Annja Creed-Nast {Rogue Angel} (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spiritandsword) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2011-10-07 12:44 pm
spiritandsword) wrote in fandomhigh2011-10-07 12:44 pm
Entry tags:
Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History [Session 6, Period 4]
When all of her students had arrived, Annja smiled. "I hope that you all survived your visitors last weekend with the least amount of stress and awkwardness as possible. I had thought about doing a movie day today, but I was unable to find any really good movies about today's subject." Annja's definition of good tended to be measured on how much they were based on fact.
"I'm sure that some of you have heard the term Jezebel. In the modern times of this world, it is used to refer to a woman that someone believes has loose morals or ulterior motives for something." Having been called that a few times in her life, Annja was all too familiar with that concept. "However, Jezebel is a woman found in religious texts similar to the bible and there are a few mentions of her in historic texts as well."
She walked back and forth in front of the class as she wrote things on the chalkboard. "Jezebel was first mentioned in the Hebrew Book Of Kings, and it was said that she was the power behind the throne of her husband. She was a princess, identified in the Hebrew Book of Kings as the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre (Phoenicia) and the wife of Ahab, king of north Israel. According to genealogies given in Josephus and other classical sources, she was the great-aunt of Dido, Queen of Carthage." She wrote Dido's name down and then drew a line through it. "We'll discuss her another time.
"Jezebel's story is told in 1st and 2nd Kings. The story concerns an intense religious-political struggle — the most detailed such account of any period in the history of the Kingdom of Israel. The account portrays the religious side of the events, with the political, economic and social background — highly important to modern historians — given only incidentally.
Jezebel is introduced as a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Phoenician empire. She marries King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom (i.e. Israel during the time when ancient Israel was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south). She helps convert Ahab from worship of the Jewish God to worship of the Phoenician god Baal. After she has many Jewish prophets killed, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of Baal to a competition (1 Kings 18), exposes the rival god as powerless, and has the prophets of Baal slaughtered (1 Kings 18:40). Jezebel becomes his enemy."
Annja turned to look at the class. "Putting the religious beliefs aside, Jezebel was queen in a era that rife with political fallout. The scholar V. Barzowski interprets Ahab's marriage to Jezebel as a dynastic marriage intended to cement a Phoenician political alliance. This went back to the times of King Solomon, to give the then-inland Kingdom of Israel access to the Mediterranean Sea and international trade. The monarchy (and possibly an urban elite connected with it) enjoyed the wealth derived from this trade, which gave it a stronger position vis-a-vis the rural landowners. The monarchy became more centralized with a powerful administration. After Ahab's death, Ahaziah and Jehoram, his sons by Jezebel, accede to the throne. The prophet Elisha has one of his servants anoint Jehu -- one of his prophets and someone who also happens to share his religion -- as king to overthrow the house of Ahab. Jehu kills Jehoram as he attempts to flee in his war chariot. These men expected the Queen to surrender herself to them after her sons were killed, and she refused. Knowing that she was looking towards her own death because of her actions, Jezebel decided to dress herself in her best finery and apply make-up to her face. If she was going to die, she was going to die looking like the queen that she believed herself to still rightly be."
Annja put the chalk down and returned to lean back against her desk.
"Her end, I am sad to say, was not a good one. Her courtiers rose against her and then left her body to be torn apart and eaten by wild dogs. Throughout history she has either been praised for sticking to her guns and defying aggressive males to her last breath -- or she has been castigated for not knowing her place and for daring to try to step into the realm of religious battle. The battle of what religion was to be dominant in a country was thought to be the decision of men and men only. Thus, Jezebel had another strike against her according to her enemies. In modern usage, the name of Jezebel is sometimes used as a synonym for sexually promiscuous and sometimes controlling women."
She folded her arms, a smile crossing her face for a moment. "The act of having her body torn apart by dogs was an attempt to go further in erasing Jezebel from the minds of the people and making sure that she didn't have a place in history. In that, they failed. Jezebel's name made have several negative connotations associated with it, but there is also the fact that her name is sometimes used as rallying cry for women and men alike who have felt that they are repressed in some way. It is amusing that her name is still so popular but most of the men who spoke against her are nameless footnotes in history."
"I'm sure that some of you have heard the term Jezebel. In the modern times of this world, it is used to refer to a woman that someone believes has loose morals or ulterior motives for something." Having been called that a few times in her life, Annja was all too familiar with that concept. "However, Jezebel is a woman found in religious texts similar to the bible and there are a few mentions of her in historic texts as well."
She walked back and forth in front of the class as she wrote things on the chalkboard. "Jezebel was first mentioned in the Hebrew Book Of Kings, and it was said that she was the power behind the throne of her husband. She was a princess, identified in the Hebrew Book of Kings as the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre (Phoenicia) and the wife of Ahab, king of north Israel. According to genealogies given in Josephus and other classical sources, she was the great-aunt of Dido, Queen of Carthage." She wrote Dido's name down and then drew a line through it. "We'll discuss her another time.
"Jezebel's story is told in 1st and 2nd Kings. The story concerns an intense religious-political struggle — the most detailed such account of any period in the history of the Kingdom of Israel. The account portrays the religious side of the events, with the political, economic and social background — highly important to modern historians — given only incidentally.
Jezebel is introduced as a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Phoenician empire. She marries King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom (i.e. Israel during the time when ancient Israel was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south). She helps convert Ahab from worship of the Jewish God to worship of the Phoenician god Baal. After she has many Jewish prophets killed, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of Baal to a competition (1 Kings 18), exposes the rival god as powerless, and has the prophets of Baal slaughtered (1 Kings 18:40). Jezebel becomes his enemy."
Annja turned to look at the class. "Putting the religious beliefs aside, Jezebel was queen in a era that rife with political fallout. The scholar V. Barzowski interprets Ahab's marriage to Jezebel as a dynastic marriage intended to cement a Phoenician political alliance. This went back to the times of King Solomon, to give the then-inland Kingdom of Israel access to the Mediterranean Sea and international trade. The monarchy (and possibly an urban elite connected with it) enjoyed the wealth derived from this trade, which gave it a stronger position vis-a-vis the rural landowners. The monarchy became more centralized with a powerful administration. After Ahab's death, Ahaziah and Jehoram, his sons by Jezebel, accede to the throne. The prophet Elisha has one of his servants anoint Jehu -- one of his prophets and someone who also happens to share his religion -- as king to overthrow the house of Ahab. Jehu kills Jehoram as he attempts to flee in his war chariot. These men expected the Queen to surrender herself to them after her sons were killed, and she refused. Knowing that she was looking towards her own death because of her actions, Jezebel decided to dress herself in her best finery and apply make-up to her face. If she was going to die, she was going to die looking like the queen that she believed herself to still rightly be."
Annja put the chalk down and returned to lean back against her desk.
"Her end, I am sad to say, was not a good one. Her courtiers rose against her and then left her body to be torn apart and eaten by wild dogs. Throughout history she has either been praised for sticking to her guns and defying aggressive males to her last breath -- or she has been castigated for not knowing her place and for daring to try to step into the realm of religious battle. The battle of what religion was to be dominant in a country was thought to be the decision of men and men only. Thus, Jezebel had another strike against her according to her enemies. In modern usage, the name of Jezebel is sometimes used as a synonym for sexually promiscuous and sometimes controlling women."
She folded her arms, a smile crossing her face for a moment. "The act of having her body torn apart by dogs was an attempt to go further in erasing Jezebel from the minds of the people and making sure that she didn't have a place in history. In that, they failed. Jezebel's name made have several negative connotations associated with it, but there is also the fact that her name is sometimes used as rallying cry for women and men alike who have felt that they are repressed in some way. It is amusing that her name is still so popular but most of the men who spoke against her are nameless footnotes in history."
[10/7] OOC