Nora's Western Civ Blog

Today you asked us to take notes on the rest of the power point, slides 43-52. Here are some of the key notes that I took: Octavian takes over the throne at 18 with his own triumvirate with Mark Anthony and Lepidus Octavian forces Lepidus to retire and he and Mark Antony become rivals  Mark Antony partners up with Cleopatra from Egypt Octavian is now ruling Rome alone new Rome is an empire not a republic Octavian started Pax Romana, which was 207 years long Octavian had many accomplishments including building a network of roads and collecting taxes Octavian died of natural causes and the power was passed down to emperors Tiberius ruled from AD 14-37 and was excellent general but a reluctant emperor Caligula ruled from AD 37-41 and won a power struggle after Tiberius' death Claudius ruled from AD 41-54, he suffered from many infirmities but was a good ruler Nero ruled from AD 54-68 who emphasized the arts and who wanted to rebuild Rome to make it more majestic 

I will be taking my test at 8 on June 2nd. Here are my notes on slides 32-42: the plebs like to revolt and fight against the government bread and free entertainment is used to keep them distracted so they don't revolt Tiberius Gracchus saw advantages in courting the plebs military generals had a similar mindset: conquer a land and then share Julius Caesar: (100-40 BC), a highly successful general, conquered the huge territory of Gaul he made the common folk happy and made friends in high places him along with Pompey, and Crassus formed the first triumvirate  Caesar serves as a consul for one year, appoints himself governor of Gaul Pompey is his jealous rival in 44 BC he is named dictator- first for six months then for life Caesar did many things during his rule including granting citizenship to people in provinces, expanding the state, creating jobs for the poor, increasing pay for soldiers, and starting colonies where those without land could own property Caesar was

Today you asked us to pick out of three choices what we wanted to write our test essay on. I am going to choose option A, which is to compare and contrast Rome and the US government.

Today you asked us to take notes like we would in our notebook from pages 160-165 in the textbook. Here are some key notes that I took: main idea: empire building- The creation of the Roman empire transformed Roman government, society, economy, and culture. why it matters now: The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model of political organization and control. civil war: a war between people in the same country Julius Caesar: a military leader who was elected consul in 59 B.C. triumvirate: a group of three rulers Augustus: unchallenged ruler of Rome aka Octavian Pax Romana: the period of peace and prosperity most Romans survived on the produce from their local area, the rich often got luxury food from trade gravitas: a person that withholds the qualities of discipline, strength, and loyalty the Romans had more slaves than any other previous civilization numina: the gods, or the divine forces that the Romans believed resided in everything around them free enter

Today you asked us to explain all the details about the Punic Wars. The Punic Wars were fought from 264-146 BCE. They were fought between Rome and Carthage. There were three wars in the Punic Wars. These wars were a struggle between two empires for control and power. In the first Punic War, there were naval battles for control of Sicily. This battle Rome won. Then, in the second Punic War Carthage strikes back and Hannibal takes Rome. He attacks Rome from the North and lays siege to the peninsula for 15 years, but he never reaches Rome. Lastly, in the third Punic War, Rome no longer wanted to have Carthage as a threat. So, many men attacked Carthage, including Scipio, Tiberius, and Gracchus. Carthage was burned for 17 days and everything was destroyed. At the end of the war, anyone that was left in Carthage was sold into slavery. This led to many economic changes and social upheaval.

Today you asked us to go over slides 9-22 in your power point and discuss the two main topics that were talked about in those slides. Slides 9-12 are all talking about how bad it was to live under the rule of a cynical and bad leader. These slides talk about Tarquin and how he seized power and it talks about all the crazy things he did. This kings behavior shaped the peoples ideas about their family. The people never wanted to be subject to the rule of kings again. In slides 13-22 the Roman government is described and compared to the US government. It talks all about how officials were elected and what they did. These slides also continue to discuss the differences between the plebeians and the patricians. The US government and the Roman government have some similarities. Their governments were modeled in very similar ways and both had the three branches of government. In each of those branches there were similarities and differences.

Today our assignment was to take notes on the Chi Cago's guide to ancient Rome. Here are some key notes that I took: Rome was settled by the Etruscans, the Greeks, and the Latins  the Latins were the ones who first settled Rome, and they settled on the banks of the Tiber, also built on the 7 hills Remus wanted the Aventine hill while Romulus wanted the Palatine there was an area between the Palantine and Capitoline hills called the Forum many streams flowed into the Tiber the Cloaca Maxima was the largest ancient drain, which channeled water into the Tiber the 7th and last king of Rome was Tarquinias Superbus aka Tarquin the Proud he was a tyrant in the old and in the modern sense of the word

I started listening to Rome and I honestly thought it was very funny. I feel like I have heard this song before, maybe they played it for us in middle school. This song is a very clever way to learn, because you can listen to the song and sing along and then remember the facts from it. But, overall, I though it was a funny song and it made me laugh.

In Rome, before 451, there were not fixed laws. The laws that were present, were not written down. All the laws just went through the patricians, and the leaders just interpreted them by themselves, the way they saw them. This started a conflict between the plebeians and the patricians called the conflict of the orders. The plebeians staged a protest so the patricians were forced to do something to make them stop. This resulted in the common people finally having a say in the law, which later lead to the laws being written down. All the laws were first carved on wooden tablets, but then later on bronze. These tablets were out in public for everyone to see. The twelve tables were an important step in the development of Rome's government and it was a very important step for the relationship between the patricians and the plebeians. The twelve tables showed that all citizens had the right to protect and talk about the law.

This is a picture of the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus was a racetrack and was used for various forms of entertainment for the Roman people. There was chariot racing and horse racing. In the earlier years there were gladiator shows here, but when the Colosseum was built all the gladiator shows started happening there. The Circus Maximus also hosted many important religious processions. The Circus Maximus was used for many purposes and is a landmark of ancient Rome.