Dear Future Laura....

Dear future Laura,

    The date is June 2nd, 2020. I hope you are great and in good health and enjoying life. I hope most of your dreams have come true, at least the reasonable ones. Hopefully, you got into a good college, got to play on a sports team, and you are working as a police officer with your furry friend or you are in the military. As I’m writing this I am living through coronavirus, online learning, riots, and lots of protesting for black lives matter and George Floyd all over the country. Coronavirus as far as I know came from China around the end of last year, but only got worse around March. March 13th was the last day at school for freshman year. I didn’t go back for the rest of that school year. As far as I know, I will be going back in the fall of 2020. That could change just let me know. I did online learning for about three months, it wasn’t awful but it was definitely different and took some getting used to. I survived (obviously) because this Friday is the last day of school. Hopefully, that was the last day of online school. Coronavirus has killed a lot of people all over America and made all 50 states go on lockdown. It was pretty hard because our busy lives had all of the sudden had the breaks slammed. No more school, sports, hanging out with friends, and going to places like the movies. It was hard to stay entertained but I got through. I did try some things I hadn’t tried before. I think at some point this summer things will go back to normal and we will be able to go back to normal living or close to it. Right now things are starting to change and opening up slowly. I hope that it will still be a fun summer and all things go well. I am hoping that the next school year will be normal or more normal than now. We may all be able to go back in the fall which would be good and resume normal schooling for the rest of the year. If not I have heard we may have half of the kids go one day into the school and the next day that same group will do online. And we would switch like that. I don’t know how true that is, may just be rumors. That would be better than nothing. I would just like to return back to school, see people normally, and go to sporting events. I hope it all turns out ok in the end and it doesn’t take too long for it to happen.

Your Past Self,

Laura 15 yrs.

Final Notes on Rome

The aftermath of the murder   

• Julius Caesar’s grandnephew (and adopted son) Octavian takes over at the age of 18! with his own triumvirate
• Mark Antony - experienced general
• Lepidus - powerful politician

• This is the Second Triumvirate

• Octavian forces the weak Lepidus to retire
• He and Mark Antony become rivals
• Mark Antony partners up with Cleopatra of Egypt
• Militarily
• Personally
• Politically
• Economically
• Octavian defeats them at the Battle of Actium

Octavian is now on his own

• is now the unchallenged ruler of Rome
• He was given the honorific “Augustus” (“Exalted One”)
• He was also given the title “Imperator” (Supreme Military Commander)
• This is where we get the word “emperor”
• Now Rome is an empire, not a republic

He isn't a Tarquin

• 40 years of ruling as emperor (27 BC to AD 14)

• He began a stable era of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana (Roman peace)

• Pax Romana was 207 years long
• 27 BC to AD 180

A few of Octavians accomplishments

• Expanded the Roman Empire further into Africa
• He set up civil service to run the government/empire
• Building a network of roads
• Collecting taxes
• Establishing a postal service
• Administering the grain supply
• Building awesome public facilities (buildings, aqueducts)
• Setting up a police department
• Running a fire-fighting organization         

Finally died of natural causes

Which begins age of emperors (some were good, some bad, and some horrible) Tiberius:

• Ruled from AD 14 to AD 37
• an excellent general, but a reluctant emperor
• after the death of his son, he exiled himself from Rome and left his prefects in charge
• died at age 77

Caligula:

• Ruled from AD 37 to AD 41 (only 4 years!)
• won a power struggle after Tiberius' death
• known for his cruelty, extravagance, and perversity - an insane tyrant
• assassinated by a group of praetorian guards, Senators, and the imperial court, trying to re-establish the Republic
• which didn't work

Claudius:

• Ruled from AD 41 to AD 54
• suffered from many infirmities: a limp, stammering, shaking, slobbering-possibly because of cerebral palsy
• took over because he was the last adult male in the family
• ruled well: built roads, aqueducts, canals, and started the conquest of Britain
• died by poisoning - it was his last wife's plan (she wanted her son Nero to rise to power)

Nero:

• ruled from 54 AD to 68 AD
• emphasized the arts
• huge fire in 64 AD
• he wanted to rebuild Rome to be more majestic
• he hugely overspent, even raided the temples for money
• historians do not look kindly upon him

Verification and Notes

I Laura Hughes, section 201 will be taking the final chapter test on Tuesday, June 2 from 1:25 to 2:15.

Now for some more notes on Ancient Rome:

• Poet Juvenal from Rome says the way to keep plebeians happy is to give them circus' and bread. 
• the bread is free grain from the state and the circus is entertainment to keep them quiet, happy, distracted, and docile.
• Tiberius Gracchus saw the advantages of courting plebeians, so the military leaders used that to their advantage. 
• They lead an army to conquer the land and then give them a share in the spoils.
• Some soldiers were only loyal to their leader and not necessarily to Rome or the Republic.
• Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC)was the greatest, he was a successful general, and conquered the huge territory of Gaul.
• He made common folk happy, made friends in high places (Pompey: a general who conquered Syria and Palestine & Crassus: the richest man in Rome, one of the richest men in all history)
• those three men formed the first triumvirate, "rule of the three men"
• Crossing the Rubicon is crossing the point of no return
• Caesar served as a consul for one year, appointed himself governor of Gaul.
• Pompey becomes jealous and turned into a rival of Caesar, their armies clash in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt, & Caesar wins.
• In 44BC Caesar is named dictator for six months, then for life.
• Caesar's reforms: granted citizenship to people in provinces, expanded the Senate & adding friends, created jobs for poor & especially through public work projects, increased soldiers' pay and created colonies were those without land could have property.
• Caesar was assassinated because other Senators saw his power as a huge threat to their political viability.
• They lured him into the Senate, stabbing him 23 times, making sure all were involved, even Brutus, Caesars ally.
• The senators weren't punished, Octavian was named Julius Caesar's sole heir.
• This is basically the end of the Republic.

Essay Question

The essay question I chose is B. Analyze the factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Republic. A few ideas I could write about are economic inequality, military upheaval, civil war, slaves, overexpansion, overspending on military, and the rise of Caesar who helped Rome but then seized power. 

Notes on the Roman Empire

Here are some of my notes on the Roman Empire. 

• as Rome grew the gap between rich and poor grew
• by 100 BC enslaved persons formed 1/3 of the population
• two brother Tiberius and Gaius tried to help Rome's poor by limiting estate size, & giving land to the poor
• with many enemies, brothers had violent deaths, Tiberius in 133 BC, & Gaius in 121 BC
• Civil war- a conflict between groups in the same country
• eventually, all the poor people became soldiers for pay and they formed a big military
• in 60 BC military leader Julius Caesar joined Pompey and Crassus, they formed a triumvirate
• Triumvirate- a group of three rulers
• Caesar served a year as a consul, became governor of Gaul and conquered it
• Pompey feared Caesar's ambitions, so on Jan. 10, 49 BC, Caesar marched his army to Rome and Pompey fled.
• Caesar was named dictator for life in 44 BC after conquering Pompey armies in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Europe.
• he gave Roman citizenship to many people in other provinces, expanded senate adding friends from Italy and other regions
• also helped the poor by creating jobs, making colonies
• Caesars 18yr old grandnephew and adopted son Octavian joined Mark Antony and Lepidus and made the second triumvirate
• it ended in violence and jealousy, Octavian made Lepidus retire and that made him and Mark Antony rivals
• Mark met Cleopatra, fell in love, and was accused by Octavian that he was trying to rule Rome from Egypt, that leads to another civil war, they lost to Octavian and committed suicide.
• Octavian became Augustus (exalted one), Rome became empire ruled from one man
• Rome was at the peak of its power and was at peace for 207 years
• Pax Romana- "Roman peace", a period of peace and prosperity 27 BC to 180 AD
• Augustus died in 14 AD
• Romans managed to control an empire that by the second century AD reached from Spain to Mesopotamia, & North Africa to Great Britain
• Slaves were conquered people brought back by Roman armies, children who were born to slaves were slaves, they could be bought and sold, they were the property of their owners, they could be set free, punished, rewarded or put to death by their masters.
• worked in the city and farmers, some men would become gladiators who were put in contests that you fight to the death, slaves of wealthy landowners were treated better, none of the slave revolts succeeded
• Romans worshipped and honored the Roman Gods/Goddess to avoid misfortune
• the rich lived extravagantly, they had parties with rare food like parrot tongues pie and boiled ostrich, they bought large homes and gardens, and bought slaves
• most of Rome didn't have the bare necessities of life and were unemployed and were given daily rations of grain to get by
• poor people crowded in rickety, sprawling tenements
• to distract masses of Rome they had free games, races, mock battles, and gladiator contests
• by 250 AD there were 150 holidays and 50,000 rich and poor would gather in a Colosseum
• during Pax Romana, a practice of new religion called Christianity emerged

The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were fought from 264 - 146 BC. Three wars happened in that time period: the first was from 264 - 241 BC, the second was from 218 - 201 BC, the third was the shortest from 149 - 146 BC. The three great wars were fought between Rome and Carthage, Carthage wanted to take control over Roman land but they never succeeded. They fought battles in the sea for the island Sicily, they fought right in their homeland of Rome, and they fought right in Carthage city which was destroyed in the end. Rome did all this with 5,000 unpaid soldiers(until later) carrying a shield, sword, dagger, wearing armor, and a tunic. They had cavalry and one of the best Navy's.

Rome's leader and government

This is how Tarquin took power to Rome. Before Tullia became his wife, she killed her old husband and sister so she could be with him. For him to be king right then they had to get rid of her father. Tarquin asked to become king and was refused so he had the king assassinated. Tullia worships Tarquin as the new king but is sent home, and she sees her father's body on the road and runs over it. Some senators want to bury the body but Tarquin doesn't want it buried so he assassinates the senators. Much later Tarquins son causes a young woman to commit suicide, Tarquin tries to hide it but the people had him, his son, and his family expelled from Rome. After this Rome didn't want kings to rule ever again. So they change the government to two consuls. They are patricians who are elected each year. They dealt with justice, making laws, and commanding armies. One person could veto the other so they were less powerful. Then plebeians challenged the patrician's power, and eventually, fair laws were written down. Democracy was created similar to ours. Everyone can vote, they both have three branches of government. We both have a legal code. Ours is the Bill of Rights and Romes was the Twelve Tables. We based our democracy off of Rome's.