Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Indus Valley Essay Example for Free

Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Indus Valley Essay Throughout the history of Earth, there have been many fascinating developments, the most prominent being the first civilizations, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. They had many similarities, such as characteristics of early civilizations and social structures, but they also had their differences. The most embossed differences included the divergent geography, prior belief, trade, relations with other civilizations, and politics. The earliest societies, such as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt exhibiting indicator traits of civilization developed along the floodplains of great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, and the Nile in Egypt. People had settled in Mesopotamia by 7000 B. C. and the First Dynasty of Egyptian rulers was founded before 3000 B. C. , implying a much earlier period of occupation in the Nile River valley and delta. To protect themselves and channel the forces of nature, people living near the rivers created new technologies and forms of political and social organization. The geographical similarities were that both civilizations resided on banks of major rivers, Tigris Euphrates, and Nile. Another similarity is that both civilizations developed a writing system. It first appeared in Mesopotamia before 3300 B. C. E.  Cuneiform was the name of it, and wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables. Hieroglyphics were the Egyptians’ way of writing, and it had been developed by the beginning of the early Dynastic period. Pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. Literacy was confined to a relatively small group of scribes and administrators in both of these civilizations due to long period of study required to master the systems. Also, both civilizations had social classes, with the king and the royal families at the top, next were the priests, local leaders and artisans, and lastly, slaves and peasants occupied the bottom. Both Mesopotamians and Egyptians acquired substantial knowledge about mathematics, engineering, medicine, and transportation for various reasons such as, creating calendars, calculating the quantity of agricultural produce, building temples and pyramids, and practice astronomy. Egypt and Mesopotamia were in contrast to one another in many ways. Egypt emphasized strong central authority, while Mesopotamian politics shifted more frequently over a substructure of regional city-states. They were also culturally different; Egypt developed in relative isolation, all foreigners were considered enemies while Mesopotamia was a multicultural society. Also, Egypt was well endowed with natural resources and far more self-sufficient than Mesopotamia. They used papyrus reeds growing in marshy areas to make sails, ropes, and a kind of paper. Hunters pursued the abundant wild animals and birds in the marshes. Egypts art and architecture are very different from Mesopotamia. From pyramids to temples, rigid pharaohs to flowing art of Amarna, Egypts style was totally different from Mesopotamias. Mesopotamian art focused on less monumental structures. In Mesopotamia, women lost social standing and freedoms in societies where agriculture superseded hunting and gathering; whereas in Egypt, they are depicted with dignity and respect, could own properties, and inheritance from their parents was possible. Both civilizations traded differently but Mesopotamia was more productive due to technological advance. Egypt’s interests abroad focused on maintain access to valuable resources rather than acquiring territory. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were ruled by kings, however, in Egypt, their kings were called pharaohs and they had significantly more power than the Mesopotamian kings of the city-states. Also, relating the above comparisons to larger global context, The Indus Valley is one of the worlds earliest urban civilizations, along with its contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. One of the differences between these three civilizations is that there is a large quantity of metal in the Indus Valley than in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and most metals are utilitarian tools and everyday objects. However, more jewelry and other decorative objects have been unearthed in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Also, Indus Valley people were technologically skilled in irrigation and using the potter’s wheel. They also have a system of writing with more than 400 signs. Like the Mesopotamians, the people of Indus Valley had widespread trading contacts reaching as far as Mesopotamia. There is little known about the political, social, and economic institutions of Inds Valley, however, there is a statue called the â€Å"Priest-King† because some scholars believe it may represent someone with religious and secular authority, but the true identity of this person is unknown. Conclusively, certain traits are indicators of civilization such as: political system based on control of a defined territory, long-distance trade, and major advances in science and the arts are among others, which the earliest societies, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Indus Valley have exhibited. They were the first civilizations to develop high levels of political centralization and urbanization. Because little is known about the Indus Valley people, there is not a lot of information for their political and social status; however, they clearly possessed the technology which par with those found in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Iconography and Iconology of an Advertisement Essay -- Society Image A

Iconography and Iconology of an Advertisement Looking at the art of the past, we see many images depicting nude women. From Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus to Ingres’s Grande Odelisque, many artists like the idea of painting a woman in the nude in an interesting pose. Even modern images in contemporary magazines depict nude images. Yves Saint Laurent’s advertisement of their fragrance Opium depicts a nude woman covering her breast. Her pose is a symbol of the iconography, while beauty serves as the iconology. The understanding of the iconography and iconology of this image by contemporary society comes from the fact that the nude image was depicted in the great art of the past; however, the fact that society has become contemporary also serves to hinder their understanding of nude images. The woman’s pose in the advertisment is depicted much like that of many great paintings from the past. Depictions of nude women began in the ancient Greek times when Praxiteles made a statue of Aphrodite. As Marilyn Stokstad explains in the textbook Art History, the statue of Aphrodite was a symbol of enchanting beauty and served as a model of high moral value. Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus shows Venus, the goddess of love, floating ashore on a scallop shell, arranging her hands and hair to hide, or maybe, enhance her sexuality. Jean Ingres’s Grande Odalisque depiction of a woman’s naked body turning away showed her eroticism and aloofness. Each of these art pieces shows the woman depicted in such a way to show her sexuality. The pose of the subjects is an iconography that is similar to that of the woman in the advertisement. The advertisers portray the iconography of the advertisement through the pose of the woman... ...he pose of the woman in the advertisement is not there to enhance her beauty, but to show her sexuality; those are the thoughts of the contemporary society. There are people who know what nudity really represents, but there are many more that see it as erotic. When people see an image of a nude woman on television or a magazine, they are not surprised by the amount of skin that the woman is showing. They understand that the woman is a depiction of beauty, much like nude women depicted in the art of the past. Even though contemporary society has changed the views of what people think about when they see a nude image, the art of the past has helped shaped what most people’s thoughts on a nude image’s iconography and iconology are. Bibliography Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Prentice Hall, Inc. 1999. www.encarta.msn.com

Diets Are Not the Answer

Do you know that almost everybody in the world is sick with obesity? Cries have been heard all over the world over the invading monster. Children, young women and men, elderly women and men have been attacked by this strange ailment. However, it is an ailment of their own making and in the real sense no one should be crying out of its consequences. Perhaps children have a right to let out a wild wail. Their blood is innocent and parents are to blame. Eating of fatty and sweet fast foods has been the main cause of obesity.Fast foods might be sweet in taste and good in eating but they have a long-lasting negative effect to the body. The additional calories in the fatty and sugary food lead to the addition of a couple of pounds in the weight of an individual. Studies have been made to find a solution to obesity. Without much thought, dieting has in the past been found to be that solution long sort for. Does it help in curing obesity? This research paper seeks to prove the earlier studie s wrong and support the statement that ‘Diets are not the answer’. Reason that researchers had for conducting this studyFor the past two or more decades, obesity cases have been on the increase bringing the attention to the researchers. All around the world, obesity has been on the increase. In the United States for instance, obesity related health problems are the main causes of the high mortality. It is the second after issues related smoking. According to researches carried out in the years of 1980, more than 15% of the American population suffered from obesity. In a period of two decades, the percentage of those suffering from obesity rose drastically to 34% of the total US population (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).Because of the rapid increase of obesity, Medicare has in the recent years made alterations in its policy covering the treatments of obesity. One of the areas that the Canters for Medicare and Medicaid Services worked upon is the removal of the phrase that quoted that obesity was not an illness from the coverage manual. It was a new dawn for people suffering from obesity as well as Medicare. Obesity treatments could be given rather than the initial treatments for the specific conditions that were thought to result to obesity such as hypertension and diabetes (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).Long-term outcomes of the calorie-restricting diets have been of major concerns to researchers. The question that these researchers seek to answer is ‘Is dieting an effective obesity treatment? The truth of the matter is that dieting does more harm than good (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). According to earlier researches made, it has been found out that 1/3 or 2/3 of people who diet gain more weight than losing it. The studies however are more likely to underestimate the counter-productivity of dieting as a result of methodological problems.All the methodologies app lied in these studies are bias and show a successful loss of weight through dieting. More so the previous studies do not give a clear explanation and evidence to show that in the real sense dieting leads to health improvements irrespective of the changes in weight. Little or no support is given in support of dieting as a lasting solution to weight loss or in the fight against obesity. Similarly, previous researches do not give enough support on the relationship between dieting and the accruing health benefits.These and many more limitations of the previous studies lead researchers in a study to prove that â€Å"Diets are not the answer† as far as obesity and the related health problems are concerned† (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Diet studies were therefore was carried out to evaluate the truth about dieting and its relationship with weight loss. Several hypotheses were therefore made (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Main Hypothesis of the research †¢ Starvation or eating less than normal food quantities leads to a short term loss of weight. †¢ In the long-term, starvation encourages weight gain.Individual who have stopped dieting or starvation gain much weight than they had lost as time goes by. †¢ Eating less as well as specified types of foods as prescribed by the doctor do not have any positive health benefits to an individual who is dieting. †¢ Dieting is not the absolute solution to obesity. Type of study Experimentation was used in this study in an effort to look at the effects of dieting on weight loss. Some of the individuals who were suffering from obesity were put under the medication or the dieting where by they were starved for 38 days. They formed the experimental group or the dependant variable.The others were not starved and they formed the control group or the independent variable. The application of dieting procedures included the manipulation to the experim ental group. Experimental method was the best method in carrying out this study. This type of study makes it possible for casual conclusions to be made on the diet effect on weight. It was as Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman point out in their study â€Å"The most rigorous designs in studies†¦that randomly assign individuals to a diet condition or to a no-diet condition and then follow them over time† (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).Summary of main findings The reviews done on dieting scientific literature drew two conclusions concerning the diets. To begin with, diets have a short-term effect as far as weight loss is concerned. According to research studies carried out in the years of 1970-mid 90’s, participants in dieting lost a considerable amount of weight. Each individual lost an average weight of between 5-10% of their total body weight (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Secondly, the researches found out that the weight loss cannot be maintained. In one of the reviews, the rates of weight regain opened many debates.More weight is regained after the individuals stopped their dieting. As Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman point out in their research study on Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: diets are not the answer â€Å"The more time that elapsed between the end of a diet and the follow-up, the more weight is regained† (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). For instance, according to the study of the research in which patients suffering from obesity in hospital were starved for 38 days, they lost a lot of weight.However follow-ups that were carried out for varying time lengths showed that in less than two years 23% of the patients regained even more weight than they actually lost during the starvation period. Within a span of two years or more, 83% of the patients had regained more weight than they had lost. Studies whose follow-ups took a lengthy time of about 4-5 years after dieting gave negative results. There was no sign of weight reduction but participants continued to add several pounds of weight (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).Research findings and the hypothesis These finding completely supports the postulated hypothesis that eating less, starvation or dieting has little or no help in the fight against obesity. It actually leads to increases in weight when it is stopped. Weight loss is short lived and only occurs when the individual is under dieting. It has no long term weight loss and it is impossible to starve a person for the rest of his/her life. Therefore, obese they will remain even after dieting. Dieting is in fact not the answer! (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).Major limitations of the data On of the limitations of the study is that dieting does not lead to a life-time weight loss for obesity sufferers. Follow-ups that a re given after dieting is stopped reveal that dieting results to additional weight gain. However, only few studies give long-term follow-ups to allow clear comparison between dieters’ weight and that of the control group because it is very difficult to make people who are obese to diet for a long period of time (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007).This study however is not the best method as it is impossible to keep obesity people on diet for the rest of their lives (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). More so, dieting in many studies is combined with lifestyle interventions such as exercise. Dieting therefore could hardly work alone without some physical exercises. There are diseases that are associated with obesity such as obesity and hypertension. In a study carried out on those dieters who also suffered from hypertension, there was no significant outcome in the improvement of systolic and diastolic pressure of blood.However the par ticipants in dieting showed less need for the antihypertensive drugs. In addition, dieting can only prevent diabetes but cannot actually cure it (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Research Agenda Individuals who have been put under dieting are gaining and maintaining their weight. According to the studies carried out, dieting becomes an ineffective way to stop obesity. Even in prospective nonrandomized studies, dieting does not result to once and for all loss of weight. It is not the answer to obesity. The benefits of dieting in obesity treatment are few.Health problems associated with obesity are also not curbed by dieting. Short-term effects of dieting are considerable but long-term outcomes are minimal. There are also potential harms as a result of weight cycling. Dieting is not therefore a good recommendation for effective obesity treatment (Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Further studies are therefore needed to address obesity rel ated health problems. Rigorous diet studies have produced poor results. All that is needed now is a long term randomized study on dieting effects on health outcomes.More studies should also be carried out to determine whether short term weight loss has any effect to the obesity health related problems after the weight is regained. Are there any consequences of weight regain? What are the health outcomes of weight cycling? Exercises have been linked to weight loss and reduced health problems. Is physical exercise a treatment for obesity? Future research should focus on the physical exercise as the obesity treatment. It is not known as to whether exercises alone can lead to weight loss or reduced heath problems and further studies are needed.If Medicare is out to fund for the treatment of obesity, improvements need to be made as far as weight and health aspects are concerned. Majority of the individuals in the world need to be helped out of diabetes but dieting does not seem to work ( Mann, Tomiyama, Westling, Lew, Samuels & Chatman, 2007). Conclusion Dieting is not the cure in the treatment of obesity. All the studies that have been made on diabetes have been disappointing. The study on the effect of reduced calories intake for people suffering from diabetes on weight loss has produced negative result.Actually, the short-term effects are very promising as individual loose considerable amounts of weight during the starvation period. However, when the starvation is brought to an end, pounds and pounds of weight add to the already overweight. More weight is even gained than what was lost during dieting. Obesity, health related problems seem not to be affected by dieting and physical exercises when used together with dieting produce significant result. However, more research needs to be made on obesity health related problems in relation to dieting and physical exercises as a fight against obesity because dieting have proved not to be a cure.

George Kesey s One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest - 1384 Words

Only a few are able to utilize the power to control and manipulate situations which can lead to drastic outcomes. Those with an assertive and manipulative personality tends to use that to their own benefit and completely disregard the impact their personality has on the surrounding people and themselves. In Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he expresses the theme of power and manipulation through two characters, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. Both characters use their manipulative powers for their own advantage in a deceptive way that causes the patients admitted to the asylum to suffer rather than improve. Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the currentShow MoreRelatedGeorge Kesey s One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest1094 Words   |  5 Pages To be considered insane one must have non-conforming perceptions, behaviors, and interactions that negatively distinguishes one from one’s community (Mayo Clinic). Furthermore for one to be labeled mentally ill, they would need to be clinically diagnosed as being psychologically challenged. In Ken Kesey’s controversial novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the constant question being asked by everyone is whether or not McMurphy is just an irrationally drunk character or is he actually strugglingRead MoreOne Flew over the Cuckoos Nest2390 Words   |  10 Pages3 May 2011 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest In the novel, â€Å"One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,† by Ken Kesey, the book has a lot of meaning, symbolism, and imagery. This book has been criticized by many around the country and has even been considered to be banned in high schools nationwide. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is seen as obscene, racist, immoral, and sexist to some eyes. It does have some bizarre language, and some obscene scenes, but every great literature attempts to give anRead More A Tale of Four Novels1596 Words   |  7 Pagesseeks to exterminate the bourgeoisie in order to gain freedom and get revenge at the same time. The central theme of man’s search for power is present in A Tale of Two Cities and is recurring in many works of literature including Hamlet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and 1984. In A Tale of Two Cities the primary conflict is the revolution in which the proletariat aim to overthrow the bourgeoisie in an effort to gain freedom as they are oppressed and in a state of poverty. Dickens has previously statedRead MoreOne Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest1403 Words   |  6 PagesEnglish Written Assignment- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Mr. Rader 23 November 2016 Word Count: 1411 In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author Ken Kesey 1.enthralls the reader’s attention by displaying events of 2.diminished 3.humanity all throughout the book. This book revolves around the idea that women may be a threat to the masculinity of mental ward patients. The manipulation that occurs within the ward has do with making other characters betray one another and reveal theirRead MoreSummary Of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest 1489 Words   |  6 PagesDelgado Period 7 One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest Essay Prompt: 2. Does McMurphy win or lose his battle with Nurse Ratched? Justify your answer with three specific examples from the text. ​Red haired, rowdy, and raunchy are three words to describe the crazy, infamous McMurphy, while the Nurse is a prude, prideful and frigid ruler who is power-hungry over the mental institution. These two mixed together lead to a cunning war of dominance in the hospital. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a 1962 novel