Western Civilization

Today we started a new chapter which branches off of our previous studies on Rome. Christianity spread through the Roman Empire after the life and death of Jesus. After his death, Jesus' teachings stuck with many people including the ones who wrote it down and preached it. Many Jews converted to Christianity. Moving further along, section three covers the Rise of Christianity, then we will cover the Fall of the Roman Empire which is section four. What I learned form our reading assignment was that there was an emperor named Diocletian who split the empire into East and West. This worked for a handful of years but failed after he stepped down from emperor due to health. The next emperor was Constantine who unified the empire into one, and relocated the capital to Constantinople which now known as Istanbul. Then the Roman Empire was in chaos. The Germanic people invaded the Eastern part of the Roman Empire along with Huns from Mongolia. Also, the Ancient Rome tests were graded and I

The test turned out to be open-blog. I believe I missed only one question which was number 18. The question dealt with how long did a consul have to wait before running again for office. Overall the test was a success. 

Etruscans came from north-central part of the peninsula metalworkers, artists, architects two foundation myths: Virgil’s Aeneid (where Aeneas escapes from Troy - sound familiar?) the story of Remus and Romulus Greeks they had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea Romans borrowed ideas from them, such as: religious beliefs alphabet much of their art military techniques and weaponry the Latins! descendants of Indo-Europeans settled on the banks of the Tiber situated so trading ships - but not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome, but no further a commercial port, but not susceptible to attack and... built on seven hills (esp. Palatine) many streams flowed into the Tiber there was a marshy area called the Forum,  between Palatine and Capitoline Hills Tarquin the Proud’s grandfather built the Cloaca Maxima (largest ancient drain), which channeled water into the Tiber urban legend says Washington DC was built on a swamp - but only abo

Today we covered a lot of material. In addition, tomorrow we will have a test on Ancient Rome. The first of twelve slides we covered sealed with the assassination of Julius Caesar. This knowledge is rather fresh in my memory due to reading The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare in English. The next person to take charge after Caesar was his grand-nephew Octavian. Octavian took charge at age 18 with Lepidus and Mark Antony in what is known as the Second Triumvirate. Then, after Octavian is able to remove his two partners in crime he takes over very similarly in the manner that Julius did. Essentially, Octavian is continuing Julius Caesar's work. Similar to Julius, Octavian is not all bad. He makes some great reforms including post offices, roads, fire fighters, and police officers.  This begins the reign of emperors including Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Tiberius was an okay emperor however the rest are rather controversial. 

The plebeians were the poor group of people in society of Ancient Rome. They lived off of welfare benefits from the government which included bread and circuses. The government provided the plebeians with bread and other food and, while not taking them to an actual circus, they provided entertainment for them which is what the word 'circus' comes from in Latin. This entertainment was provided at stadiums some of which were called Circus Maximus and the famous Colosseum. In the Colosseum for example gladiator duels were held and the two men would battle to the death. Other forms of entertainment consisted of prisoners, slaves, or gladiators facing off a wild animal that had been caged, starved, and beaten for a few days. The ravenous animal would be released on an unarmed prisoner who owned debt or an armed gladiator-both of which usually lost. There was also a lot of gambling and betting going on at these events.

Today we began by finishing up the Amendments to the Constitution. We discussed the eighth amendment which dealt with the right to privacy. we continued with notes on the Romans and Carthaginians. There were three wars fought between the Romans and Carthaginians from 246-146 BC known as the Punic Wars. The Roman legions consisted of five thousand soldiers. The Roman army had heavy elite infantries. There were groups of eighty soldiers in groups called centuries which were very similar to the Greek phalanx. The first Punic War was fought from 264 to 241 BC. The war consisted of naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily. The Romans were victorious in this war. Then the Carthaginian empire strikes back. The second Punic War was fought from 218 to 201 BC. The twenty nine year old Carthaginian general known by the name of Hannibal almost does the impossible and defeats Rome with a well thought out strategy. There is a good reason of why this war was the longes

The Romans and The United States of America each have their own legal codes. The romans have the Twelve Tables. The Twelve Tables were publicly displayed for all to see. They gave rights to plebeians not just to the aristocrats. The Twelve Tables gave rights to only free born male citizens of Rome. Today's discussion revolved the United States Bill of Rights. The first of ten amendments to the Constitution guarantees free speech to all citizens, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. The second amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. This one, in recent news, is being debated among people in America. The third amendment which goes back to colonial times deals with no quartering. This means that the British soldiers cannot force someone to board them in their home. This became rather annoying to colonial citizens back in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. 

The USA and Ancient Rome had similarities in their governmental aspects. They each had three major branches and they can still be called the same thing. There is the legislative, judicial, and executive. The Roman executive branch had two consuls that could each serve only one year. Each one has the power to veto. The consuls also controlled the military. In the American legislative branch, we have the President and the Vice-President who can each serve for four year terms. Just like Rome, the President can veto laws. The President is the Commander-in-chief of the military. The legislative branch consisted of the Senate and the Centuriate Assembly. The Senate consisted of three hundred members unlike the United States Senate which consists of one hundred members. The Roman senators could serve for life whereas in the United States, Senators serve for six year terms. The Centuriate Assembly consisted of one-hundred ninety three members and the other assembly, called the Tribal Assembly

Picking back up with the notes-government. The Romans had three governments rolled into one. The Roman common people were called plebeians. They elected officials called consuls. The amount of time each official served was one year. Elected officials always had to be aristocrats. The aristocrats of Rome were known as patricians. The word patricians originates from the Latin word 'pater' meaning father. The consuls duties' consisted of dealing justice, making laws, and commanding the army. One consul could veto the other (reducing the power of the individual.) Then, a challenge emerged from the regular people. In the fifth century B.C. patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the plebeians. Since the plebeians were 98% of the population they decided to stop serving in the army since they were the ones who had to in order to give the aristocrats some trouble. This then led to the plebeians being allowed to hold a position of office. 

Today's class brought us into the ancient world of Rome. Mr. Schick began his new presentation. The presentation began with who settled Rome. The Etruscans came from the north-central part of the peninsula. They were metalworkers, artists, and architects. There are two foundation myths about Rome. These are Virgil's Aeneid where Aeneas escapes from Troy which is very familiar to the story of the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is returning home from the war and here we have a different hero returning home. The Romans have many similar stories to those of the Greeks just like how they call their god Poseidon, who is the god of the water, Neptune. The Greeks settled the Italian peninsula since they were their neighbors they had easy access. They had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea. The other founding story of Rome id the story of Romulus and Remus who were two twins that built Rome on seven hills.

Today's class was considerably shorter being only thirty five minutes due to the two hour early dismissal. In the thirty five minute mod that we had, we discussed the answers to our test questions. As mentioned in the last post, the question we had left off on was number seven. The question read "Draconian" is an adjective still in use today. It means "______." The correct answer is indeed B as I mentioned yesterday however, as I predicted, the Scantron read B as the incorrect answer. The class later then went on to discuss the rest of the test questions which we were not so sure on. Some of these included ones on Alexander the Great and his conquests. Some of the confusion revolved around the fact that he was the liberator of the Egyptians and how they called him Pharaoh. All in all we received a few bonus points for the one incorrect question which was number seven and we will pick up with Ancient Rome next class. 

Today as the class waited for the two last people to take their tests on Ancient Greece Mr. Schick instructed the rest of the class to take notes on the next chapter which is on the Roman Republic. This is the beginning of our new chapter on Rome and an end to all of the stuff we have been learning on Greece. As the two students finished their tests Mr. Schick passed back the tests and we went over the answers. There was a a lot of debate regarding the first page of questions especially about questions three through five. Mr. Schick answered by stating that the question was oddly worded but he did not mean to trick anybody. I answered these questions correctly but question seven is where I had some confusion when I got back the test. The answer is marked as B but that is labelled incorrect when I am positive it is indeed B. I asked a few of my friends and they also had B and it was also marked wrong. Unfortunately the bell rang before we could further discuss so it will wait until nex

Today we took our test as mentioned in the blogs of the week before spring break. This test was adequately challenging. This was due to some questions on the test which we had not covered in class. Some of these questions included ones on the Delian League, Marathon, and a few others. I believe I answered most of these questions correctly making my final test score most likely in the low  nineties. The test compromised of fifty multiple choice questions. The point value is yet unwon although Mr. Schick may most likely make each question worth two points each and if that is not the case then they will most likely be worth one point. After the test we discussed some of the questions and I discovered I made the correct choice of changing my choice from the League of Nations to the Delian League. Overall the test was fine.