4/26/11

today in class we first started out talking about how mr schick had a very bad easter because he was sick the whole time. he had a temperature of 103 tuesday through thursday with the shivers and the shakes. After he was finished talking about that he sent us an email with an attachment of a paper. We had to read the whole paper and then at the end answer questions about it. The paper was mostly about Rome.We also had to answer some questions about the Rome paper. It first asks us to identify some words; republic- A political unit that is not ruled by a monarch and in their leasers; Gravitas- weightiness or seriousness; patrician- specially privileged families that were like high society in Rome; pater families- the eldest man of the family who had complete power over his family; toga- an uncomfortable garment that Romans used to wear; plebeian- the common people like artisans, farmers, and merchants; legion- the roman military unit; century- each legion was divided into 60 smaller parts which are called legions. After describing all of those words we had to identify: Italy- which is shaped like a high heeled boot. The Italian peninsula is near the midpoint of the Mediterranean. The land is very mountainous and the country was rolling, wooded, fertile; Rome- Rome is midway in the Alps and Italys southern tip. Rom occupies an ideal position from which to send out ships and armies in all directions. Romulus was part of an ancient Roman myth. He was the one who stated Rome after he struck his brother and killed him; Palatine Hill- the hill that Romulus chose for his new city. After he killed his brother, Palatine Hill became Athens; Alps- the apls are located on the Eastern side of Rome; Tiber River- a river that the king put Romulus and his brother Remus in when they were just babies because he feared they would become to powerful; I then figured out that you didnt have to describe all these things you just had to answer some of the questions. Geography helped Rome because there were in the middle of the Mediterranean and also in the middle of Italy. They were in the prime location for trade routes.The difference between a republic and a democracy. Republic is when the people get to choose there own leader and a democracy is when the people get to choose everything like going to war and building roads. The next question we had to answer was how did Latins, Greeks, and Etruscans help Romes development. Rome began as a settlement of Latin shepherds, no more than a cluster of round wooden huts perched atop the 300- foot Palatine Hill. The Greeks established about 50 colonies on the coast of southern Italy and Sicily. These active cities brought all of Italy, including Rome, into closer contact with Greek civilization. The Etuscans had a writing system and the Latins did not. They also had a great cultural influence on the Latins. Eventually the settlers of Rome adopted their alphabet. The values of early roman society was that they had specially privileged families who were known as the patrician class. The said that there ancestry gave them the authority to make laws for Rome and its people. The Roman household was organized as a parta familia which means that the father of the family was the one who ruled and made the decisions in the family. The women had rights but not as many as the father. She could make decisions but it was always under the pressure of the father. The army was linked to Roman society because all male citizens were required to serve in the army and no one could hold public office untile he had a first served ten years as a soldier.