John Carroll Human Geography

I will be taking my test on June 2 from 1:25-2:15 pm. Plebeians were kept docile with free grain from the state, and entertainment such as Colosseum. Tiberius Gracchus, though unsuccessful, recognized the benefits of courting the plebeians. Military generals worked that angle, giving them a share in the spoils. Soldiers' loyalty was to their military leader more than to Rome/ the Republic. Julius Caesar, a very successful general, conquered the huge territory of Gaul. He was smart politically, pleasing both common people and important officials such as Pompey, another successful general, and Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome. Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus formed the first triumvirate/ "rule of three men." Caesar served as consul for a year (one full term) and appointed himself governor of Gaul, making Pompey jealous. He and Pompey became rivals and when their armies clashed, Caesar won. In 44 B.C.E. he was named dictator, at first it was for six months, then the positi...

1) Plato wanted to understand The Forms so he could better navigate our own reality and the greater truth behind it. 2) Producers, the military, and the rulers. 3) Plato likened women to children, and believed that the womb was a living animal that could move around the female body and cause illness. 4) We're all born with gold, silver, or a mixture of brass and iron in our souls which determine our roles in life.

Rome's expansion and increase in wealth caused an unhappy lower class and a military breakdown. Due to this, the political system began to change. Economic turmoil came after the gap between the rich and the poor grew wider. Rich landowners had people that'd been enslaved in the war work on their large estates, and small farmers became homeless and jobless after having to sell their farms to the rich. Two brothers aimed to help the poor population by serving as tribunes, but met violent deaths after making enemies out of many senators. The formerly loyal military also started to break down, and generals started seizing power for themselves. In 60 B.C.E. Julius Caesar joined forces with wealthy Roman and a popular general and was elected consul a year later. The three ruled Rome as a triumvirate, a group of three rulers. After Caesar and Pompey, one of the other rulers, became enemies, Caesar defeated him and became dictator. With absolute power, he started a number of reform...

The Punic Wars were three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 B.C.E. The first Punic war, won by Rome, consisted of naval battles for control of Sicily. The second Punic war, also won by Rome, consisted of 29-year-old Carthaginian general Hannibal attacking Rome from the north via elephant after crossing Iberia (Spain) and the Alps. Despite laying siege to much of the peninsula for 15 years, Hannibal never took Rome. The final Punic war came next, when Rome wanted to get rid of Carthage. Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus, and others attacked the city, and Carthage burned for 17 days. The walls and buildings were all completely ruined. By the end of the war, 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery, and the rest of Carthage's territories were annexed and made into the Roman province of Africa. Due to the war, there were almost a million slaves in Italy by the end of the second century B.C.E. and farmers lost their land to aristocrats. Slaves worked on large ...

Tarquin was the grandson of the fifth king. After his grandfather died and Servius Tullias was made king, Tarquin's sister-in-law, Tullia, murdered his wife and her own husband so that she could marry Tarquin. She then convinced him to seize the throne from her father. Tarquin is convinced, and has him assassinated, along with the senators that disagree with him. Later, Tarquin's son blackmails and assaults a matron, Lucretia, and she tells her family before she commits suicide. People then rose up against him and the whole family was thrown out of Rome. Due to this ordeal, Romans never wanted another king. For centuries, this mindset prevented them from having a monarchy. Rather than kings, two elected officials called consuls dealt justice, made laws, and commanded the army. While they were always patricians, they could only hold office for a year, and had the ability to veto one another, Patricians held majority power, despite plebeians making up 98% of the population. t...

The Twelve Tables were written laws, carved into tablets and shown in the Forum. This was a victory for plebeians, as it means patricians could no longer loosely interpret laws to benefit themselves anymore. This also established the idea that all free citizens were protected by the law, rather than just the upper classes. The Twelve Tables weren't comparable to the Constitution, but rather a recording of preexisting, customary laws that were frequently changed or added to throughout the time of the Roman Republic. Laws were proposed and discussed by assemblies, then voted on.

The Pantheon is an ancient Roman structure, previously a temple. The architecture seems to emulate Classical Greek structures. The Pantheon is known for the symmetry of the entrance, the columns, and the domed ceiling, all traits associated with ancient Roman buildings.

Roman patricians owned the most land and had the most wealth, because of this, they had the most political power and most rights. Plebeians, who were farmers, artisans, and merchants, typically weren't landowners, and didn't have enough money to gain political power. Because of this, plebeians had fewer rights and little control over their government, despite making up the majority the population. Roman patricians were similar to Greek aristocrats in the sense that they were wealthy landowners whose status and money gave them political power.

Republic- A form of government in which power rests with citizens who have the right to vote for their leaders. Patrician- Wealthy landowners who held most of the power. Plebeian- Common farmers, artisans, and merchants who made up the majority of the population. Tribune- Representatives that protected the rights of the plebeians from unfair acts of patrician officials. Consul- Officials that, like kings, commanded the army and directed the government. Senate- The aristocratic branch of Rome's government that had both legislative and administrative functions in the republic. Dictator- A leader who had absolute power to make laws and command the army. Legion- Large military units made up of around 5,000 armed foot soldiers/ infantry. Punic Wars- Three wars between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 B.C. Hannibal- A Carthaginian general and brilliant military strategist.

1. Two kinds of drama were performed in greek theaters- Tragedy (serious dramas with themes such as love, hate, war or betrayal, typically featuring a tragic hero with a fatal flaw) and Comedy (contained slapstick situations and humor, mocking political figures and respected people). 2. A- When I was younger, I went to Girl Scout camp, and we would write and perform skits and plays for the other girls often. Usually, skits would contains jokes and dumb humor, as well as lines that made fun of our counselors or camp staff, similar to the mocking of important figures in comedic Greek theater. 3.   This theater is very large, to hold many people in the audience.  The circular shape with the stage at the center of the raised seats also benefits the acoustics and allows for everyone to see the performance.

With students and teachers facing new challenges and responsibilities that we weren't expecting or prepared for, students have found that it's easier to slack off and cheat on assignments. As a student, a lot of us have seen work exchanged in group chats and heard of sites where we can find pre-written work, so it's difficult to complete work knowing that there's a much simpler option, even if it is dishonest. Along with this, since we're away from teachers and other students, we're in an environment where we feel like we're not really in school as much as we are on a vacation, so students don't want to be bothered with online classes and quizzes. Despite this, it's our responsibility to try and have as normal an academic life as possible in this crisis, and to learn and improve during this period.

The plague that hit Athens during the Peloponnesian war was similar to COVID-19 because both spread quickly in places where a large amount of people were crammed into close quarters. While these two illnesses have different symptoms, they were both unexpected and threw people into chaos, greatly disrupting society.

The first week of cyber days was pretty difficult. It took a lot of time to get used to it and manage the classes. I kept forgetting assignments and my grades dropped a little, but I'm hoping that by next week I'll be able to handle it. I wish that we had less work per day, but I understand that the teachers have to give us enough work for a full class.

1. Pericles was a wise statesman, politician, and general that led Athens during most of its golden age. His goals for Athens were to strengthen Athenian democracy, strengthen the empire, and glorify Athens. 2. A direct democracy is run by citizens directly ruling, not through representatives. 3. The Delian League worked by Athens taking leadership of the other city-states, using money from the league's treasury to make the Athenian navy stronger, helping Athens to gain access to waterways and strengthen the safety of the empire. The Athenian military allowed Pericles to treat other members of the league as part of the empire. Money from the treasury was also used to beautify and glorify Athens.

Today in class, Mr. Schick prepared us for the next 2 weeks by telling us about cyber school methods and where we would turn in electronic work for the time we're out of school. He instructed us on staying healthy and virus-free, and discussed why forced quarantine would work in America, but isn't allowed.

Today in class, we got new seats and assigned pockets for our phones. After we got our new seats, Mr. Schick taught us about the proper steps to avoid getting sick during a time of widespread disease, and educated us on the correct way to wash our hands. After discussing how to avoid sickness, we talked about the upcoming cyber days. Cyber days are when we have classes and assignments electronically, because we're not in school. We used to do them at John Carroll for snow days, and we're learning about them now because we're going to have off school due to the Coronavirus. It's a bad idea to have this many people in the same place during a time where there's an illness present and spreading, so we're going to have to do cyber school.

I was absent today and could not complete this assignment.

Today in class, we watched a documentary about Ancient Greece narrated by Liam Neeson. The first episode began in 508 BC, centering the revolution in Athens. Cleisthenes was born around 570 BC, and grew up in Athens. In the revolution, he saw that the people had a right to rule themselves. We heard about Sparta next. Sparta conquered surrounding land, turning the conquered people into a slave class called helots. Every year, they'd kill many of the helots to reestablish themselves not only as their masters, but as a warrior civilization. Everywhere in Greece, the heroic ideal seen in stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey was what everyone, especially men, was supposed to strive for. Then, we learned about Pisistratus, a tyrant who went to the common people for support, since there were more commoners than there were aristocrats. This action upended the social hierarchy and led to successes for Pisistratus. He reduced taxes and offered free loans, so that people didn't hav...

Today in class, we took a 10 question pop quiz on greek mythology, philosophy, and the Persian Wars. I got an 90% because I got one wrong. I'll study more before we take our actual test. After this, we learned about Aristotle. Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and a student at Plato's Academy. Aristotle opened his own school after Plato's death, called the Lyceum, where he focused on cooperative research on physics, logic, ethics, theatre, and other subjects. Aristotle wanted to foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination, gathering knowledge from all over the world, and having it easily accessible in one location, similar to the modern internet. Aristotle was a student of Plato, who was a student and follower of Socrates. Plato wrote about Socrates' trial and execution in Apology, and opened his school, called the Academy, in order to teach students differently than they did in traditional Greek schooling.

We began studying the three most influential philosophers in Ancient Greece, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates encouraged his students to examine heir beliefs and showed them the many contradictory thoughts that people had by using the Socratic Method, asking people a series of questions until they had a better understanding of their own thoughts. Socrates was put to death by drinking poison hemlock after pleading guilty when charged with disrespecting the goods and corrupting the youth of Athens. Plato, a student of Socrates, wrote about his teachings in a work called Apology. Plato also wrote The Republic, his opinion on what would be the perfect government. He wrote about three different classes, with a philosopher king at the top of the ruing class. Aristotle, a student of Plato, invented a method of arguing according to logic. He's known for teaching Alexander the Great when he was young.