The Northern Renaissance

Questions P. 480-487

1.
Utopia - Meaning "no place" in Greek, but in English has come to mean an ideal place.
William Shakespeare - Famous writer of the Elizabethan Era. Many regard as the greatest playwright of all time. Born in 1564.
Johann Gutenberg - Craftsman from Mainz, Germany who developed a printing press that incorporated a number of technologies in a new way. Process made it easy to produce books quickly and cheaply. Use movable type as opposed to the traditional Chinese static type. Gutenberg used his invention to print a complete bible in 1455. A copyist could take 5 months to copy a book, in the same time a man and a printing press could print 500 books.

3.
Durer traveled to Italy in 1494 and after returning to Germany, he produced engravings and woodcuts. Many of the prints portray religious subjects, similar to statues produced in Italy. Others portray realistic landscapes similar to the Italian Renaissance's idea of secularism.

4.
The Renaissance changed society in a way to make people realize that we are all equal, and that the evils of our world, like greed, corruption, and war must be weeded out, for people are meant to live in harmony, together.

5.
The invention of the printing press (Johann Gutenberg's version with movable type) made knowledge cheaper and more accessible to the common person. Before, Copyist could take 5 months to copy a single book, but with a man and a printing press, 500 books could be produced in the same time.

Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

1.
Renaissance - Meaning rebirth, in context referring to the revival of art and learning from the 1300's to the 1600's
Humanism - Intellectual movement that focused on human potential and achievements.
Secular - Worldly rather than spiritual and concerned with the here and now.
Patrons - Spenders, customers, in context, Church leaders and rich families and merchants spending on the arts.
Perspective - Technique used to create depth and show three dimensions on a flat surface.
Vernacular - Native language.

3.
Characteristics of a renaissance man include being charming, witty, and well educated in the classics. He should dance, sing, play music, and write poetry. As well as being a skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman. A renaissance woman should know the classics and be charming as well. Expected to inspire art but rarely create it. Better education than medieval women. Little influence on politics.

4.
Italy's cities helped make it the birthplace of the Renaissance because each city would hire its own artists to come to the city and make it beautiful, bringing work and inspiration to the artist. One such example is Isabella d'Este and her city state of Mantua which she came to rule by marrying it's ruler. She brought many artists to her court and built a famous art collection.

5.
Religious figures and those of wealth were negative towards the artists, scientist, and writers of the Renaissance because they strayed away from tradition and sought to inspire people. The Church saw science as a heresy spoke against God due to science giving natural explanations for the world that was not God. The wealthy were exposed as being enemies towards the poor commoners of the cities.

Another Day, Another Blog

Once again, Mr. Schick is back teaching and we're going through the power point made by Chi Cago. First off is Empire vs. Empire. Rome vs. Carthage. Rome and Carthage would fight 3 wars between 264-146 B.C. The First Punic War (264-241 B.C.), consisted mainly of naval battles for control of the island of Sicily. Rome would come out victorious in this war. The Second Punic War was started by 29-year-old Carthaginian general Hannibal, who would almost do the impossible; taking Rome. Instead of doing a head on attack. Hannibal attacks through Gaul and into the north from the Alps. Laid siege to the peninsula for 15 years but never got Rome. Third, final, Punic War (149-146 B.C.), Rome completely wipes out the threat of Carthage. City of Carthage was burned and the remaining 50,000 citizens were sold into slavery. All Carthaginian territory becomes Roman province of Africa. Economic changes from the thousands of slaves caused landowners to sell their land to aristocrats just to not fall into debt and become a slave themselves. Another reason was because workers kept going off to war and couldn't stay and work their jobs. To keep the poor plebs happy, free grain was given from the state and free entertainment was given. Caesar, general who conquered Gaul, crossed the Rubicon and invaded Rome, declares himself emperor after climbing the ladder of power and starts taking control. The senate decides to kill him and this breaks the country into civil war. Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, works with Antony to defeat the senators who killed Caesar. Eventually Octavian and Antony fall into a war against each other with Octavian defeating Antony, who was being helped by Cleopatra. Octavian becomes uncontested ruler of Rome and is given the honorific title of "Augustus" or "Exalted One". Also given the title of "Imperator" where our modern day "Emperor" comes from. Octavian would be a great emperor for the next 40 years and would start a period called Pax Romana or "Roman Peace". Pax Romana would last from 27 B.C., beginning of Octavian's rule, to 180 A.D. Octavian had many great achievements in his life but his rule as emperor would lead to a chain of emperors, burying the idea of the Republic, kind of. Tiberius was an excellent general but reluctant emperor. After the death or Rome, he exiled himself and left his prefects in charge. After emperor Tiberius, Caligula, who gained power after a power struggle after Tiberius' death, would attempt to re-establish the Republic but it did not work due to him getting assassinated from all three branches of government. Known for his cruelty, extravagance, and perversity. Claudius was a well ruler do good things for Rome but suffered from infirmities more than likely due to cerebral palsy. His rivals and family would rag him for these things. Died by poisoning from a plan of his last wife who wanted her son to rise to power. Her son being Nero. Nero ruled from 54-68 A.D. and was quite big on the arts. He wanted to rebuild Rome and make it majestic, especially after a fire in 64 AD that ravaged Rome for days. Nero went hugely over budget and eventually starting raiding temples for money. Not looked upon nicely by historians.

The Prodigal Son has returned

Mr. Schick is back after two weeks and ready to be teaching again. We went off where he last left us at the powerpoint. In this powerpoint was the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of Ancient Rome's government and also the United States' for comparison. The Romans had consuls who would have served 1 year terms which were compared with the United States' presidents who server in 4 year terms. Both Rome and the United States had senates but the US' has about 200 less members who serve 6 year terms instead of life-time terms in Rome. In addition to the senate, the US has the House of Representatives, which the closest thing Rome would've had were Assemblies. Ancient Rome had Praetors who served one year terms instead of the States' Justices who serve life-long terms after being picked by the President and voted in by the senate. Rome had the twelve tables as their law set and the US has the Constitution and its Bill of Rights (the 10 Amendments). Today was pretty average and somewhat boring, besides one minor thing, but other than that it was fine.

Rome Day 6

The Fall of the Roman Empire
Questions P. 176

1.
Inflation - Drastic drop in the value of money coupled with a rise in prices.
Mercenary - Foreign soldier fighting for money.
Diocletian - Strong-willed army leader who became emperor in 284 A.D. Ruled with an iron fist and severely limited personal freedoms. He restored order to the empire and increased its strength. Doubled the size of the army and sought to control inflation for setting fixed prices on goods.
Constantinople - Means city of Constantine. Originally called Byzantium, became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Attila - Powerful chieftan who terrorized both halves of the empire with his 100,000 men army. In the East, his armies attacked and plundered 70 cities (However, failing to scale the high walls of Constantinople). In 452 A.D. he and his forces advanced against Rome, but bouts of famine and disease kept them from conquering the city.

3.
The main internal problems within the empire were economic failings, and military and political turmoil. Inflation made it hard on citizens and with Harvests becoming increasingly meager in Italy and Western Europe due to overworked soil losing its fertility and war destroying much of the farmland, Serious food shortages and disease soon spread. The population began to decline. With these events, Romans lost their sense of patriotism and soldiers loyalty and discipline declined. They became indifferent to the fate of the Empire. The army had to start hiring mercenaries who although would accept lower pay than Romans, had little to no loyalty for the Empire.

4.
Diocletian succeeded in preserving the empire by restoring order and increasing its strength. He began by doubling the army's size and controlling inflation by setting fixed prices on goods. He also realized that the Empire was too large and complex to be ruled alone, so he split the empire into East and West and stayed in control of the West while maintaining a co-ruler in the East.

5.
The reason why so many Germanic tribes began invading Rome is because of the Huns. The Huns came into the Germanic native area and pushed them away from the area, in an attempt to flee, the Germanic tribes pushed into Gaul and eventually into Rome.

Rome Day 5

The Rise of Christianity
Questions P.172

1.
Jesus - Born around 6 to 4 B.C., a Jew raised in the town of Nazareth. Began public ministry at age 30. For the next 3 years, Jesus would preach, teach, do good works, and preform miracles. His teachings were close to that of Judaism but would eventually come to create their own religion, Christianity.
Apostles - 12 men who were Jesus' closest disciples. Most would carry on his ministry after his death.
Paul - Jew who originally was an enemy to Christianity, would later convert after having a vision on a road to Damascus. Spent the rest of his life spreading and interpreting Jesus' teachings. Would become an important part to the early church by spreading the word to lands far and wide.
Diaspora - Dispersal of the Jews from their homeland.
Constantine - Roman Emperor who made Christianity an allowed religion in Empire after having a vision which caused him to win a battle after he was praying.
Bishop - Also a priest but supervised several local churches.
Peter - Apostle of Jesus who traveled to Rome from Jerusalem and became the first bishop there. According to scripture, Jesus referred to Peter as the "rock" on which the Christian church would be built upon. As a result, all priests and bishops trace their authority to him.
Pope - Father or head of the Christian Church. Pope is would have been who the bishop of Rome was.

3.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Along with Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back. Do for others just what you want them to do for you. Jesus emphasized that we should not fight back, but rather pray for these people, and that one day, we will inherit the Earth.

4.
The reason why Christians faced persecution from Rome is because they refused to worship Roman gods, which was seen as opposition to Roman rule.

5.
The importance of the Nicene creed is that it established a borderline for Christian belief and made the religion more universal by setting and making clear Christian beliefs. Prior, there was no set belief system which confused Christians.

Rome Day 6

The Fall of the Roman Empire
Questions P. 176

1.
Inflation - Drastic drop in value of money coupled with a rise in prices.
Mercenary - Foreign soldier fighting for money.
Diocletian - Strong-willed army leader, became Emperor in 284 A.D. Ruled with an iron fist and severely limited personal freedoms. Also restored order to the empire and increased its strength. Doubled the size of the army and sought to control inflation by setting fixed prices on goods.
Constantinople - Meaning city of Constantine. Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Attila - Powerful chieftan who terrorized both halves of the Roman Empire with his army of 100,000 men. In the East, his army attacked and plundered 70 cities, although failing to scale the high walls of Constantinople. In 452 A.D. his forces advanced against Rome but failed due to famine and disease bouts.

3.
The main internal causes to Rome's downfall were the economy falling and military and political turmoil. Inflation made the money less valuable and at the same time prices were rising. At the same time harvests in Italy and Western Europe became increasingly meager because the overworked soil lost its fertility. More so, years of war had destroyed a lot of the farmland. Eventually, serious food shortages and disease spread, and the population declined. Over time, Roman soldiers became less disciplined and loyal, meaning the army could just fall apart, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Eventually the Empire would have to hire mercenaries, and although they accepted lower pay than Romans, they had little to no loyalty to the Empire. Conditions in the Empire eventually caused citizens to lose their sense of patriotism, making them become indifferent to the Empire's fate.

4.
Diocletian succeeded in preserving the Empire by re-strengthening the army by doubling its size and then setting fixed prices for goods to control the inflation. Along with this he split the empire in two so that two rulers could control the vast and complex empire together. To restore prestige to the office of emperor, he presented himself in a godlike aura at ceremonies and claimed to be a descendant from ancient Roman gods.

5.
Germanic tribes began invading the empire because the Huns started pushing them out of their native lands. The Germanic people needed somewhere to go so they started pushing through Gaul and eventually into Rome to flee from the Huns.

Rome Day 4

The first verse of Chi Cago's rap begins with the three groups that we see in the book. The Estruscans, Latins, and Greeks. In the book it's not said which group came first, other than prehistoric peoples, but just specifying who was on the Italian peninsula at the time. Chi Cago's rap claims that the Latins were the first and if we ignore the prehistoric peoples the book does not say if this is true or not. Knowing Chi Cago and his extensive knowledge on the history of these things, it's more than likely true. Tarquin is also mentioned in the book and just like the rap, the Romans booted him out and started their republic. Moving onto the second verse, we have what seems to be the definitions of Roman government and military. Once again, these match those in the book and are accurate. Moving to the third verse, we see what seems to be the start of the Roman civil wars. The common people got fed up with the patricians and started fighting back, first through government, then by force. Nothing is mentioned here about the private armies that Roman generals would form with common farmers by themselves. The fourth verse brings us to the time of Julius Caesar and when he ruled over Gaul then Rome. Along with the fifth verse all this info on Caesar matches that in the textbook and puts the history in the book to slang that the fellow kids will adore. The sixth verse describes other leaders that would come after Caesar and other important figures during these times. The information is presumed to be accurate as once again, it is written by Chi Cago and it matches that of the info in the book. The seventh and final verse brings us right up just before the beginning of the A.D. years. It describes in detail the state of the Roman Empire and events surrounding that of the region. And on one final note, Chi Cago informs us we now know all about Rome, for now at least.