Wednesday 27 January 2010

Work in Groupe: The Christian Kingdoms



You have to do an homework where you will explain the evolve of the Christian Spanish Kingdoms.
You can use these maps, All people in every groups will have to participate and tell one part of work.
You can make the presentation with Power Point or other kind of way. You can ask help if you don´t know how could do any question or problem.

Monday 25 January 2010

The irrigation sistem in the farmhouse

HOMEWORK AND INVESTIGATION:

You have to describe this picture, and then you should investigate about their irrigation systems , how were it ? and what kind of new cultivations were intoduced in the Iberian Peninsula. You may put it on your blog this information.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Parts of the mosque

door click to hear


Muslims remove their shoes before entering the mosque and always enter right foot first.

central nave click to hear

The mosque’s principal nave; it adjoins the Mihrab.

Mihrab dome click to hear

Dome decorating the back of the central nave near the Mihrab.

direction of Mecca click to hear

Mecca: the religious capital of Islam is located in Saudi Arabia; Muslim prayers are always performed facing Mecca.

fortified wall click to hear

Fortification that once protected inhabitants seeking refuge inside the mosque during conflicts.

courtyard click to hear

Uncovered space bordered by the shady arcades; the ablutions fountain is located in the center of it.

ablutions fountain click to hear

Fountain that Muslims use to wash and symbolically purify certain parts of their bodies before entering the prayer hall.

reception hall click to hear

Large room used to greet visitors.

shady arcades click to hear

Gallery made up of a series of arches supported by columns.

minaret click to hear

Tower from which the call to prayer is made five times per day.

service room click to hear

porch click to hear

Covered entrance to the central nave.

prayer hall click to hear

Area made up of several naves and covered with rugs; Muslims remove their shoes to pray.

porch dome click to hear

Decorative dome a top the central nave porch.

HOMEWORK. you have to put the name in your place in the last picture, in English and Spanish. You should put it in your blog

Monday 18 January 2010

Tipos de Arcos

En el arte de cada época cada estilo desarrolla un tipo de arco diferente, aquí te presento alguno de elllos, si pinchas sobre la imagen podrás apreciar muchos más detalles

Why on earth some people choose Islam?


Saturday 16 January 2010

La Cocina en el Al-Andalus


El Corán es la ley de leyes del mundo musulmán, en él se contienen tanto los preceptos morales, religiosos, políticos o sociales en los que sus creyentes sustentan su vida. Entre ellos están las directrices que deben seguirse para una correcta alimentación, incluida la comida permitida y la prohibida.

Si deseas encontrar más información sobre la dieta en el mundo musulman y en concreto en el Al-Andalus, la puedes encontrar
aquí

Pero también puedes informarte de algunas cuestiones má
s generales aquí

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Vocabulary unit 3 and 4

Homework:
  • First of all you have to do the glosary in the end of your book.
  • Second, you have to look for the meaning of these words and write them in english:

Unit 3

Unit 4

  1. Three year rotation
  2. Mouldboard plough
  3. Hanseatic league
  4. Trade fairs
  5. Bills of exchange
  6. Ghettoes
  7. Moorish
  8. City Council
  9. Guilds
  10. Master Craftsmen
  11. Journeymen
  12. Apprentices
  13. Roman Law
  14. Parliaments

  1. Christianity
  2. Christendom
  3. Pilgrimage
  4. Crusades
  5. Title
  6. Barrel vault
  7. Apse
  8. Buttress
  9. Ambulatory
  10. Transept
  11. Lent
  12. Altarpieces
  13. Miniatures
  14. Mural Painting
  15. Panel Painting
  16. Convents
  17. University
  18. Gargoyles
  19. Stained glass
  20. Pointed arches
  21. Rib vault
  22. Flying buttress
  23. Rose windows
  24. Latin cross
  25. Side aisles
  26. Capitel
  27. Pinnacle


You need to know these words and your meanings for the next exam. I will ask you.

Autómatas en el Al-Andalus




La ciencia en el mundo árabe adquirio un importante desarrollo en la Edad Media, pero no solo la ciencia sino la aplicación de la técnica para el desarrollo de diversos aparatos e instrumentos. En el mundo árabe tal y como puedes ver en los vídeos resulta frecuente la existencia de autómatas, que aparecen enocasiones en su literatura y frecuentemente entre las clases altas de la sociedad como juguetes y objetos curiosos.

About the Elephant clock of al-Jazari
En en Al-Andalus, estos autómatas también eran frecuentes. En al-Andalus se construyeron clepsidras (relojes de agua) y autómatas, desde el siglo IX. Fueron famosas las clepsidras que creó Azarquiel en Toledo, junto al Tajo, en el siglo XI. Registraban el paso de las horas y las fases de la luna; durante los 14 primeros días del mes los recipientes se llenaban de agua a una velocidad constante, vaciándose también a ritmo constante en catorce segundos.

Otro andalusí, Ibn Jalaf al-Muradi (s.XI), escribió un tratado sobre autómatas, el “Kitab al-asrar”. En él describe, entre otros relojes con autómatas, la llamada clepsidra de las gacelas, donde, bajo un pabellón de palacio y un jardín, hay un mecanismo con un tubo de mercurio y dos balanzas, cuyos recipientes se llenan de agua alternativamente, provocando una secuencia de movimiento en las figuras de autómatas.

En dicha clepsidra: La Clepsidra de las Gacelas, aparecen unas muchachas que salen al jardín de palacio para contemplar a las gacelas bebiendo. Un criado oculto en el pozo se asoma para espiar a las jóvenes, pero inmediatamente surgen víboras para defenderlas. Las gacelas dejan de beber, las jóvenes huyen al pabellón, el criado se vuelve al pozo y las serpientes se ocultan. Se trata de un divertido juego de autómatas que muestra una escena palaciega. Para saber más....

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Discover the Muslim origins of many Western discoveries!



From the 8th Century, Muslim tradition and culture set trends in eating, music and style that still influence us today. Their experiments, discoveries and inventions with liquids, light and time opened the door to myriad new chemical compounds, measurements of time in precise and minute detail and devices used in space observation and deep sea exploration. Click here to know more...

The Islamic World

The Arab and Muslim world has had a profound and lasting influence on our life today, the list is long and full of surprises, but perhaps the most important thing that the Islamic Empire did for us is preserve, refine and improve all the knowledge left by the scholars of the ancients, and without that work by the Muslim scholars all of that knowledge might have been lost and our lives much the poorer.
Adam Hart-Davies

This episode features reports from Zain in Egypt, Spain and France elaborated by demonstrations from Adam Hart Davis, Marty Jopson and expert guests that examine the ideas and inventions that emerged from the Islamic Golden Age.




Some of them:

Monday 11 January 2010

Extraordinary Women of Al-Andalus

Extraordinary Women of Al-Andalus

For nearly a century, scholars have been fascinated by women's social status in Al-Andalus. They considered Al-Andalus “a place apart,” in which patterns of life transcended those in Medieval Europe and the eastern Muslim lands.

The women of Islamic Spain -- like their counterparts in many pre-modern Muslim societies -- were active participants in political and cultural affairs. They helped shape the cosmopolitan civilization associated with the Muslims.

The Umayyads ruled Al-Andalus for the first three centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia (roughly 711-1031 CE). The Umayyad household provided a strong, centralized vision for developing a distinct Andalusi culture. Women of the royal household. along with other courtly women, played prominent roles within this culture. Some of Al-Andalus' most influential women included:

  • Al-Zahra, concubine of the caliph Abd al-Rahman III, for whom his new palace complex was most likely named

  • Subh, the wife of caliph Al-Hakam II and architect of secretary Al-Mansur’s rise as chief minister and army commander

  • Itimad al-Rumaykiyya, poetess and wife of taifa king al-Mutamid of Seville

One historical account states that the Umayyad chancery employed 70 women copyists and Qur’an calligraphers. Hundreds of other women served the vast imperial household. Perhaps the most famous female Umayyad scion is Walladah bint Mustakfi (d. 1091). Despite the decline of the caliphate, Walladah styled herself as the reigning debutante of Córdoba, hosting exclusive salons for poets, musicians and artists. She challenged certain upper class social conventions such as veiling.

Walladah possessed an irrepressible spirit, symbolized by her public love affair with the virtuoso poet, Ibn Zaydun. Her confident nature was clearly evidenced by the words stitched on her sleeve: "I am, by God, fit for high positions."

Women in ruling Amazigh (Berber) households, likewise, commanded respect. They also participated in leadership roles.

The taifa king and Zirid ruler of Granada, Abdullah Ibn Buluggin, wrote about the role of women in his memoirs, The Tibyan. He notes that in the leading Amazigh (Berber) families, mothers and other women of the household participated in a shura council that made collective political and military decisions the ruler would enact.

The Amazigh (Berber) commander Yusuf Ibn Tashufin -- whose Almoravid forces brought Ibn Buluggin’s rule to an abrupt end in 1090 CE -- relied heavily on his wife, Zaynab, for strategic advice. He trusted her to oversee and protect his realm from political rivals.

Women played significant roles outside the halls of power, as well.

The celebrated mystic, Ibn Arabi of Murcia (died 1240), recounts in his biographical dictionary of Andalusi Sufis, Al-Durrat Al-Fakhira, how certain women had a profound influence upon him. Ibn Arabi met Shams of Marchena in her 80s. He describes how she had the ability to communicate with others over great distances. She relates how a visitor en route to see her confirmed hearing her voice on the way.

Abu Hayyan reveals his daughter's stature among the period's intellectual elites in an elegy, entitled Al-Nudar an al-Maslah an Nudar ("Pure Gold for Solace for Nudar"). He praises her with the words: "In excellence, no other woman could compare -- can a rock ever match a jewel?"

Andalusi scholar Ali Ibn Hazm (died 1064 CE) -- advocate of a literal reading of the Qur’an -- expressed his opinion that women could have been prophets of God in the past. He also asserts that women could play a role in leadership.

Muslim women were active patrons and sponsors of public works. Women of means have historically supported many public fountains, gardens, hospitals, and inns through their own assets and property. They also have endowed mosques, such as the Qarawiyyin in Fes. Tomado de .....

HOUSEWORK . WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WOMEN ROLE IN AL-ANDALUS'. WRITE IN YOUR BLOG.

Friday 1 January 2010