Othello Pre-reading Research

VENICE Venice is located in North-Eastern Italy, sitting amongst the border of the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the largest cities in Italy and well known as the city of canals. Venice was a major centre for commerce and trade, especially silk, grain and spice. It was controlled by a vast sea-empire, and became an extremely wealthy European city and a leader in political and economic affairs. The Turks and the Venetians were at war during this period, this led to one of the biggest confrontations, the battle of Lepanto in 157. This event was crucial in the decline of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. CYPRUS Cyprus, also officially known as the Republic of Cyprus is an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is in a strategic location near Lebanon, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. It is due to its location that Ottoman troops had captured Cyprus during the 16th Century, and led to it being divided between the Greek dominated a Turkish Cypriot and the Republic of Cyprus. Cyrus is 2,117 kilometres from Venice. The countries located nearby are Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Syria, these countries were known to be powerful during this time and had ambitions to take land for its natural resources. Moors The generic term ‘Moors’ had been given to anyone of an African or Arab descent in Europe. Moors came to Europe when they were not ruling any country and when they had lost their land. The Moors were then migrated to Europe and were forced to keep their religious identities hidden. When migrated to Spain, Moors were forced to either convert to Christianity or if they did not agree to this, they were told to leave the country. Moors were Muslims, so it is expected that they would have followed Islamic practices before being migrated to Europe. Turks The attitude that Elizabethans had towards foreigners was one of distrust. The Elizabethans believed that the Turks were outsiders and alienated these foreigners. To the Elizabethans, Christianity was the superior religion above the others and this created tension and a gap among races. Epilipsy Epilepsy is a neurological condition, having an affect on the nervous system..’Epilepsy syndromes are described by their symptoms which can include, confused memory, involuntary movement of arms and legs, blackouts, episodes of staring, fainting spells with incontinence to name a few. In the times of the Renaissance, people who were epileptic were regarded as intelligent and considered as prophets who, while having an episode, could see the past, present and future. During the Renaissance, Epilepsy was treated a few ways, one was using the secretions from the scent glands of a beaver which was ingested, another was the use of silver nitrate mercury, tin and copper zinc oxide and a third was ingesting the scrapings from a human scull for several months. An episode can be triggered by things such as loud noises, toxic chemicals\alcohol, flashing lights, caffeine and having a lack of sleep for example.