5/27:

Today we continued to highlight on the paper. We have a test Wednesday. After we finished that Mr. Schick handed out a review sheet. It was for homework but I finished it in class. We don't have school Monday and we don't have class Tuesday. I think it will be a little bit hard. I  need an A to raise my grade. We have 5 classes left.

5/26:

It is very humid and hot out today. Today we went over the handout. We only got halfway through. We highlighted the important points. Here are those important points:

• In A.D. 476, a barbarian king took over the rule of Rome
• The process of decline took place in three stages
• Trade was disrupted by barbarian raids and by bands of pirates on Mediterranean sea lanes
• Rome's small industries produced only wine, cheese, and glass
• Overworked soil lost much of it's fertility
• Tribes of northern barbarians called Goths repeatedly overran the legions guarding the Danube frontier
• Roman soldiers fought only for money
• Raised cash rewards to attract recruits
• Recruited barbarians
• Collected a certain amount of tax, if that limit wasn't collected the collector would have to pay it

That is a review of what we did. 

5/25:

Today we went over our Roman test. I got an 83% on it. Not as good as I thought I did but at least it is not a failing grade. That took up most of the class time. He handed out another reading paper. That is for homework to night. We have to read answer 5 questions and define 10 words. Here are the Q's & A's, and vocab words:
Vocab:

1. Inflation- when there is a huge increase in prices
2. Diocletian- one of the greatest emperors; a strong-willed army leader & son of a slave, emperor of the eastern side
3. Constantine- one of the greatest emperors; First emperor of the western side
4. Eastern empire- ruled by Diocletian; rich
5. Western empire- ruled by Constantine; made of farms
6. Edict of Milan- freedom to follow the religion you want 
7. Constantinople- the new capital named after Constantine
8. Huns- a nomadic people from central Asia 
9. Attila- Hun leader; short man with a flat nose and thin, graying beard 
10. Leo I- first truly powerful pope of Rome

Questions:

1. What economic problems did the empire face in the third century?
2. By the third century, how had Rome's army changed since the days of the republic?
3. (a) What important religious change did Constantine bring about in the empire? (b) What political change did he bring about?
4. (a) Why did Germanic tribes invade the empire in the 400's? (b) Why was the empire unable to drive the invaders out?
5. (a) List three reasons why Diocletian should be considered a successful emperor. (b) List three reasons why he might be considered a failure. 

Answers:

1. Local officials usually lost money b/c they were required to bay for costly circuses and baths. Less and less money came in as taxes. The only groups actively interested in politics were the armies. 
2. Soldiers fought strictly for money, not for patriotism. To attract recruits into the army, the government promised ever higher cash awards. Emperors began to recruit barbarians. The loyalty of barbarian troops to the empire could hardly be trusted.
3. (a) freedom to follow the religion you want. (b) end of persecution of Christians
4. (a) ? (b) Because they were already weak. 
5. (a) stopped the decline of the empire, made the borders safe again, and made the emperor considered an exalted person again. (b) wages for the troops added to the already crushing load of taxes, price controls failed, Christianity continued its rapid growth

5/23:

Today in class we peer reviewed out papers. I barely got any corrections which I guess is a good thing. Tonight and tomorrow we have to fix our paper and print out our final copy. I think I will get a good grade but I won't no till later. Today was a fun class though. I peer reviewed Sarah and Caitlin's papers. It was a short class kind of so our then that we didn't do anything.

5/20:

Mr. Schick was absent today, so we had a sub. Our sub was Mr. A. We worked on our essays. I got half way done. I find it kind of confusing. Not that much only the Republic part. I don't know the parts in the Republic. If there is any. Or if there's parts in the emperor. I think a lot of people were almost done. I think we used the time wisely. The essay is on the difference between the Roman empire and republic. We have to turn in our rough draft on Monday.

5/19:

Today we took a test which was really easy. It was on the Roman Empire like Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. I think I only got three wrong but the extra credit, which I got right, was worth 3 points, so that made it up. If I got any more than three wrong, I definitely still got an A+. The test was made up of naming what the emperors did, T/F, 5 multiple choice, 1 extra credit. We now have an essay due Monday. It is: What is the difference between the Empire and Roman republic.  

5/18:

Today we finished taking notes on the PowerPoint.

Religious troubles:

• The Western Wall today is the holiest of all Jewish shrines
  
• Half a million Jews died in the rebellion
  

Persecution of Christians:

• Romans were harsh toward those who would not worship the emperor
  
• Especially Christians, who were viewed as followers of a new, upstart religion (cult)
  
• Often used for "entertainment" purposes in the Colosseum (thrown to the lions, etc.)
  
• Despite the oppression, Christianity grew quickly – by AD 200, around 10 percent of the people in the Roman empire were Christians
  

For the rest of class we got into groups and studied. This is what my group came up with:

Possible essay question:
What was the republic made up of?

• Monarchy- run by a dictator
  
• Aristocracy- run by the rich
  
• Democracy- run by the people
  

Study guide questions:
What are the emperors in order?

• Augustus
  
• Tiberius
  
• Caligula
  
• Claudius
  

Which emperor conquered Britain?

• Claudius
  

Who are the six most influential people?

• Muhammad
  
• Sir Isaac Newton
  
• Jesus
  
• Buddha
  
• Confucius
  
• St. Paul of Tarsus
  

Other notes:

• Zealots were the group of Jews that rebelled
  
• Augustus was the greatest emperor
  

5/16:

Today Mr. Schick made and showed us a PowerPoint on the Roman Empire. We had to take notes, these are the notes I took:

• Octavian
  
  • Got title Caesar Augustus
    
  • 1^st empire in the Roman Empire
    
  • Began the Pax Romana
    
  • Built roads, aqueducts (bringing water from places)
    
  • Set up civil service(government) to take care of roads, the grain supply, even a postal service
    
  • Jesus was born at the time
    
  • Augustus died at age 76 by natural causes
    
• Tiberius
  
  • Time of Jesus and Paul
    
  • Augustus' stepson and adopted adopted son
    
  • Tiberius succeeded Octavian
    
  • Didn't get along with Senate
    
  • Senate- "men fit to be slaves"
    
  • Didn't want to be emperor
    
  • Germanicus- ally
    
  • Germanicus started to get powerful and looked like he was going to take over
    
  • Tiberius had him killed
    
  • Died at age 77 by natural causes (probably)
    
• Jesus
  
  • Roman citizen and a Jew
    
  • Began ministry at 30
    
  • Preached to the poor, reached out to outsiders
    
  • Wasn't popular when alive
    
  • A lot of things he said made people nervous, thought he was going to overtake the kingdom
    
  • Pontius Pilate, governor of the Roman province of Judaea, sentenced him to death
    
• Paul
  
  • He was riding his horse
    
  • Got kicked off and got blind
    
  • The first thing he saw was Jesus
    
  • He started to tell Jesus' story
    
  • People wrote letters to him asking questions
    
  • He wrote back to him
    
  • Letters in New Testament
    
  • Jesus became known because of him
    
• Most influential persons in history
  
  • 1. Muhammad
    
  • 2. Sir Isaac Newton
    
  • 3. Jesus
    
  • 4. Buddha
    
  • 5. Confucius
    
  • 6. St. Paul of Tarsus
    
• Caligula
  
  • Germanicus' son
    
  • Tiberius' adopted grandson and great-nephew
    
  • Started off well
    
  • Began to fight with Senate
    
  • Claimed to be a god
    
  • Had statues of him everywhere, like in a Jewish temple
    
  • Slept with other men's wives and bragged about it
    
  • Spent too much money
    
  • Tried to make his horse a consul and a priest
    
  • Critics said all this
    
  • Assassinated by his own aides at age 28
    
• Claudius
  
  • Ostracized by his family because of his disabilities
    
  • Had limp, slight deafness, possible speech impediment
    
  • Conquered Britain, no one else could
    
  • Built roads, canals, and aqueducts
    
  • Renovated the Circus Maximus
    
  • Had an awful marriage to Messalina
    
  • She was unfaithful, plotted to seize power for her lover Silius through a coup
    
  • Claudius had wife and her lover killed
    
• Religious troubles
  
  • Christianity and Judaism: monotheistic (one God)
    
  • Romans had many gods, plus at times the emperor was viewed as a god
    
  • A group of Jews called the Zealots tried to rebel, but Roman troops put them down and burned their temple (except for one wall)
    
  • The Western Wall is considered holiest site for Jews
    

  
   

  
   

5/13:

We continued to watch the video and finished it.

• Caligula became Emperor
• He goes to the North sea with a huge army
• Right before they invade he makes him stop and collect seashells
• He may have been ill
• He was supposed to kill an animal but he kills a high priest instead 
• He was a disaster
• Main religion was belief of Greek gods but there were some other religions like Jewish
• Augustus was good, fair, had religious tolerance
• Caligula didn't have religion tolerance
• He had a statue  made of himself as a Greek god and put in the Jews most holiest place
• Caligula was later murdered 
• He allowed people to bully Jews
• Many people freed slaves (called freed men)
• Some freed men became wealthy 
• Claudius became heir of Caligula
• His weak spot was his wife
• She was only interested in money 
• She had affairs
• She was later killed
• He was good at the beginning but he started to lose his control
• All heirs after Augustus were weird

After the video we looked up Caligula and Claudius. I only got Claudius. Here are the notes about him:

• First emperor to be born outside Italy. 
• Had a limp and slight deafness. 
• His family ostracized him and excluded him from public office. 
• Died when he was 54. 
• Grand-nephew took over

5/12:

We continued watching the video.

• Having one emperor means that they can do what ever they want
• Everyone was afraid to stop Tiberus
• Tiberus killed his friend
• No one was secure in his control
• Tiberus died and Caligula took over
• Can avoid too much power if you had 3 branches that looked after each other (like US)
• Jesus ties in with this
• Paul told the story of Jesus; he formed Christianity
• Without Paul everyone would probably forgotten about Jesus
• Jesus is a historical figure in this video
• People threatened to throw Jesus off a cliff
• Jesus was arrested and cursified
• Jews and Rome both powerful at the time
• Jesus bothered both Rome and the Jews
• Jesus talked to the poor
• Jesus broke the law
• He was arrested by Rome
• Rome didn't know what to do with him so they passed him back in forth between Rome and the Jews until enough people wanted him killed
• Learned that you shouldn't mess with the Roman Empire
• Jesus even got the attention of Tiberius

5/11:

Today we tried something new, taking notes on paper. We watched two videos. One was Ultimate Dog Tease. The other one was about the Roman Empire. Here are the notes I took on the second one:

• Augustus was the nickname given to Octavius
• Augustus was a monarch
• Octavius formed and broke up the 2nd Triumvirate, he became king, had full control, everything was going well
• He died at age 75 of old age
• Changed republic-> empire
• His heirs were Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius
• Spain, Greece, Syria, and Africa were all part of Rome
• Tiberius took over after Octavius 
• Tiberius was Octavius' step son
• Tiberius tried to be like Augustus but it didn't work
• Tiberius didn't know how to run an army
• Public baths: work out, eat, get hair plucked out
• It was for poor, rich, everyone
• When you have someone that is a good ruler you don't mind
• When you have a bad ruler you want to remove them but you can't

5/9:

All we did today was go over to test. It was a simple day. We went over our Greece and Rome test. Greece was on our powerpoints and Rome was on people like Julius Ceaser and Hannibal. Mr. Schick gave out the test to us to keep. We reviewed them and filled them in with answers. So now we can use them for our final which is not to far away. 

5/6:

We had to finish presenting our projects. Have that we took a test.
Paragraph 1:

• Etruscans
• literacy was rich
• built cities
• cities ruled by powerful king
• Tiber river
• yellow color
• 3rd longest river
• Tarquin the proud
• people of Rome overthrew him
• last king they had
• he was so much a tyrant

Paragraph 7:

• Pax Romana
• 200 years of peace
• time of improvement
• Circus Maximus
• oldest and largest circus in Rome
• oval shaped
• chariot races
• gladiators- prisoners, slaves, or criminals
• people didn't believe in religion got killed
• Chariot racing was most popular sport
• got money for presenting 
• important for slaves and poor people

5/5:

We are presenting our powerpoints on the song. We will go over paragraph 1 & 7 tomorrow. We will have a test tomorrow.

Paragraph 2:

• Didn't have a tyrant
• Democracy
• Aristocracy- families of Rome, best treated, upper class, wealthy
• Monarchy
• Plebeians- lower class, all citizens, very poor
• Legion- 60 centuries, 5,000 men
• Hannibal- 28; laid waste along the Carthage peninsula 
• Punic War

Paragraph 3: 

• Sarah and mine and sorta kinda Cole but not really

Paragraph 4:

• Julius Ceaser- triumvirate: Ceaser, Crassus, and Pompey
• became dictator of Rome
• Crassus- one of the wealthiest people ever, Ceaser recruited him, general of army
• Pompey- military leader; started out as friends; he turned against Ceaser
• Started fighting against each other
• Pompey married Ceaser's daughter
• Ceaser beat him in battle
• Pompey got beheaded
• Egypt brought Ceaser his head 
• he wasn't to excited about it

Paragraph 5: 

• Julius Ceaser
• patrician ranked
• Pagan
• killed March 15 
• stabbed 23 times
• senators feared he was becoming king
• killed in theater of Pompey
• a law encouraging to kill people trying to become king
• dictator in perpetuity- dictator for life 
• Brutus- friend of Ceaser 
• Longinus- enemies of Ceaser 
• They planned the killing

Paragraph 5:

• Ceaser:
• 60 people participated
• Et tu Brute?
• Ceaser's last words
• you to Brutus?
• in Shakespeare's play
• no one no's if it's his last words

Paragraph 6:

• Octavian
• Ceaser's nephew and adopted son
• Antony and Octavian- demanded control; out to get revenge 
• killed 100 senators and 2,000 business men 
• Cicero was killed- greatest orator; did not kill Ceaser, but was against absolute rule
• Ceaser pretty good ruler
• Antony falls in love with Cleopatra
• Octavian thought he was teaming up to take over
• Went in battle
• Battle of Actium: fought against Octavian and Antony & Cleopatra 
• Octavian won

5/4:

Today's class we had a sub. We finished our powerpoints and showed the people who weren't here what to do. Sarah, who is my partner, and I had finished all of our research. So today in class we just looked for pictures, put animation, and put in a bibliography on our powerpoint. It felt like a really short class. Tomorrow we are supposed to present.

5/2:

Today Mr. Schick wanted us to learn what the lyrics to the song he wrote mean. We broke up into pairs to make a power point on a paragraph in the song. I worked with Sarah. We did a power point on paragraph 3. Paragraph 3 is about latifundia, what happened to the farmers, and the Gracchus brothers. We learned what latifundia means and what happened to the farmers and the Gracchus brothers. We didn't quite finish yet. Here is the link to the lyrics again: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=18jif1GwtK7F3XN30VQUEsedFWY_wv8pT0q9Iy8_YuVc#. We did the 3rd paragraph not counting the 1st paragraph.