A note on important historical texts

There was something in my short essay during my exam that I wanted to talk about but I couldn't due to the nature of the question. I would like to talk about the importance of literature and early forms of performing arts in early history and its effects on people at the time as well as today. To the Mesopotamians, It was incredibly important to become civilized and in order to push this ideology, the Epic of Gilgamesh was created. This book, to a historian, illustrated how important becoming civilized was. It was the first epic story, and from what I know from the study of ancient theater, many people were unable to read, therefore stories were told around campfires and performed for others. I have reason to believe that after this was written, this story was told orally all over ancient Mesopotamia and it most likely spread out from there to Rome after the Romans controlled that area. Another incredibly important early text that had a profound impact on the civilization it was created in was the Bhagavad Gita. This text set up the foundation for India for the next several thousand years. Its truly remarkable how 1 text describing the caste system was able to stay the predominant cultural belief and way of doing things for nearly two thousand years. The other thing is that it was also created by many people rather than just one person. Besides the past two texts, the Bible, the Analects and several other early texts have had a lasting effect on people for two thousand years. I just find it fascinating how these different texts were created and spread around. It just goes to show how important written and oral traditions are in civilizations.

A note on early religions and ideologies

Many of these ancient thinkers that we read about in the last chapter had a lasting influence on society today. For instance Confucius has had a incredible lasting impact on Chinese society today. There are temples and worship spaces dedicated to him. He, unlike many others, did not claim to be any form of god or holy deity however people did worship him lime he one in certain situations. Another fascinating religion was the Hindu religion. It did not have a set defined origin or holy prophet, instead its remarkable how a large multitude of stories and ideas morphed into a defined religion. It was a religion based on rebirth and and highly rigid caste system. Today the Hindu religion still exists however, in the large cities and especially in the north, the caste system is going away. It still exists in many village settings however. Another remarkable early thinker was Socrates. Socrates did not ever have a religion or ideology named after him however his views and his thoughts on questioning what you do made its way into many post modern civilizations. Jesus or Nazareth however did have a religion that he supported with his teaching and the Christian religion still remains widespread in today's world. His teachings were based on love and kindness toward others. These were ideals that did not always exist at the time. His teachings have helped many people throughout the ages. Its clear to see that words spoken 2000 years ago still have a lasting effect on everyone today. This knowledge makes the study of history even more important as we continue to learn new things about this great thinkers of the past.