Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came to fame during the Age of Enlightenment. His compositions were informed by the spirit of that era, and Enlightenment ideas were integral to his music, particularly the operas. In fact, whether we would even have some of his most beloved operas without the guiding principles of the Age is doubtful.
Mozart’s genius did not spring forth in isolation. In fact, he was very much engaged in the world around him, and his “moment,” so to speak, coincided with the full flowering of the Age of Enlightenment. New thinkers – among them Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot – sought to flush away medieval attitudes about religion and the “divine right” of kings and replace them with a revolutionary faith in reason, order, and science.
By the High Middle Ages (about 1000–1250 C.E.), Western Europeans had developed the system of feudalism. Feudalism provided people with protection and safety by establishing a stable social order.
Under this system, people were bound to one another by promises of loyalty. In theory, all the land in the kingdom belonged to the monarch (usually a king, but sometimes a queen). A large amount of land was also owned by the Church. The king kept some land for himself and gave fiefs (FEEFS), or land grants, to his most important lords, who became his vassals. In return, each lord had to supply the king with knights in times of war. A lord then enlisted lesser lords and knights as his vassals. At times, these arrangements were written down, and some of these contracts even survive to this day in museums.
At the bottom of the social system were peasants. Lords rented some of their land to the peasants who worked for them. However, some peasants, called serfs, were “tied” to the land they worked, which meant that they could not leave the lord’s land without permission and had to farm his fields in exchange for a small plot of their own.
Why did Feudalism work? What choice did the peasants have? Was it fair?
A key figure in the British Enlightenment was the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith. His book The Wealth of Nations laid the foundations for modern economics. Smith believed that a free market was driven by competition and individuals' self-interest. These drivers serve as an "invisible hand" that guides market activity to the benefit of society as a whole.
It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society, which he has in view … He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
However, Smith also argued that a successful economic system must help the poor. As he wrote: "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable."
What if some of the greatest mysteries of human history have been misunderstood?
Imagine standing before the Great Pyramid of Egypt, looking up at millions of enormous stones fitted together with remarkable precision. Or imagine seeing the giant statues of Easter Island, the mysterious lines of Nazca, or ancient drawings that seem to show strange machines and flying objects. Who built these things? How did they do it? And where did their ideas come from?
Von Däniken travels across history looking for clues. He examines ancient monuments, maps, myths, religious stories, and unusual artifacts. He points to places such as the Egyptian pyramids, the Nazca Lines in Peru, Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, Easter Island, and ancient Maya cities. He argues that some of these achievements seem difficult to explain using the technology we normally associate with ancient civilizations.
He also looks at ancient stories. What if descriptions of gods flying through the sky were not stories about supernatural beings—but memories of real visitors arriving in advanced machines? What if ancient pictures that appear to show strange vehicles or figures in unusual clothing were attempts to record encounters with technology people did not understand?
It is important to remember that Von Däniken's ideas are controversial. He often presents questions and unusual possibilities as evidence for his theories. Many historians and archaeologists disagree with his conclusions and argue that ancient Egyptians were capable of extraordinary engineering without help from extraterrestrials.
As you read, don't simply ask, “Do I believe Von Däniken?”
Ask the historian's questions:
What is the evidence? What other explanations are possible? Is the evidence being interpreted fairly? What information is missing? And what evidence would convince me that the claim is true—or false?
The mystery is not only what happened in the ancient past.
The mystery is also how we know what we think we know about it.
"History is a Greek word," wrote British historian Arnold Toynbee, "which means, literally, just investigation." The process of investigating what happened long ago is a process that involves analyzing evidence, determining a source's credibility, and evaluating different points of view about what is important and why.
These are all essential critical-thinking skills, not just for the history classroom, but also for life. You will need to exercise these skills whenever you make an important decision about your own future. These skills will also help you make more informed decisions about public issues as a citizen and voter.
Listen to the story and then use the process of investigation to answer these questions:
1) What historical evidence did the archaelogists find?
2) How credible was the evidence?
3) Evaluate their point of view. What did they get right? What did they get wrong?
4) What does this story teach us about our study of the past?
Suppose you are a historian who found this stone etched with a statement.
What questions would you ask about this stone?
How would you use it to interpret the past?
For centuries, scholars puzzled over the hieroglyphs they found carved onto ancient Egyptian ruins, tablets, and papyri. But in 1799, a unique discovery would finally help unlock their meaning. It was a stone inscribed with three different texts: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Ancient Greek.
Read the introduction in the text, then watch this video in which Franziska Naether shares how scholars decoded the ancient message of the Rosetta Stone.
Welcome to the home page of Mr. Kelly's History class, Talawanda High School, Oxford, Ohio, USA. Here you will find assignments, links to lessons, your grades, and online discussions. Please remember that this site is an online extension of our classroom and to treat each other with respect. Thanks and BE BRAVE!
