A short Summary of the History of the World – Part III
Fun Fact: A man named Stephen is mentioned in the Bible, who first claimed that the crucified son of a carpenter, was the son of God. He is known as the fist martyr in human history.
Around 300 BCE, most of ancient India was ruled by the Mauryan Empire. A young prince named Ashoka (meaning “without sorrow”) grew up to slaughter his brothers to take the throne when his father died. His bloody rampages killed over 100,000 men, women and children. Finally, he has a profound moment when wandering among the corpses and realises the devastation he was causing on entire societies. It’s a unique moment in the history of the world, when a great conqueror is not remembered for his victories, but for his remorse.
Ashoka turns to Buddhism – marking one of the most extreme spiritual and political conversions in human history. He takes great strides to change his empire, by outlawing slavery, building schools and hospitals, and even planting trees to provide shade for travelling merchants.
While Ashoka had given up military expansion, he still went through great lengths to spread his ideology, by having huge pillars constructed with his laws and views inscribed upon them – a sort of ancient broadcasting system. He also sent Buddhist missionaries far and wide. Today, Buddhists are found on every continent on Earth. Ashoka was an inspiration to many peace-loving leaders that followed, such as Mahatma Gandhi.
THE QIN DYNASTY
Meanwhile in the far east, the traditional empire building through force was being spearheaded by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. He caused over 1 million deaths during his reign, but he did bring (or rather force) rival states together and founded China, with a booming population of over 50 million subjects.
This “First Emperor” as he called himself, instituted a single currency, a single government, standardised weights and measurements, and of course, had the Great Wall of China built. Most significant, was a single system of Writing to be used across the entire empire.
Qin Huang believed in an afterlife and wanted to take all his riches with him when he died. Had the largest mausoleum even constructed by over 700,000 slaves. Just a small part of it (covering 22 square miles) is known as the Terracotta Army (discovered in 1974). The full extent of his resting place has never been fully uncovered.
What Qin Huang left behind, was Legalism – a system centered around law and order. However, the Chinese still embraced the societal teachings of Confucianism – largely centered around respect, kindness and family. Sadly, Qin Huang despised these ideas. In fear of losing power, he began the “Great Burning of the Books”. He might have described it as ‘fake news.’ Anyone found still in possession of such dangerous material, was buried alive. Thankfully, his doctor offered him some ‘medication for eternal life’ which contained mercury, a put a miserable end to Qin Huang.
Around this time the majority of ‘civilized’ humans lived in just two empires and areas on the planet – China and Rome. They had never met, but both believed that they ruled the entire known world.
ANCIENT ROME
Enter Julius Caesar, who also considered himself as a living god. He arrives in Egypt in 48 BCE, specifically Alexandria, which many considered as the greatest city on Earth with its famous library of human knowledge. Julius Caesar is famously known for having been seduced by Cleopatra, who spoke 9 languages and was extremely bright and well-educated. This won her mighty favours and secured her place on the throne. They conceive a potential future ruler of the known world, named Cesarean.
But Ceasar begins to lose it a bit with his self-view as a living god. The Romans had already been rejecting the whole “Rule of Kings” idea for over 500 years. He got stabbed to death shortly after declaring that he was dictator for life. After his death, Celopartra takes her own life, which effectively kills Egypt by making it just another Roman province. The Roman Empire becomes full of rich and corrupt leaders and Divinity becomes equally corrupted by Politics.
THE STORY OF SAUL
Meanwhile in Jerusalem (at the edge of the Roman Empire), Jewish Saul (who later became known as Paul) agreeably witnessed a man named Stephen being stoned to death for blasphemy. Stephen had been claiming that the son of a carpenter who had been crucified, was the “son of God” and that his teachings should be spread and open to everyone.
Saul then set off to find others who might be claiming that a common human could be the son of God. According to the Bible, Saul was struck down on the road to Damascus. In a delirious state, he heard Jesus tell him to stop his quest to persecute Christians and woke up blind.
Saul got nursed back to health by a Christian and never forgot about his experience. He converted from Judaism to Christianity and changed his name from Saul to Paul. His new life ambition was to spread Christianity to all people.
Before Paul, the majority of those who followed the prophet known as Jesus, were Jewish. How he changed the game was to tell those who listened, that Christianity was not just for the chosen Jewish people, but for everyone. Paul’s incredible evangelical ambition grew the Christian following to 2.4 billion people, versus the roughly 16 million Jews in the world today.
Christianity becomes the largest religion ever known. When Paul reached Rome, he was accused of causing chaos and got put to death, as were a lot of Christians. He dies as a martyr, which becomes an interesting idea – that to suffer bravely, can bring great honour – a kind of victory for Faith and a place in heaven.
337 AD: Emperor Constantine announces his conversion to Christianity. However, he is also the first person in human history to make Christianity a ‘fighting religion’. This spelled the beginning of the merging of Church and State.
BILĀL IBN RABĀḤ AND ISLAM
Many religions grew and fell over this period. Islam is one that lived through the Ages by also merging spirituality with politics, much like Roman Christianity. In 620 AD, an Ethiopian slave in Mecca named Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ, was a secret follower of this radical new faith called Islam (meaning “submission to the will of God”). It was monotheist and believed in many of the same prophets.
Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam also preached equality for all men, including slaves. Bilāl’s master was a tribal chief, who dragged him out into the desert when he learned that his slave was secretly subscribing to these ideas. He whipped the crap out of him and left him for dead. But Bilāl came to, and news of his brave spiritual conviction spread. One of Muhammad’s companions buys his freedom, and Bilāl joins the ranks, establishes the first mosque, and becomes the first mu’azzin (prayer caller) in the Muslim faith.
Islam binds together both spiritual and military struggle, and the Arabian army begins to spread extremely fast, via a potent combination of the Word and the Sword. After Muhammad’s death, the religious duty of his followers saw them convert and conquer an area larger than the Roman Empire.
A short Summary of the History of the World – Part II
A short Summary of the History of the World – Part IV
Disclaimer: This information has been taken from the brilliant Andrew Marr’s History of the World series (2012), which is highly recommended as a good, overall summary of our collective history.
