The Great Shah Abbas
The Great Shah Abbas I reigned from 1588-1629. He was a ruler who relocated the capital from Saljuq to Isfahan, in the center of the country. This was his attempt to centralize political and religious authority, develop capital, and institute Safavid Iran as a world power, both economically and politically.
Shah Abbas began his renovations with the transformation of the little Timurid palace into the Ali Qapu, or ‘sublime port’ an entrance to the royal gardens. Abbas made it his headquarters while his architects began the creation, under his direction and often under his personal supervision, of his new capital. Abbas built the Ali Qapu with a balcony from which he was able to observe the activities in the court below him. The columned porch provided an elevated reviewing stand for royalty and guests. The interior is decorated with hanging plaster vaults that are decorated like Chinese porcelains, similar to Persian lusterware. The rooms are decorated in red, white, blue and gold, the walls painted with landscapes and Hunting scenes, the floors covered with carpets of silk and gold. There are figure paintings on the walls of the upper rooms that are blandly erotic. In front of the Ali Qapu there is a rectangular shaped pool filled with water. The water was transported to the pool by means of hydraulic machines worked by oxen. The upper level contained a music room at the very top of the building. The Music room was intricately decorated with small niches that were filled with glass, pottery, enameled metal and semi-precious stones, this may have been an attempt to improve the acoustics of the room. The threshold of the main gateway was regarded with high respect during Safavid times...
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...utifully decorated with a wide range of colors. The entrance portal is covered with a mosaic of many colored pieces cut from larger pieces and fitted together to form complex patterns. It has been estimated that 18 million bricks and half a million tiles were used in the building of the Shah Mosque.
These were the principal buildings of Shah Abbas’s reign. In the short span of his reign, Isfahan had been transformed into a great metropolis of its time. Abbas was successful in his attempt to create a city that could compare to the great cities of Christendom, and the beauty of Isfahan and the buildings he constructed will be studied and admired forever.
Bibliography
Blunt, Wilfrid. Isfahan, Pearl of Persia. (New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1966.) 208 pgs.
Bloom, Jonathan and Sheila Blair. Islamic Arts. (London: Phaidon Press, 1997.) 446 Pgs.
In the sixth century B.C, the land that we now call Iran was the center of the largest empire in the world. The kings of Ancient Persia( such as Cyrus the Great) were the leaders of a great civilization that made amazing advances in laws, goverment and communication. Founded in 550 B.C by King Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire spanned from Egypt in the west to Turkey in the north, and through Mesopotamia to the Indus River in the east. Unlike most empires at that time, the Persian kings were benovelent rulers, and allowed a diverse variety of diffrent people with diffrent ethnic backgrounds. The Persian empire was split into three diffrent empires with three diffrent time periods but the first empire was called the Achaemenid Empire. It began with King Cyrus the Great and ended with King Darius III.
Shahîd, Irfan. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks, 1984.
In the following essay, I will be comparing the Hagia Sophia in the City of Istanbul, and the Suleymaniye Mosque of Istanbul. Both of these pieces of art are very significant to the in modern-day Turkey. The art pieces will be covered in more detail further on in this comparative essay, and finally, I will be judging the pieces at the end of this essay
The introduction to Persepolis gives a great deal of background information to the unrest in Iran leading up to the Islamic revolution. Iran had been in a state of unrest for “2500 years” (page11). Iran was ruled by foreign nations and exploited by the western world for its rich expanses of oil. In 1951 the prime minister of Iran tried to take back his country’s wealth by nationalizing
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
High school students suffer from depression that is caused by stress. It affects their education to the point where they either do not care about school or maybe even want to drop out. Students often stay away from their friends or do not even make any at all. In the article “Responding to a Student 's Depression” by R. Marc A. Crundwell and Kim Killu it states that a student, “does not participate in activities and also is extremely shy.” High school students with depression had talked about hurting themselves or even taking their own life. Students in high school can get depressed because they have problems at home. Homework can also be a cause to a student 's depression. A 14 year old girl name Rita has been suffering from depression and
Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. New York: Scribner,
Depression is a mental disorder that currently affects more than 350 million people worldwide (who, 2012). With such a staggering amount of people suffering from depression it is important for people to know about it. While some people think that depression is just short term differences in one’s mood that is not the case at all (who, 2012). Someone suffering from depression can have their disorder have negative effects on their life and other people’s lives. Luckily for most people suffering from depression there is treatment available Sadly though because many people don’t understand depression they may not seek treatment at all (NIH, n.d). In order to truly understand depression you need to understand what it is, signs and symptoms, causes, how to diagnose it, and treatment.
Teenage Depression. Everywhere you look these two words appear together as one, in newspapers and magazines, as well as in scholarly reports. Teenage depression is one of today's "hot topics" this among other teenage mental health problems, has been brought to the forefront of public consciousness in recent years after several incidents involving school shootings (CQ 595). The environment that teens grow up in today is less supportive and more demanding than it was twenty years ago. Not only are the numbers of depressed teens rising, but children are also being diagnosed at younger and younger ages. Studies have found that, "There is an estimated 1.5-3 million American children and adolescents who suffer from depression, a condition unrecognized in children until about 20 years ago" (CQR 595). This increase in depression is due to social factors that teenagers have to deal with everyday. A recent study found that, "About five percent of teenagers have major depression at any one time. Depression can be very impairing, not only for the affected teen, but also for his or her family-and too often, if not addressed, depression can lead to substance abuse or more tragic events" (NAMI.org). Gender roles and other societal factors including the pressures on girls to look and act a certain way, the pressures on boys to suppress their emotions and put on a tough front and the pressures on both sexes to do well in school and succeed, all contribute to depression in teens today. Depression is a growing problem which crosses gender lines and one that needs to be dealt with with more than just medication.
Nagle, D. Brendan. “The Second Persian Invasion” The Ancient World; A social and Cultural History. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
This article illustrates a couple of real-life stories of teenagers who faced depression and had to somehow deal with it. One of the teenagers, Brianne, described how she tried to kill herself because she was so depressed. She described her mental state by saying: “It was like a cloud that followed me everywhere. I couldn’t get away from it.” She started drinking and experimenting with drugs. At a certain point, Brianne could not take it anymore. Once, she was caught shoplifting at a store and after her mother brought her home, Brianne swallowed every single Tylenol and Advil that there was in the house. She was rushed to the hospital and survived. Brianne has been treated for her depression and is now in college and leads a very healthy lifestyle. She is one of the lucky kids that survived, but a lot of times, when depression in kids goes unnoticed, the outcomes are very tragic.
Adolescent despondency affects the way an individual sleeps, eats, the way they feel about themselves and those around them (“Side Effects of Untreated Depression”). This particular mental disease changes the outlook on a teenager’s view on themselves, loved ones, and their surroundings. Depression can be a responsive action to certain situations, such as emotional trauma, and stress. It can have devastating, and in some cases, life threatening, effects on younger members of society. Due to the fact that normal, unaffected teenagers naturally have fluctuating moods, it is much more difficult to diagnose depression at this age.
The Nigerian Civil War lasted from July 6, 1967 until January 15, 1970. The belligerents were the Federal Republic of Nigeria, led by the military governor Yakubu Gowon, and the Republic of Biafra, led by the military governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu. After an abortive counter-coup d'etat in favor of Northern independence, General Ojukwu declared the independence of southeastern Nigeria. Each of these regions were dominated by one particular tribe, and the Hausa of the north long felt oppressed by the southerners underneath colonial rule, while during the short-lived military government from 1966 to 1967 the Igbo had been the victims of several pogroms within the army itself.1 2 To further complicate the tribal tensions already fueling the conflict, British Petroleum, and several other oil companies, had vested interests in vast fossil fuel reserves in the secessionist state, which they feared would be unfriendly to their business.3 The ultimate result was a 3 year civil war, during which 150, 000 troops and as many as 3 million civilians died.
I think a gigantic funerary mosque of white marble, built in Agra by order of the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, the Taj Mahal is the most perfect jewel of Moslem art in India and is one of the universally admired architectures of the world’s heritage. Not only see the beautiful Taj Mahal from the video, I also knew the history of itself and its country. A white marble tomb sums up many of the formal themes that have played through Islamic architecture. The video did talk a lot of how much Shah Jahan himself and his father loved art and made many gorgeous artworks. Taj Mahal’s refined style is a conspicuous contrast to the Hindu architecture of pre-Islamic India, with its thick walls, arches, and heavy supports. Even though Taj Mahal is the symbol of grief and sadness, it still has it beauty looks from marble and sand stone.
Taj Mahal. ( Mahal is the word in urdu language used for Palace) How can I describe The Taj Mahal? You can’t its impossible. You just have to experience it. To gaze in wonder at that magnificent dome and elegant gardens will be a moment that you remember for the rest of your life. It is one of the greatest sights in the world, some say the greatest, and like Victoria Falls, The Grand Canyon, and Macchu Picchu, it simply is one of those things you have to see in your life. The architectural grace and symmetry of the Taj Mahal just takes your breath away. We had chosen our visit carefully--the sun was setting and the light that washed over the Taj was golden in color. The minarets were now stark against the setting sun . The actual dome was a surprise, it is not yellow-white but blue-white and covered in inscriptions and detail. From below it looked like something out of "Arabian Nights." But inside were the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. The central tomb is a lofty chamber with light streaming through fine latticework, and hanging above was an elaborate lamp. Words cannot describe its beauty when you stand on that marble platform overlooking the Yamuna, with the setting sun turning it into a golden ribbon. You may a...