Thoughts and Reflections on Assyria

Ryan Otto, World History                                                                              12/10/13

Period 6

Thoughts and Reflections on: Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death

Erika Bleibtreu 

     Ancient history is rife with humans inflicting torture upon one another on a massive scale, but no other empire comes close to achieving what the Assyrians did in this respect. Sure, Nero did some pretty horrific things, and yeah the Chinese have that water thing, but these acts of violence are not central to their respective empires. The Assyrians on the other hand built themselves around violence. Not only were their military conquests carried out for religious purposes, but they were also key to the Assyrian economy. We know of the creative punishments carried out by the Assyrians because of pictorial evidence depicting the grisly tortures of anyone who defied them. In all of these artistic renderings of Assyrian victories however, their is not one single instance of an Assyrian soldier dying. Indeed, the Assyrians claimed that there were never any casualties on their side because they were carrying out the will of God. 

Thoughts and reflections on the human story chapter 3 part 2

Ryan Otto, World History                                                                              12/5/13

Period 6

Thoughts and Reflections on: The Human Story Chapter 3

James C. Davis

     The history of the Hebrews is known to be some of the earliest recorded history, first passed down by word of mouth and then written down some one thousand years later. But how accurate is the information recorded in the Bible? The answer is, there is no way to know for sure. Some history books may not include much history of the Hebrews because it is unknown how accurate this information is. While the Hebrews proved to be very influential, some may be loath to report information provided by a source which may not be entirely credible. Some would argue that the job of a history book is to report factual and credible information, and if there is no way of verifying that the information is correct, then it makes sense that some publishers would choose to leave out such information. 

Thoughts and Reflections The Human Story chapter 3 part one

Ryan Otto, World History                                                                              12/4/13

Period 6

Thoughts and Reflections on: The Human Story Chapter 3

James C. Davis

     On paper, dedicating an entire chapter of a world history textbook to a small nomadic people seems like a bad idea. However, this is not the case when documenting the Hebrews. There are two main reasons why the Hebrews feature so prominently in history books. For one thing, the Hebrews are a perfect example of a people changing and settling down over time. The other reason is that their religion had a massive a lasting impact on the world, and it is important to know how it originated. Given how much influence the Hebrews had from thousands of years ago to modern times, their existence and accomplishments are well worth noting. Furthermore, as the Hebrews were some of the first people to record their history, it provides a rare and valuable insight into the lives of those who lived thousands if years in the past. If this chapter of history is left out of history books, then we cannot fully understand important events which occurred long after the time of Abraham.