The Role of Religion in History Like most cases in society today, religion plays a large part in the decisions we make and how we live our lives. Whether it be something as simple as believing in a god or any god, obeying the laws of god, or the separation between church and state, religion can have a positive or negative effect in our country. This is not something that only began a few years ago it has been an ongoing belief and controversial topic since ancient history.
Whether it be Monotheistic or Polytheistic believe in god or gods there are a few main religions that remained dominant in ancient history; Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Judaism, and Buddhism. After the fall of the Roman Republic emerged the Rise of the Roman Empire. Religion began to evolve in the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity became a big part of Rome. Constantine I declared it the official supported religion of the state and any other form of worship would lead to prosecution. Christians or in most part of history were a monotheistic religion and believed in one god.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity. Islam is a monotheistic religion that followed the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The word Islam means “submission” or the complete surrender to God. Those who practiced the religion of Islam were considered Muslims. The Muslims followed the Qur’an and believe that the verses in the Qur’an were revealed to the prophet Muhammad by God through the angel Gabriel. The Qur’an was written by Muhammad’s companions while we was alive. Jihad is the inner struggle and the warfare of religion.
Muslims must pray with dedication to make their selves and the city a better place. They believed that raiding and warfare was a way of life. They believe that once the world is conquered by the house of Islam Jesus will return and reward the Muslims with and send the non believers to hell. With the decline of the Classic empires came the rise of universal religion. Buddhism became popular in India. It is based on the teachings attributed to Guatama or “Buddha. ” They believed in the understanding of true nature, escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth and achieving nirvana.
They believed in good and bad karma. The good and bad choices you make in you current life will affect your after life. Hinduism is another main religion. Hindu beliefs very widely with the concept of gods or a God. But Hindus like many other religions also believe in reincarnation and karma. Hey believed that the what you do in your life will carry on into your next life and your reincarnation. Action, reaction, birth, death and rebirth is a continuous cycle of action call Samsara. Reincarnation and Karma are very importanant to the Hindu religion. Judaism began with the Israelites.
It is a monotheistic religions that bases its principle and ethics off of the Hebrew Bible. It begins with the covenant between God and Abraham. Judaism bases its laws and traditions from the Torah. There are 613 commandments in the Torah in which Jews should follow in order to life a better more prosperous life. There are millions of different religions in history. In fact, there are probably some that we have never heard of. Many of those have branched of from Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. However, religion played an important role in our history because it was such a large part of society.
Religion united the people but at times was the root of many battles. The Roman Empire for instance, was ruled by Christianity. At times those who were non believers were prosecuted and killed. Religion lead to many deaths and the split of many empires. The Role of Disease in History Disease played a large role in ancient history. An empire can be powerful and in control one minute and instantly vanish because of diseases. In ancient history they did not have the advance in medicine and knowledge about different diseases and illnesses that we have today.
They were easily spread from one city to the next without knowing. One major way disease was spread was through trade. The silk road was one of the largest most successful trade routes during that time. The opening of the Silk Road began with the Chinese and Romans. They began trading good, ideas, and culture. It allowed people to become more financially independent. This benefited the Han Dynasty greatly. It allowed the Han empire to become very prosperous . Eventually a plague struck China and the benefits of the Silk Road turned against the Chinese and there empire did not survive.
Disease is also believed to be the cause of the fall of the Phoenicians. They were also a society focused on profit from trade. The Phoenicians were forced to move. They became great sailors of the ancient world. However the spread of disease contributed to the death of the Phoenicians. In 431-404 BCE, during the Peloponnesians War, disease spread and the people of Athens were defeated by their own. Also the Roman empire, which was one of the greatest and largest empires during its time began to collapse because of the spread of disease.
