Copernicus

When I read about Copernicus' hypothesis on why the earth was round and why it was not the center of the earth it caught me by surpise. Today we have the technology to go into space, and also during OUR lifetime we've known that the world is round and that that we go around the sun. It blows my mind that Copernicus was able to come up these educated guess' on his own, without the ability to go into space of have satellites take pictures to prove he was right. Although he died before his book was published, he defnitley would have looked insane for even thinking what he had written about, when he was actually correct. I can't imagine how much research and testing was involved for him to get the points he wanted to proved his hypothesis valid.

The Petition of Right

Reading the Petition of Right, makes me realized how much of tyranny we've read about throught history from anyone who was in position to have power over the people. From the start of this class to now and even some history we haven't disucussed in class we see that power turns into greed. The Petition of Right reminds of the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents try to give the free people the right and power to govern the quality of their own lives without the interference or fear of the government or king. The Petition of Rights could have the set the ground work for the free people, to think for themselves and relieve themselves of persecution and migrate to the country we live in today, which in sense uses the same blue print out government that Parliment used for their King.

Wikipedia #3: Martin Luther

1). 12,667 words

2). Search Term:Martin Luther

3). Disambiguation: Other known Martin Luthers

4). Discussion: Other facts on Martin Luther and Corrections

5). First Edit: 9/5/2002, Last Edit: 11/16/2008, Number of Edits: Over 1,000 edits

6). External Links: 0

7). References: 127

8). Further Reading: 1

This article discussed the life of Martin Luther. This article also discusses his exile and his point of view on Anti Semitism. It also talks about Martin Luthers translation and discussion of the bible. Other topics discussed were Justification by faith, response to papacy and controversy and the start of reformation. I don't recommend this article because it seems really broad and really boring. I got more out of the readins from class.

The King v. Parliment

The English Civil War was interesting because through all the battles and different leaders that came into play, in the end there was still a King and there was still parliment. Charles I tried so hard to fight parliment but always seemed to be on the losing end, while I thought Cromwell was helping out parliment, he ends up turning against them and forcibly getting rid of them as a whole and become Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. So we go from two entities battling for power when its the third unknown that actually wins. The funny thing is Cromwells son blows it and runs off allowing Charles II to become King. All of sudden we have royalty and parliment all existing together again, once again disagreeing, but not the same extent as the last time. Although its not till later that Parliment seems to have more control, its entertaining to see all the shifting that happens just to see it come back around.

Martin Luther

I like how Martin Luther brings up the topic of tyranny within the Church because of the power that has been given to Popes, Bishops and Lords, all title which Martin Luther points out aren't the given names for those appointed positions in the Bible. Its funny because the power that comes with the position of being the head of the church seems to lead to some sort of tyranny. Martin Luther says that these figures are called minister, servants and stewards in the bible, yet I have never heard of a servant who has the power to control large portions of land, and control people in what they should believe. It would be crazy to imagine what our history would have turned out like though if these religious leaders didn't abuse their title and power, would the first pilgrims have settle here when they did without religious persecution, how would the history of our country have changed.

Reading the Bible

I always hear friends and family discuss their faith, and how they dont have to go to church or read the bible to have faith, or I hear the opposite about how they go every sunday and even weekdays and are very educated in scripture. So its kind of funny to hear that due to the difficulty of interpreting the bible, the Church did not want common people to read the bible because it would lead to error. I wonder how the church knew that St. Jerome had it correct, was this person not biased and put everything as it should be in the bible or did this person put what he thinks should be in the bible. Very complicated, but I guess if you have something you believe in and to a certain degree and you have the power to make the rules, you'll do whatever i takes to protect that belief.

Machiavelli

In the reading pertaining to Machiavelli I put myself in the prince's shoes and imagined my self reading this letter from his point of view. I think I would have been infuriated by this letter because Machiavelli had been exiled and now he send me letter on pretty much how I can be a better prince. The message also sent across would be that I don't have what it takes to be a good prince. In a sence Machiavelli gets the last words in and it's kind of like a slap to the face. From my point though, I really liked the letter. It seems clever that Machiavelli sent this letter and it never directly says that the prince is a bad prince. At the same time it seems like a helpful letter to the prince, but I think we know the intentions behind letters like this. I think he wanted the prince to know that he wasn't the best a prince could be.

The plague

The plague kind of reminded me of the movie "The Happening". People just dying out of thin air. After while they were able to figure out where the plague came from. I think its amazing how pre agricultural populations were constantly in contact with chronic and parasitic diseases and actually have very low death rates due to these diseases. Without a host the parasite will die. It not until agricultural periods that we see infectious diseases come into the human populations. Partly because these populations were the first to pastoralize and come into contact with herds. So when the plague had made its impact, I belive the disease' had so many hosts that there was no need to not completley deprive the body. Its mentioned that there were less deaths when the plague came around again. It think it has to do with natural selection and how our bodies cause mutations to accomodate fighting the virus. Did you know that 10% of the European population is immune to HIV, due to the human leukocyte antigent (HLA)

Wikipedia Assignment #2: Vikings

1. 6,852 words

2. Search Term: Vikings, Article Title: Viking

3. Disambigutation: History, Organizations, Ships, Aerospace, Military, Film/Music and Sports

4. Discussion had suggestions to make the article better. It also had questions, and some people gave some extra intresting topics about the vikings not on the article.

5. Changes: 5063, 1st change date:02/06/2002, Last change date:10/12/2008

6. External links: 6

7. References: 5

8. No topic for further reading

This article discused the origin of the term "viking". It also discusses some of the famous viking through history and how they had their influence on the colonization of Europe as well as other territories, including a temporary stay in New Foundland, Canada. This article seems pretty dry and didn't have much for interesting facts. The only real intresting fact had to do with the viking wearing horned helmets, which the article states would actually make it cumbersome to wear during battle, so the viking did not actually wear horned helmets. I wouldn't recommend this article because if you read our assignments you'll get most of the important information from there and not the article.

Vikings just hanging around

I found it amusing how the Vikings worked. They were obviously a pretty tough group, even in defeat it looks like they still stuck around. Pretty much its like letting the bully hang around as long as he's doing his own thing and not bothering you, why push the limit. It amazing how many territories they were able to occupy, once again even if it wasn't an area conquered by Vikings it was still inhabited by them and they still lived the way they wanted to, not the way the original inhabitants lived. Thats a pretty intimidating group to have that much power.

Theogeny out the window

One of my favorite topics is Mythology. I hardly take the time to ever think about the transition from Pagan beliefs to Christianity. So after reading this section it's kind of wierd to see religious leaders trying to claim power in Rome. When I hear about Leo I claiming that Peter was chief of all apostles making the bishop of Rome the head of all bishops, its crazy to think that those claims weren't even considered before the fall of the Roman Empire. In Virgils Aenied, Aeneis' line is supposed to end with the founding of Rome, Romulus is supposedly the actual founder of Rome. I couldn't imagine having my beliefs at one period in my life, then rewriting the histories to make room for a whole other set of beliefs. Going from (for Romans)Jupiter(zeus) to God.

Muslims and War

I'm not really one who likes to discuss religion because I feel its a conversation that can lead to disrepectful judgements of others just because of opposing points of views. I will say that since were are in the middle of a war I think the Muslim religion is crap, not due to the fact of how it was created but for just 1 of their beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own ideas and beliefs, but I say its crap because if someone else doesn't see their point of view then the answer is to wage war against the opposition and destroy them. I know that all religions have a history of wars behind them but within modern times religions have supressed war like ideas and use media or propaganda against other religons, at least slander is verbal not physical. It's too bad the Muslims have to go about their faith using violence and force.

Aristotle on Spartan Women

Once again we read about the spartans and how women were portrayed in their community. Aristotle's view I'm sure has a legit point, first of all their times in history are more related, and second men and women were portrayed differently, not as equals back then. Being from the era we are raised in I have issues with Aristotle blaming the women. The lifestyle then was so militaristic and beliefs were so different that women didn't have much of choice or opinion about any public policy. So if the women are inheriting land, and still aren't considered citizens, and the population is overflowing with hoplites, and the complaint is there below 1000 citizens, maybe there needs to be some changes to who can be counted as a citizen.

Keep your Enemies closer.

How is it that the Romans were able to survive as long as they did. It seemed that the military leader with the biggest and best army just threatened the senate to get their way into the senate. Sulla and Ceaser both used this method, Sulla was the luckier retiring before someone could kill him. Eventually when someone wanted some change, the solution was betrayal. Did the senate even meet to discuss political issues or was it just a meeting to remind each other which side they were on, or how to change policy by murder. All the methods used even though they seemed as if they were for the republic, usually had a another reason behind it. Octavian Marc Antony and Lepidus formed the second triumvirate. Octavian and Marc Antony were at odds with each so you could tell that Lepidus was eventually going to get screwed in this ordeal. Octavian knew he didn't have the power to defeat Antony yet so might as well become his ally, wait a while and build a bigger army with out the threat of Antony. When he was finally ready he attacked. Antony eventually is defeated leaving Octavian to control the Senate. A good of example of keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Wikipedia Assignment #1 Sparta

This article informs us about several aspects of Sparta. The history is described discussing how Sparta came to be and how by time Alexander the Great was around Sparta was a not what it once was. It describes the military such as the phalanx and how this was the only community where being a soldier was a full time job. In Spartan society there was a day set aside in autumn where a citizen could kill a helot with out fear of blood or guilt. If a hoplite returned from battle without their shield it was punishable by death. It also discussed the archaeology of sparta along with other subjects such as the government and the role of women and helots.

1.There were 8,952 words in this document

2.Search term used was "Sparta"

3.The disambiguation states that Sparta was in Ancient Greece. Also a very brief description of the mythology of sparta. Places, sports teams, brand and products named after Sparta.

4.The discussion page was mostly posts on how to improve the Sparta article.

5.There have been 4296 changes since the Sparta article was released. First edit was 2/25/2002 and the last was 9/10/2008.

6.There were 8 external links

7.There were 5 references but 3 of them were the same person.

8.There were 0(zero) entries under further reading.

I would recommend this article to anyone who is interested in the Spartan way of life. Not only does it tell you about the history of Sparta but along the way there are many interesting facts that are stated that I f personally found interesting when reading them.

The Senate "NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!"

I find it interesting how the Senate seems to resemble a bunch of 10 yr old boys starting a "no girls allowed club". First of all you couldn't be a woman, so that establishes the first rule of the club and then there are the other guide lines. Since the community are divided into two groups; patricians and plebeians it resembles today who the boys of a club would choose into their club by maybe what kind of possesions they had. My reasoning for this is only patricians could sit on the Senate because they were clan leaders. They were leaders because the either had wealth, trade, power or the military. It would be like the boys in the club showing that they out rank other boys because they have a Playstation, or the name brand bike or their house is the most fun to hang out at, and these give them passage into the club.

Alexander

After reading about the Persian wars and reading about the size and strength of the Persian empire, I was amazed that the Greeks were able to fight and do well enough to not get conquered with their numbers being drastically smaller. While reading about Alexander the Great I was even more blown away to read about the the territories he was able to conquer including Darius and the Persians. The Persians had a bigger number in their army but Alexander obviously had the strategy of a great war leader, conquering the Persians and liberating Egypt from Persian rule. I never really understood how much area Alexander had covered until I read this now I understand where he gets his name.

Spartan Life

I found it interesting how the spartan govt. worked. The women didnt have the opportunity to be a citizen even though they seemed important in the spartan community. They were allowed education and they were allowed to mix with males when it came to activites but at the same time they could never be a citizen. Since the spartan men were considered a citizen at age 30 and then considered to be equal where did this put the women. They were obviously educated and also formed into troops at a young age, so it seems in growing up they had their own training in becoming a citizen but still did not have the right to be a citizen at the proper age. So with the majority of the population being helots and women its amazing that order was still kept within the Spartan population. Maybe being a citizen wasn't as a big a deal as having a productive govt.