Roman Post IV

MVP of Roman Era: Julius Caesar



Julius Caesar is the most famous and valuable person from the Roman Era. His skills as a general, politician, and statesman were unparalleled at his time, and some would argue to this day. He conquered Gaul in a brilliant campaign which is still used in studies for training generals today. His victories in Gaul brought into the empire what should later become one of the most important new territories to the empire. The conquest of Gaul also brought the border of the empire to the river Rhine, where it should remain for centuries to come. He also led expeditions into Germany and Britain, which were at that time completely unknown to Romans.

His political enemies never stopped plotting against him and tried to take away his power. Caesar famously crossed the river Rubicon and took power over Rome as a dictator. When away in Egypt he fell in love with the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Julius Caesar also reformed the calendar. With only minor changes his is the calendar we use today. The month of July was named after him. In the Middle Ages Caesar was created a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes encapsulating all the ideal qualities of chivalry.

Roman Post III

My Life: My community is not centered around one specific city, nor do all roads lead to one city. Towns may have common or similar layouts today, but each town is not designed and planned in exactly the same way. The world we live in today is not nearly as violent as Rome was, nor do we have slaves or gladiators. My life is also not as military based as life in Rome was. Today people also have the ability to move up in social classes, while in ancient Rome it was not possible.

Roman Life:
The Romans were known for their army, architecture, and government.
Based on strict organization and centralized control, the empire was connected by a huge network of roads with the city of Rome in the center. Each town was planned in exactly the same way including a system of streets, running water, and sewers. The forum at the center of town was surrounded by shops, temples, and government buildings. A strong army defended and expanded the empire. The soldiers belonged to legions of about 5,000 people. They were highly trained and well-equipped with armor, shields, spears, and swords.

Similarities: The Romans had many festivals and rituals for events such a childbirth, marriage, and funerals. Like Greek culture, Roman culture was known for its mythology. The Romans enjoyed food, baths, and all kinds of entertainment. Public games such as chariot races were held in amphitheaters, while chariot races were held in circuses - - a Latin name for a racetrack or speedway. I also celebrate and attend events for births, marriages, and funerals. People today still enjoy be entertained and doing things such as going out for dinner. A well-organized civil service system governed the people of Rome. Today, we also have a set organization of poeple that govern us. The Romans were an extremeley innovative people and created and advanced many things such as roads, bridges, engineering, math, and medicine. Likewise, the world we live in today is constantly creating new inventions and cures for diseases.

Roman Post II

The top three resources we should use in this class are http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/index.htm  http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/  and http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/romans/a/102610-Ancient-Romans-A-To-Z.htm.  These sources offer the most information about the art, people, ways of life, and virtually every other aspect of Rome. The first website has lots of useful information about the religion, food, clothing, and economy of Rome. The second and third websites have much information on the government structures, republics, and history of Rome. These are the three resources our class should use to learn more about Rome.

Roman Post 1

Quiz #1:
1.Officials who appointed candidates to the Senate were censors.
2. A republic is a government where voters elect officials to run the state.
3. Forums were the center of all Government business.
4. Plebeians made up most of the society (farmers, etc.).
5. Praetors were officials who oversaw the Roman legal system.

Quiz #2:
1. Rome defeated Macedonia in 197 BC.
2. During the 3rd Punic War, the Romans destroyed the city of Carthage.
3. Carthage was a powerful city located along the African coast
4. The conflicts among Rome and Carthage were referred to as the Punic Wars.
5. Rome and Carthage fought 3 Punic Wars between 264 BC and 146 BC.
Quiz #3:
1. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was a Roman dictator, who reigned after he started/won a civil war.
2. Marc Anthony helped Octavian gain control of the West, and then was betrayed by him.
3. Julius Ceasar led his troops across the Rubicon and declared war on the Republic.
4. Pax Romania was a period of peace that lasted for over 200 years.
5. The Gracchis were brothers who attempted to save the Roman Republic through reforms.

Quiz #4:
1.Growing trade, good transportation, a strong government, revised laws, and a strong army all helped to unify and strengthen the Roman Empire.
2.Roman engineers were masters at building roads, bridges, arenas, and public buildings.
3.Over time, Roman religious beliefs were increasingly influenced by Greek thought.4.Gladiators were trained fighters and their fights most often ended in death.
5.The government passed new laws as needed and judges reinterpreted old laws to fit new circumstances.

Quiz #5:
1. In AD 312, the Roman emperor Constantine proclaimed his support of Christianity.
2. The spread of Christianity changed the culture of the Roman Empire.
3. The Council of Nicaea proclaimed the existance of the Trinity.
4. Pontius Pilate (Roman Governor) tried Jesus for being an enemy of the state.
5. In the late Roman Empire, Christianity became a major religion

Quiz #6:
1. Inflation, a rise in prices caused by a decrease in the value of money, became so severe that people stopped using money.
2. The emperor Diocletian thought the empire had grown too large for one emperor and appointed a co-emporer to rule the West.
3. In A.D. 324, Constantine became the sole emperor again and built a beautiful capital city in the East.
4. Although Diocletian and Constantine held the empire's borders, invaders from Germany were a constant threat as they fled from the Huns.
5.The empire in the West did not "fall" in a single day or from a single occurrence; instead, the empire in the West gradually declined over a long period.

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AR0pPsmoYfvuZGdmMmp4cWJfMWRwazg3eGNx&hl=en

GREEK BLOG #5

1. Democracy
2. Anatomy/Science
3. Military
4. Architecture
5. Olympics

The Greeks were the first to employ a Democratic government. We still use many of the general political ideas they had today. The scientfic and anatomical discoveries the Greeks unearthed contributed very much to our science today. The military ideas the Greeks had and were revolutionary and ingenious and have inspired some of our military today. Greek architecture is very much prevelant in architecture today. Columns are used today. The Olympics is a world renowned event that brings countries today to compete in athletics and is very important to people today.

GREEK BLOG #4

I chose this picture to serve as a cover for the Greek Unit because it depicts all the ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses. The Greek Gods and Goddesses were extremely important to the citizens of Ancient Greece. They influenced virtually every aspect of their lives. The Greek Gods and Goddesses played a pivotal role for life in Ancietn Greece.

GREEK BLOG #2 -

Sparta and Athens were similar in many ways but had a few main differences. The way they were most similar was in their form of government. Both had a government whose members were elected by the people, called an assembly. However, Sparta was ruled by two kings who ruled untile they died, while Athens was ruled by archons who were elected annually. Athens is said to be the birthplace of democracy. One of the main differences in Athens and Sparta was the way they got along with the rest of the Greeks. Sparta was content to keep to itself, while Athens wanted to expand and conquer and control more land. This eventually led to  the Peloponnesian War.

I would want to live in Athens. Life in Sparta was simple but focused mainly on obedience and war. Girls in Sparta were trained to be mothers of warriors. Athens on the other hand was much more creative. In Athens you could get a good education and pursue any of several kinds of arts or sciences.

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Athens_vs_Sparta

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/athenssparta.htm

GREEK BLOG #3 -

http://www.greekmythology.com/

http://www.theoi.com/

http://www.mythweb.com/

http://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/greek_myth.html

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110104110347/olympians/images/thumb/2/29/GREEK_GODS_AND_GODDESSES.jpg/158px-GREEK_GODS_AND_GODDESSES.jpg&imgrefurl=http://camphalfblood.wikia.com/wiki/Olympians&usg=__SEK7_HdRXO9Rw8PtsoqFxoO7fYU=&h=185&w=158&sz=14&hl=en&start=8&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Jqp0fwHD5R-3CM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgreek%2Bolympian%2Bgods%2Band%2Bgoddesses%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=u6qQTYrsEuay0QHe9OHGCw

GREEK BLOG #1

1.In 1900, archaeologists found evidence of the Minoan civilization, the earliest Greek civilization.
2.Minoan artists carved beautiful figures from bronze, gold, ivory, and silver, and painted frescoes, paintings made on wet plaster, on palace walls.
3.The Minoan civilization was named after the legendary king of Crete, King Minos, who had his palace in the city of Knossos.
4.Some historians believe that the Minoan civilization weakened when many coastal settlements on Crete were destroyed by tidal waves.
5.The Mycenaeans were a warring people, organized into groups or clans, who conquered the Minoans in central Crete.
6.Places where it was believed gods spoke through mortals were oracles.
7.Government in which citizens take part is democracy.
8.Rule by the Best- Aristocracy.
9.Blind poet who gathered oral poetry into two great epic poems- Homer.
10.Traditional stories about gods, goddesses, and heroes- myths.
11.While Athens was known for its laws and governmnet, Sparta was known for the physical strength and discipline of its people.
12.People the Spartans conquered were forced to work for them and were called helots.
13.The government officials made sure that the kings stayed within the law were called ephors.
14.Along with reading and writing, military training formed the basis of a young boy's education.
15.Draco is believed to have created Athen's first written law code around 621 B.C.
16.Agriculture was not the mainstay of Athen's economy.
17. Leveling does not mean carving small, flat plots of land from hillsides.
18.Athenian women were citizens, but could not vote, nor could they own or inherit property.
19.The main purpose of marriage was to have children.
20.Most Athenians did not believe that money should be spent on private homes, and not public buildings.
21.Athenian leader who tricked Xerxes and destroyed most of the Persian fleet was Themistocles.
22.Home of the Greek alliance's treasury before it was moved to Athens by Pericles was Delos.
23.The greatest Greek statesman was Pericles.
24.Destructive conflicts that weakened Greece was the Persican Wars.
25.Persian who defeated Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae was Xerxes.

Post #12: Sources

http://epistle.us/hbarticles/ancientegypt1.html

http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=11160.0

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Superstitions-Strange-Customs-Taboos-and-Urban-Legends/Strange-Customs-and-Taboos.html

http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/sexuality.html

http://community.livejournal.com/little_details/1230778.html

http://www.witches.net/ancientwitchcraft.htm

http://socyberty.com/history/witches-in-ancient-egypt/

Post #3: Timelines

POST 3 - Timeline Number two would make a better addition to our textbook. Number two goes in depth in its details. It has many more points on the timeline. Timeline 2 spans almost 5,000 years while number one barely covers 4,000. Timeline 2 supplies much more information that number 1.

http://www.timelines.info/history/empires_and_civilizations/ancient_civilisations/mesopotamia/

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/TIMELINE.HTM

Post #11- My Question

The question I would most like answered about the ancient Egyptians is: what did the ancient Egyptians consider taboo and/or what were social rules that were upheld? I find these questions intruiging because I want to know what the Egyptians thought was taboo and how my findings compare to today. Iwill organize my findings in a powerpoint that uses many visuals.

Post #10: Cyrus, Darius, or Zoroaster

POST 10 -  Darius was the most influential leader because he was just and extremely respected.  Even people from other cultures thought that Darius was an awesome leader. Darius did many things for the persian empire. He made a canal that made commerce much easier. He also made a highway that did the same thing. Darius's ingenious idea to use boats to make a bridge that connected Asia Minor to Greece showed that his ideas were far beyond his time. Darius was just to other cultures that he took over and did not enslave other people. Daruis was the best leader.

Post #9: Question 4

POST 9 -

Post #7: My Code

POST 7 - Write your own code in the style of Hammurabi for Northern HS.  Must include at least 12 laws.

1. Any student caught cheating will have their papers ripped up.
2. Any student caught bullying will have the bullying they did inflicted on themselves.
3. Any student caught stealing from the cafeteria will have to eat off the floor for 2 weeks.
4. Any student caught lying will have to right out their lie on a chaldboard 1,000 times.
5. Any student caught stealing from another student will have to return the stolen item and be that studen'ts slave for a week.
6. Any student caught cutting class will have to clean the entire school.
7. Any teacher caught having innapropriate relations with a student will be shunned from the school and have to live on their own in a desert.
8. Any innapropriate language used by a student will result in that student having to read the dictionary.
9. Any use of weapons in the school will result in the person bringing the weapon in to use the weapon on themselves.
10. Any innapropriate use of the school's supplies will result in the person having to buy 10 of whatever was used.
11. Student who are mean will be stoned.
12. Teachers who are boring will be stoned.

Post #8: Award

The Most Important Invention award will be awarded to cunieform for being the most influential and important invention of the early Fertile Crescent Empires.

Post #6: Hammurabi's Code

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM

1.If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.

It was the original person's fault that the crops of others were ruined, so he should have to compensate them.

2.If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

Kidnapping is bad and kidnappers should be punished.

3.If persons are stolen, then shall the community and . . . pay one mina of silver to their relatives.

The community should help the families of those who are kidnapped.
 
4.If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.

A peson whose house is on fire already has enough to deal with and shouldn't have to worry about a thief.  The thief should be punished.

5.   If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless.

Rape is very bad and rapists should be punished.

Post #5: Mesopotamia is the Best!!!!!

Dear Travel Agent,


How dare you try and say that there is a better place to live than the Fertile Crescent!! Mesopotamia is the best!!! The irrigation system here cannot be matched due to the Tigris and Euphraties rivers. Our education and religious beliefs are very advanced. Our system of writing, known as cuneiform, came about here and is far superior to anything anywhere else. The Indus River Valley is no match to the "Cradle of Civilization".

Post #4: Indus River Valley

Dear Sumerians,


The Mesopotamian river valley is nice, however there are much better places to live.  Come to the Indus River Valley, located in between the Indus River and tha Arabiain Sea, the Indus River Valley is the optimal place for crops. You can grow all sorts of crops here, such as, wheat, barley, cotton, and rice, among many others. The agriculture thrives here from the irrigation due to the nearby bodies of water. Another spectacular aspect of the Indus River Valley is that it is surrounded by mountains making it very easy to protect and keep out enemies. Come to the Indus River Valley, you won't regret. it!!!

Post #2- 15 Facts

1. The Sumerian civilization arose in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.

2. The strip of fertile land that begins at the Isthmus of Suez and arcs through Southwest Asia to the Persian Gulf is called the Fertile Crescent.

3. Sumerian writing, today called cuneiform, was made by pressing a stylus into clay tablets.

4. The Sumerians may have invented the arch, a curved structure over an opening.

5. Sumerian temples, called ziggurats, were made of baked brick placed in layers and looked like a wedding.

6. Assyrians- The first to use cavalry- soldiers on horseback.

7. Code of Hammurabi- Collection of Babylonian laws which dealt with all aspects of life.

8. Nebuchadnezzar- His hanging gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

9. Akkadians- Mesopotamian people who attacked and conquered the Sumerians.

10. Hittites- One of the first people to smelt iron.

11.The present-day regions of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria were once called Phoenicia.

12. Phoenicia consisted of a loose confederation of city-states, each governed by a different king.

13. The Phoenicians invented the art of glass-blowing, and the city of Sidon became the well-known home of this industry.

14. Phoenicians also collected shellfish called murex to make a purple dye.

15. Phoenician sculptors often used ivory, highly prized in the ancient world, which was imported from North and East Africa.

Post #1- An Introduction

There are many things I am interested in. Some of those things include lacrosse, art, and college. Things that take up my spare time are eating, playing sports, and being involved in several clubs. I am unique in that I listen to opera. I am taking Western Civilization because I want to learn about different cultures from the past. I am intrigued by that topic because I wonder what people were like in the past. Three things I hope to learn are how people acted in the past, how people communicated, and what people cared about.