Ancient Cleverness – and Cruelty

Dear 7C,

INTRODUCING THE ROMANS… The Romans built superbly designed roads, triumphal arches and aqueducts. They administered a massive empire for hundreds of years, but despite their brilliance in many fields they had a brutal streak.

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The Colosseum: A feat of ancient architecture and engineering, a scene of ancient bloodbaths…This building symbolizes the inventiveness and the cruelty of the Romans.

For instance, they are still famous for their cruel punishments, such as the one inflicted on Jesus and the thousands of slaves they executed for rebellion along the Appian Way. We remember them for the blood sports in their amphitheatres, where by all accounts they bayed for blood and got it. Their banquets were evidently lavish – and were of course served by slaves. These are just a few examples of how they often used their inventive ideas in cruel and unprincipled ways.

Nevertheless, their influence on the modern world has been immeasurable, like that of the ancient Greeks. The script used by the Romans is the one used in most countries for writing today. The words of their language, Latin, have found their way into many modern languages. Their administrative methods, architecture and engineering have been admired and copied ever since their empire finally collapsed.

In the early 1400s, during the Renaissance, the architect of Florence’s famous cathedral, “Il Duomo”, visited the Pantheon in Rome to get some ideas about how to build a dome. That shows that the Romans were advanced for their time – despite their unfortunate violent tendencies.

The Western Roman Empire officially came to an end in 476AD, a date that is usually considered to mark the end of the ancient period and the beginning of the medieval period. This depends on which historian you read, of course.

Even though they were warlike and vicious, they imposed an enforced peace upon their large empire. In the midst of all their decadence, the learning and ideas that flourished during that time of peace (known as “Pax Romana”) provided a basis for later civilisations to build upon.

I hope you enjoy finding out about this clever, violent and influential civilisation.

Kind regards,

Ros.

JB Jordan chariot race IMG_0468
Our family friend, John Bayley, took this shot of a reenactment of a Roman chariot race during his visit to Jordan some years ago. The picture below shows a reenactment of a Roman legion in formation.

Reenactment of a Roman legion in formation, taken by John Bayley during his trip to Jordan some years ago

Click HERE for the Gladiator: Dressed to Kill Game from the wonderful BBC website. (You can also click on the pic below.) Roman Mosaics: The Romans loved to make pictures with small tiles.

A mosaic in modern Rome

Click HERE for some pictures of Roman mosaics to inspire you. Then try making your own by clicking on my mosaic below to go to a site that lets you design one online.

Click HERE to view a Roman mosaic of a dog – you will love it.

A Roman Street

Toss everything that doesn’t belong in a Roman street into the time tunnel in this game from the BBC.

An ancient street in Pompeii

Click HERE.

The History of Pizza

Another ancient mosaic snapped in modern Rome

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Read this interesting story by clicking HERE.

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My husband David looks up in awe at the Colosseum in 1995

Tyranny
1. Go to this site to find a simple definition of tyranny. Write down your own definition of tyranny, doing your best to use some of the words introduced in class.
http://dictionary.kids.net.au/word/tyranny

2. Read a straightforward account of the history of the Roman republic at this site. Write a brief account of the meaning of the word republic. In what ways was Rome’s republic similar to Athens’ limited democracy?

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/government/republic.htm

3. Write a comment in response to this question: When does a person in authority, such as a parent, a teacher or a leader of a country, overstep the mark and begin to act in a tyrannical manner? Think hard about this question.

4. Question for class discussion: What can ordinary people (children, adults and citizens) do to reduce the chance of tyranny? Why might this be a difficult and sometimes even a dangerous task?

Slavery and Democracy in the Same Time and Place

A tiny remnant of ancient Greece in our school building – minus the slavery…

One of the reasons I like history so much is that it is full of contradictions. Just when you think you know everything and have seen it all, you read some unexpected story or discover some absurdity. The story of history, like the story of any single person, is full of twists and turns, inconsistencies and moments (or long periods) of hypocrisy. Like slavery in ancient Athens. Now there’s a brilliant example.

The ancient Athenians are often praised for their contributions to the modern world, and yet in the midst of that seemingly free-thinking, creative society they kept thousands of slaves. Of course, so did the United States until 1865, even though they had written in the beautiful words of their Declaration of Independence in 1776 that “all men are created equal”. You can see what I mean about contradictions.

When I ask my students to describe slavery, they always say, “hard work, no pay, hardly any rights…” Then they do a double-take. “Hey!” they cry. “That sounds like us.”

But that’s an exaggeration. Your teachers don’t own you. Even your parents don’t. We adults must follow the rule of law in how we treat you. A slave, in contrast, has no rights. A slave is the legal property of another and is forced to obey the owner. The owner can oppress the slave, punish him and sometimes even kill him without any punishment.

SLAVERY IN ANCIENT ATHENS – This is your heading for a Word file

Slavery is the topic you will be exploring today. Try to work hard. Like a slave.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient_greeks/athens/

http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/dailylife/explore/exp_set.html

♦What percentage of the people of Athens were slaves?
♦How did one become a slave? (There are several possibilities.)
♦What jobs were done by slaves? 

♦What do you think would be the most difficult aspect of being a slave? (put a thoughtful one-sentence answer into a comment)

Finally, try the “House Challenge” at this site, provided by the British Museum. You are not allowed to play this game until you have done the work above!

http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/dailylife/challenge/cha_set.html

Kind regards from

Your friendly slave-driver,

Ms Green

Power, conquest and castles in the Middle Ages

There are three topics that I would like you to revise today.

♦Firstly, I want you to revisit the Battle of Hastings and its violent aftermath. 

Secondly, you will have chance to find out more about castles on the medieval landscape. 

♦Lastly, there is a Quizlet based on the film we have just watched, with definitions of all the tricky words.

Do not get bogged down on playing Quizlet games, however, because next week I plan to give you a test. For that test, you will need to lay mental siege to many daunting topics. You will then sit in a darkened room with a medieval overlord (or in this case lady) watching your every move and insisting on total concentration. It will be horrible. Perhaps not as gruesome as medieval battles, sieges and conquests, but your parents might object if I put you through that…

1. The Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings illustrates many aspects of the medieval world.

Bayeux_Tapestry_1 Public Domain wikimedia

The Bayeux Tapestry, a picture in the Public Domain from wikipedia commons

Firstly, the medieval world was warlike. People solved disputes through battles, not diplomacy. Powerful men (and the occasional powerful woman) pressed their subjects into wars to gain power, to retain it or to further some cause they considered important. 

Secondly, in medieval life, doubt over succession in a kingdom could lead to crisis: battles, struggles and civil wars. Power was a potent motive for people, seemingly more potent than the fear of death or defeat. In these struggles, the poor were often pawns, just as in the game of chess.

Thirdly, the Battle of Hastings illustrates an old adage: the victor takes the spoils and tells the story. William the Conqueror (who started out as William the Bastard) won the battle, the kingdom and the right to tell history his way. The Bayeux Tapestry was his testament; his followers cast him as a hero. A huge proportion of the English nobility died in the Battle and so did not survive to provide the other side of the story. Harold Godwinson, the English king whom William defeated, is believed to have died with an arrow through the eye.

188-The-Tower-of-London-wallpaper pd wwwfromoldbooksorg

The Tower of London, from www.fromoldbooks.org. This building was started after the Norman conquest – as were many other forts and castles intended as Norman strongholds against a hostile Saxon population.

Lastly, one battle did not make a conquest. If you want to control a whole country, you may have to wage war in a sense for years – perhaps even for generations. William the Conqueror was single-minded in his determination to overcome the English population. He dotted castles all over the landscape, he put down northern rebellions with ruthless cruelty and then, just to top it all off, he got a medieval database up and running in the Domesday Book (pronounced DOOMSDAY) and used it to tax the English.

→Start your study of this famous story by playing the Battle of Hastings game at the wonderful BBC website. You are only allowed to play it twice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/launch_gms_battle_hastings.shtml

→Next, read this account of the Battle.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm

2. Aftermath of the Battle of Hastings – Castles and Crackdowns

After his defeat of the Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror had to overcome the rest of the population. He was by all accounts ruthless in doing so. His main methods were:

Medieval face from http retrokat.com medievalBuilding castles at high points and in strategic parts of the country and giving his Norman nobles parts of the country to control, with these castles as their strongholds;

Medieval face from http retrokat.com medievalViciously killing any members of the native population who rebelled or tried to resist him;

Medieval face from http retrokat.com medievalEventually sending around investigators to write down who lived where, what they owned and what they should pay in tax. You see, William used the pen as well as the sword to subjugate the people he had conquered.

800px-Clough_castle_motte_and_bailey_County_Down  pd wikimedia commons

Kindly provided by a photographer who uploaded this picture to Wikimedia Commons, this is a ruin of a motte and bailey castle from Norman times, with a stone keep added later. “Motte” is a word from Old French meaning mound; originally a wooden keep was built on the mound while a bailey, a fenced area for animals, was built nearby. Other simple sheds and huts would also be built within the bailey. This kind of castle was quick to build but also much more easily breached than later stone castles and keeps.

→Create a Word file titled: Castles and Crackdowns

→1. Read the account of Norman castle building at the Britannia site below. You will need to scroll down to the heading: “The Norman Conquest and the First Castles”.

http://www.britannia.com/history/david1.html

(a) Explain what each part of these early castles was, ie. the motte, the bailey, the wooden tower or keep, etc.

(b) What was the advantage of this type of castle?

→2. Find a picture of a motte and bailey castle and place it in your document. Label the keep, the motte and the bailey, using autoshapes for arrows. Here’s one to show you what I mean:

http://www.castlewales.com/motte.html

Stone castles were of course much harder to attack and sieges were more likely to fail than to succeed. These pictures will show you why.

Bunratty-castle pd Castle photo Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

Photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org

Bunratty Castle on the far left – photo in the public domain

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→3. What was the “Harrying of the North” and what does it show about the character of William the Conqueror?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6563298

3. Below is the promised Quizlet on “Sieges: Castles at War”: