renaissancehistory9

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

The Ottoman Empire (establ. in 1301) advanced rapidly until it spread all the way from the Euphrates to the Danube. The Byzantine Empire shrivelled away until it was reduced to a few territories and a small enclave around Constantinople. Unlike the Arabs, who thought the use of firearms dishonorable, the Ottomans became masters of artillery.

In 1453 they brought their cannons to the gate of Constantinople and stormed the Christian capital after a siege. The Greek Emperor was killed; the great church of St.Sophia was plundered of its treasure and turned into a mosque.

The Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new epoch in Europe. Many Greek scholars moved to Italy, initiating there the development of European Humanism, while the legal succession of Byzantium and leadership of the Orthodox Church transferred to Tsardom and the '3rd Rome' in Moscow. By losing access to the Black Sea Europe was deprived of the land route to India; the search for a new sea route brought about the oversea discoveries of the New World.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

MEDICI ASSASSINTION SOLVED

Italian experts puzzled out a bloody crime committed 526 years ago.
The intrigue of a plot conspired against the Medici brothers, Juliano and Lorenzo has been solved. As a result of the plot, Juliano was killed and Lorenzo was saved by a miracle and became the ruler of Florence known by the title Lorenzo the Magnificent.

An assassination upon the Medici brothers was committed on April 26, 1478. It was supposed earlier that Pope Sixtus IV (known as Francesco della Rovere in the world) who stayed on the Saint Peter's throne from 1471 to 1484 was behind the assassination. The pontific wanted to glorify his nephew Girolamo Riario and was considered connected with the assassination as he could benefit from it.

Expert for medieval Italy Marcello Simonetta discovered a coded letter in the municipal library in Urbino, the native place of Raphael, that helped him solve the ancient drama. The researcher decoded the letter and identified the author.

The secret letter contained a well-considered plan of assassination of the Medici brothers; it was addressed to two envoys of Urbino principality at court of Sixtus IV in Rome. The instruction was made up by Duke of Urbino Federico di Montefeltro whom the world knows from the portrait painted by Pierro della Francesca, ITAR-TASS reports.

Marcello Simonetta published the text of the letter in The Italian Historical Archives and caused a sensation in the scientific world. In the above mentioned letter the duke warned that in case of delay "the Pope will face hostility of Florence, Milan and Venice."

LEONARDO'S LAPTOP

(1) Discuss what you understand “the old computing” to be.
(2) Discuss what you understand “the new computing” to be.
(3) Similar to how Leonardo da Vinci foresaw inventions such as the plane and
helicopter 500 years ago, it has been said that Vanaver Bush described the World
Wide Web and digital cameras in his 1945 “The Atlantic Monthly” article, “As
We May Think.”
a. Do you think that in the future Bush will be regarded in a manner similar
to how we regard Da Vinci today?
b. Discuss the value or lack thereof that you place on the person who
envisions an idea without implementing that idea.
(4) Describe a scenario that you would like technology to be able to support in the
future. Describe what you and it would do without worrying about whether we
have the technology to do it as of yet.
(5) A mere 72 pages of Leonardo’s writing fetched over $30 million in 1994. It is
estimated that he created over 13,000 pages of works over his lifetime (though
fewer than 5,000 pages survive).
a. As more and more work is committed to electronic media, do you think
electronic documents will exist in the future that will be so highly valued?
b. The fragile nature and uniqueness of paper could make the existence of
around 35% of da Vinci’s work impressive. If he had the ability to store
his works on computers, discuss whether you think the percentage of his
writings available today would be higher or lower and explain your
reasoning.
(6) Discuss what you see as one of the greatest dangers of the direction technology’s
infusion into society could hold. Do you think the potential benefits of
technology warrant taking the risks of developing it?

PART 2.
(1) What have been the five most frustrating experiences you have personally had
using modern technology?
(2) Keep a log for three days in which you make entries for frustrating experiences
you have (a) with computers, (b) with other technologies, and (c) with traditional
items such as paper. At the end of this period review your logs and discuss what
changes (if any) you plan to make in your daily activities based upon these
observations.
(3) There exist forums for reporting problems of various sorts.
a. Describe a situation in which you would write to the Better Business
Bureau about a store and what response you would hope for.
b. Describe a situation in which you would write to Underwriters Laboratory
Inc. about a device and what response you would hope for.

PART 3.
(1) Think back to your educational experiences to date.
a. What was one of the most rewarding educational experiences?
b. Was technology involved? If so, how?
c. Can you imagine some way in which technology could have made this
experience better, or enable this experience to be applied to other less
rewarding educational experiences? If so, how?