The Middle Ages

Medieval 2 from St. James-Assiniboia School Division

Beware the Ides of March

If you are here in class, watching the movie clip above, then you are either like Julius Caesar, brave enough to ignore dire warnings,  or uninformed (you can assume what your teacher is by his absence). As talked about in class, Caesar decided to make himself dictator of Rome, and had himself honoured in a fashion that was reserved for Gods. This created enemies, and he was warned by a seer (somebody who can see the future) to beware the ides of March.

Knowing something about how Caesar was acting like a God adds to the enjoyment of this video clip below from the Simpsons.

1. Homer above has decided how he would use his power. Lisa has other advice.  If you were the dictator of mighty Rome,  perhaps the most dominant power to have ever existed, how would you use your power?

2. The ides of March was very bad for Julius Caesar, and his assassination has created much superstition round the date (rumour has it that your history teacher is presently hiding under a bed). Some 500 years after Julius's assassination, a even more tumultuous event occur, the collapse of the Roman Empire.  If Canada and the United States were to collapse today, no army, no police, no hospitals, no school, no money, no electricity, no running water, basically nothing  existing that is presently made possible by government, how would you spend the day?

Blog your answers below.

Roman Timeline

Using the teacher links given above, choose 8 major dates for Ancient Rome, one just be when Rome became a republic, and one date must be 476 AD. Put these dates down on your timeline and publish onto KidBlog. Again, be sure to include a link, text and a graphic with each date.

The Decline of the Roman Empire

Some major reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire
1.A corrupt, unstable leadership
2.A very large, hard to manage size (hard to administrate, defend, govern)
3.A lack of soldiers and Citizens willing to give their all for the Roman Empire
4.Resentment over taxation imposed by a far away government
5.Rome became more dependant upon imports from far away places
6.An increasing gap between the rich and poor.
  More details can be found here and here

Coming up is St. Patrick's Day, which has a Roman connection.

While we are on the topic of days we celebrate that has a connection to Ancient Rome, St. Valentine's Day, which happened while I was at Winter Camp, also dates back to the Romans.

Roman Review

Some major reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire
1.A corrupt, unstable leadership
2.A very large, hard to manage size
3.A lack of soldiers and Citizens willing to give their all for the Roman Empire
4.Resentment over taxation imposed by a far away government
5.Rome became more dependant upon imports from far away places
6.An increasing gap between the rich and poor.
  More details can be found here and here Some of the major legacies of Rome are at this link:

Be able to do the circle talk below. Remember, the order of the words isn't what is important.