Humanities

The Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire came to be after the fall of the Roman Empire. The empire was Christian in nature and had frequent wars with the Muslims. It flourished during the rule of the famous Macedonian emperors. Byzantium referred to a small town situated at the Bosporus. It was the frontier between Persian and Greek worlds. Later, Alexander the Great during the fourth century made them part of his territory. In 330 CE, Constantine made Byzantium his new residence (Halsall).
The Empire had a reputation of corruption, stagnation, and great luxury. Contrary to that, for its age, the Empire was quite modern with an efficient administration and tax system that saw the empire last for ages. During the Justinian reign, a plan to reunite the Roman Empire succeeded. As a way of celebrating the success, they constructed Hagia Sophia, the church of Holy Wisdom. There were other successes, but after Justinian rule had come to an end, the empire suffered several losses (Halsall).
Islam and Comparison with Other Religions
Islam is a monotheistic religion that came to be during the 7th century CE in Middle East. The religion literally means submission or surrender. Its basis is on the readings of Prophet Muhammad according to the words of Allah. Allah is their creator; he brought them to earth and is sustainer of the world and life. The holy book (scripture) of the Islam is the Quran and carries all the teachings of the prophet as revealed to him by Allah. There are two divisions within the Islam tradition; the Shia and Sunni. The two hold differing views on maintenance of religious authority. A unifying factor among Muslims is the concept of Five Pillars. The Five Pillars are the practices of Islam, and they are; the hajj, zakat, ritual prayer, profession of faith, and fasting (Baksh, 1-10).
In similarities, the three religions are monotheistic as they believe in one God. They take God as a source of everything that exists. They take God as caring and merciful. The religions take humans as the superior creatures on Earth. They are hopeful of future happenings and believe suffering evil cannot prevail. In differences, the religions have different scriptures. Christians use the Bible, Jews use Torah and Talmud, while Muslims use Quran. Christians and Muslims believe there will be a judgment day followed by Hell or Heaven. Jews believe on no immediate eternal life.
Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire
Charlemagne, Charles the Great, lived between 747 and 814. He received training on leadership matters by participating in military, social and political activities organized by his father who was a mayor of the palace serving Merovingian king. His father, Pippin, seized Frankish leadership from Childeric III. After his death, Charlemagne assumed leadership. His first three decades of leadership were characterized by military campaigns. He became the leader of the Franks at a time when Western Europe was collapsing (Halsall).
People had forgotten about the arts and education except in the monasteries. Charlemagne made his court a learning center. At his court in Aachen, he recruited some of the leading scholars of those days. He recruited expert teachers in various subjects from places such as Spain, Ney York, and Italy. He later began a palace school and increased libraries in monasteries. His era also witnessed an increase in buildings using the Romanesque architecture (Halsall).
The Canterbury Tales Discussion
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of several stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. It narrates about a group of thirty people traveling as pilgrims to Canterbury. The thirty pilgrims come from different levels of the society and tell the stories as a way of killing time as they look forward to arriving in Canterbury, England. As narrated in the General Prologue, his intentions were for each pilgrim to tell two stories to and fro. It was, however, unfortunate that he never finished the project, and the tales he had completed were yet to be revised (Wetherbee, 1-10).
Scholars remain uncertain of the order in which the tales were to take since there was no printing press when he wrote his works. The tales have been handed over generations in form of handwritten manuscripts. Miller’s tale is the second and is narrated by drunken Miller Robyn. The author described Robin as an evil man fond of fighting.
Works Cited
Baksh, Kaiyume. Islam and Other Major World Religions. Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2007. Print.
Halsall, Paul. ” Internet History Sourcebooks.” Internet History Sourcebooks. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. .
Halsall, Paul. ” Internet History Sourcebooks.” Internet History Sourcebooks. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. .
Wetherbee, Winthrop, and Geoffrey Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer, the Canterbury Tales: [a Student Guide]. Cambridge [u. a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004. Print.