CB (I cut out my real name in the drawing) 9/25/17
A drawing I made!
It's a Hippogriff from Harry Potter.
It took me almost 4 days to draw.
I used a reference drawing to draw this but I didn't trace it, which is why there's so many eraser marks. And why it took me so long. (It's a different scale than the original and I improvised some of it)
materials:
x It's just in pencil.
edit 1/10/18:
another hp drawing I made recently:
http://homeschoolworkessays.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-drawing-owl-post.html
History
9/18/17
RPC (Ron Paul Curriculum)
CB
Lesson 45 - Week 9 Review
xx This essay has some violence that might be scary for younger readers
Writing assignment:
Answer one of the following questions.
1. What specific changes occurred in Roman society as a result of the Struggle of the Orders?
2. Why did Tiberius Gracchus attract so much suspicion from the Roman Senate?
(Question 2) Tiberius Gracchus ended up attracting a lot of attention to himself from the Roman Senate because of his “radical” way of doing things. Such as undermining the Senate’s role, being above the usual norms, and laws, to pursue his own purposes. Whether his motives were good or bad, Gracchus' main goal was his land reform bill. He thought if more people were landowners, more people could serve in the military, and this would solve the problem of homeless vets. What he wanted to do in his bill was distribute the land to these landless veterans, taking care of them. They had come back to their land and it was ruined after many years of being untended (they were at war so the land was abandoned for a long time). And so, after selling the land they had no jobs. The soldiers flocked to the city for jobs, but the slaves had all the jobs there. Even if one of the veterans were to be employed in the city, they'd be paid low. (Slaves get paid nothing so they wouldn't want to have to pay someone to work). They could not simply be soldiers again because they didn't own land, leaving them unemployed and homeless.
Gracchus tried to bring back an old principle. Excess land held by citizens must be returned. (Excess as in more than they really needed.) At first, he had some support in the Senate but not all the support. This is why he decides to violate tradition. (And he later continues on this pattern). People had different ways of viewing him. Some, saw him as a popular reformer seeking good for the impoverished. Others, saw him as a radical with a disrespect for Roman tradition. A man who just wanted to build up his name and, in turn, make people resent the Senate so he could build up his political agenda. They were right (at least) about him not regarding the Roman tradition as important. I say this because he decided to bypass the Senate completely and took his proposal straight to the Concilium Plebis (The Popular Assembly). The bill ended up passing but the Roman Senate refused to fund Gracchus’ land commission. Tiberius was obviously trying to follow his own path without the government and this strikes a nerve. They dislike Gracchus more so than disliking bill. The King of Pergamum has no heirs so he bequeaths his kingdom to Rome. That's lucky for Tiberius. Now the tax revenues from this new land Rome has will fund his project. But this action steps on the Senates’ power as well. They have control of finances and foreign affairs. Senate doesn't like this.
Drama then ensues, Marcus Octavius is swayed by the Senate to veto Tiberius’s bill. Tiberius (once again) takes action and urges for Octavius's resignation. And then he furthers this motion by holding a vote with the Assembly of Tribes on getting Octavius out. This is a rebellion on them, working together with your coworkers as a consul is tradition. If you're a tribute you work with the other tributes. He needs 18 votes, 17 are cast in favor of taking him out. Tiberius halts the proceedings for the last moment and pleads with Octavius to just resign on his own terms so he won’t have to go through with this. Octavius didn’t comply so they voted him out. Some freedmen had to drag him away from his post. It was a sad sight, Pluchard describes (not a direct quote).
He takes yet another blow at tradition and decides to run for re-election as tribune. This further raises the Senates emotions about Gracchus. He does this to ensure the success of his bill (the Land Reform) he has real dedication to it. At this point, the Senate believes that he treats Roman tradition with contempt and disrespect. And this has further led them to the conclusion that Tiberius cannot be trusted. All of his backward ways, turning people against the Senate and such, they thought. And so they end up doing something drastic about all this.
At a political rally, Tiberius senses he isn't safe. He makes a signal of putting his hand on his head to silently tell his supporters he senses danger. (A stress signal). The Senate takes this sign the wrong way and thinks he’s asking for a crown. The Senate was affronted. They had had enough! In a fit of rage, they grab the legs of some broken benches and rush to Tiberius. They begin to smite his supporters. It was a bloodbath. Tiberius turned to run off but someone caught hold of his robes. So he let his toga go and ran in his tunic. Unfortunately, he tripped and fell on some bodies in front of him. His efforts were in vain. As he was getting up, he got his first blow from a colleague with the snapped leg of a bench. The second blow was by Lucius R. (another colleague). Over 300 more supporters were beaten down with sticks and stones. Obviously, democracy was not very civil back then (in Rome at least) and political corruptness was out in the open much more. In this particular case, anarchy won. Tiberius went along with a reckless abandonment to the laws and social structure. This led to his inevitable death. Whether the accusing motives were true or not we can’t be sure. We can be sure it left a mess. The bill did end up getting passed and doing good for the vets, a successful fight in that respect. The Roman Senate ultimately wanted to be in charge. They didn’t want “vagabonds”(as they deemed Gracchus) messing up their system, and interfering with their power. Politics is not often an easy game and not everyone will end up happy with the end result.
Politicians against the grain and you get suspicion from the government. Go figure.
xx Essays up on Fridays
It's unusual for me to post my notes, but I figured I haven't put something on here in awhile so I might as well put something school-related. My notes are messy with some spelling errors, that's because I type fast. And I also copy whats on the power point slides so I rush it to get all my lessons done. (notes take about an hour per lesson) Sometimes I like to review my notes for an essay, or a refresh on the lesson. Extra notes (the lowercase x's) is of what the teacher is saying(not on pp) (the fragments/important bits). These are old notes so I'm past this lesson by a few numbers now. (note* later I switch to lower case o's for my bullet points). So it's back to school from summer break. Hope you had a nice summer.
Bye :)
- CB
Lesson 41 - Rome: Beginnings and Foundations
Reading: Kirchner, pp. 76-81
6/13/17
x significance Rome western x beginnings x legends of Rome x period of the kings in Roman history x Republic x foundation x Roman religion x Christianity conflict x know something Roman religion x Roman law > great contribution from Romans x travel communication vast territory > big amount of people x law foundation western law x English-speaking law x derived Anglo-Saxon common law x Roman law x chief significance
o as bullet point // not x mess up ^ X is the powerpoint notes
X > legendary stories of Roman founding
X > one story, later taken up by Virgil in ((The Aeneid:))
x >> Aeneas flees after the fall of Troy and settles in Latium
X>> establishes a royal line at Alba Longa
o livy stories o quote o poetry sound historical record o who knows if they're true, probably not o ill tell em' anyway o aneus fled after the fall of Troy o not a Greek but a Trojan o establishes a royal line of kings o carrying his father out of the ruins of Troy o why would Romans want to have defeated party? o when legend taking root o Trojans dominated o Greeks ruled over my Roman o Romans choose trojans o they don't owe founding to Greeks o story of Trojan escapes Troy founded city of Rome
X another story, twins Romulus and Remus
X > left by the Tiber River
X > suckled by wolves, then raised by shepherds
X 753-509 BC, Rome influenced and governed by Etruscans
X > Etruria, north of Rome (between 8th and 5th centuries BC)
X > Roman engineering and architecture, the alphabet, and even the toga all from Etruscan influence
X > Etruscans: "one of the irritating obscurities of history"
X > age of kings: seven monarchs from 753-509 BC, according to semi-legendary accounts; some (in the sixth century) were Etruscans
X > exercised political, military, and religious authority
o these twins left by river o picked by wolves o raised by sheps o twind founded city of Rome o link up in fact that they were born to daughter of Alban kings o in some versions > one big story o city of Rome founded 753 legendary date o don't have much else to go on o influenced from people of north o corresponds area Tuscany today o alphabet so on influence o toga customary garment Romans o came from Etruscans o don't know much about them annoyingly o age of kings o 7 kings governed o don't know how trustworthy our accounts are o directly politically influencing Rome o authority > over Roman people
X expulsion of last Etruscan king in 509 BC, establishing a republic
X > Tarquin the Proud
X > > oppressive rule led to his ouster by aristocrats
X > > son's rape of Lucretia
X > ((res publica)) (( means italics
X > no one person in control; office of consul held by two people
X > story of Cincinnatus (name is like the city), 58 Bc
X > > former consul; lost most of his property in a lawsuit (like todays, lawsuits), but Roman people turned to him in emergency
X > > named dictator
X > > wins the victory, resigns office
X > > held it for 15 days; had been appointed for six months
o expulsion last of Etruscan kings o oppressive ruler drove him away o raped a woman o insighted the Roman population to drive them out o last of kings o in wake of the Tarquin the proud o Republic o a public thing > re publica o public thing not private thing that treats Rome as his whim o everyone has input one way or another o never just one person o Roman gov. occupied at least 2 people o as long as 2 disagree it's not done o had kings, trying something new o representatives o correspond diff forms of government o executive o assembly democratic aspect o not like directly vote Athens o will be a representative aspect o vote for someone and they will carry out certain tasks for you o accuracy can't be sure of o Cincinnatus former consul o roman public turned to him in time of emergency o you could legitimately be a dictator o only during time of emergency o absolute power o win victory for Rome o dictator 15 days o then resigns o when absolute power held to him he refuses it o virtuous man o only does it when it's needed to protect the people o Americans interest o George Washington o new Cincinnatus o almost every military leader absolute power victories o returned to private life o almost every person becomes obsessed with power, not him
Roman religion
X like Greeks had household religion with household altar, private rites, etc.
X > hearth fire signifies continuity of family
X gods permeated all aspects of life
X > e.g., Janus, god of the doorway (January)
X the city was an extension of the families of which it was composed, and was a sacred thing
X > national hearth established for goddess Vesta, tended by Vestal Virgins
o different than religious traditions today o contractual affair between gods o didn't depict gods in art, until Greek influence later o appease Gods through rituals and sacrifice o no love, or speculating how God's "manner" and "thoughts" were, like the Hebrews o household religion o private rites o fire o rites you remain in communion those before you and those who will come after you o gods permeated all aspects of life o God of a door o January comes from Janus o January ahead to new year and back at previous, like a door o city has a hearth o familiar o early days ancient Greeks o national hearth tended by vesters
X Greek religious influence very significant
X > Greek anthropomorphism merges with the impersonal Roman gods
X > eventually, Greek gods come to be identified with traditional Roman ones
X Roman gods inserted into the pantheon of gods of whatever people Rome defeated
X sacrifices offered to the gods to win their aid or appease their anger
X > at home, cake or wine is thrown into the domestic fire
X > in public, animals
X ceremonies of purification: removing evil presence
X festivals
X nine ((augures)) study the will of the gods
X religion and morality?
X > gifts and ritual, not moral uprightness, mattered to the gods
X > but Augustus will see a connection
o greek a merge with impersonal Roman gods o anthro making something like human beings o making something in shape of human beings o being like humans but being strong with some cool powers o eyes, a moth, talking o made them into being like human beings o hadn't done that until they encourted the earth o Jove was expanse of sky o not personified till' meshed with Greek tradition o represented these abstract forms > human form o greek gods identified traditional roman ones o gods of whatever people rome defeated o sacrifice to win aid o and to appease anger o cake and wine domestic o animals in public o cermonies purification o evil presents proper observance ritual o great many festivals o as in Christian festivals o local officals cut em' back days off work o observing flight of birds o insides of animal o Etruscan prcatice o connection religion > morality ( like religions today, such as Christianity) o not so much.... o gifts offered to god proper ritual mattered to gods don't care sweet of generous or nice o ritual mattered o other hand on one of the roman empires later is going to seek religus revival morality o undermind idea gods carry morality o old virtues roamns o respect for gods o bring back ancient virtues respect gods o blessings
X Roman Law
X law involves universal principels applied uniformly, and which can be discovered by reason
X > in this way, it can bind different peoples together
X > Cicero: "True law is right reason in agreement with nature; itis of universal application, unchanging and everlasting....And there will not be different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and at all times"
X this Stoic conception of law becomes known as the ((ius Gentium))
X Romans applied it throughout the Empire
o law involves unerversial pricipals that is applied universally, to everyone, everywhere
X Romans applied it throughout the Empire
o speculate on what human beings ought to do o because law is a uneversal thing o applys to everbody o not property romans o we all have human reason o brains o can discover the law o all equally subject to law o could be bound togther o all human race, whatever your customs may be, certain things are just wrong o romans have uversial sense law is o far as substantial part known world o true law is right reason agreemnet nature o doesn't mean he favours un o some alws are good o some laws are bad o good > conform right reason o fit dignity human beings o the law of the peoples o certain absolutes, all of us have to abide by o certain things complled to do and compelled to avoid
X among the provisions of Roman law:
X > Justice is a consistent, unfailing disposition to give veryone his legal due
X > no one is compelled to defend a cause against his willOOO
X > No one suffers a penalty for what he thinksOOO
X > in the case of majot offenses it makes a difference wether something is comitted purposefully or accidentally
o unfailing disposition to give veryone his legal due o privacy in your own brain o purposefull yor accidentally o accident > punishment less o not clear to all peoples of the world, but definitly a idea in america
X > The guilt or punishment of a father can impose no stigma upon the osn, for every individual is subjected to treatment in accordance with his own action, and no one is made the inheritor of the guilt of another
X > in inflicting penalties, the age....of the guilty party must be taken into account
X presumtion of innocence, rules of evidence OOO
X contrast with barbarians OOO
o accordance own action o very very modern o no one says "your father was a jerk" so you belong in jail o innocent tell proven guilty o apprciate signifigance roman law o compare to laws of other people o barbarians legal traditions cause romans some grief later on o horrfied by it o seem obvious but weren't to everbody
o founding of rome o etrustcans o what institutions? o briefly roman religioun o roman law
