Today in West Civ class we started our exam by writing three out of the five essay that were given. We had to explain each essay in full detail in order to get the best grade possible. I decided to write essay A, C, and D because I believed those were the ones I knew most about. For essay A, I had to explain how geographic luck applied to Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt. For the second essay I had to explain the different social hierarchies of Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt. For the last essay I had to compare and contrast the governments of Ancient Rome and The United States in year of 2015.

Today in West Civ class we used our knowledge while taking our Ancient Rome final test. Overall I thought the test was very easy, I really enjoy doing the big project on Ancient Rome and explaining it in front of the class because I feel like I really benefited from it . Our project got an A so I was very pleased with every ones work ethic in my group.

Today in West Civ class we reviewed for our upcoming Ancient Rome test on Wednesday. We went over the full power point and asked questions about it. We also talked about our exam and what we should be studying for it.

Today in west civ was our last day of presenting Rome projects, only two groups went today. Suki and Christina made a video, built a coliseum, and drew a picture of a pore and wealthy person. Then Katie's group went and they built something out of wine corks then made a huge poster board explaining it. Overall this was a very fun project and I enjoyed it very much, it was a great learning experience.

Today in class 3 more groups presented their projects. The first group was Nikki, Chris, and Sydney they built the coliseum and made a chocolate cake. The second group Nathan, Reece, and James and they reenacted a battle. The third group was Jack and Colin and they built this thing that launched things at castles or villages back in Ancient Rome. For example the used to throw cows, rocks, and huge things but today we launched a tennis ball, golf ball, and a ping pong ball.

Today in class we started to present our Ancient Rome projects, today three groups went. The first group was Megan and Gabby, they made Roman vaces and did a power point explaining them. The second group was Skylar, Gabi, and Immanuel and they made programs for everyone in the class talking about chariot racing. Then my group went last, overall I think we did really good and all of our hard work paid off. We will finish presenting on Wednesday.

Today in class we finished watching the movie on Rome and Tiberius. In conclusion, at then end of the movie Tiberius ended up getting killed because he was trying to declare himself king. Every time one of the senators put theirs hoods on their hand it meant they were going to kill some one or something, the first time it was the cow then the second time it was Tiberius.

Today in class we went over the power point, took a pop quiz I missed yesterday, and continued watching the movie. From the power point we talked about how do you keep the plebs happy or at least keep them from revolting? The poet Juvenal said the people "anxiously hopes for two things: bread and circuses." Bread (free grain from the state), partly to keep them alive, and partly to keep them quiet. Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) A highly successful general, he conquered the huge territory of Gaul. He made folks happy, made friends in high places. Pompey (a general who conquered Syria and Palestine) Crassus (the richest man in Rome, and one of the richest men in all history) These 3 men formed the First Triumvirate "rule of three men."

I was not in class today because I was home with a concussion.

Today in class we watched a movie on Ancient Rome and about the Punic Wars. Tiberius Gracchus was the leader and took over after his father passed away. 146 BCE, Carthage was the end of the third Punic War. The movie was very interesting, I enjoyed watching how they used to live and how they fought in wars now a days compared to back then.

Today in West Civ today, Mr. Shick was not here so we had class in the art wing. We continued to work on our Ancient Greece projects.

Today in West Civ class we watched a movie all about ancient Rome. But I also learned the three wars were a total destruction; end of an empire. Marcus Portius Cato the elder was a politician who ended every speech by saying "Delenda Carthage est," which means "Carthage must be destroyed," and he got his wish. Slaves poured into Italy (50,000 Carthaginians, 150,00 Greek POWs etc.) By the end of the second century BCE there were over a million slaves in Italy. Small farmers lost their land to aristocrats (for a little or no money) if they could not pay their debts, sometimes because the men of the farm were fighting battles. Slaves did the wok on the farms for the rich. The big farms became massive estates called latifundia.

In West Civ we learned that 5,000 soldiers, not in it for pay (not yet), the Romans army's elite heavy in fantry, recruited exclusively from Roman citizens. Group of eighty's a century, on horseback is the cavalry, they used shields, swords, dagger, amour, and tunic. The Punic War was from 264-46 BCE, Roman vs. Carthage, there were three years. Two empires fighting for control, the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily, Rome wins this one. The Carthaginian Empire Strikes back, the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE), 29-year-old Carthaginian general. Hannibal almost does the impossible: taking Rome, attacks Rome from the NORTH after crossing Iberia (Spain) and the Alps. Lays siege to much of the Peninsula for 15 years, but could never get back to Rome. Hannibal riding on elephant back crossing the Alps just to launch his attack. The Third and final Punic War (149-146 BCE), Rome wanted to finally remove the threat of Carthage. Scipio, Tiberius, Gracchus, and other mercilessly attacked the city. Carthage was burned for 17 days; the city walls and buildings were utterly destroyed. When the war ended, the last 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery. The rest of Carthage's territories were annexed and made into the Roman province of Africa.

Today in class we continued going over the Rome powerpoint and I learned that the rule of the kinds is replaced by rule of two consuls. Consuls are elected officials, term of office is one year. Always artiocrats (patricians), they traced their descent from a famous ancestor or pater 'father' There duties were to deal with justice, make the laws, and command the army. One consul could veto the other, reducing the power of the individual. In the fifth century BCE, patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the plebs, the people. Plebs were 98% of the population.

Today in Western Civilization class we took a class trip up to the main lobby to see Mr. Hollan's students dress up as some one from one of the old days and explain their stories to us. So we had to go around and press a sticker on their shoulders that said "push me to hear my story." I got around to almost everyone, all of their stories were very interesting. A lot of them sounded alike, for example most of them were alcoholics back then. Overall, I enjoyed this class experience, it was very educational but at the same time, a lot of fun. I would definitely consider going to it again and can't wait to do it when I am a junior.

Today in West Civ class learned all about Rome and who settled there. The Etruscans came from the north central part of the peninsula. Metal works, artists, and architects. There were two myth foundations, and they were Virgil's Aeneid, plus the story of Remus and Romulus. The Greeks also settled in Rome, they has many colonies around the Mediterranean sea. Romans borrowed ideas from the Greeks, such as religious beliefs, alphabet, a lot of their art, military techniques, and weaponries. The Latin's were the first to settle on Rome, descendent of Indo-Europe's. They settled on the banks of the Tiber River, situated so trading ships but not war fleets could navigate as far as Rome, but no further. A commercial port, but not attack and built on seven hills.

Today in West Civ class we continued to work on our project. Sammi and I are going to get together outside of school to do our part of the project. We are in charge of doing all of the research and then make a poster board with all of our information on it. I enjoy this project so far because I am already learning a lot about Rome.

Today in class researched Circus Maximus , Coliseum, Aqueducts, Roman Forum.
Coliseum
-Fire in 31 BC, destroyed the wooden structure, three fires
-Used for events such as processions of gladiator combats, but most days only chariot races
-Last race was held in 549 AD
-Located between the Aventine and Palatine hills

Circus Maximus
-Known as the Flavian Amphitheatre
-Located east of the Roman Forum
-One of the most famous monument
-Built nearly 2000 years ago for hosting violent gladiator games
 -620 by 513 feet

Aqueducts
-Basically a water bridge
-A water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water
-Built from a combination of stone and brick
-special volcanic cement pozzuolana
-Hard to build

Roman Forum
-People first began meeting in forum around 500 BC
-Central area of city
-Site was originally an Etruscan burial ground
-first developed in the 7th century BC

Today in West Civ class we got the whole class period to work on our group project. Sammi, Tucker, Luke, and I were very productive because we broke the work up into two groups. Sammi and I are going to do the researching and typing part of the project then Tucker and Luke are going to do the building part of the project. But this does not mean we are going to leave the boys and let them do it all by themselves, we are all going to work on it all together. We finally decided that we are going to build the Coliseum then do a presentation on it and tell the class about it.

Today in West Civ we continued to go over the Rome power point. I learned that the Latin's first came to the shores of the Tiber River, they drained a swamp. The tyrant named Tarquin Proud was like a kind, he pushed all of his people around. He told everyone what to do and exactly how to do it. They combined a democracy, aristocracy, and Monarchy. Roman legion, improved pllalapx, century 80 men. Punic wars, conflict of passage and trade, three different series of battles. Rome won the first battle against cartage. Got 100's of elephants and found men along the way to attack Italy.