Dear Future Self

As my freshman year comes to an end, I can easily say this year has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. This had to have been my craziest year of school yet. Going into this year I was so scared because I didn't know anybody else coming into the school, I was scared of the workload and getting lost, and just being submerged into a whole new setting. By the end of this year I had joined the equestrian team who has become my bets friends and family, I have learned the school, got First Honor Roll, and just been super happy. I have been able to open up and put myself out there a bit more. Over the course of this year I have been happy, sad, excited, nervous, overwhelmed, stressed, and beyond all, grateful. This year has taught me so much about myself and how strong I am. I can really get through the hard parts of life as long as I keep fighting. This pandemic has also taught me so much. It has taught me to be grateful for everything in life. I have become more grateful for the little things like the freedom of being able to go into a store whenever, seeing my friends at school, and just seeing friends over the weekend. I will never take any of these things for granted again because now I know how hard it is when those are no longer options. This pandemic has caused lots of stress and overwhelming feelings. Online school seemed as though it would be fun, but after a week it feels juts like isolation. It is the worst feeling to feel as though you are trapped. It has been three months of quarantine and by now it is my new normal. I don't remember the feeling of just walking into stores, eating at restaurants, not leaving the house without a  mask, or completing school work in school. Online work is so stressful trying to manage work of six different classes with tests and all the distractions. I wake up at 8 am and don't finish till around 3 pm, so that is 7 hours of work daily that I wake up and start all over each day. I am constantly stressing and overwhelmed, but it is finally coming to an end and I could not be happier. I am expecting summer to be quite slow. There is still not much to do, but things are already starting to open back up. I am excited to just relax this summer and take a break from the stress of society. I am hoping next year is just a regular year wear we go to school and do work there, see friends, see teachers, and just be around people in general. That is something I would have dreaded last year, but that is all I am asking for now. This time in society is strange and it really has impacted so many people in different ways. We are living through a major moment in what now will be history that felt as if the entire world stopped to shut down. It is hard to describe the feelings from this pandemic. It is all about the question of when will it end and will life go back to normal? Nobody knows these answers, but I am ready to find out. For my future self, I hope you have made sure to never take anything for granted again. Live life in a way that you can appreciate everything that happens in some way and appreciate everything you have. Life is full of lessons, but don't let anything stop you or hold you back. Things can get hard, stressful, overwhelming, and tough in general, but if you keep going you will get through it. Keep your good friends and family close because they are the ones who will be there to help you when you need it. Stay strong and keep going.

Octavian and Future Emperors

After Caesars assassination, his nephew and adopted son Octavian took over power at the young age of 18. Octavian, Mark Antony( an experienced general) and Lepidus(an strong politician created the Second Triumvirate. This Triumvirate ends as Octavian forces Lepidus to retire and once Mark Antony became Octavian rival. Mark Antony joined forces with the Egyptians and caused a battle to which Octavian won, the Battle of Actium. This is when Rome became an empire instead of a republic. Octavian became "Augustus" or "exalted one". He was also called the "imperator" or the supreme military commander.  Octavian was a great leader. He ran for 40 years (27Bc-14AD), he began the Pax Romana, or era of peace and prosperity for 207 years (27BC- 180 AD). Other accomplishments of his were; expanding the Roman Empire into Africa, setting up civil service to run the gov't/empire(building roads, collecting taxes, setting up police and fire departments, building major facilities, and more). Octavian then died of natural causes. Octavian's power was then passed down to many different emperors with different styles of running Rome. The first one was Tiberus, a ruler from 14-37AD. He was a great general, but not so great as an emperor. He exiles himself after
the death of his son and he left his prefects in charge of Rome. He later died at age 77. Next came Caligula from 37-41 AD. He was a cruel ruler and closer to a modern tyrant. He won power after the death of Tiberus, but he was assassinated by a group of praetorian guards. After Caligula's death, Senators and imperial court tried to re-establish the Republic which failed in the end. Next came Cladius. He ruled from 41-54 AD. He took over because he was the last adult male in his family. He was not the average ruler, he had many infirmities, but he was a good ruler who built roads, aqueducts, canals, and started the conquest of Britain. He eventually died from poisoning from his wife. Next came Nero, the son of Cladius and ruler from 54-68 AD. Nero emphasized the arts and wanted to rebuild Rome to become more majestic. He was not wise in his spending on money to the point of over spending and raiding temples in search of money.

The Plebeians and Julius Caesar

I will be taking my test on Tuesday, June 2nd at 1:25pm-2:15pm.

The first few slides discuss the benefits of tending to the needs of the plebeians. It discussed giving the bread or food and circuses for entertainment. The ruler Tiberius Gracchus was the one to trying pleasing the plebeians first. Military generals worked to get them a share of the land conquered. This also helped to gain the loyalty of soldiers to their military leader rather than Rome or the Republic in general. Julius Caesar was one of the most successful generals. His leadership was from 100-44BC and during this time he conquered the territory of Gaul or modern France. He was highly liked for tending to the common people and even liked by more popular people. Two of the higher up or powerful people were Pompey, conqueror of Syria and Palestine, and Crassus, richest man of Rome and even close to all time, to which he later formed the First Triumvirate("rule of three men"). Caesars ruling was as a consul for one year and him appointing himself governor of Gail. The First Triumvirate was soon broken as Pompey became a rival of Caesar over jealousy. This rivalry cause a clash of army from Caesar's army and Pompey's in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt with Caesar becoming out victorious. In 44 BC Caesar became dictator in the beginning for six months, which later became for life. As part of his dictator ship, he made many reforms such as; granting citizenship to people in provinces, expanding the Senate by adding his friends, creating jobs for the poor(public work projects), increase pay of soldiers, and starting colonies for those without land. The republic came to an end after Caesars assassination. He was assassinated by Even Brutus, Caesars ally, because the Senators thought Caesar's rise in power was a threat to their political power. They killed him by stabbing him 23 times after luring him into the Senate, to which the Senators were never punished. The next heir was Octavian, and this was the end to the republic. 

Rome Essay Topic

For my Rome essay, I have decided to to choose topic A.) Compare and contrast the government of ancient Rome with the government of modern-day United States. I would begin with discussing the change in Romes gov't from a tyranny, to a monarchy, aristocracy, and finally a democracy. The Romans rebelled against their tyrants because of how poorly they were treated. They then got a king who was just as bad as a tyrant, Lucius Tarquinias Superbus, who seized power. Within that family there was a lot of jealousy and violence between everybody. There was murder for power, cheating, and lies. This family was finally expelled from Rome and all agreed to never be ruled by a king again. Next came the aristocracy. This is where two consuls were elected officials. There terms in office lasted one year. The consuls were always the aristocrats, or in Rome the Patricians. The duties of these consuls involved dealing justice, making law, and commanding the army. Another interesting thing is that the consul could veto one another power. The fifth century BCE the patricians held the most power although 98% of the population was the plebeians or common people. The patricians held this power by having plebeians serve in the army, plebeians could not hold office power, the plebs were threatened with debt slavery, and they had no legal rights. These laws and code was officially written in The Law of the Twelve Tables in 450BCE. This is where the tribunes were elected as leaders. This is the next part of the essay describing the similarities in the Roman gov't. Both have a the three branches of gov't; executive, legislative, and judicial. Both also have their written legal code. The differences are what each branch and code have within. The first branch is the executive.
Rome: Untied States:
Two consuls(leaders) President and Vice President
one year term Four year term
can appoint dictator for a six month term Veto power of proposed laws
Veto power from each leader

Both: Two main leaders(just different power to each) and in charge of military

Legislative
Rome: United States:
Senate of 300 aristocrats with lifelong terms Senate 100 people(two from each state)
Assemblies of 193 to later 373 members(lifelong) Six year terms
House of Representatives 435
members(2 year term)
Both: have group of Senate and large group of members to represent the people

Judicial
Rome: Untied States:
Praetors Supreme Court (nine members)
Chosen by the Centuriate Assembly Lifelong terms
One year term Appointed by President, Confirmed by Senate

Legal Code
Rome -Twelve Tables Untied States- Bill of Rights
Publicly displayed in the Forum First ten amendments of the Constitution
Gave rights to plebeians(common) and rich Gives freedoms and rights to everybody
Only protected free-born male citizens

The two governments are very similar. Most of the differences between the branches are number of officers elected, their terms, and the power they have. Rome was not as fair as the United States is to the common people. In the United States everybody is given the same rights and equality. The United States is known for the freedom and diversity among the people. Rome was a little more in favor of the aristocrats who were given more power. The Romans did not settle to things they did not want. That is a lot like the United States, this country was founded on wanting Independence and a voice.

Leadership and Life in Rome

Many problems surfaced after the Punic Wars. One of the largest problems was form the economic struggles. The wealthy citizens of Rome owned large estates and had enslaved people as workers. These enslaved workers took up 1/3rd of Romes population by 100BC. The poor citizens, often former soldiers or farmers, could no longer compete with the wealthy class. The former poor landowners had sold the land they had to the plebeians for money, but that led to many homeless and jobless citizens. The Gracchus brothers were two tribunes who attempted to help Romes lower class. They proposed reforms such as limiting estate size and giving land to the poor. These brothers were not liked and both had terrible deaths, Tiberius died in 133BC and Gaius died in 121BC. Generals began to take control and they would choose the poor citizens to take as soldiers. They would do this by offering them pay and land to join. One military leaders was Julius Caeser in 60BC. He was voted consul in 59BC along with Crassus and Pompey to become triumvirate group or group of three leaders. He was a governor of Gaul (modern France) from 59-50 BC and he gained many of the peoples trust and loyalty. He was a strong military leader and he took absolute power or control in Rome. He granted citizenship, increase pay for soldiers, and creating jobs for the poor. Caeser was then murdered due to many peoples fear of his success and power. Once he died, civil war broke out a second time just like the deaths of the Gracchus brothers. Three people who banned together after Julius Caesers death were his grandnephew and adopted son Octavian, an experienced general Mark Anthony, and a politician named Lepidus. This group was the Second Triumvirate that ruled for 10 years together. This triumvirate ended due to jealousy and violence troubles. Octavian forced Lepidus to retire and Mark Anthony became a rival. This broke out in a civil war. Octavian then changed his name to Augustus and was called a imperator, or "supreme military commander". Rome was then empire or ruled by one man. The Pax Romana was a time of peace for 207 years during Augustus ruling. Augustus stabilized the frontier, glorified Rome with amazing public buildings, set up a government that'd last years, and setting up a civil service (the pay for those employed in the civil administration of government. The trade and agriculture is what kept them well in economics. Ninety percent of the people were engaged in farming and the Romans would trade to gather whatever else they needed with places such as China, India, Greece, Russia, and more. High values in Rome consisted of discipline, strength, and loyalty. The poor citizens lived in the countryside to work on their farms or land. The smaller cities were filled with merchants, soldiers, foreigners, slaves, and philosophers. This created a very diverse society. Slaves were an important part of Roman life. Slaves consisted of all different people; men, women, children. The slaves could be bought, sold , rewarded, set free, put to death, and bought as their owners saw fit. The powerful or divine forces were called numia. The gods and goddesses were honored in hopes to gain favor and avoid misfortune. In Rome, government and religion were linked. Important gods and goddesses were, Jupiter, father or the gods; Juno, his wife and watched over women; and Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts. Worship of the emperor was part of the official religion of Rome. The lifestyle was the rich lived expensive lives while the common people lived with the necessities. 

Punic War

The Punic War was a group of three major wars for Rome. This war was the Roman Legion against Carthage from 246-146BC. The Roman legion was 5000 soldiers who were apart Romes elite infantry. Some of their common weaponry were shields, swords, daggers, armor, and tunics. One of their strong strategies was on horseback with their cavalry. The first of the three wars was from 264-241 BC. This was a battle of the navy located on the island of Sicily in which the outcome was Rome winning this battle. The Second Punic War was from 218-201 BC. In this battle, Carthages general Hannibal took control for Carthage. He attacked from from the North after crossing Iberia or Spain and the Alps. This battle was once again won by Rome. The final war of the Punic Wars was from 149-146 BC. Rome was tired of the attacks and threat of Carthage so strong leaders such as Scipio and Tiberius Gracchus helped to attack Carthage. The Romans burned the city and sold all 50,000 people left in the city to slavery. The rest of Carthage's land was annexed and taken over by Rome. This then led to millions of slaves entering Italy. The poor or common people began to lose lots of their earnings to the wealthy to pay back debt. The economics were changing due to wars. Slaves were now put to work on farms for aristocrats or the wealthy. This change benefited the wealthy, but hurt the poor.

Tarquin and the Roman Gov't

Tarquin was a very harsh and careless ruler of Rome. He seemed to be heartless. He gained power by seizing and killing the previous king, Tarquins grandfather(fifth king). The entire family was found to be in scandals where they cheated, blackmailed, threatened, and even killed innocent people. Tarquin was extremely cruel to everybody, which is why he and his wife were thrown out of Rome he was the final tyrant of Rome. The next to discuss is the republic gov't. The rulers in the type of gov't were consuls. These two rulers were elected officials who were patricians. They had an important role of dealing justice, making laws, and commanding the army. One consul could even veto the other or reduce the power of the other. Plebeians were 98% of the population, but the patricians still had majority power around 5th century BC. The written law of the Romans were The Law of the Twelve Tables in 450BC. The Romans had a mix of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy with the peoples assembly and the tribunes, the senate, and the consuls. Both our current democracy and the Roman republic have the three branches of gov't as executive, legislative, and judicial. The Twelve Tables of Rome is their legal code like the Untied States Bill of Rights.