CHAPTER 2: EMPIRES

In the next 3 chapters we will examine 5 empires:1. Greece and Persia (Middle East)

2. Rome3. China4. India

A) First, we will look at them through the 5 AP THEMES; S.P.E.E.CB) Then, we will examine how they got so BIG and why they DIED.

PART 1: ANCIENT GREECE AND PERSIA Greece is located on the Mediterranean Sea while Persia (Iran) is in the Middle East. Actually, Persia is where Mesopotamia used to be and where countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia are today.

The most IMPORTANT thing about Greece is that they invented PHILOSOPHY. The word philosophy is Greek for “love of wisdom”, and it means that we use LOGIC, REASON and IMPERICAL OBSERVATION instead of religion. Empirical observation means using ‘evidence’.

In fact, the world’s #1 philosopher, Socrates (Sock-Ra-Teez), was actually given the Death Penalty for telling the children of Athens to question the gods. He didn’t tell them not to believe in them, he just told them to question things. His most famous quote is “An unexamined life is not worth living”. The Greeks forced him to actually drink poison and commit suicide! Two other very famous philosophers are Plato and Aristotle and you will learn about them later in the chapter.

The #2 thing that Greece gave us is DEMOCRACY. Democracy is a Greek word that means ‘rule by the people’. They only let men vote, and rich men at that, but they were the 1st civilization to not have Kings and let their people elect rulers instead. They utilized a system called DIRECT DEMOCRACY where every man voted on every single law. We do this in America sometimes even though we have a President. In Florida, for example, we all voted to limit class sizes in 2010. The Florida Legislature messed everything up though and that’s why some of ur classes have 35 students!!!!!

Philo=love of Sophia=wisdom Demos=people Crace=ruler

The Greeks also gave us awesome architecture like the PARTHENON, which is the building found on the cover page. They were the 1st to use pillars thereby saving space and materials.

The 2 main cities/states of ancient Greece were ATHENS AND SPARTA. Of course they were both polytheistic (Zeus, Athena, Shtrakhman) but there are some differences.

Sparta: A warrior culture where every boy is forced to join the army at the age of 7. If a baby was born weak or deformed the Spartans would throw it off a cliff. This is the culture that was highlighted in the movie 300 and the approach I take in my classes.

Athens: Athens was the city-state that gave us democracy and philosophy but they had a lot of issues as well. First of all, women couldn’t vote, and neither could men who were poor or without property. In addition, Athens had hundreds of thousands of slaves. In fact, in the year 400 BCE alone they had over 80,000 slaves!!!!!!!!

*SLAVERY is something that we will be discussing a lot! It didn’t start in America or with the Civil War. It has been around a long time and has plagued every religion, county, peoples and empire since the dawn of humankind (Ancient Egypt, Athens, the Romans, Europe etc.)

#1 GREEK CONQUERORAlexander the Great: Alexander the Great was a megalomaniac. That means that he wanted to “take over the whole world”! (Kind of like Ana Polania)

And, to a large extent, he did! By the age of 23 he had taken over Greece, the Persian Empire, the Middle East, Egypt and the rest of North Africa, and even Afghanistan. But he could not defeat India! When he finally entered the Indian jungles at the age of 33 the elephant warriors and mosquitoes got to him and he finally died of malaria (we think). He did leave the wonderful city of Alexandria named after him in Egypt and Alexandria had the largest library in the world at the time. If only he would have listened to the philosophers and just learned to relax. The Greek Empire lasted from about 800 BCE to 300 BCE. The empire they fought the most was the Persian Empire.

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE- The Persian Empire was the first MONOTHEISTIC country (They only had ONE GOD and his

name was Ahura Mazda. Below is his picture. I myself drive a Honda)

- The Greeks and the Persians fought ALL THE TIME. The 300 warriors of Sparta died, but eventually Athens (through Alexander the Great) defeated them. Greece will become Rome and Rome will become Christian. Persia will become the Middle East and the Middle East will become Islamic. You CANNOT understand today without understanding YESTERDAY! That means the entire MIDDLE EAST begins with the Persian Empire while all of Europe, and thus America, begins with Greece (philosophy and democracy)

PART 2: THE ROMAN EMPIRE (Hey, my first name is Roman!!)

P.S. From this point forward every one of the countries-empires-regions that we study will be broken down into the S.P.E.E.C format…………..

POLITICALS SYSTEMSIf Greece was ONE MAN=ONE VOTE, Rome was the first empire to have a REPUBLIC. That means that they ELECTED Presidents and Senators instead of voting on each and every law separately. The Senators and Presidents then made the laws just like in America. Actually, the American government is based in large part on the Roman Empire.

Rome had 500 Senators The US has 100 (2 from each state)Rome had 2 Presidents The US has one (sort of ;)

o The President must be 35 years old and be born in the US. He/She can also only serve twice and must live in the US for at least 10 years before running.

Just like in Greece only men could vote but in Rome it wasn’t just the rich who could participate; the poor got their own Senate eventually as well.

- 300-500 Senators…..SERVED FOR LIFE….LIKE ME!!!(They had to wear a purple stripe, maroon shoes, and an iron ring)

- No women voting and no women in the Senate- Only Roman citizens could vote (no slaves).- IN FACT , The word senate actually derives from the Latin word senex, which means

"old man"; the word thus means "assembly of elders".

- Rome also elected 2 Presidents called CONSULS. They worked with the Senate but could only serve 1-year terms. Or until the crazy Caesars took over everything.

- So Greece was a ‘DIRECT DEMOCRACY’ while Rome, which took over Europe after the death of Alexander the Great, was a ‘REPUBLIC’.

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Eventually the poor got their own Senate as well. This was called the PLEBIAN ASSEMBLY. Plebians were the common folk or the peasants.

The United States of America is a REPUBLIC as well and is actually modelled after the Romans:

“The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Unfortunately, the Senate was powerless against all the Caesars who would eventually take control. Julius Caesar: The year ‘0’ to the year Augustus: Julius’s nephew

Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caligula etc.

This is very important:Rome was a REPUBLIC from 800 BCE to the year 0 but

Rome was an EMPIRE from 0 to 476 CE. And what does an empire do? Conquer stuff!!

ROME CONQURES THE FOLLOWING LANDS:- Italy………………………..the rest of Europe…………………..England- Germany……………………France………………………….Spain- Egypt and the rest of North Africa- The Middle East

Fun Fact: Cleopatra killed herself when Augustus, Julius’s nephew, killed her boyfriend Marc Antony. She let an Egyptian cobra bite her. That’s why whenever I break up with someone I do it in a public place

From this point forward, Rome will have some CRAZEEEEEE Caesars:

1. NERO: (54-68 CE)Nero was a crazy dude; He would dip Christians in oil and then light them on fire in his own garden and watch them burn. e would also throw Christians and Freshmen into the Colosseum to fight with the lions and tigers.

He also killed two of his wives and is rumored to even have stabbed HIS OWN MOTHER in the womb. He was killed by someone slitting his throat. His servants, unsurprisingly, let him bleed to death.

He is also said to have lit all of Rome on fire in the year 64 CE and to have watched from his balcony, “playing the fiddle”, while Rome burned!!

2. PONTIUS PILATE (Pronounced Pontius Pilot) - The dude who killed Jesus by crucifying him. (26-36 CE)

3. CALIGULA He was assassinated by his “friends” as well. He is also said to have made his HORSE a Senator. For my Vice-President I nominate………………………………………………..the kid in the 4th row!-

A WORD ON GLADIATORS……..Ya know, throwing gladiators into the Colosseum is actually a SOCIAL thing, a POLITICAL thing, and even an ECONOMIC thing. Why?

First of all, the Caesars would use the Gladiator fights to ‘distract’ the population from all of the problems going on in Rome. Many people feel we do this today with things like the Super Bowl and World Series. They offer a respite from much more pressing problems like Climate Change or economic inequality. The Roman leaders would even throw loaves of bread to the starving audience, just enough to satisfy them and keep them from rioting. This became known as “BREAD AND CIRCUS”.

Secondly, the Caesars knew that the Romans had an insatiable desire for blood and violence. Sound familiar? This is kind of life the UFC or MMA. Presidential candidates have even shown up at Worldwide Wrestling Foundation matches.

Finally, there were two groups that were routinely thrown into the ring; slaves and Christians. Rome did not become a Christian empire until just before its death. Before that, any monotheistic faith (JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY) was routinely punished and discriminated against.

QUESTION #1: HOW DID ROME GET SO GOSH DARNED BIG….. AND…. POWERFUL?

AP VOCAB: IF they ask you this question, it will look like this: The number and size of key states and empires grew dramatically by imposing political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states. This is just another way of saying that an empire CONQUERED everyone around them.

1. First of all, they invented concrete. And they used this concrete to build the best and longest ROADS in the world. In fact, the Roman Empire had over 50,000 MILES OF ROADS, and that’s where the signs “All Roads lead to Rome” comes from. The United States has almost 5 million miles of roads but that’s 2017!

What did Rome use ROADS for:a. Sending soldiersb. Sending suppliesc. Sending communicationsd. Sending animals etc.

2. They were also one of the first empires to have a POST OFFICE. Another thing that the roads were used for. You see, the Persians were the first ones to use something called the ROYAL ROAD, where 1 guy would hand the letter off to someone else. The Romans, however, under Augustus Caesar, just made one guy make the whole trip. Remember, in America we get the Pony_______.

3. Something else that really helped the empire expand was……MONEY or CURRENCYThis helps an empire expand, do business, regulate trade, regulate commerce, keep track of who paid whom for what etc. Any empire that has local, regional or interregional trade must keep records, track debt, and must have standard forms of currency. How else will the financial laws and courts work otherwise?!

Do u know what the first currencies were? Seashells.

As u can see, it is my face on the left!!!!!

4. Secondly, they invented something called the aqueduct, which delivered water from high up in the mountains down to Rome and other cities. In fact, Rome had hot water baths 2000 years before the rest of Europe! They were built at a slope and actually used the world famous ROMAN ARCH which in and of itself was an architectural miracle because it baanced two sides mathematically.

. The BIGGEST reason for Rome’s success, however, was their military: Rome had the VERY BEST Army in the world from 600 BCE to 600 CE

The legion: made up of about 5000 men!

A legionairre (Roman soldier)

• Very well trained and very physically fit (unlike you)• Every male had to serve in the military for one year!• If a unit fled from battle, 1 out of every 10 men were killed!!!!!• If u cheat on a test, i fail the person in front of you, back of you, to the right of you, and the left of you!!!

When Rome conquered an area guess what, you were probably gonna be thrown into their army. First of all, Rome needs soldiers so…. Secondly, if you want to EVER become a Roman citizen you gotta play ball.

A WORD ABOUT THIS: Every single empire we study is gonna need soldiers. So they’re either gonna use THE DRAFT, throw conquered peoples into the Army, or take you as slaves and then make u fight! This, along with SLAVERY or PATRIARCHY, is something that can basically be applied to EVERY country we study, regardless of time or place.

In addition, if u really wanted to get ahead in this empire, or any empire really, you better join the Army. Especially if you wanted to be seen as a loyal citizen and work your way to the top. Imagine if u lived in a conquered area: you were gonna be treated like a 2nd class citizen your whole life. Your only option was to join the Army and move up the ranks. In some places this was also the only way to get the right to vote. Sometimes ex-slaves would also be granted their freedom if and only if they joined the famous Roman Legion.

SLAVERYSLAVERY IS ACTUALLY POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL.

IT’S EVEN ENVIRONMENTAL IF YOU LOOK AT THE WORK THEY ACTUALLY DID.

The thing you have to understand about SLAVERY is that existed in essentially every single state, in every single country and in every single empire the world has ever known. Slavery is not limited to America and can be written about from 5000 BCE to the year 2017!

And it’s not just kidnapping people and putting them on a boat. It’s defeating people and making them prisoners of war, then putting them to work. It’s making people forced laborers and making them work for free. It’s throwing people into your army because you need more soldiers. Slavery represents a very wide range of human history. It existed in Athens and now, let’s see how it exists in Rome.

The Roman Empire had a lot of slaves - Rome had 2,000,000 slaves (This was 50% of the population)

- One woman had 8,000 slaves when she became a Christian nun! (nice!)- If you were nice you could free your slave

- If a slave murdered his master, all the slaves would have their heads cut off!!! If you cheat on a test……………………………..

*Spartacus was a very famous slave-gladiator who managed to escape, and then got 6000 of his fellow slaves/gladiators to join him a revolt/rebellion. When the Romans caught him boy were they mad. So mad in fact, that they crucified every single one of them on a series of bridges all around Rome. This was done to send a message to all potential future revolutionaries.

**A word about crucifying in the Roman Empire: It wasn’t just Jesus. A common way to punish criminals or give murderers the Death Penalty was to nail them to a cross. It had nothing to do

with Christianity and Jesus was NOT the first or only person to be crucified. In fact, on the day of his crucifixion, 3 other criminals were being crucified right next to him!

ROME’S STYLE OF LAWSEvery empire also had a legal system of laws and codes. This is another way they got so big cuz you couldn’t grow as a country if the rules and regulations were not commonly known. Rome was the 1st to actually make these laws public. They were known as the 12 TABLES OF LAW (450 BCE).

Law 3: You have 30 DAYS to pay your debt, or you become my SLAVE!!!Law 5: Terribly deformed children shall be killed!!! (The Spartans did this too). On the bright side, if your dad sells you 3 TIMES, you shall be free!!Law 8: If you destroy my home or my cornfield, you will be BURNED AT THE STAKE!!!!!!!Law 7: If fruit from your tree falls in my yard, I GET TO KEEP IT.Law 1: If you do not appear in Court, the guy delivering the Summons has the right to beat u! This is what happens when I hand out Report Cards.Law 13: The rich CAN’T marry the poor!- No burying corpses in the city.- Women can’t CRY excessively at funerals (FINALLY!)- Taking bribes gets u the Death Penalty!

So as you can see the Roman Republic was a highly liberal, kind and progressive country

Mr. Shtrakhman’s laws:A. Do NOT talk to me until I’ve had my StarbucksB. Do NOT talk to me after I’ve had my StarbucksC. If U have any questions u wanna ask me please refer to laws #1 and #2!

A word about how Rome treated women……

(Women’s rights are: social, political, economic, and cultural **Rome treated its women MUCH BETTER than China or India, Greece or Egypt….and definitely better than Mesopotamia!!!!!!!!! Girls in Rome were allowed to read and write and even own a business!!!! (how many of you know how to read and write?!)

Planet Earth 2017: Literacy rates for girls:

1. Afghanistan 23%----Mesopotamia 2. South Africa 93%

3. Uganda 80% 4. Sierra Leone 50% 5. Saudi Arabia 97%

6. America- 32 million adults can’t read properly

21% read BELOW a 5th grade reading level 19% of High School graduates can’t read properly

70% of prison inmates read below a 4th grade reading level

B. Women in Rome could even own their own businesses!!! American CEO’s who are female:

1. Facebook- Sheryl Sandberg2. General Motors- Mary Barra

3. Yahoo- Marissa Mayer4. Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo, Inc.

5. Virginia M. Rometty, International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.6. Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise

EVERY EMPIRE IS GONNA TRADE. STUFF, IDEAS, AND TECHNOLOGY

The AP Exam almost ALWAYS asks about TRADE and trade networks or routes. Except they call them networks of exchange.

Here are the main 3 trading networks: Silk Road, Mediterranean Sea, Sahara Desert (also the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans)

And here’s what they’re gonna trade:

STUFF TECHN RELIGION AND IDEASFruits/ Vegetables Silk BuddhismAnimals/Horses Gunpowder Christianity and Cath.Jewels, art Guns IslamPottery, clothes AstronomySLAVES Math (Algebra, trig, geometry:

DISEASE India and The Middle East)

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND TRADEAny empire that’s worth anything is gonna trade with everybody. This is known as local, regional and even inter-regional trade. Rome’s biggest trading partner was China and they used the famous CHINESE SILK ROAD.

What do you think Rome traded with China on the SILK ROAD? You guessed it..SILK!!!The Chinese LOVE silk.

And guess what, so does everyone else.

Silk has 3 qualities everyone wanted:1. It’s lightweight

2. It keeps you warm3. It’s shiny!

4. They used it for clothing, blankets, tissues etc.

The problem: No one knew how it was made. People in Europe, India and Africa thought it grew on trees. It doesn’t! Do you know how it’s made?

From disgusting little silk worms that make cocoons out of silk and then come out as nasty little moths. Like Pre-IB kids.

No one knew how to do it except for China. And if you were caught stealing a silk worm from China…Off with your head!

WHAT ELSE ARE THEY GONNA TRADE…………………..1. India: People LOVED Indian spices like CURRY, TURMERIC, CAYENNE PEPPER (I LOVE Indian

food)2. The Middle East: Figs, dates, different sciences like math and astronomy.3. Europe: Fruits and vegetables (remember, it takes somewhere WARM to grow things like

melons, cantaloupes, mangoes, Pineapple and watermelon. (After class I’m goin to Publix and getting a fruit platter)

4. Africa: Salt, pottery, weapons, horses, camels, horse saddles, camel saddles

GOVERNMENT AND IMPERIAL BUREAUCRACYNow every country we study is gonna have some sort of imperial bureaucracy. That’s just a fancy way of saying that they will have some sort of GOVERNMENT or system of organization.

Just remember Plantation High: If I want something I have to ask the Assistant Principal, then she has to ask the Principal. Maybe the Principal even has to ask Superintendent Runcie and then maybe he has to ask the Legislature in Tallahassee or even Governor Rick Scott.

What Rome would do is either send out Governors from Rome to govern and rule over the conquered areas………….. ORRRRRR they would choose loyal citizens of the newly acquired lands and ask them to be the Governors. Basically, if u wanted to get ahead in Rome you had to play ball anyway so you better just do what they tell you and become a Governor. Of course, that also probably meant selling your soul and doing all kinds of unethical stuff. Your call!

This is a little different from China, for example, which will essentially control EVERYTHING from the capital (todays its Beijing but back then it was Chang’an)

QUESTION #2: WHY DID ROME DIE?There are MANY reasons why an empire the size of Rome would fall. There are political reasons, economic ones, military reasons and as always…disease.

AP VOCAB: - Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in

part, on the success of earlier political forms- The Roman, Han, Persian, Mauryan, and Gupta empires created political, cultural,

and administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline, collapse, and transformation into successor empires or states.

A. DISEASE: Any country they ask you about, any time period, any continent, u can put DISEASE as why they died! There is no human group in history that has not been effected by one form of bacteria or virus. You don’t even have to explain WHICH ONE. You can just write “they died because of many different diseases.” And you’ll get the point.

Roman diseases:- Malaria (usually from mosquitoes)- Tuberculosis (spread by coughing up blood)- Typhoid fever- Dysentery or cholera (can’t stop going to the bathroom)

For example: Do u know how many types of deadly flu we have had just in the last 10 years?1. Seasonal flu2. Swine flu3. Avian flu4. The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed 50,000,000 people and 1/3 that it infected5. Don’t u think every country got the flu?! They did!

**By the way, DON’T 4GET that the reason these viruses are so hard to kill is that they keep evolving!!!!!

B. Too big and Too expensive!! I’m afraid that when you get an empire as BIG as Rome you’re gonna run into several problems…

- CONSTANT WARS AND OVERSPENDING!!!! Having that many wars is rather expensive and so are the taxes that have to pay for them. The taxes were so high that the gap between RICH and POOR, always really bad in Rome, was now just too much to bear. Why would the common man support an empire that gave him and his wife so little?

- All this overspending and over taxation also led to INFLATION (when money becomes worthless). For example, today a Porsche convertible costs $60,000 but in 1963 it only cost $6000. How much will it cost in 50 years?

- A pair of Air Jordan basketball sneakers cost $75.00 when I was a kid showin’ off on the playground. Now they cost $150.00!

- The worst inflation is in Zimbabwe in Africa, where you need $100,000,000 to buy a Pepsi!

- Also, having that many slaves is NEVER a good idea. And as the empire runs out of room where you gonna get new slaves. Plus, what about farmers and such that can’t afford slaves?

- CORRPUTION AND BAD POLITICS: From 200-300 CE Rome went through 20 Caesars in 50 years. This was known as the 3 rd CENTURY CRISIS. In fact, the Presidential Guards would just kill the old Caesar and put in a new one. (Don’t try this with me!). Actually, they would just give a leader to the highest bidder and assassinate him

- And the Senate was unfortunately just as corrupt as ever. Google some scandals from our own Senate/Government and you’ll see what I mean.

1972: President Richard Nixon has to resign because of……………..1999: Bill Clinton gets caught cheating on his wife Hilary

*** Plus, ROMAN SOLDIERS were the best in the world but eventually they started asserting themselves and taking local control. In other words, Rome lost some centralized control. Sure they had roads and a Post Office but if the local general in charge of a province 700 miles away from Rome wants total and autonomous control. What R U GONNA DO??????

WARS and INVASIONS………The things is, the larger the empire, the more difficult defend. Even with all their roads Rome couldn’t keep up with all of the invasions. In fact, Rome was constantly being attacked by GERMANS, VIKINGS AND HUNS.

The Germans The Romans had conquered GERMANIA way back near the year but the Germans were a powerful and ancient fighting group and they never forgot it. By 400 CE, the Germans wanted revenge, and got it. Some of the Germanic groups are the:

- You had the Visigoths- You had the Vandals- You had the barbarian Goths

**The Romans never treated the ‘BARBARIANS’ well. They even made the Visigoths sell their kids into slavery for dog meat so that they could all live! Revenge is a b%^&*!

The Vikings: The Vikings were an even better fighting group from the North (Together, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are known as Scandinavia)

The Vikings actually landed in Canada 400 years before Christopher Columbus, but they didn’t build any settlements. Their most famous explorer was named Lief Erikson.

The Vikings will come in with their swords and their ships, and together with the Germans really wreck the Roman Empire. Cities will burn and the Empire will fall.

The Vikings will wreck the cities and turn them into glorified villages. In fact, Rome will go from city of millions to just a city with hundreds of thousands. Other cities of the Roman Empire will be cut off from each other because the Vikings didn’t value trade as much as the Romans. They also replaced wine with beer

A) NOMADS-THE HUNS DON’T 4GET that Nomads-Pastoralists had to move around a lot. They didn’t have farms and villages like the established cities did. And guess what, they WANTED what they didn’t have. They will attack both Rome and China and they will eventually win in both (The Mongols WILL defeat China in the 1200’s)

They wanted the fruits and vegetables of the empire. They wanted the gold and the jewels. They wanted the women and the slaves.

Well, one of the biggest, baddest nomadic groups out there was named the HUNS. They also came from Central Asia, and of course they wanted all the land and gold the Romans had to offer. Their leader was a guy named Attila the Hun and he was a real nasty dude.

Attila-the-Hun ! Atilla means “Universal leader”

They either killed you by shooting you with an arrow or they threw a javelin in your chest. How many of you would trust Plantation High School athletes with a javelin?!

So, in 400 CE, the Roman Empire was being attacked by 3 different groups; 1) nomads, 2) the Germans and 3) the Vikings. By 476 CE, it would be a German would sit on the throne in Rome!

ROME SPLITS IN 2Rome has to make a decision: It can’t withstand all of these invasions from the Huns in the east and the Germans in the north. It can’t protect an empire half the size of the United States. Rome makes the BIGGEST DECISION in global history up until that point: IT DECIDES TO SPLIT IN 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only in this way could we save Rome!!

You see, the western half of the Roman empire was weak But the eastern half was strong The eastern half was rich but the western half was poor Rome could not be defended from attack………but the east could!!

The Emperor at the time was a guy named Diocletian (Dio-Clee-Shin). He decides to split the empire in 2 and names the weaker half the Western Roman Empire and the eastern half the Eastern Roman Empire. This later becomes the Byzantine Empire and we’ll learn a lot about in Chapter 11. For now, however, let’s look at some of the facts.

Rome stays the capital of the west but it is quickly going downhill. By 476 CE a German dude will sit on the thrown near the Vatican and Rome will start to deteriorate. After the fall of Rome, Western Europe keeps going down and down: Rome loses 90% of its population and

most of the trade on the Roman roads stops. Roman and Italian customs are replaced with German bread and Viking beer. Western Europe sucks all the way until …..1492 and Christopher Columbus (Chapter 13).

The Eastern Roman Empire lives on, however………………………..

By this time the Emperor is a dude named Constantine and he renames the capital in the East Constantinople after himself (Shtrakhmanople is on the right side of my classroom). The Eastern Roman Empire is impervious to German and Viking attack because its too far away and across many mountains. It’s also closer to the Middle East and China so trading all that silk, all those jewels and animals, all those fruits and vegetables, is much, much easier. Constantinople and the eastern Roman Empire become known as ………THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE..and Rome falls in 476 CE.

CONSTANTINE DID SOMETHING ELSE: HE MADE ROME CHRISTIAN

The Romans HATED Jews and Christians. They would routinely burn them alive or throw them into the ring with the gladiators. Why did they hate them so much?

- First of all, they were monotheistic, meaning that they not only disagreed with all the Roman gods but fundamentally disagreed with the whole concept of polytheism

- Secondly, Jewish and Christian leaders became very powerful (think Jesus) and this threatened the Roman Emperors as well.

1. Constantine was Emperor (Caesar) of Rome in 350 CE (AFTER CHRIST)2. He was NOT a Christian. He believed in the Roman Gods.3. But then, one day he won an important battle and he thought he saw a giant cross on the sun.4. He told everyone that he won the battle because of Jesus and the cross.5. From that day forward he made the entire Roman Empire Christian.

Europe is thus Christian and so will England be and this is how America becomes mostly Christian in the beginning as well.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

PART 1: GREECE AND PERSIA Please define the following terms:1. Monotheism and polytheism2. Philosophy3. Direct Democracy4. Ahura Mazda5. The Hellenistic Era6. Which areas did Alexander conquer?

Long Response Question:Ancient Greece used ‘DIRECT DEMOCRACY’ where every man = one vote, but in America we are a Republic like Rome in which we elect leaders and then let them do the voting.

Question: Which system is better and why?

PART 2: Rome1. How did Rome become Christian?

2. Why did Constantine split up the Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire?

3. What are a few examples of Roman technology or inventions?

4. Explain which areas the Roman Empire controlled:

5. Why was Julius Ceasar important? What about Nero and Caligula?

6. What is the dividing line between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire and why?

7. Explain how Rome treated its women?

8. Explain how Rome treated its conquered peoples?

9. Summarize slavery in the Roman Empire:

10. How did Rome treat Jews and Christians?

11. How and why did Rome finally become Christian and what does this have to do w/America?

12. Who was Atilla the Hun and where did he come from?

13. When else invaded Rome and eventually won?

14. Why did the Roman Empire collapse?

PART B: ROME SAQ’S (Short-Answer Questions) 20% of Final Exam1. How did Rome get so darn BIGGGGGGGGG?

2. How did they COLLPASE??????????????????

3. America, they say, has a lot of Christianity in its history, and yet we have the freedom of religion in this country. Do you think it should be legal for the White House to have a giant Christmas Tree and why?

PART 3 – PHILOSOPHYEXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING QUOTES FROM THE 3 GREATEST WESTERN

PHILOSOPHERS

SOCRATES QUOTE #1: “Following your desires is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole at the bottom”.______________________________________________________________________________________________ QUOTE #2: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

PLATO Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something___________________________________

The greatest wealth is to live content with little. (MY FAVORITE)_____________________________________________________________________________

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors (MY 2ND FAVORITE)________________________________________________________

ARISTOTLE: Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach. (MY 3RD FAVORITE)

ASSIGNMENT: GEOGRAPHY QUIZGrab a blank map outline of Europe (on the wall) and label each of these countries

and their capitals. The PURPLE TEXTBOOKS in the back of the room have great maps. You can use those.

EUROPE:1. ENGLAND: LONDON

2. FRANCE: PARIS3. ITALY: ROME

4. GREECE: ATHENS5. BELGIUM: BRUSSELS

6. HOLLAND: AMSTERDAM7. NORWAY: OSLO

8. SWEDEN: STOCKHOLM9. FINLAND: HELSINKI

10. DENMARK: COPENHAGEN11. SPAIN: MADRID

12. PORTUGAL: LISBON13. GERMANY: BERLIN14. AUSTRIA: VIENNA

15. SWITZERLAND: BERN

SHORT ESSAY #1- MILITARY SERVICE: GREECE

- In ancient Sparta all men had to serve in the army. - When my father was growing up in Russia all men had to serve for 18 months when they turned 19 years old unless they went to college. In Israel all men and women have to serve 2 years, even if they get into college.

Question - Should all Americans be required to serve in the military when they turn 18? Why or why not?

SHORT ESSAY #2: THE GLADIATORS OF ROMEIn Ancient Rome they used human beings as sport. The people in the audience, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, would cheer and shout with wild enthusiasm as one gladiator plunged a sword or a knife into the other. They would applaud at the Caesar ordering the winner to finally kill the man who lost.

We look at this now as barbaric. But how will future generations look at us? How will they look at our boxing, the NFL, MMA (mixed martial arts), and our UFC (united fighting championships)? Will they look at us as barbaric?

Write a brief essay answering the following question: “Should vicious sports like boxing, MMA and UFC be made illegal in the United States?”

PLEASE MOVE ON TO CHAPTERS 3 AND 4CHAPTER 3: ANCIENT CHINA AND

CHAPTER 4: ANCIENT INDIA