Sick

Today I was not in class because I was sick.

Diocletian

Today we went over power points on Diocletian. Here are some of my notes:

• At first he didn't have a problem with them, but then he did.
• He sentenced the people of the Christian church to be burnt and killed.
• Ordered the Christians to not worship anymore in any assemblies.
• To be stripped of all of their main jobs in government.
• He didn't want them to be Christians and to terminate them.
• He is burning their scriptures and wiping out their places of worship.
• Ordered the arrest as well as the imprisonment of all bishops and priests.
• The jail was so crowded they let the  bad people go to make room for the bishops.
• Clergyman wanted to be freed, he would have to make a sacrifice to the Roman gods.
• This ordered all men and women and children to come to the public space and make a collective sacrifice together and if they refused, they would be executes.
• Bishops didn't do anything that would put a negative influence on the followers.
• the night before a battle, Constantine had a dream of God coming to him and telling him he needed to put the sign of the cross on his armies shields. 
• Constantine built up the Roman army and in order to pay for it he introduced a new gold currency. He shared the power with other emperors which were his sons, and began building a new capital. 
• Edicts are law and they come from the emperor so they need to be obeyed. 
• He ordered that the newly build church they paid for with their own money be leveled.
• He demanded that the readings were all destroyed.
• Prohibited Christians from worshiping even in the public.
• They went on the down low and went to other people's houses and began and continued to worship.
• They kept a lower profile and they had hero's.
• They didn't have open traditional services, but did their own thing.
• A fire destroyed part of the imperial palace.
• They blamed the fire on the Christian people but no responsible party was found for the destruction.
• One man was stripped, hoisted off the ground, and was lashed by whips with tacks and other sharp things on it, salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and was burnt over an open fire.
• This was the empires way of saying see what will happen if you cont. to practice Christianity. 
• six officials including the bishop were decapitated. 
• The government showed if they wanted to worship they would all be killed in terrible ways.

Powerpoint cont.

Today in class we were still going over Christianity and we were looking at the power point and taking notes. Here are some of the notes I took:

• 99 problems (here's just a few)
• In the third century, epidemic disease spreads throughout the Empire.
• It's too hard to defend the frontier against the barbarians. 
• Emperors began to lose their hold or power. 
• Stayed in power for an overage of two and a half years, due to wars or assassinations.
• Maintaining armies is becoming more expensive.
• Still a lot of people in the city that are poverty-stricken and can't afford a anything anymore. 
• Emperors had a hard time keeping themselves alive and in power.
• Average length of rule was usually 2 years. That was till someone killed you either in battle or by people who didn't like your way of ruling.
• 284 AD- Diocletian's reforms
• Increase the size of the army to 400,000
• 1/3 bigger than during Augustus' time
• Recruit from the ranks of the barbarians.
• Divide Roman territories into smaller Providences.
• This new government has 20,000 officials- ten times more than under Augustus
• There were more efficient at collecting higher taxes- this greater yield provided for a larger army.
• Rome was based on a polytheism type of government.
• They were excepted to do duties for Jupiter, where if you were Christians you didn't have to.
• Diocletian (ruled from 284-305) left Christians alone at first.
• The he undertook the most systematic persecution of all*
• Constantine ruled as emperor 306-337
• What was his connection with Christianity?*
• and how did he restructure the empire?*

Christianity

Today in class we were learning about Christianity after we went over our test. Here are some of my notes:

1. Jesus was the leader. 
2. He hung out with prostitutes to give them rights.
3. Rome thought it was weird they were getting rights after that they did.
4. Jesus rose from the dead and descended into heaven.
5. Apostles were the followers of Jesus who tried to spread his beliefs. 
6. Paul of Tarsus was a Jew who became a follower of Jesus after a miraculous vision on the road to Damascus.
7. Paul was well traveled, he helped found churches in many places, and he kept in touch with these new Christians by letters. 
8. Some letters were Corinth, Thessalonian, Rome, Ephesus. 
9. Paul's name was saw, but then he changed it. 
10. Paul was explaining to us what he meant when he set everything up, talked and preached, and moved on.
11. Paul talked of predestination which meant that God chose who was to be saved and who was to be damned. 
12. Jesus went to John for his baptism.
13. The spirit drove Paul into the desert, the one he felt when he was baptized. 
14. Jesus did all he could for the people who had trouble supporting themselves. 
15. He preached on moral questions, and from the followers he chose 2 assistants and he declared he was the Messiah. 
16. Romans had Jesus crucified. 
17. 
    

LO2- Christianity in the Era of the Roman Peace

• In its first two hundred years, Christianity acquired many lasting features of its beliefs and practices.
• The development involved the Christians and Jews too.

• It was during the period of Jewish conflict and dispute leading up the the destruction of the Temple in A.D 70 that Jesus lived and taught.
• Named the books after his followers.
• Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
• Gospel writers focused the most on his birth and the brief years when he was a wandering preacher in Judea, and his death and aftermath.
• Two roles: A teacher explaining God's purposes, and as Messiah sent by God.
• The Gospels, written at a time when the Jewish majority and the believers of Jesus were turning against each other, portrayed him as an outright opponent of other Jewish groups. 

• However from much of the readings we know, Jesus had a lot in common with them. 
• He obeyed the law and visited the Temple, and called for acceptance of Roman law, while standing apart from the Temple priest. 
• Jesus taught, longed for Gods forgiveness, which alone could admit them to the kingdom. 
• Jesus's biggest difference with the Pharisees, as the gospels described it, was that, like the radical Jewish groups, he proclaimed that "the kingdom of God has come near."
• In the thirty years after Jesus' death, his apostles worked hard to proclaim "the good news" (PAUL)

Paper

Today in class we started our papers. Here is mine so far:

                The Pax Romana, by Wikipedia definition, is the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD. Caesar Augustus played a huge role in the Pax Romana, hint why it is sometimes called the Pax Augusta. One reason this was so successful was because the Roman Legion was able to patrol the boarders very successfully. In 27 B.C Augusta got ascended which was the reason why the Pax Romana even started. During this time, Rome switched government to a Monarchy. This is when a bunch of things really started to take off. People were peaceful with each other, and no wars were going on.

            Rome started to take part of and share Greek culture and the Latin peoples joined in with a new language. Literature began to take off and Livius Andronicus was making the Odyssey into a play people could watch that was very entertaining. This is when they all began to use Greek literature forms. Some of the most famous writers were Plautus, Terence and Aristophanes. Plautus and Terence were somewhat alike, and they focused on subjects like love and money. People were interested in them because they added humor to their plays, and switched it from serious to happy and humorous. These two poets tried to write about things most of the people could connect to in life. However, literature was not the only thing that started to progress in Roman society.

            Architecture and engineering started to boom in Rome. Old buildings got tortured and eroded, but the Romans kept them there, as if they were a sign of power. Things like roads, arches, vaults, domes, temples, statues, etc. started to be built and found all through Rome. Forums were the nicest and biggest of all Roman buildings, and served as a “marketplace” for the republic. Many emperors were involved in the process of making their forums. In the beginning of the Roman 2^nd century, Capitoline Hill had one built on it and it belonged to Trajan. Even bigger and better than his, was the forum of Dacia. The Romans then went on to build temples, and the structure they used came heavily from the Greek culture.  There was a temple that went by the name of the Pantheon and it was considered by the Romans to be the Temple of All the Gods. All of this building would not have been possible if it wasn't for the Romans new building techniques. Previous empires used stone, but the Romans saw that with the use of materials like concrete and stone and even brick the things they were building would stand better and for a long amount of time. Bathhouses were created and very popular because warm water got put into them, so the people had a source of warm water, not whatever they could find in a stream, lake, etc. People who belonged to lower class and did not have enough money could afford the expense of using the recreational areas like the swimming pools, bars, and theaters. Colosseum found in Rome may be among one of the biggest achievements that people still know about today. If you were to visit Rome today, you can still see the Colosseum because it is still there. In Roman history, it was used for battle scenes, and most importantly chariot races. 

Powerpoint slide

• War profiteers abounded and traded in slaves, weapons, and often bought abandoned farms to create large plantations.

• "Just grab some land!"

• Turned big estates into HUGE estates.
• Soldiers and farmers who fought in Rome's wars often lost their land and came back to nothing.

• Used their wealth to buy ruined farms.
• Small plots were merged into large estates for use as vineyards, olive groves, or pastureland for livestock.
• Displaces farmers could not compete with the slaves. (Carthage)

• Plebeians make up the assembly.

• Tiberius tried to do a lot of good things so they would vote him as the king of Rome.
• Senate sees him as a trouble maker already, because he is in direct contact with their interest.
• Septimulieus found Gaius' head and then scooped the brains out and filled it with lead so they threw Tiberius' head in the River Tiber.

• Julius Caesar wants to extend his power and ambition.

• Pompey is jealous, and the senate is worried.
• Instead, he and his army cross the Rubicon and make a grand, heroic entrance.
• Pompey is defeated in Greece, and is killed in Egypt where he has taken refuge.