How this life came about

This is Akar and after a brutal day of working for the master and his family I am finally able to relax and let you guys know a little about my life. I am an eduacated slave who was captured during a brutal battle in Egypt, with the Babylonians and their superior weapons being the victors. The Egyptians have been a superior nation for as long as the sun has shined on the Nile, but these new weapons the Babylonians had were remarkable. They had CHARIOTS, how can we fight against that? They sped toward us and we fired our arrows and threw our spears but our lines could not hold against this devastating force. We became a broken, disoriented army who was divided and divided into smaller forces and were almost completely wiped out. I fear for our divine leader, I do not know his fate, but the gods must be watching over him. We were taken to the capital and paraded before the whole city.It was not only the soldier slaves, but all the spoils of the war that Babylon looted, pillaged, and took, leaving behind only waste and ashes. It was embarrassing, but at that point I was just lucky to be alive, so I put up with the jeers and cheers from the crowd. The say that the life of a slave isn't that bad here, and we will even be protected by the words of the king. I do not know what to believe of this. Can it be true? Slaves helped with many of our projects in Egypt, but to actually become one is almost unthinkable if I weren't here now. I am going to be sent to a wealthy merchants house and there I am going to be used for general labor and because I am educated will be taught how to write this strange new language. This is not the worst thing that could happen to me, and maybe somehow I can become free again. Hope is something I will cling to as dearly as I cling to life.

My Finally

I’m writing this post with both a heavy heart, but happiness in my soul. I’m sad because this will be the last blog post I write to you all, but I’m happy because I’ve been able to share some of my personal stories about my life and my views on certain issues. I hope you all have enjoyed getting to know me as much as I have enjoyed putting myself out there for you all to get to know. I’ve seen a lot through the years from the evolution of man and the growth of technology. I believe this world is in a good place, but change will need to be made to preserve some of the greatness about it. I’d like to say I look forward to seeing where the world goes from here, but my soul is weary and I’m ready to go be with my wife, kids, parents and friends. I’d like to bid you all fare well. This is Akar signing off for the last time.

Akar

The Evolution of Weapons

I’d like to talk to you all about something that has amazed me in every way possible. During the battles of my times we had wooden clubs, spears (throwing sticks) and unshaped stones and once we had the Bronze Age movement we devolved bronze weapons. These weapons were more effective for harming and killing our enemies. Through the years battering rams were created to breach fortifications. Then a huge change in strategy happened, cavalries developed once horses were bred to support the weight of man. The horses allowed for an extended range and increased the speed of one’s attack. The biggest thing the horses provided was an enhanced capability. Shortly after the horse period another big leap in warfare happened, it was the use of warships. This change came about during the 7th century BC. These little ships built for weapons were soon replaced by larger ships during the 4th century BC. During the Middle Ages weapons continued to make advancements. Knights became the dominating war fighters supported by massed infantry. These Knights would be on horseback and would charge their enemies with lances to break up their formations. Once they would break through they would draw their swords and continue to wreak havoc. They continued to use some of the ancient weapons that we used, but they have now developed bows for distance kills. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, gunpowder was introduced in the Far East. Also the use of cannons in open battle came to replace the trebuchet as the main siege weapon. Now I finally get to the Modern times and the weapons to mass destruction. It is these weapons that I have become at awe over. Technology has come a very long way from when I was a war fighter. It is these weapons that have changed the face of the war fighting. The impact that the use of these weapons have caused is unheard of. Modern times have also seen the use of other weapons such as machine guns, rockets, tanks and even aircrafts being used. I didn’t mention all the weapons created throughout time, but I hope that you get the point I’m trying to make. Weapons have evolved so much over time and with the way technology is ever evolving I’m downright scary where we could see the impact of weapons in the near future. Lastly, I would like to leave off by saying it’s been sad to see the destruction that weapons have caused, but truly the sadness thing to me may be seeing how human beings have been using themselves as bombs. These people have been promised many great treasures in their afterlife to strap a bomb to their body and kill innocent people in the name of what? I hope you all have found this post both enlighten and entertaining. Until the next time, take care.
Akar

Hard working even before slavery!

As I look around, I see many fellow warrior partners that battled with me while fighting under Sumer. We are as close as brothers! We not only fought battles alongside one another, we constructed roads, temples and palaces! One palace we built housed the great Assyrian King; Shamshi-Adad I. This took many years, and the road leading to the palace was made from over a million stones. The king paid us for our efforts with animal skin for warmth and wine from his farmland grapes. We built a great temple in our city-state which was used daily by all for worship.

Many nights my brothers and I melted metals and constructed our own tools and weapons. The King’s slaves would mine for tin within the mountains and bring it to our army. We would smelt it down then add it to molten copper to make bronze alloy. We would flatten and shape our tools and weapons by pounding on it with rocks while red-hot. This process has become known as part of the Bronze Age in today’s history books. Yes, the spears we once manufactured sitting by the fire were not only used in battle to kill our enemy, but were the same one’s our slave masters would puncture in our feet for punishment.

My brothers and I are very hard working; before and after our slavery days. I will admit life was more adventurous and enjoyable prior to being captured. However, we are men and men are supposed to work. I stay optimistic in hopes we will one day be free from Hammurabi’s ruling.

Breaking the Code

Today wasn’t a good day to be a slave. One of my owners’ slaves ran away sometime before dawn. The slave, who is a good friend of mine named Hamad, broke Law 17 under the Code of Hammurabi. Code 17 states that if any one find runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver. Our owner was angry for two main reasons, the first being that he had to pay the people that brought back Hamad and the second reason being that it now looked like he had no control over his helpers. It was apparent that our owner would punish Hamad for his lack of respect towards him and the Code, but what happened next was a surprise to all of us. Our owner came down to the dwelling that we all stayed in and made us all line up next to each other. He then had us tie our hands behind our backs. We all were looking at each other with total uncertainty. Once he had us locked and secured he brought out a huge stone and a sharp metal spear looking object. Our minds started to narrow our thoughts, we finally started to understand what was going on. It wasn’t just Hamad who was getting punished for trying to run away, but all of us!! Our owner started with the first of us lined up, he put the spear on the foot of the first slave, raised the stone up in the air and down with a mighty slam…the cry of pain was very reminisces of the cries that I used to hear while in battle. On and on to the next one he went until he was done with us all. He made sure not to injury us to the point that we couldn’t tend to the lands and do his bidding around the home, but he made sure that we would understand that attempting to run away or break any Code would not be tolerated. He made sure we understood that him losing shekels of silver wasn’t going to be tolerated because of any slaves wrong doing. I would have to believe he made his point loud and clear as all the ideas of running away that I had was gone…for the moment at least. Later on that night Hamad apologized to all of us for getting us punished for his violation. Hamad was a good friend of all of us so no one had any ill feelings towards him after he said he was sorry. We still remain friends until his death years later.

My thoughts on slavery...just my thoughts

I’d like to express my opinion about a subject that is near and dear to me. Not only because I think it’s a sad thing to do, but because I’ve lived and experienced it. I’d like to talk to you all about Slavery in America. Just as Kings and land owners did during my time, many of America’s wealthy bought and owned slaves. The one big difference is that people were being captured from other countries and forced into this lifestyle. I on the other hand, was captured after battle and forced into slavery. The way these young men and women were taken from their home land was sad to see. There have been many very important slaves throughout the slavery period, however, I will comment on just a few and the importance of their actions. The first one I will talk about is Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). He was a slave who attempted to flee his masters many times, but was always captured. Once he did escaped for good he became one of the greatest anti-slavery leaders in history! He also put forth great efforts for women’s rights. Another important slave, although not alone in her efforts, was Araminta Ross; also known as Harriet Tubman (1820-1913). She was important because even though she had escaped from slavery, she risked everything going back and leading over 300 escaped slaves north to freedom in Canada. She did this for 10 years using a route that came to be known as the “Underground Railroad” and Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductors of this railroad! I admire a woman who could have that much courage at a time where women didn’t have any rights. The final person I’d like to mention is a man who made both legal and constitutional history by suing for his freedom. Even though he wasn’t the first, nor was he the last to sue for his freedom, Dred Scott still made his moment in history! His case went all the way up to the US Supreme Court in May 1857. Sadly, after many long trials, he eventually lost his case. His dedicated perseverance didn't go unnoticed because his case eventually helped to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. So, even though I was forced into slavery because I was a prisoner of war, these poor individuals were forced into slavery because of ignorant, selfish people using their power to do as they wanted. I’m proud to see all the great accomplishments of these individuals despite all the oppression they faced. I’m glad to see that now a days there is NO slavery!

My idol

As a child, I remember my father as a powerful man!  He had arms of iron and a mind sharp as a sword.  He was a great Assyrian warrior!  He would tell us great stories of battle, the good and bad.  When my father was gone, my mother took care of me and the household.  She would bake bread for him and his brothers when they set off for battle.  After a successful defeat, our family would be showered with wine, cheese and fruit from the King's men.  He may have killed many, but that is what he was made to do.  One day my father set off on yet another battle to the east.  The Assyrian warriors were due back in three days.  Upon their return, my mother and I were awakened by my father's warrior brother.  He told us the most devastating news...my courageous father has lost his life.  The realization was there and we knew this could happen, but we could do nothing but cry in disbelief.  My father was my idol and I would grow to make him proud!  This was the day I decided I would become a great warrior...just like him!