Thursday May 19

Lord today we had a test please help us do our best! The test was on alot of information but overall i think I did pretty well!

May 18, 2011

Persecution of Christians

• Romans were harsh toward those who would not worship the emperor
• Especially Christians, who were viewed as followers of a new cult
• Often used for entertainment in the Colosseum
• Christianity grew quickly and by 200 AD around 10% of the people in the Roman Empire were Christians

What was the Roman republic made up of?

• democracy
• aristocracy
• monarchy

May 16, 2011

Augustus:

• Began Pax Romana- a period of peace and prosperity
• Built roads, aqueducts (brought water to the cities)
• Set up civil service to take care of the roads, the grain supply, and the postal service
• Augustus died at age 76 in 14 AD and passed the power to Tiberius
• Emperor when Jesus was born

Jesus and Paul

• Jesus was a Roman citizen and a practicing Jew
• At age 30 he began his ministry by preaching to the poor in the empire
• Statements like "My kingdom is not of this world" made the Romans/ Jews nervous and they planned an execution
• The governor of the Roman province of Judea Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion 
• The 4 canonical gospels explain his life
• Jews think that Jesus did not fulfill all of the things it takes to be a Messiah
• Paul is instrumental in telling the world about Jesus's life, death, resurrection, and message
• He wrote many letter to people and they are part of the New Testament
• Without Paul it is likely that Jesus would not be as famous as he is today and he wouldn't be the figure of the largest religion in the world
• Jesus is the 3rd most influential person in history

Tiberius

• Augustus's stepson and adopted son
• He was a great general but he was a dark, somber, reclusive emperor
• He referred to the senate as "men fit to be slaves"
• Germanicus started out as Tiberius's ally but when he looked like h would succeed Tiberius he got paranoid and had Germanicus killed
• He started off well, he gave bonuses to poor soldiers, declared treason trials a thing of the past, and made the government spending a matter of public record
• Assassinated by his own aides in 41 AD at the age of 28
• Slept with other mens wives, too much sex & spending, tried to make his horse a priest

Claudius

• Ostracized by his family because he had disabilities (limp, slight deafness, speech impediment, and probably had polio or cerebral palsy)
• He conquered Britain; built roads, canals, and aqueducts and he renovated Circus Maximus and rebuilt it
• Had an awful marriage to Messalina who was unfaithful to him and Claudius had one of the people in the senate killed for messing around with his wife

Religious Troubles

• Christianity and Judaism were monotheistic which set them aside from other religions
• Romans had many gods and the emperor was viewed as a god
• 66 AD the Jews called the Zealots tried to rebel but Roman troops put hem down and burned their temple
• The Western Wall today is still the holiest of all Jewish shrines
• Half a million Jews died in the rebellion
• 
  

Friday May 13

Today we finished the video in class, here are my notes:

• In class we talked about Jesus and his message that was passed to Paul
• Paul passed the message on to people and eventually more and more people started to pass it on

After the video we got in a group and observed Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.

Tiberius

• Born in 42 BC
• Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD
• Augustus's step son
• One of Rome's greatest generals
• Lucius Sejanus served the imperial family and was a close friend to Tiberius
• People say that the crowd rejoiced when Tiberius died

Caligula

• Also known as Gaius 
• Roman Emperor from 37 to 41 AD
• Son of Germanicus who was a very successful general
• People called him and insane tyrant
• Brief reign
• In early 41 he was assassinated
• At 2 or 3 he accompanied his father Germanicus
• Dressed Caligula in armor
• His father was posioned
• His murder was planned

Claudius 

• Emperor from 41 AD to 54 AD
• Son of Drusus
• Born in Gaul
• Caligula was his nephew
• Adopted his nephew Nero
• Died probably from an illness
• Some people thought he died of poisoning

Thursday May 12

Today in class we continued to watch the video and here are the notes I took (summarized):

• Tiberius was killed and so was Saganius (his aid)
• Caligula was the next to rule
• Caligula was insane just like Tiberius
• Caligula was the son of a war hero and he traveled with his dad during the war and many people loved him
• When Caligula grew up he showed signs of bipolar
• Caligula was later murdered by his friends
• Claudius was the last one left to rule and he had facial deformities
• Many people made fun of Claudius 
• People killed Claudius's wife who he loved alot 

Wednesday May 10

Today in class we started to watch a video on Rome. The video is on youtube and it was pretty detailed and Mr. Schick made us take notes on paper which was strange for him to do. Some of the things the video discussed were:

• The baths where people worked out, talked, and bathed
• Tiberius became the ruler after Octavian died from old age
• People started to hate Tiberius because he was weird and perverted
• Tiberius was the step son of Octavian Augustus but he was not a good ruler because he didn't take charge in his position

Monday May 9

Today in class we got our Rome test and our Greek test back and we went over the answers to both. Mr.Schick said that they are going to be on the exam and since his exam was hard last time i'm sure it will be again.I did okay on the Greek test but not so good on the Rome test.