May 28, 2015: Last Class

Today was our last class in Western Civilization. We spent the entire class writing three essays for our final exam next Wednesday. You could pick three out of the five topics to write about. I chose to compare and contrast the government of Ancient Rome with the Current U.S. government in 2015. The second essay i picked was to write about the meaning of the phrase fro Socrates, "The unexamined life is not worth living." The final essay i wrote was to compare the social hierarchy of Ancient Egypt with Ancient Rome.

May 27, 2015: Class

Today in West Civ Mr. Schick showed us an article about a shooter killing an employee at Walmart in North Dakota. Then he passed out our tests while Rosemary and Karson took the Rome test. We reviewed the tests.

May 26, 2015: Class

In class today we took our test on ancient Rome. We had about the first ten minutes of class to study and then we took it. When everyone was finished he graded them and told us our grades. I got a 93%.

May 22, 2015: Test

Things to know for the test on Rome.

- Washington D.C. not actually a swamp (2% swamp)
- First people to settle in Rome: Etruscans, Latins, Greeks
- Latins settled first
- Tarquin the Proud (Tarquinias Superbus)
   - Seventh and Final king of Rome
- Law of the Twelve Tables
- Res Publica : the people's affairs
   - Democracy
   - Aristocracy
   - Republic

- Rome: Executive - Two consuls
- U.S.: Executive - President and VP

- Rome: Legislative - Senate: 300 / Assemblies: 193
- U.S.: Legislative - Senate: 100 (each state) / House of Representatives: 435

- Rome: Judicial - Praetors
- U.S.: Judicial - Supreme Court

- Rome: Legal Code - Twelve Tables
- U.S.: Legal Code - Bill of Rights (The Ten Amendments)

- Punic Wars
   - Three
   - Rome vs. Carthage
   - First war started because of territory for Sicily
   - Second war because Carthage wanted revenge
   - Third because Rome was tired of Carthage as a threat
(Rome won all three wars)

- Latifundia
- Tiberius Gracchus
- Julius Caesar
   - Formed Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus (Rule of three men)
   - "Crossing the Rubicon"

May 21, 2015: Projects

Today in West Civ we finished up the Rome projects today. The first project to present today was from Chesca, Jessica, and Alyssa. Their project was on Roman pottery. They talked about the different types, compared them to Greek pottery, and what the pottery was used for. Then Jeremiah, Parker, Rory, and Dylan went. Their project was the Gladiators of Rome. they talked about their role, who was put into their position, and into more detail. The last person to go was Kendall, Ellee, and Karson. they made a board game about Rome. It was based on Roman trivia.

May 20, 2015: Projects

In class today three more people presented their projects on Rome. The first person to present was Jayla. Her project was on pottery from ancient Rome. She explained how important poetry was in Rome and what it was used for. The next was project was from Alex and Arthur. The researched roman Architecture and made a model of a temple. Then finally Trish and Caitlyn presented their project. They made a diary of he life of a plebeian and patrician life.

May 19, 2015: Projects

Today in Western Civilization three projects were presented. The first project was Zaire, Veronica, Rosemary, and I with our Roman meal. We made Columella Salad, A type of pasta, Roman cheesecake, and a type of apple juice. We gave the class samples of each and then discussed what the Romans ate, how they ate, and the ingredients of the food. The next project was by Adam, Steven, and Evan with their parody of Iggy Azalea. They made a song about Rome, recorded it, and then presented in class with the lyrics on the Smart board. Finally, David presented his power point on the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus. He gave detailed information about each like the structure, what happened there, when it was built, and many other facts.

May 15, 2015: Class

Today in class we watched a six minute video about a blues artist who died last night. After watching the video, we discussed more on the Rome project. We talked about the paper and what should be on it and then we were showed the schedule for us to present our projects. For the rest of class we worked on our Rome project or other homework while we listened to some blues music.

May 14, 2015: Notes

In class today we waited for Mr. Schick to come and then we waited for someone to finish taking the pop quiz on Rome. We then reviewed previous notes and took more notes on Rome.

How To Keep Plebs Happy
- Anxiously hope for bread and circuses
- Bread (free grain from the state) and entertainment (circus Maximus, Colosseum) pertially to keep them alive, partially to keep them quiet
- Government screwing them over

Change In Rule 
- Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the Plebians (eventually unsuccessful)
- military generals worked angle - lead an army that conquers a land, then give them a share for spoils
- Soldiers' loyalty was to their military leader, not necessarily to Rome or Republic

Caesar
- Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.E.)
- A highly successful general
- Conquered a huge territory of Gaul (current France)

Played Games in Politics
- Made common folks happy
- Made friends in high places
   - Pompey (General that conquered Syria and Palestine)
   - Crassus (richest man in Rome, One of richest men in all history)
- These three en formed the first Triumvirate ("rule of three men")

May 13, 2015: Class

In class today we took a pop quiz on Rome. It was ten questions about the material we are learning so far and i got an 80%. For the last half hour of the class Veronica, Rosemary, Zaire, and I worked on our paper for the Rome project that is due next Monday.

May 12, 2015: Class

In class today we finished watching the video about Rome on YouTube. It ended with the Senate killing Tiberius while he was running a second time as Tribune.

May 8, 2015: Class

In class today Veronica, Zaire, Rosemary and I worked on our project. Or project is Ancient Roman dishes consisting of a four course meal. Specifically, we worked on the paper for the project. We have to explain what we chose, why we chose it, and how it relates to Ancient Rome.

May 8, 2015: Class

Today in class we watched a video on the Roman Empire and Tiberius. The video was based on real events with the help of modern historians.

May 6, 2015: Notes

In Class today we took more notes on Rome. 

"5000 soldiers not in it for pay"

- The Roman army's elite heavy infantry 

- Recruited exclusively from Roman citizens

- Group of eight's a century 

- Usually on horseback/ cavalry 

- Shield, Sword, Dagger, and armor

Punic Wars

- The Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.E.)

- Rome vs. Carthage 

- Three wars

First Punic War (264-241 B.C.E.)

- Naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily 

- Rome Wins this war 

Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.E.)

- 29 year old Carthaginian general Hannibal almost does the impossible: Taking Rome 

- attacks Rome from the NORTH after crossing the Iberia (Spain) and the Alps 

- lays seige to much of the peninsula for 15 years, but he can never get to Rome 

- Rome wins again 

Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.E.)

- Rome wanted to finally remove the threat of Carthage

- Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus, and others mercilessly attacked the city 

- Carthage was burned for 17 days; they city's wall and buildings were utterly destroyed

- when the war ended, the last 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery 

- The rest of Carthage's territories were annexed, and made into the Roman province of Africa

Economic change, social upheavel 

- Slaves poured into Italy (50,000 Carthaginians)

- By the end of the second century B.C.E. there were over a million slaves in Italy

- Small farmers lost their land to aristocrats for little or no money if they couldn't pay their debts, sometimes because the men of the farm were fighting battles 

- Slaves did not work on the farms for the rich 

- The big farms became a massive estates called Latifundia 

May 5, 2015: Notes

Today in class we took more notes on Rome.

Three Governments in One
Rule of kings replaced by the rule of two consuls
- consuls are elected officials
- terms of office; one year
- always aristocrats (Patricians)
- Patricians traced their descent from a famous ancestor, or pater ("Father")

Challenge from "regular folks"
- fifth century B.C.E. - Patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the Plebs ("people")
- Plebs were 98% of the population

How did the Patricians dominate?
- Plebs had to serve in the army, but could not hold office
- Plebs were threatened with debt slavery
- Plebs had no legal rights

No Legal Rights 
- Plebs were victims of discriminatory decisions in judicial trials
- Rome had no actual laws, just unwritten customs
- Patricians could interpret these to their own advantage

Plebs refused to serve in the military until
- Laws were written out (The Law of the Twelve Tables)
- These Laws (on tablets) were posted in public (in 450 B.C.E.)
- Tribunes ("tribal Leaders") were elected

SPQR
- SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanum
- Designates any decree or decision made by "The Roman Senate and people"

Res Publica - The people's affair 
Brand new republic, ready to run
- democracy (the people's assembly and the tribunes)
- aristocracy (The Senate - approx. 300 members)
- plus monarchy (the consuls)
- not a tyranny

Ancient Rome/USA
- Originally, the US modeled their new government on the model used by the ancient Romans
- not exactly the same
- both had three branches of government
   - executive
   - legislative
   - judicial
- Both have a legal code

3 branches in 1 Rome/US

SPQR - executive                                                        USA - executive
- two consuls                                                                - president (and VP)
- one year term                                                             - Four year term
- each has veto power                                                   - Can veto proposed laws
- controls the military                                                   - Commander-in-chief
- could appoint a dictator in crisis

for a six-month term 

Legislative                                                                   Legislative 

- Senate: 300 people - members for                            - Senate: 100 Senators (six year term)

life                                                                               - House of representatives: 435 members - two 

- Assemblies: 193 members - members                        year terms 

for life 

Judicial                                                                          Judicial 

- Praetors                                                                       - Supreme Court 

- Chosen by the Centuriate Assembly                          - Nine members

- One year term                                                             - Appointed by the president, conformed by the 

                                                                                        Senate 

                                                                                      - Lifetime terms