For week 4 of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2019, Mark’s Text Terminal offers this reading on the Korean War with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Hittite: A member of an ancient people of Asia Minor who gained control of central Anatolia c. 1800-1200 BC. The Hittite empire reached its zenith under the totalitarian rule of Suppiluliuma I (c. 1380 BC). Whose political influence extended from the capital, Hattusas, situated at Bogazkoy (about 22 miles east of Ankara in modern Turkey) west to the Mediterranean coast and southeast into northern Syria. In their struggle for power over Syria and Palestine the Hittites clashed with the troops of Ramses II of Egypt in a battle (1285 BC) at Kadesh on the River Orontes which seems to have ended indecisively. The subsequent decline and demise of Hittite power by 700 BC resulted from internal and external dissension, probably following an outbreak of famine.”
Excerpted from: Wright, Edmund, Ed. The Oxford Desk Encyclopedia of World History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
“Isozaki, Arata: (b. 1931) Japanese avant-garde architect, he studied at the University of Tokyo and open in own studio in 1963. His first notable building is the Oita Prefectural Library (1966), which show the influence of the Metabolist school. Later works, which often synthesize Eastern and Western elements, use bold geometric forms and frequently make historical allusions. Among his innovative structures are the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (1986) and Art Tower in Mito, Japan (1990).”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Ganges * Indus * Sutlej * Brahmaputra
“Mount Kailash is holy to a fifth of mankind–Hindus, Jains and Buddhists–as well as being the source of the sacred Mount Meru at the dawn of Aryan consciousness. It is the source of four holy rivers, The Ganges, the sacred river of India, flows through the gorge of the Peacock’s Mouth. The Indus is the Lion-Mouthed river which gave birth to the Harappa, one of the oldest, most peaceful and little-known of the world’s urban civilizations. The Sutlej flows through Elephant’s Mouth gorge and the Brahmaputra through Horse Mouth gorge.”
Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Is anybody else in need of respite from a hectic school year?
In any case, Mark’s Text Terminal offers this reading on the Annexation of Hawaii and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet in observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2019. I appreciate the fact that the writers of this passage did not minimize the fact that this was an basic act of imperialist aggression.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“A collection of ancient tales from India, Persia, and Arabia. They were first introduced into western Europe in a French translation by Antoine Galland (12 volumes, 1704-1717), derived from and Egyptian text, probably dating from the 14th or 15th century. English translations based on Galland were made by R. Heron (1792) and W. Beloe (1795). The later translations by Henry Torrens (1838), E.W. Lane (1839-1841) and John Payne (1882-1884) and Sir Richard Burton’s unexpurgated edition published at Benares (Varanesi; 16 volumes, 18851888) are based on a late 18th-century Egyptian text. The standard French translation (1889-1904) by J.C. Mardrus has been severely criticized.
The framework of the tales is the story of Scheherazade, daughter of the grand vizier of the Indies. The Sultan Schahriah, having discovered the infidelity of his sultana, has resolved to have a fresh wife every night and to have her strangled at daybreak. Scheherazade entreats to become his wife, and so amuses him with tales for a thousand and one nights that he revokes his cruel decree, bestows his affection on her and calls her ‘the liberator of the sex.’ Her stories included the tales of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.
The film Arabian Nights (1942) is an Oriental adventure involving the caliph of Baghdad, but has not stronger link to the original tales. Much more in the spirit of the original is The Arabian Nights (1974), a visually beautiful film by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) that also encompasses some of the original’s complex narrative structure (tales within tales, and so on). The Thief of Baghdad (1940), a wonderful fantasy film directed by Michael Powell and others, features elements of the tales in a story about an urchin imprisoned for theft who is joined in his cell by the deposed prince, whom he helps to regain his throne. The first film with this title (1924) was written by and starred Douglas Fairbanks, and there were remakes in 1960 and 1978.
Several pieces of music have been inspired by the Arabian Nights. The best known is Sheherezade, as symphonic suite (1888) by Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), which Fokine turned into a ballet (1910). Sheherezade (1903) is a set of three songs by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), setting poems by Tristan Klingsor. Schehrezade also makes an interesting appearance in one of the novellas in Chimera (1972) by the US writer John Barth (b. 1930).”
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
“The Sumerian god of water and wisdom. Enki lived near the ancient city of Eridu in his watery palace in the Abzu—probably the Persian Gulf. This god, like his later Babylonian counterpart Ea, was principally responsible for ordering the functions of the elements that affect life on earth. Cleverest of the gods, he provided the land with sweet water, fathered Uttu, the goddess of plants, found a way to rescue Inanna from the underworld, and saved mankind from extermination in the great flood. He was not, however, infallible. While in his cups, he let the goddess slip away with his “divine decrees,” which would give supremacy to her favored city of Erech instead of to Eridu. His attempt to create man was a pathetic failure, and it was left to the goddess Nintu to mold of clay a satisfactory human being.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“A Babylonian demigod. Kingu was a general and consort of Tiamat in the War of the Gods. After her defeat, Marduk killed him and fashioned man out of his blood and bones.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
“A Sumerian goddess of air, the wife of Enlil. Following the advice of her old mother Nundarshegunu, Ninlil so delighted Enlil, the storm god, that he came to her in three different forms. The resulting offspring were Nergal, the king of the underworld, Ninazu, another underworld deity, and a third deity, who remains unknown.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“(Also called Ninhursag and Ninmah) A Sumerian mother goddess. Possibly a later form of the ancient earth goddess Ki, Nintu created human beings, molding six varieties of them from clay. To the water god Enki, she bore Ninsar, who in turn bore him Ninkur, upon whom Enki fathered Uttu, the goddess of plants. When Enki ate the plants, he was cursed by Nintu, but he eventually persuaded her to remove the curse, in return for various gifts.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
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