Insane Nero

Today in West Civ, Mr.Schick thought we had been acting tolerable, so he let us watch a movie. We watched a movie on Nero, one of the emperors in the Roman Empire. He wasn't completely insane in the beginning of his life, but the power ruined him. Someone said that if you give too much power to the wrong person, bad things will happen. Nero even went under water at one point to avoid hearing the words of his assistant "retiring." He decided to make Rome flourish with the arts, but couldn't afford the costs. He wanted to be their god. He even stole money from the temples to pay for the marble city, after a fire that burnt everything down.

Start of the Roman Empire

Today in West Civ, we finished talking about Caesar and began the Roman empire.

 

Ocatvian- aka Caesar Augustus- the first emperor

• At the age of 18, he takes over
• There was another triumphant after Caesar
• Begins the Pax Romana- a period of peace and prosperity
• Built roads, aqueducts
• Set up civil service to take care of roads, the grain supply, even a postal service.
• Augustus died at age 76 in AD 14 and passes power to…………

Tiberius-

From Jesus to Christianity-

• Jesus was a Roman citizen and a preaching Jew
• At 30, he began his ministry (AD 31-33), preaching to the poor in the empire and reaching out to outsiders.
• Statements like "My kingdom is not this world" made the Romans and the Jews nervous, and they began to plan his execution. The Romans were worried about losing power and a revolution. If there was a strong person that would take over, even though that wasn’t what Jesus was doing.
• The government of the Roman province of Judaea, Pontius Pilate (prompted by Jewish high priest), sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion.

The Word Spread about the risen Jesus

 

 

Roman Times

Today in West Civ, we started discussing Julius Caesar. I never knew much about him, just that he is associated with the Roman government. It is really interesting.
Her are some of my notes from class today:

Gracchus brothers- represent the regular folks
Thought the middle class was gaining too much power
Spoke for the lower classes' land, after the war
They got the assemble to pass a law
Latifundia, Patricians massive estates
Pg 97- definition of Protarians- people that still had the power to vote even though they had lost everything, but are still citizens.
Pg 99- changes of Rome… it was now landless portarians that fill the army
Rome changed their military style, from patriotic men fighting for their company to paid citizen soldiers. They would loot- get the stuff you rampage as their reward. They better themselves through pay. The government is less essential to the lives of the people, it is your particular army. Your chieftain is th one calling the shots.
Caesar was a brilliant military leader, conquered land, got people fired up through his speeches. He would fight with the army, instead of watching like previous leaders.
He came from an old patrician family, he wanted to regain the family gain.
Was ambitious. Knew what it was like to loss what you used to have.
In social struggles, he sided with the lower class.
In 600 BC, he began to collaborate with Pompey, who was an officer and Crassus. The three of them formed the first Triumvirate. Pompey was the richest man in Rome at the time. Crassus was a military general. Was the Bill Gates of his time. Tried to be a power government. A shadow government, with him the brains, Pompey the wealthy provider, and Crassus the military.
Caesar conquered Gaul. By 50 BC he created an army devoted to himself. He has all the components for power. Strong military, wealth, and the people's support
Crassus is trying to do what Caesar does, but not winning
Pompey stays in Rome and .......
• He invaded Rome, like he conquered Gaul.
• He decided to come back with his army, and break roman law.
• Pompey's forces were no match, and easily defeated.
• Pompey was murdered, once he crossed him, Caesar had him killed.
• The senate doesn’t want to mess with him. They call him the father of the fatherland, to make him feel very important.
• It still is a republic though.
• Being a smart politician, he became a magistrate in many parts of the army. He suddenly became the most powerful part of the assemble. He named himself consul. He ran senate because he was an aristocrat. And then became dictator for a 10 year term. He has taken over, the first time since Tarquin. He is basically the king.
• The poor loved him, but the wealthy hated him. The army and assemble liked him. The senate didn't, because they lost power. He showed respect to them, but didn’t listen to them. He kept the loyalty of the army.
• Exactly like the Gracchus brothers except later on. No one could try to kill him.
• He let the conquered people become citizens and appointed some for the assemblies.
• He made things better, improved roads and aqueducts. To improve the life of a regular person.
 
 
Not in book-
• Rubicon- Up to were Italy is, there is a river. That marked the difference form Rome and
• Huge moment, Cross the river or follow the other two's orders
• Any time you have a big decision, that you can't turn back, it is now a saying.

Final day of Rome presentation

Today Alexa, grant, and Laura presented. Laura went first and made Roman toast. Grant went second, with a poster board and store-bought sorbet. And Alexa went last. She made a 3D map with Roman architecture and buildings. Her coliseum was really good. She used creative materials to create the map. Mr. Schick even wanted it to go in the John Carroll news.

West Civ Project Presentations

Today in West Civ, here more people presented, including me. I am happy I got to go so I don't have to worry about it over the weekend. I was nervous that my project would take longer than 10 mins, but It went pretty fast.Today there were a lot of great projects. Anne's was really good and so was the video about Rome. Another group brought in a Roman breakfast and they had a lot of different foods/drinks. Also, Megan's project was really good, It showed a lot of research and time. Hers would have taken me forever to do. I feel bad for the other people who did Roman cuisine for their project, that didn't get to go, because they will have to remake their food for Friday.

Rome Project Presentations

Today in West Civilization three people presented their projects. One group had technical difficulties with the projector, so a few people's projects were pushed back. I have to go tomorrow now, so I can practice the presentation more. the roman legion project was very interesting and showed a lot of work, along with the Roman baking/ cuisine.

Project Rubric

Today in class we finished going over Rome and the Punic Wars and are going to have our test Friday. After Easter break, we are going into more detail about Rome and the lifestyles of the people, like we did with Ancient Greece, because we only had one week to cover this stuff. We also went over the rubric for the Rome project. I trying to work out all of the details of my project and have to go out and buy all the supplies. I might end up doing a scrapbook dairy, if I cant find a dairy that will look good.

Tarcan the proud- the last king, went to republic after.

Study the government- us government

Democracy- assembly

Branch that represented the lower class. There was 300 senators back then.

Where was Carthage located- north Africa and controlled west.

Military- Roman Legion

• 5,000 people
• Broken up into infantry-on foot, cavalry-on horses
• Groups of 80 called centreries- they would have flank right or flank center or flank left

 

Punic war- If Rome lost, we wouldn’t be speaking English now or have our government. We wouldn't be catholic if those countries weren't.

• 1st- fought for control of Sicily
• 2cd- Hannibal took the back way and almost succeeded, but never could attack Rome because he lost more than half of his men. Carthaginians opportunity to get revenge on Rome.
• 3rd- time to eliminate the threat. Didn’t want to wait till they grew more power. They destroyed Carthage. It is said they went through their fields and put salt on them, so nothing could grow again.

Punic Wars Video

Today we watched a three videos about the Punic Wars. It was very detailed and better to understand, because the book only covers the basis of it. The video tells more details about Carthage and their people. The first battle or war in the Punic wars was between Rome and Carthage in Sicily. After that, Carthage's king made his son take an oak to never become allies with Rome and to get revenge. The son couldn't inherit the power because he wasn't old enough, so the son in law took power. Once the son was old enough, they invaded Rome through the back way crossing the mountains. It was a very dangerous journey and they lost more than half their men, but surprise attacked the Romans. The Romans had sent both of their consuls to different locations to fight against Carthage, but failed because Carthage went the other way. They quickly retreated when they heard Carthage was coming. Rome couldn't hold Carthage off, so Carthage troops were able to basically walk through Rome and destroy and burn buildings. In the end, Rome is able to defeat Carthage, says the book. But we are going to watch another video in class tomorrow going into more detail about how, because the book is vague. The second war was the main and hardest war for both Carthage and Rome.

Punic War

During class, we discussed Gracchus, Romulus and Remus, and read about the Punic War. Gracchus was a plebeian with political power. He spoke on behalf of the lower class to create a law making it illegal for a wealthy upper class citizen to buy the land of a farmers, when the family's men had gone to fight in the war. He believed that the wealthy were taking advantage of the lower class. Romulus and Remus were twin brothers who were royal. They were put into a river to die, but were saved by a she-wolf and feed by a woodpecker. They grew up and eventually wanted to start or found a city. They both disagreed which peninsula to build the city on, and Remus died. Romulus called the city Rome. This is the myth the Romans believed was how their city-state was founded on.

The Punic Wars had three stages or phases throughout 264- 146 B.C. Carthage was another city-state that was an oligarchy and empire- building republic similar to Rome. Sicily for many centuries had been struggling with Carthage for control of the island. The Romans had inherited the struggle when they took over responsibility for protecting their Greek- allies. In the first war, Rome was able to force Carthage out of Sicily. In the second war, a Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy, and brought Rome to the brink of defeat. But the loyalty of the Roman's allies, the perseverance of their own forces, and their greater manpower enabled them to triumph, because Carthage relied on smaller mercenary armies. Finally in 146 B.C., Rome provoked a third war with Carthage and Carthage was captured after bitter fighting. Carthage was divided equally among Rome.

Highlighting Fun!!!

Today in West Civ, we read/skimmed through the chapter, reading and highlighting important sections. I had already highlighted it already. :) To start off, the Romans imitated Greek civilization and improved on it as a result through government and warfare. They had endless expansion that lead to social conflicts, political crisis, civil war, and unstable rule by powerful army commanders until the new form of government developed. The Romans arrived in a Mediterranean land with farming resources that were basically similar to those of Greece or Palestine, but able to support a larger population. In the beginning of the republic, Res Publica meaning people's business, the Romans started out with a senate. The senate's purpose was to advise the king and were a council of elders chosen by a pool of patricians. In 500 B.C. Rome over threw the Etruscans rulers and abolished the monarchy. The plebeians were the common people or lower class citizens, who were not benefited by the laws, but gained power over 500 years as the Republic formed. They demanded that the laws were written down for everyone to refer to. They were eventually written on slabs called the Twelve Tables.

Narrowing Down Project Ideas and Beginning Rome

During class today we started going over Rome and their Republic government, combining monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. The United States is very similar to Rome's government. For example, the senate came from the aristocracy, the House of Reps. came from the democracy portions from the Romans, and the presidential/ executive branch comes from the monarchy or oligarchy. Rome had two dictators, so no one person had complete power. The decisions were shared among the two and one could veto the other's law. The first people to settle in Rome were the Latins. Rome was in the center of trade and were "geographically lucky." They also had a harsh king, Tarcan the Proud, who ruled with an iron fist, he was ostracized and thrown out of rule by the people, initiating the republic over time. Tarcan was the Roman version of Isagoras.

I also figured out what my project is going to be. I am going to get an ancient, old- fashion diary and fill it with ancient looking paper with stains and etc. And create a diary of the daily life of a plebeian during the Punic War or the development of the Republic, how the plebeians gained more power over the years. I could also do a diary of a woman in Rome, adding in Roman culture and family values/life.

"Interesting" Class Today

Today we were allowed to bring our phones to class to record Mr. Schick or Chi Cago rap about Rome. It was very funny and a good example of our projects due the day we come back from Easter break. We are going to have a 100 point test and a 200 point project. I have some ideas of what to do, but have to narrow it down. I think it will be a fun project to do over break. We also are allowed to work in partners, but I usually like to work alone on these types of projects, because I will want to do all the work and all. I want to "think outside the box" and come up with a new type of project, but I believe cooking a meal from Rome, a billboard/ website, and building a Coliseum or Roman building will be fun. Also I feel like I need to make the project more detailed like essayish or informative. If I do a type of art project based around Rome, then it is factual, but not comprehensive.