Emperor Vitellius and Otho

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ROME

Vitellius was the third of the four emperors who ruled the Roman Empire in the year 69 CE. One of his predecessors, Galba, who had replaced the fallen Emperor Nero, was murdered by the Praetorian Guard for failing to keep promises to those who had put him in power.  Emperor Otho, Galba’s successor, committed suicide before the imposing armies of Vitellius reached Rome.  He had chosen to sacrifice his own life instead of those of his men. Vitellius, like the previous two occupants of the throne, would not remain in power long.

In July 69, Vitellius learned that the armies of the eastern provinces had proclaimed a rival emperor; their commander, Titus Flavius Vespasianus. As soon as it was known that the armies of the East, Dalmatia, and Illyricum had declared for Vespasianus, Vitellius, deserted by many of his adherents, would have resigned the title of emperor.

Digital Scrapbook: Greece

Current event: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/30/entertainment/et-notebook30
Past event: http://www.greekgateway.com/news/ancient-greek-to-modern-architecture-with-greek-influence

The Power of Neo Classical Greek Architecture

The style of Greek Architecture from 2500 years ago is often copied to create a sense of permanence.  Public buildings, financial institutions and even some private houses use the style to indicate stability and importance.  In 1960 John F Kennedy accepted the Democratic Party nomination in the huge Los Angeles Coliseum while speaking from a small podium for which the primary decoration was a painted eagle.  The huge size of the Greek neo-classical stadium holding 80,000 people dwarfed Kennedy into relatively insignificance at one end of the football field.  Three years later Martin Luther King made a profound impression speaking to hundreds of thousands in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DD.  When in 2008 Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president in a Denver stadium holding 76,000 people the producers emulated the well received and often mentioned grandeur of the Martin Luther King “I've got a dream” speech.  They did this by backing Obama up with a neo-classical temple facade containing 4 large Doric columns and 10 modest pilasters.   Importantly they also embedded into these structure two huge video screens projecting enormous images of whoever was speaking.    This stage received mixed reviews with Obama detractors who ridiculed the wood and plaster construction of the stage as opposed to the solid marble of most real Greek architecture.  But for many people the stage managed to make a strong impression of the historical significance of the occasion.  It is probably difficult to imagine another type of stage which would make the same impression of the historical significance of the speech. 

There are three main types of columns used in Greek architecture.  Doric is the least elaborate with no base and a simple top.   Ionic columns have a base and a somewhat more elaborate top.   Corinthian columns have an even more elaborate top, sometimes very extravagant.  In ancient Greece ordinary structures were often constructed of materials which have not survived for over 2000 years but major public and religious structures were often built of marble.   Many of these marble structures survive to this day and most of the damage to these ancient buildings has been caused by their being mined for the stone or otherwise suffering at the hand of man.  The ancient Greeks built their buildings to withstand the ravages of time and the structures that were not completely destroyed by man are very impressive indeed.   Even partially destroyed structures continue to impress. 

In ancient times the huge pillars were necessary to hold up the structure’s roof but current pillars are an adornment whose purpose is give a sense of grandeur.  Neoclassical Architecture offers an almost bottomless pool of symbolism. A large façade with multiple columns evokes a since of historical importance and justice. Most other architectural styles may be spectacular but they fail to produce the since of permanence and important authority that Neoclassical architecture does. The U.S Capitol, the Lincoln memorial, Jefferson Memorial, The White House are good examples of this type of structure.. The list of public buildings in America and overseas that shamelessly copy the style invented by the Greeks over 2,000 years ago is almost endless. The podium used in Obama’s speech was meant to tap into the glory of Greek architecture and to a large extant was successful.

Citations:

• http://www.semesteratsea.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1963_march_lincoln_memorial1.jpg
• http://blog.masslive.com/thefray/2008/08/mile-high-stadium-crowd-denver-obama.jpg
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/The_Parthenon_in_Athens.jpg/1024px-The_Parthenon_in_Athens.jpg
• http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/highsm/11800/11889v.jpg

Current Event Article:

Obama Pldges Greeks
James M. Arlandson
Link:http://answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/retaliation.htm


Ancient Article:

July 3
Ancient Greek to Modern Architecture with Modern ZInfluence 1, 2013-
By: Claude Hermann Walter Johns
Link:http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp

Brian Williams A Modern Day Socrates

Brian Williams was used as a scapegoat. This means that he was singled of a lot of people (including Hillary Clinton and Bill O’ Reilly) who had lied but he was the only one who was punished. Socrates was also singled out by the Athenian government for his ideas and corrupting the youth even though there were a lot of other philosophers and people who had crazier ideas than him and were worse. Socrates and Brian Williams both were accused of corrupting people’s mind and telling them lies. The type of knowledge is not as important as the fact that, with the Modern Socratic Method, the knowledge gained is specifically anticipated by the Socratic questioner. This stands in contrast to the Classic Socratic method in which the actual outcomes are unknown by all parties. Like Brian William he wasn't using his knowledge for the things that were about to happen, and the people that would questioned him will make him think that what he did was not the actual outcomes by all parties.

Socrates style of conversation involved his own denial of knowledge (Socratic irony). In these conversations, Socrates became the student and made those he questioned the teacher. Socrates rejected any attempts to pass off another person's ideas or the beliefs of the majority as truth. Socrates was not interested in the talk of others. Like Brian Williams his style of conversation involved his own denial of knowledge in ironic way as well by him knowing that if he lied and over exaggerated his stories people would be impressed.  Kids would think he is courageous and brave but he like Socrates rejected any attempts to pass off another person’s ideas or beliefs of the majority as truth.

Why The Jury Acquitted Brian Williams?

The prosecution accused Brian Williams many things, such as deceiving the public with lies, dishonoring the military and claiming valor without justification.  One of the lies he told was about travelling in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.  But after a veteran involved in the event questioned his story Williams admitted he was actually riding in another helicopter that was about 30 minutes behind the one that was hit.  He was also accused of lying about an additional three events.  These were flying to Iraq with SEAL Team Six, being in Berlin the day the wall fell and meeting the Pope.  None of these statements were true. The defense made several arguments for an acquittal such as saying Williams suffered from a sickness called “False Memory Syndrome”.  They also argued that NBC had used Brian Williams as an escape goat after giving him things to read off of a TelePrompTer that were lies.  In addition NBC put pressure him to lie.

Brian Williams was charged with 6 different crimes.  For three of these charges the jury voted to convict but on the other three they voted to acquit.  In order to convict Williams the jury would have had to have found him guilty on a majority of the six charges. He was acquitted of treason, corrupting others and abusing power. He was found guilty of deceiving the public, dishonoring the military and stealing valor. In the rules used for most jury trials in America Williams would have gone to jail after being convicted of three charges.  But the rules for the trial we had in class required that for a conviction the defendant had to be found guilty of more than half the charges.  Since it was a tie between conviction and acquitted Brian Williams was acquitted of all the charges.    

Thoughts and Reflections: Socrates "Apology"

Socrates must possess wisdom because smart people have been studying his teachings for over 2,000 years.  Many people who are considered to be wise think that Socrates possessed wisdom. Dawson School has us study Socrates and must think it's important to learn the thoughts of Socrates.  Socrates created the "Socratic Method" where one tries to understand things by asking questions.  Socrates believed in gods but not necessarily the official gods of Athens.  “I understand we can pray to gods that our sojourn will continue happy beyond the grave.” In other words Socrates believed in a life after death with a god who makes a judgment.  On the last paragraph on page 53 Socrates talks about the fact that his plain speaking caused him to be unpopular, because nobody wants to hear the truth about whether they thought were true were actually true.  In Socrates opinion he couldn't have intentionally have had a bad influence on the young because because if only he has had a bad influence on the young then everyone else would have had to have had a good influence on the young.  And this is clearly not the case.  Instead he is like a trainer of horses, one of the few who have a good influence while others have a bad influence.  

Thoughts and Reflections: The Two thousand Year war

  

          The Cold War was about America and Russia each trying to expand their empires. The war went on from 1945 to 1989. In 1989 the Russian empire collapsed under the strain of the struggle with the Americans in the cold war. In 1981 Walter Carp had written about the way the Peloponnese War was similar to the Cold War.  Walter Carp said that the Athenians were like the Americans and that the Spartans were like the Russians. As in the cold war the enemies in the Peloponnesian War were ideological foes and for many years neither was physically capable of winning. The Spartans were an inward agricultural society whereas the Athens were a commercial fast moving and far ranging state.   This was similar to Russia and America.  He also suggested that Russia and America could learn something from the the Peloponnesian war, that American and Russia should both have been each happy with their existing empires and not tried to expand at the expense of the other's empire.  When you make a mistake something will go wrong.  It is better not to make a mistake and thus have everything go right. We can often learn learn to avoid mistakes by studying the past. In this case Russia tried to expand its empire and wound up losing its empire all together. By studying history we can learn lessons form past about which policies that are likely to work and which policies that are likely likely to fail.

Thucydides- Illustrated Essay Assignment: The Greatness of Athens

Rose McCully

Ms. Mitchell

History 9-7

1/24/14

The Greatness Of Athens 

           Ancient Athens and Greece have made a deep influence on many of the things that we take for granted in our world today. In many countries today people are able to vote for or against the leaders who will run their countries, a system first implemented by the Greeks in Athens.  In Ancient Athens every citizen was equal under the law. Athens had a very open society and did not restrict trade with other countries.   Historical Athens introduced a wide variety of institutions that strongly influence our world today.

         

          Athens introduced the idea that all men are treated equally under the law. “When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law.” (Page 145, Section 37, 5-6.) In many other systems then and now some people will have privileges that others don’t, people are not treated equally by the law.  In such systems people who know they will not be treated fairly and equally under the law will hesitate to enter into an agreement with somebody who is privileged under the law.  In the last few hundred years this Athenian idea of equality under the law has gained wide acceptance as a principle of good government.  If everyone is equal under the law then a person can be successful to the extent of his abilities regardless of his position in society.  The total wealth of a society where everyone is equal will usually be greater than in a society where some people are privileged.  Countries where the law is used to privilege some people over others will tend to be more unequal than in countries where everyone is treated the same.

        

             Today the Athenian creation called democracy is an idea that has been spreading all over the world as a system of government. “Our constitutions are called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” (Page 145, Section 37, 4-6.)  Slaves and women were not allowed to vote and the Athenian version of democracy but all male Athenian citizens had a vote.  But instead of electing rulers or representative to enact laws every citizen was able to vote on everything.  Non democratic systems of government assume the elite know what’s best for the ordinary people and the ordinary people then will have no choice in how they are ruled. In the democracy of ancient Athens and in the democracy of today ordinary people do get to decide how they want to be governed. An important characteristic of democracies is the ability to peacefully throw out tyrants and otherwise change leadership when the people are unhappy with the way they are being ruled. If the world had not widely adopted this democratic idea of Athens then it would be a less happy place today.

 

      

Ancient Athens was one of the first societies to realize it would be better off if it allowed unrestricted free trade with other nations. “Then the greatness of our city brings it about that all the good things from all over the world flow in to us, so that to us it seems just as natural to enjoy foreign good as our own local products.” (Page 146, Section 38, lines 6-9.) Many societies try to be self-contained and not trade ideas and goods with other societies. The Athenians ran an open society importing and exporting goods and services and allowing foreigners to come and go without restriction. This allowed the introduction of the newest ideas and local manufactures had to be efficient in order to survive imported competition from the other cities. Athens was perhaps the first practitioner of globalization.

Compared to the people living in other parts of the ancient world Athenian citizens were remarkably free. They created an environment where people advanced on merit rather than hereditary qualities and a number of ideas and cultural influences flourished and have been handed down to our society today.   Athenian Citizens were treated equally under the law.  Winston Churchill said in 1947 in the House of Commons “Democracy is worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried” and it’s worth noting that more and more governments today are trying democracy, something that Athens invented long ago.  A society has to have a lot of courage to adopt free trade since domestic producers will be exposed to foreign competition but perhaps because of their tradition of freedom the Athenians took a chance on having an open society and greatly benefited from it.  Quite a few countries and societies today have adopted many of the ideas invented by the Athenians over 2,000 years ago.  

Citations:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hqdjJRAtL4