Fiesta Tradiciones! El segundo pilar del Islam

The second of the 5 pillars of Islam requires prayer 5 times a day, or salat. The prayer requires every Muslim to bow down and pray towards Mekkah, specifically toward the Kabba in the center of the city. These pictures shown from Holiday Traditions exemplify this prayer, toward the center of the city.

Benedict's Rule Questions

4. Monasteries that kept to Benedict's Rule could be considered very useful institutions because they promoted peace and good will towards men. In the section "Of the Reception of Guests", Benedict says "Let all guests that come be received like Christ Himself", demonstrating an emphasis on charity, thereby bettering society.
5. In the section "On The Daily Manual Labor", Benedict states "If, however, the needs of the place or poverty require them to labour themselves in gathering in the harvest, let them not grieve at that". This demonstrates a sense of responsibility to labor, showing that the economy was relatively stable, but was sometimes in desperate need of the help of monks.

"I do not enjoy Bahkti poetry, Sam-I-Am. I do not like green eggs and ham."

The poems were all love poems. If anything they were a devotion to the Kama Sutra. There was only one poem I felt that really reflected the Bahkti movement and Hinduism, and the rest were about love, or food (Don't get me wrong, I love both love and food, but it just doesn't reflect Hinduism)

Would you like me to sing you a Song?... Poem?

First off, one thing to get straight, all poetry confuses me. I'm just one of those people who can't see the deeper meaning in literature unless I read it over a couple times and even then, only a so-so chance I'll actually understand it.
That being said, I do seem to notice a difference between Tang and Song poetry. Tang poetry seems to be more light hearted than Song does, not saying that the Song stuff is depressing, just saying that the subjects seem to get deeper. And this would make sense, because the Tang dynasty was more of a peaceful era than the Song dynasty which faced multiple financial and military problems.
I think that poems can be used to understand daily life well, but not a broad outlook of the dynasties like the chapters can give, because the poems are written from individuals at different places, so connected they might be able to give us a good view, but individually no.

Constantine and Vladmir: Christian Bros

The conversions of Constantine and Vladmir to Christianity had their similarities and differences.

Constantine had two main reasons behind his conversion:
1) At the battle of Milvian Bridge, when Constantine was about to fight against the Emperor Maxentius, he looked up into the sky, and saw a burning cross with the words "Through this sign conquer" emblazoned on it. After that he won the battle, and believed more in the Monotheistic Christian God than the Polytheistic Roman Gods.
2) His Wife. Although he did gain faith in the Christian religion due to the Cross in the sky, Constantine's wife, who was an ordained Christian, was the one who finally convinced him to convert (to shut her up really).

Now Vladmir also did convert for his wife, but in the sense that he actually converted to win his wife. Anna of the royal family of the Byzantine empire, had rejected marriage proposal after marriage proposal from the rulers of France and Germany, and when the barbarian king of the Russians proposed, it seemed obvious that she would turn him down in the blink of an eye. But Vladimir persisted and converted to Christianity, and Anna immediately agreed to marriage.

So, not saying their faith had nothing to do with the two emperors converting, but their wives/ future wives were probably the biggest deal makers for both of them.

Domes, Mosaics and Pre New Yowk: a look at ancient Constantinople

The first trend I noticed about Constantinople: Domes. Lots and lots of domes. Everywhere there was a church, there was a dome. This probably had to do with Constantine's new form of architecture, that was carried down through the centuries, copied and improved. Going along with the theme of the church, mosaics seemed to be a big piece of artwork used.
The Byzantines were obviously very Christian. The pictures of Jesus, Mary and their emperor's with halos around their head represents this. Most all of these pieces of art are done in the mosaic form. And finally, looking at the maps of Constantinople, I notice the streets for the most part are layed out like a grid, like Modern Day New York, this shows, along with the domes on our government buildings, the affect that ancient Constantinople has on us today.

Constantinople: If you could make it there, you could make it anywhere... but not really

1) Jewish Rabbi (Benjamin of Tudela), writing to the Jews, admires Constantinople, admires the trade center, beautiful buildings, etc. But Jews were treated crappily, yet he still admires it all. Goes into detail about different parts of the city
2) Robert of Clary, writing about Greeks and why Constantinople was captured, and how they were amazed at the riches of the city, written to the general people
3) Nicetas Choniates, How the Latins destroyed Constantinople because they didn't care how impressive it was. Not very good to use because it makes everything too exaggerated
4) Illustrated map of Constantinople, not very credible, very few buildings in avery tiny area, not necessarily to scale, shows religion, shows how protected the city is
5) Photo taken by Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Saint Sophia built by Constantine, shows new form of architecture started by Constantine
6) Written by George Acropolites, about the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, written to emphasize the christian aspect of the Byzantine empire, talks about all the cathedrals, handing down of the throne, the palace, etc.
7) Possible written by Chrysobull detailing privileges of Venetians, talks about the battles that they won, doesn't really describe Constantinople, only mentions it for it's trading port.

In my opinion Document 1 best describes Constantinople. It illustrates all parts of Constantinople, including religious aspects, the beauty of the city and it's trade. And the fact that Benjamin of Tudela also described the Jewish oppression in the city helps to emphasize that he is not being completely bais, showing the real beauty of the city.