scholar and I wanted to understand what he was saying. So I stayed. The people around Koresh came from many backgrounds. I met folks who hadn't finished high school, and others with degrees from places like Harvard law school. I spent time with African-Americans, Australians, black Britons, Mexican- Americans and more. We certainly weren't as isolated as people seem to think. We shopped in town, some of us worked in the community and our band performed in Waco clubs. I worked as a bartender in Waco for a time and I doubt a single customer would tell you that I stood out in any way other than my ability to mix a mean margarita. Many have suggested that Koresh was a Jim Jones-like madman. But he wasn't. He had no plans for mass suicide; indeed, in sharp contrast to Jones, Koresh allowed members of the community to leave at any time, and many of them did, even during the siege. But many of us stayed, too, not because we had to, but because we wanted to. The FBI and ATF had been confrontational from the start, they had lied to us and they continued lying up through the siege. The FBI and ATF had many reasons for their attack on Mount Carmel. The initial ATF raid, in which four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed, was based on allegations that we were running a drug lab. But later even ATF employees would admit the charges were a complete fabrication. One member had allowed speed dealers to operate from the building in the mid-1980s, but everyone knew Koresh hated drugs, and he'd asked the Waco sheriff to remove the methamphetamine lab when he took over as leader in 1987. Charges that we were assembling an arsenal of weapons to be used against the government were equally off-base. We ran a business, buying and selling weapons at gun shows, to bring in