Brianne's Blog

Today in West Civ we took a test and i think i got 100 because it was really easy and I actually studied for this test!  i knew all the information from the powerpoint and I only studied for one night.  i was also excited because the test was only 33 questions instead of 50 questions.  we had to know all about Martin Luther.  I actually got a couple wrong but I was praying i got 100.  mr Schick also told us a story about him almost getting struck by lighting.  He put his hand in his mailbox and its metal and the lighting almost hit him.  Caleb also told us a story about how to get lighting to struck in your backyard .  Ella also thought her shoes were stolen but they were just sitting on the shelf in the back of the room . This was a a crazy class and i am upset because i think i got a b but its ok:))))

Today in West Civ, we finished the powerpoint.  We learned the three things that Luther believes is that people win salvation by faith in God's gift of forgiveness, all church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible, and all people with faith are equal.  people do not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.  Luthers ideas become popular, so the church criticizes him and his "heretical" ideas.  Luther says they should overthrow the pope.  Pope Leo X issues a decree threatening Luther with excommunication.  In a crowd of Wittenburg students, throws it into a fire and the pope excommunication.  Holy Roman Emperor Charles V wanted Luther to recant and he refuses so he goes on trial at the Diet of Worms.  (Diet means assembly or convention) (Worms is a city in Germany) . Because Luther repents, Luther is declared "an outlaw and heretic" and he escapes from Worms.  The pope thinks he is to be arrested on sight, it is a cri...

Today we started a slideshow on Luther and the Reformation.  The Church weakened socially- the Renaissance emphasis on the secular and the individual challenge church authority.  The printing press helped.  Politically- some rulers (especially the Germans) began to challenge the church's political power.  Economically- northern merchants resented paying church taxes to Rome.  Some priests drank to excess and many gambled.  The selling of indulgences (pardons) releases a sinner from performing the penalty a priest imposed for sins.  Johann Tetzel was a monk who sold indulgences to help rebuild St. Peters Cathedral.  A monk named Martin Luther objected to this practice.  Martin Luther born in Germany in 1483.  He studies the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) . Attended the University of Erfurt and after getting a degree he enrolled in law school.  People were dying of the plague and he drops out immediately.  Luther came up ...

indulgence- p ardon for sins believed to buy way into heaven Reformation- f ormation of several Protestant church reformations Lutheran- w hat Luther and his followers religion was called Protestant- c hristians who belong to non-catholic churches Peace of Augsburg- a  famous religious settlement who decided the religion of the state Annul- t o set aside (marriage) Anglican- c hurch of England with Elizabeth as head 3. What political, economic, and social factors helped bring about the Reformation? Queen Elizabeth I helped restore Protestantism, p owerful monarchs challenged the church as the supreme power in Europe, m any leaders viewed the pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority, e uropean princes and kings were jealous of the Church's wealth.    Merchants and other people didn't want to pay taxes to the church, s ome church leaders had become worldly and corrupt.   Many people found Church practices such as selling indulgences unaccepta...

Today in West Civ we finished the slideshow on the Renaissance and went over all the slides we have done the past couple days.  Mr. Schick told us some of the information that will be on the test and what to be prepared for.   We did two slides and we learned about the most important and impactful invention in history, the printing press. The Chinese invented the printing press centuries before but Johannes Gutenburg revolutionized it in Germany in 1439 and the press featured movable type.  We then watched a video of a man (who does not like to get interrupted) working and showing us how to use a printing press.  In the press, there were slides and u had to place the slide and they had to be put in backwards.  The first thing that was printed was a version of a Bible.  we were going to watch an autobiography on Gutenburg but we ran out of time because our mods were short today due to the senior awards.

Today in west civ we took more notes off of Mr. Schick's powerpoint about the Renaissance.  The first thing we started with was humanism.  Humanism is a deep interest in what people have already achieved, as well as what they are capable of achieving in the future.  Greek and Roman writings are important to them.  Worldly (secular) values were essentials.  A Renaissance man is someone who could master many fields of work and renaissance women inspired artists.  Pieta is a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus.  It is carved in marble by Michelangelo from 1498-1499.  You can find it is St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City.  Painters used perspective and Frescoes.  The literature writers wrote in the vernacular-their native language,  Some famous writers are Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Niccolo Machiavelli.  The theme of Machiavelli The Prince was that the aims of princes-such as glory and survival-can justify the use of immoral means ...

Today in west civ we got 20 minutes to work on the blog we started last week, answering the questions about the Renaissance in the textbook.  For the last 20 minutes of class, we started a powerpoint on the Renaissance.  Northern Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance (rebirth of art and learning).  Cities were the center of the action.  Milan and Florence had wealthy merchants and bankers.  Artists in these cities were inspired by the former splendor of classical Greece and Rome.  Merchants dominated political life and the Medici were a powerful banking family.  They paid artists, writers, and musicians to create beautiful works of art and they were patrons.  Isabelle d' Este was a super patron and she patronized Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Belini, Correggio, and many others.  This was all of the powerpoint we went through but we are learning more tomorrow!

1. Renaissance- a period of European history, lasting from about 1300-1600, during which renewed interest in classical culture led to far-reaching changes in art, learning, and views of the world humanism- An intellectual movement that focused on human potential and achievements.   Secular- Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters Patron- Supports artists especially financially Perspective- Artistic technique creates 3-D appearances Vernacular- Every day language of people in a region or country 3. What are some of the characteristics of the "Renaissance man" and "Renaissance woman"? Renaissance men who excelled in many fields was praised as a universal man. A young man should be charming, witty, well educated, know how to dance, sing, play music, and write poetry. He should also be a skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman. They were expected to inspire art but not create it. They were better educated than medieval women but ha...

Today in West Civ we took our test on Rome and I absolutely failed the test.  I knew more than half but I got some wrong and I thought it was really hard.  I got the ones about the monarchy, aristocracy, and the democracy wrong and the ones at the bottom about the different rulers of Rome.  I couldn't remember those and I had a hard time remembering the numbers for how many senators and how many House of Representatives there are in the United States.  I studied for 3 hours last night and I still know I failed the test!  I knew like the first two pages of the test and then it got really hard.  I also couldn't remember the different punic wars.  I think I would have done better if we had another day to study but its ok lets hope my blogs can keep my grade up a little bit because I really struggled with this test.

In West Civ class today we finished going over the information for our test tomorrow.  We started with Julius Caesar, learning that he is a high successful general who conquered Gaul.  He wanted power and made friends with Pompey(a general who conquered Syria and Palestine) and Crassus(the richest man in Rome) . They formed The First Triumvirate.  Caesar then serves in the consul for a year and then appoints himself governor.  He then named himself dictator after that and that is for life.  Caesar was then assassinated on the Senates floor and he was stabbed 23 times.  Octavian (his grand nephew or his adopted son) takes over at age 18 and becomes friends with two people, Mark Anthony (an experienced general) and Lepidus( a powerful politician) . This was now The Second Triumvirate.  Octavian then forced Lepidus to retire and Mark Anthony partners up with Cleopatra.  Octavian then beats both of them in a battle called the Battle of Actium.

Today in west civ, we continued working on the powerpoint and we started with talking about the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government was based off of the Roman government.  One very important thing about the legal code is that in the US we have the bill of rights and Rome had The Twelve Tables.  The Roman army had 5,000 soldiers and 80 soldiers in a century.  One very important thing is The Punic Wars.  The First Punic War was Rome vs Carthage and we know that Rome wins.  The Second Punic War is when Hannibal attacks from the North and lays siege to much of the peninsula but they could never take Rome.  The Third Punic War is when Rome wants to remove the threat of Carthage.  Carthage burned for 17 days and after the war 50,000 people were sold into slavery.  After the wars ended, slaves poured into Italy (50,000 Carthaginians, 150,000 Greeks)

Today in West civ class, Mr. Schick finally came back from being out for two weeks for surgery.  After he told us all about how he couldn't walk for 4 days and how the doctor said this is a really painful surgery, we went over the Rome powerpoint and took notes.  The powerpoint started with the Etruscans who came from the north-central part of the peninsula and they were mainly metalworkers, artists, and architects.  The next group to settle were the Greeks and they had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea.  The Romans borrowed idea from the Greeks like religious beliefs, alpahbet, much of their art, and military techniques and weaponry.  But the first people to settle was the Latins.  They were descendants of the Indo-Europeans.  One main person we learned about today was tarquin and the was the seventh and final king of Rome.  He is known as Tarquin the Proud and sometimes referred as Tarquin the Arrogant.

1.         Greco-Roman culture: the  mixing of elements of Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman culture      Pompeii: a  Roman town that got most affected by the volcanic eruption      Virgil: a  poet who spent 10 years writing the most famous work of Latin literature      Tacitus: a  Roman historian; very famous because he presented facts accurately      aqueduct:  helped bring water into cities and towns 5. W hat influence did Latin have on the development of Western languages?      The influence that the Latin had on the development of the Western languages was that they started a  language called the Romance language (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian) and adopting Latin into there languages.

The United States is not declining just like the Roman Empire.  There are many reasons why the United States in declining but I don't think all of them are right.  United States has many weaknesses like health, rights, and education.  I feel like the Roman Empire fell but the United States hasn't quite gotten to that point.  I feel like the government is doing a good job controlling the people and making sure everyone is treated equally and that our education is improving.  Something that I feel that needs to be fixed about education is what they are told they are and aren't allowed to teach.  I feel like no matter the topic, we should still be taught everything that one needs to know.  Another topic that I feel strongly about is health.  Our health of the American citizens in our country is definitely decreasing and I would say it is due to drugs, alcohol and many other things that are dangerous and can hurt the human body. I think our country is...

Terms inflation-a d rastic drop in the value of money coupled with a rise in prices mercenary-foreign soldiers who fought for money Diocletian-a strong army leader and became Emperor later Attila-powerful chieftain who became a direct threat   What were the main internal causes of the empire's decline? The main causes of the empire's decline is the   political instability,  social decline,  economic deterioration, and  military collapse How did Diocletian succeed in preserving the empire? Diocletian succeeded in preserving the empire by  splitting the empire into an Eastern and Western side,  had someone else rule western half while he ruled eastern half, and  ruled with an iron fist and limited personal freedoms Why did so many Germanic tribes begin invading the Roman Empire? Germanic tribes began invading the Roman Empire because Huns pushed into their land, so they tried to flee from Huns and ended up pushing into Roman lan...

The Age of Christianity Questions 1.  Jesus- Leader who came to be known as Christ & was believed to be savior Apostle-close follower of Jesus Paul- Apostle who played a key role in the spread of Christianity throughout the empire Diaspora- Moving away of the Jews from their homeland in Palestina Constantine- Roman emperor who ended the persecution of Christians Bishop- Head of all the churches in one area Peter- First apostle who helped spread Christianity through Syria & Palestine Pope- Head of all the Christian church 3.  What did Jesus emphasize in his early teachings? Jesus emphasized personal relationships with God, importance of people's love to God, neighbors and enemies, and offered eternal life if you repented for your sins. 4.  Why did the early Christians face persecution from the Romans?  The early Christians face persecution from the Romans because they refused to worship the Roman gods. 5.  What is the import...

Our assignment for day 4 is to compare the rap and the textbook info.  After reading through the rap lyrics and remembering the textbook information, I don't notice many differences at all. The rap and the textbook talk about the greeks and Etruscans being settlers, but the Latins were some the first to make the city.  The built the original settlements of Rome on top of a hill called Palatine Hill.  One difference I did notice is that the rap isn't as descriptive with the places and rivers like the textbook is.  The books tells about how Rome was built at the curve of the tiber River, near the Italian peninsula.  I believe that the geography of a place is something that is very important and the rap talks more about the history than the geography part of Rome.  Another big similarity that was included in both the rap and the textbook was Tarquin and the patricians, plebeians, and a republic.  Both the rap and the textbook talk about them and how Tarqu...