Acropolis

The Renaissance：an introduction

Zaman Renaissance merupakan satu sempadan antara zaman kegelapan dan pencerahan di Eropah. Bincangkan pengertian Renaissance dan sumbangannya di Eropah.
Pengenalan :

• Latar belakang Eropah zaman gelap iaitu zaman tetutup dari sudut ekonomi,politik dan sosial serta pemikiran yang dikuasai oleh pihak gereja. Rakyat pula pada ketika itu terpaksa bergantung kepada golongan bangsawan.
• Latar belakang Eropah selepas zaman gelap iaitu zaman berlku perubahan sikap dam membuka minda serta membawa fahaman baru.

Isi-isi :
Pengertian Renaissance :

• Renaissance berasal dari bahasa Perancis yang bermaksud pemulihan atau menghidupkan semula aspek kebudayaan dengan memberi penekanan terhadap pemulihan budaya meliputi aspek ilmu pengetahuan seperti sains, sastera dan seni klasik yang pernah menjulang Eropah sebagai pusat peradaban dunia pada ketika itu.
• Zaman Renaissance berlangsung selama dua abad dari pertengahan abad ke 14 sehingga pertengahan abad ke 16. Ianya bermula di Itali kemudian telah merebak ke seluruh Eropah melalui perkembangan intelektual dan pemikiran manusia.
• Zaman kebangkitan atau kelahiran semula dan pemulihan budaya masyarakat Eropah.
• Hasil daripada Renaissance telah membuka jalan kepada kelahiran pelbagai aliran baru Eropah hingga abad ke 18 seperti Humanisme, rsionalisme, nasionalisme dan absolutisme.

Sumbangan Renaissance Kepada Eropah :

• Kemunculan aliran pemikiran yang mementingkan kebebasan akal seperti alirn baru Eropah hingga abad ke 18 seperti Humanisme, rsionalisme, nasionalisme dan absolutisme berani mempersoalkan kepercayaan dan cara pemikiran lama yang diamalkan selama ini secara langsung melemhkan kekuasaan golongan feudal.
• Itali telah menjadi pusat ilmu yang terkenal di Eropah pada abad ke 15. Hal ini terjadi apabila Kota constntinople dikuasai oleh Islam telah jatuh ke tangan orang Barat pada tahun 1453. Keadaan ini telah menyebabkan ramai para ilmuan Islam berhijrah ke pusat-pusat perdagangan di Itali. Ini menyebabkan Itali menjadi pusat intelektual terkenal di Eropah pada masa itu.
• Renaissance telah membentuk masyarakat perdagangan yang berdaya maju. Keadaan ini telah melemahkan kedudukan dn kekuasaan golongan feudal yang sentiasa berusaha menyekat perkembangan ilmu dan masyarakat di Eropah.
• Melahirkan tokoh-tokoh pemikir seperti Leonardo de Vinci yang terkenal sebagi pelukis, pemuzik dan ahli falsafah serta jurutera. Michelangelo merupakan tokoh seni, arkitek, jurutera, penyair dan ahli anotomi.
• Melahirkan ahli-ahli sains terkenal seperti Copernicus dan Galileo.
• Melahirkan ahli matematik seperti Tartaglia dan Cardan yang berusaha menghuraikan persamaan ganda tiga. Tartaglia orang pertama yang menggunakan konsep matematik dalam ketenteraan iaitu mengukur tembakan peluru mariam. Cardan terlibat dalam penghasilan ilmu algebra.
• Selain itu, Renaissance telah melahirkan tokoh-tokoh perubatan di Eropah. Antara tokoh perubatan terkenal iaitu William Harvey yang telah memberi sumbangan dalam kajian peredaran darah.
• Renaissance telah melahirkan masyarakat yang lebih progresif dan wujud semangat inquiri sehingga membawa kepada aktiviti penjelajahan dan penerokaan.

Ziggurat

Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC. The earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period. The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC. Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus. Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society.

CAD rendering of Sialk's largest ziggurat based on archeological evidence.

One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Choqa Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BC. Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple.
An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth".
An example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, or Etemenanki, of ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, not much of even the base is left of this massive structure, yet archeological findings and historical accounts put this tower at seven multicolored tiers, topped with a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is thought to have been painted and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is known that there were three staircases leading to the temple, two of which (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended half the ziggurat's height.
Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is Sumerian and means "The Foundation of Heaven and Earth". The date of its original construction is unknown, with suggested dates ranging from the fourteenth to the ninth century BC, with textual evidence suggesting it existed in the second millennium.

Interpretation and significance

According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines has survived. One practical function of the ziggurats was a high place on which the priests could escape rising water that annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of miles, as for example the 1967 flood. Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the shrine was accessible only by way of three stairways, a small number of guards could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of the ziggurat, such as cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of sacrificial animals. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included a courtyard, storage rooms, bathrooms, and living quarters, around which a city was built.

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