Rome and Christianity Reflection

1. Describe how you prepared/studied for the unit test.

I used many ways to study for the test. The first way was by contributing during my classes. In that way, I saw what my classmates had to say which added on to my knowledge. I learned different points of view and how specific factors could affect something way larger. The second way in which I studied was my making graphs and webs. In this way, I laid out all my knowledge in one place, so studying that became much easier. I could point out the basic structures of a certain topic or idea. Along with this, I could associate important people and places that would add on to the basic idea. After all of the remaining factors were in my brain, I focused on details and more specific happenings. Sadly, not many could be found in the final test. After all, I used many different ways to study fr this test and over all, I am happy with the result.

a. Do you think your studying strategies were effective-why/not?

I believe that my studying habits were effective, although I sometimes focused on parts that were not on the actual test. I did a pretty nice studying job, although I could have concentrated on some other stuff. I could have also certainly payed more attention to Christianity.

b. How will you prepare next time?

For the next test, I believe I will focus in the same way, but touch more topics basically then one totally. In this way, my organization of studying will be increased and touched. When I look at it, my studying will never change, but my organization, in my opinion should.

2. What was the most surprising thing you learned about during this unit?

The most surprising thing I learned throughout this unit is about Early Christianity. How it evolved and became a great religion. All the people that accompanied the prosperity of that religion. I found fascinating the interesting facts about Christianity and how it prospered.

3. If we had more time to spend on Rome + Christianity- what would you want to learn more about?

If we had more time to spend on Rome I would totally learn about gladiators, the Colosseum and how they affected Rome and its development. After all, this unit was really fascinating but if we had more time, I would study gladiators and entertainment.

Causes of the Roman Fall

In my opinion, Romes fall was very inevitable. The many wars, problems and economic and technological falls were heart breaking. Many Romans did not know what to do, and instead of progressing, they were backing away. This was the moment the fall started. It was like Rome was a dice, ready to be played with, but there were no players. It stood there, watching at the horrible things moving around them. In this blog post I will tell you some of the factors that contributed to the drastic fall of Rome. There are a couple of major ones, while their the minor ones push themselves through.

The first factor was the geography of Ancient Rome and its surroundings. Romes was shaped like a donut and therefore it was very challenging for them to protect the territory. The barbarians could easily enter their lands and take away valuable items and destroy their property. The second factor that affected the fall of Rome was the economic decline. The economy of Ancient Rome was too weak for supporting the empire and government. The market fell, and there wasn't even a point in jobs. The economy simply fell apart and with it the empire. The third reason was the growth of the government. The senate and assembly became dishonest and were just in search of wealth. This factor destroyed the organization and safety of the Roman Republic. At this point, people did not know where to go and what to do, which leads us to the fourth factor, decline in the work force. This was the effect of the past three factors. The population saw no point in working and did not know what to do with their lives. It was like they were happy to survive each day. The fifth major/minor factor was the lack of technology. Due to the lack of work force, not enough goods were produced to support the economy and community. You can see how this connects, each factor connects with each other which equals into the tragic fall of Rome. The final and most public factor was the final military defeat. The barbarians finally succeeded to defeat the Roman military, which led to the final touch of the fall of Rome.

After all, these were some of the factors that affected Romes final fall. I showed you how they connect although some people do not even notice that. To conclude, there were many factors that affected the fall of Rome and how it affects the fall of it.

Dictators, Yes or No?

The Romans were tired of dictators and their power. After Caesar's death, they elected his adopted son, "Augustus", the Roman power. I truly do not agree with the fact that he was not a dictator. He attempted, and succeeded to hypnotize his people into thinking he was fair. In this post, I will demonstrate some of the ways in which he hypnotized. Come on, lets begin.

The first and most important aspect, would be the public appearance and actions.Augustus especially payed attention to this fact. He was kind and perfect in the eyes of the people, but few did know the inside of him. In the textbook, the early empire part, it states that Augustus avoided to be called king. Instead, he wanted to be called the "first citizen". Although this is a fair name, it already arises many discussions. Why first, why not just "the citizen"? These are the factors that Augustus payed attention to. He was a real smart emperor, and he used his intelligence with great care. He knew, that once he had the peoples pride and honor, it would allow him to achieve many glories. After all, the first major factor was pleasing the people, then pleasing yourself.

The second reason in which I believe that Augustus was a dictator is because he had total power over the Roman Republic. He controlled the military troops and appointed the government officials. He had a real hand with power over the Romans. Augustus conducted the Roman world and everything went his way. As I mentioned earlier, the population was hypnotized and could not clear their minds with the thoughts of Augustus' actions.

Although Augustus achieved many improvements to make life easier, you can put the puzzle together and find out he wasn't really fair and did not think about his people. Firstly, the public actions, in my opinion, were all well developed tricks. Once the people were on his side, he knew he would dominate. Secondly, the power he had was also overwhelming. Augustus controlled the military and government, therefore he could run Rome with great ease. Once again, the people come in effect because they backed up all his actions. Finally, his basic feelings, actions and emotions were harsh and straight. Once he announced, "I found Rome built of sun-dried bricks. I leave her covered in marble". This is of course true, but it is easy to notice the selfishness in which he stated this. Once again, I truly believe that Augustus was another dictator.

In conclusion, Augustus was just another ordinary dictator, but with much more brains and trickery. Once he fooled the people, he knew he would dominate and every part of his plan worked. In the public, Augustus was a normal ruler, but inside, he wanted to take advantage of every single move.

Roman Genius and Their Achievements

Along with Greeks, the Romans also really had an influence to our modern world. In this post, I will explore the ways in which the Romans did their work and advanced. The first major factor that I want to bring up is surely architecture. The Greeks contained of great engineers that did a lot of work in building and structuring important building aspects. The first major factors would surely be the aqueducts and even bridges, that are, in these days, a necessity of life. The second major factor would probably be the invention of cement. Once again, cement is very important and major in communication and without it, the world would have many problems. The second aspect I am going to look at would be the government and organization. The Romans surely were started with the advance of government by introducing lawyers, judges and courts. Along with this fact, the decision making became more advanced and impartial. Along with this, organization also flourished. There were individual rights and people settled and cooperated in a logical way. To sum this off, the aspect of organization and government was stabled when it came to Rome. The third aspect I will be explaining would be the advance in religion and culture. Although the Romans took many of their literature and culture from the Greeks, they fined tuned it a bit. They arose awareness of education and also referred to that a lot. Education was a huge thing in Rome because they had teachers from Greece come to fulfill the needs of education. Along with religion and culture, comes artisans and beautification. The Romans once again dominated in making a marvelous empire. They established statues, paintings and many more. Although some of the ideas were taken from Greece, you have to give the Romans some credit to. The final factor I wanted to talk about would be the military and territory protection. As we all know, the Romans were one of the strongest armies and were very territorial. If you look at it, they were the base to build upon. They made leaders and separated into legions, which is sort of like the divisions in the police and military. Another factor would be the intensity and how victorious the Romans were. They would never give up and these are the types of aspects the military holds. After all, these are the factors that compose the effect of Romans on the modern world. Without them, life will surely be much more challenging.

Biased Biography: Alexander the Great

I personally concluded that Alexander the Great was truly “great”. I have come to this profound conclusion after I put together a couple facts and crucial opinions.

This biography will be about Alexander the Great III of Macedon. At the age of twenty, this mighty leader took over the empire his dad had created and made it the most fascinating empire of that horrid time. After many battles and successes, people gave Alexander the title, “the Great”. Why? Finish reading this biased biography and I am sure you will agree, that Alexander the Great, was truly great.

To begin with, Alexander was a great leader and conquered many lands which later formed the greatest empire of all time. He was also very courageous which could be seen in his recordings and many risky battles. Firstly, Alexander the Great extended his empire all the way from the Balkans to the Indus River. This means he conquered and organized many lands, including Macedonia, Greece, India, Egypt and many more. Secondly, the miraculous Alexander conquered the whole Persian Empire while still in the twenties. You have to bring in mind that at the time, the Persians were one of the strongest and most developed empires. This action was the actual action that earned the nickname, “the Great”. Finally, Alexander was a great leader and taught his warriors many battle aspects. For example he taught many members how to carry their own equipment, which allowed more weapons to be carried. As I mentioned earlier, Alexander was very courageous and fought every battle with great determination. This could be seen in his constant defeats of various empires or lands. After all, Alexander was a determined and vigorous leader, which is one aspect that made him “Great”.

Another ingredient to Alexander’s “greatness” is that he actually cared about his people and the populations of the empires he conquered. Alexander respected their cultures and everyday lives too. Most importantly, Alexander the Great allowed the populations he conquered to stick to their culture but he also instilled the Greek culture among them. This brave action’s effect was that the people gradually began to trust Alexander, which was later on a crucial aspect of a leader. The second supporting reason is that Alexander did not torture his people unlike many other rulers. This once again raised the trust in Alexander the people had. Don’t misunderstand Alexander and my point, because Alexander new to get dirty and agitated too. Finally, Alexander tried to assure that his people had trust in him. There are many ways he tries this including the examples I mentioned earlier. He also sometimes adopted the culture himself. (He actually wore some Persian clothes once he conquered the civilization) Here is another cause and effect example. Once the people had trust and respect toward him, it was much easier to command and rule them. Now Alexander would have a higher amount of warriors as well as more organization throughout the cities. In fact, the more famous Greek historian Plutarch wrote about how much the people obeyed Alexander and how much trust they had in him: “If Alexander wishes to be a god, we agree that he be called a god”. (Plutarch, Moralia 219 e/the Decline and Fall of Ancient Greece) This demonstrates how much trust the populations had toward this mighty leader. I don’t think that any leader could become a god himself, whenever he aspired to. To conclude, the second key ingredient to this “cake” or “greatness” is that Alexander the Great really cared about his group of people.

The third major factor on why Alexander was truly “great” is because he faced plenty of time and thoughts to culture (he had a great appreciation for culture) and had great plans on improving education. To start, Alexander’s knowledge started with Aristotle, (a Greek philosopher) who was Alexander’s teacher. Aristotle taught Alexander science, philosophy and literature. Because of this, Alexander increased his mind level which helped him in his further leadership. Secondly, Alexander the Great most importantly tried to educate his swarms of people. This was a sign of a great human and leader because he didn’t only care about power and size, but cared about quality. An example of this would be the creation of the museum, which would later be the base of people studies. The museums contained many types of studies and people attended the museum for exploring the world. Thirdly, Alexander the Great wanted to develop his civilizations and improve the education of the people and youth. This is sign and aspect not many leaders had and this is what made Alexander truly “Great”. This developing improved the knowledge of his people which had many positive effects on Alexander’s leadership. To sum this paragraph up, the concluding factor of the 3 is that Alexander the Great had extra appreciation for education and culture. (In my opinion the person that is most engaged for this aspect is Aristotle, Alexander’s to say spiritual teacher)

To sum this biased biography off, I generally believe that Alexander the Great was truly “Great” because of the earlier defined reasons. Being a great leader, caring about your people, and most importantly caring about education, is a combination not many leaders possess. This is the reason on why I back up anyone who thinks Alexander the Great was truly “Great”. Alexander the Great is a world wide mystery that not many people will ever uncover.