Taylor Mixen

Professor Kimberly Lark

History 134
Due: August 15, 2016
Important Leaders, Religion, and a Good Moral Compass
There are many figures over the course of history that have used various advances in the
world to be responsible and contribute to society as well. I think the influence of religion/ morals
played the biggest role that made these rulers so successful. Cyrus the Great was a
compassionate ruler that did not particularly have a devotion to one specific religion but he was
however tolerant of all other religions that were being worshipped during his time of rule.
Constantine the Great changed the world when we allowed for Christianity to be worshipped
freely, showing compassion to those who were being persecuted endlessly. The last person I
chose was Muhammad for his ethical approach to how to live a fruitful life as well as care for all
others in the world.

I will start with Cyrus the Great who lived from 576 530 BCE. Cyrus the Great was the
founder of the Achaemenid Empire in Persia. He was a very successful leader and expanded his
territory immensely, making one of the largest empires on earth. He reigned for almost 31 year.
His conquests were amazing but what made him such a great ruler was how he treated those who
he took into his new empire. Cyrus showed compassion and respect for the customs and religions
of these new lands. He did not destroy temples or sanctuaries, and showed kindness especially to
the Jews who had their entire city of Jerusalem destroyed and gave them money to rebuild their
temple. Cyrus was respected by many and disliked by few; he was even called a dignified and

righteous king by the Jews. Cyrus did not pledge his allegiance to any one religion but you
could tell he was a man of morals because of this compassion. He focused a lot on human rights
which is the inherent rights that every person is entitled to, he even freed slaves. Cyrus controlled
all his territories well and was able to sustain this control for over 30 years (Wikipedia, 2016).

Simply by looking at how well Cyrus treated all his people and showed so much
tolerance, understanding, and respect for them you can tell how responsible of a ruler he was. Its
like when you hear the saying happy wife, happy life; I think we you have happy townspeople
there will be a great time of prosper and growth and minimal rebellion from those people. Cyrus
had great morals and really showed that respect and compassion can go a long way. This highly
contributed to society, and I believe it showed other rulers a proper way to treat their people.

Next we will move to Emperor Constantine I most commonly referred to as Constantine

the Great. The reason I chose Constantine the Great was because he is credited with what I
believe one of the pivotal point in history, the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity as
well as ending persecution of Christians. National Geographic writes about how Constantine did
not actually associate himself to be a Christian until his death which is often a topic of
controversy. Constantine took control of Western Rome then created and signed the Edict of
Milan with Licinius which stated there would be religion tolerance for Christians. This meant
that there all would be free to worship, and there would be no more persecution. The Christians

were also given back possessions that had been seized from them as well as were able to return
to their places of worship. Constantine even made a point to meet with the Christian churches to
work together on the Christian Doctrine. Eventually the Council of Nicea state that Jesus Christ
and God the Father were of equal holiness, one in the same. The last important thing the National
Geographic notes that that this council ended the practice of giving money to clerics. The
controversy of Constantine comes from whether or not he was using religion to his advantage to
take control of land as well as use it for political gain (National Geographic, 1996). I do not think
that is what Constantine was doing. He was a good ruler, and loved by many. There were tens of
thousands of Christian persecuted and Constantine was the one who put a stop to that. This
heavily shows that he was an incredibly sympathetic person. He shows a great amount of human
respect and that human life does have matter and that freedom of worship should be a rite. I
refer back to Cyrus contributing to society by the compassionate way he ruled; Constantine was
similar and I also believe the way he ruled guided other good rulers to follow in his footsteps.
Lastly we come to Muhammad how lived from 570 to 632. Now Muhammad is unlike
the others because he was not a ruler, more of a leader with solid morals and values and the
strength to want to share his message with the world. In short Muhammad wanted a person to
believe in an all-powerful being who was their one and only God. History-World writes of
Muhammad meditating and is said to have had communication with Heaven. These interactions
during his mediations led him to want to bring the message to the world. He preached
Monotheism, the forgiving of sins, and helping those in need. These are basic moral s to live by,
but Muhammad said were the key to getting to Heaven. The Muslim religion is the belief in
Allah as the God of Islam and they have a strict base in laws, there are 5 pillars that must always
be observed. These pillars include profession of faith, daily praters, giving to the poor, fasting,

and pilgrimage (History-World, 2002). It is often thought that Islam is not tolerant of other
religions, but it is. The religion of Christianity is actually very similar with good morals and
treatments of others being a central idea for achieving eternal life. Muhammad wanted to preach
the good news to those who would listen and want to believe, his values were good and he
wanted better treatment of people as well as a unified belief. Muhammad was very responsible in
consideration for how others lived and well as contributing to society like the above mentioned
rulers. His good treatment of other affected others around him and showed how people should be
treated in the future.
So why do these leaders had importance? Why is it important to know what they did, and how
religion played a huge aspect in the betterment for society? This is an incredibly tough question
for anyone to answer well and concisely. McNeill writes about how as time passes the way we
remember things changes, so when we look back in history the views and opinions are always
changing. There are new questions being asked and new aspects of something we thought we
knew everything about are changing in front of our eyes (McNeill, 1985). A man by the name of
Michal Postma makes an incredible point when he says history provides cultural literacy. That
means history gives us meaning, it gives us knowledge of how the world once interacted and
lived together, and how the interpretation of the past is different to every person. There are many
different take aways; the most important is to think critically about the past, taking in way more
than just the facts (Postma, 2011).
I critically think about all these leaders and I see more than just good leaders, rulers, or emperors.
I see men who were able to use their powers for good, in times where men with power often used
them for bad. All of these men could have chosen to stay silent or use the power they had to
bring hate and death to the world which was so common. For some reason they strayed from the

norm and stood out as compassionate leaders. I attribute this to their connection to religion and
overall good morals and values. These men saw that there is a higher being and great purpose to
life than bringing hatred to the world. These men saw that there was and still are good reason to
treat all people with respect as well as accepting everyone. Today I believe this is beginning to
become strayed yet again. There is a lack of respect for people, for the inherent rights we are all
given, and I believe that studying these men can prove to other that the respect and responsible
actions of how they acted and live really contributed to society and still can.

Works Cited
"Constantine the Great Rules." National Geographic. National Geographic, 1996. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.
"Cyrus the Great." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Aug. 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.
"Islam, Muhammad, Prophet Of Islam." Islam, Muhammad, Prophet Of Islam. History-World, 2002.
Web. 15 Aug. 2016.
McNeill, William H. "Why Study History? (1985)." Why Study History? (1985). American Historical
Association, 1985. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.
Postman, Michael. ASCD Express, Vol. 6, No. 22. Copyright 2011 by ASCD. All rights reserved.
Visitwww.ascd.org/ascdexpress.