Because he wanted to improve the situation of farmers and just split the country, introduced the elected Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus land reform. So that his laws were to continue, he settled for a renewed Choose year as a leader, but this was prohibited by the state. Thereupon Gracchus was slain along with 300 of his followers. The people rebelled against it and was attacked militarily. In the year 123 BC, Gracchus put younger brother, Gaius Sempronius, whose work continues. He declared a public enemy. He had to flee from Rome and was himself killed by a slave.

Consul Gaius Marius, the views and ideas of the two brothers shared by Consul Gaius Marius (pictured right), which is 111 BC. came to power. He had fought a very successful and was a very respected man he succeeded at last, to enforce the agrarian reform. Anyone who could not fight in the army, got a piece of arable land. It decided the individual military commanders, which led to a strong bond between citizens and the various rulers. Here, the power of the state lost its importance.

Between 91 and 89 BC the Social War took place. Here rebelled several Roman tribal groups. They wanted to be regarded as equal citizens of Rome. Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gaius Marius had fought with the allies in this war. He was introduced to the reforms. 88 BC, Sulla was elected consul by his followers. As the first commander of the story, he marched into Rome and gained back the military power. Because it was waging war in Asia Minor, Rome, Sulla had to soon leave it. Now Marius saw his chance again. Together with the new consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna, he won power in Rome and began to conduct a reign of terror.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla, 82 BC Sulla returned (left) back to Rome and fought against the followers of Marius. After Sulla BC 79th had stepped down from his position back, came with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey, commander of the army back to power. They joined together with Julius Caesar, a Triumvirate. The state could not make decisions, which agreed not three. Caesar led successful war. Crassus was killed 53 BC in a battle. Pompey again worked closely with the State and was hired by this, to fight against Caesar. What Caesar did not put up with his troops and on the 10th January 49 BC, the border river Rubicon exceed invaded Rome. Pompey himself, he defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece.

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Now Caesar was the sole ruler of Rome. However, he was overwhelmed with the political tasks and was assassinated in 44 BC sneaky. It is the sole rule of Octavian, the later Augustus ended the civil war 30 BC the Roman Empire.

About 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, many different tribes lived in the Italian peninsula. The most powerful people were the Etruscans. Their homeland was a region in central Italy. They conquered lands to the north and south, but were never able to take over the whole peninsula.

The Italian city of Rome succeeded where the Etruscans had failed. The Roman people not only conquered the whole of Italy, but by 27 B.C., they had also created a huge empire in Europe and the Middle East. The Roman Empire prospered for about 500 years. But in the 300s A.D., German tribes from the north began to invade the western part of the empire.

The last Roman emperor of the west, Romulus Augustus, was defeated by a German barbarian, Odoacer, in 476 A.D. From that date until the mid-1800s, Italy was for the most part divided into a group of small states. These states fought continually among themselves. They found it difficult to combine, even against a foreign invader. Italy was overrun again and again by more powerful peoples from other parts of Europe.

Pompey, who controlled the government, became jealous of Caesar’s victories, and ordered Caesar to break up the army. But the soldiers respected and trusted Caesar, and instead of dispersing, they followed him across the Rubicon River to capture the city of Rome in 49 B.C. “The die is cast,” Caesar is supposed to have said when he crossed the Rubicon River into Italy. He meant that he could not turn back.

Caesar defeated Pompey’s forces in Spain, North Africa, and Asia Minor. One of Caesar’s famous victories occurred at the battle of Zela, now in Turkey, Caesar’s message to Rome was “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (”I came, I saw, I conquered”).

By 45 B.C., Caesar controlled a vast territory that later was the Roman Empire. The Roman government made Caesar dictator. Some people still feared his power. On March 15 (the Ides of March) in 44 B.C., conspirators stabbed him to death in the Senate building.

Caesar was an excellent leader and a man of many talents. His book, The Gallic (French) Wars, is still widely read. It is remarkable for the clarity of its language and for the period of history it discusses. It is an important book for language students and for historians.

During the short time that Caesar ruled Rome, he made many important changes. He pardoned his enemies and appointed many of them to public offices. He provided work for the soldiers of his army. He offered Roman citizenship to of the peoples he conquered. He developed plans to modernize city government. He built a public library and planned other public buildings. He and an Egyptian astronomer also devised the Julian calendar, which – with one change – is still in use in the Western world today.

At the time of his death, Caesar had plans for draining marshes to provide more land and for constructing a canal. He was organizing the management of the Roman Empire and preparing laws to be used throughout the empire. If Caesar had lived, he might have had an even greater effect on world history.

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  The archaeological team inside the postholes from the later Roman building. Decorated …

A recently discovered mysterious “winged” structure in England, which in the Roman period may have been used as a temple, presents a puzzle for archaeologists, who say the building has no known parallels.

Built around 1,800 years ago, the structure was discovered inNorfolk, in eastern England, just to the south of the ancient town ofVenta Icenorum. The structure has two wings radiating out from a rectangular room that in turn leads to a central room.

“Generally speaking, [during] the Roman Empire people built within a fixed repertoire of architectural forms,” said William Bowden, a professor at the University of Nottingham, who reported the find in the most recent edition of the Journal of Roman Archaeology. The investigation was carried out in conjunction with the Norfolk Archaeological and Historical Research Group.

The winged shape of the building appears to be unique in the Roman Empire, with no other example known. “It’s very unusual to find a building like this where you have no known parallels for it,” Bowden told LiveScience. “What they were trying to achieve by using this design is really very difficult to say.”

The building appears to have been part of a complex that includes a villa to the north and at least two other structures to the northeast and northwest. An aerial photograph suggests the existence of an oval or polygonal building with an apse located to the east. 

The winged building

The foundation of the two wings and the rectangular room was made of a thin layer of rammed clay and chalk. “This suggests that the superstructure of much of the building was quite light, probably timber and clay-lump walls with a thatched roof,” writes Bowden. This raises the possibility that the building was not intended to be used long term. [Photos of Mysterious Stone Structures]

The central room, on the other hand, was made of stronger stuff, with its foundations crafted from lime mortar mixed with clay and small pieces of flint and brick. That section likely had a tiled roof. “Roman tiles are very large things, they’re very heavy,” Bowden said.

Sometime after the demise of this wing-shaped structure, another building, this one decorated, was built over it. Archaeologists found post holes from it with painted wall plaster inside.

Bowden said few artifacts were found at the site and none that could be linked to the winged structure with certainty. A plough had ripped through the site at some point, scattering debris. Also, metal detecting is a major problem in the Norfolk area, with people using metal detectors to locate and confiscate materials, something that may have happened at this site.

Still, even when the team found undisturbed layers, there was little in the way of artifacts. “This could suggest that it [the winged building] wasn’t used for a very particularly long time,” Bowden said.

The land of the Iceni

Researchers are not certain what the building was used for. While its elevated position made it visible from the town of Venta Icenorum, the foundations of the radiating wings are weak. “It’s possible that this was a temporary building constructed for a single event or ceremony, which might account for its insubstantial construction,’ writes Bowden in the journal article.

“Alternatively the building may represent a shrine or temple on a hilltop close to a Roman road, visible from the road as well as from the town.”

Adding another layer to this mystery is the ancient history of Norfolk, where the structure was found.

The local people in the area, who lived here before the Roman conquest, were known as the Iceni. It may have been their descendents who lived at the site and constructed the winged building.

Iceni architecture was quite simple and, as Bowden explained, not as elaborate as this. On the other hand, their religion was intertwined with nature, something which may help explain the wind-blown location of the site. “Iceni gods, pre-Roman gods, tend to be associated with the natural sites: the springs, trees, sacred groves, this kind of thing,” said Bowden.

The history between the Iceni and the Romans is a violent one. In A.D. 43, when the Romans, under Emperor Claudius, invaded Britain, they encountered fierce resistance from them.  After a failed revolt in A.D. 47 they became a client kingdom of the empire, with Prasutagus as their leader. When he died, around A.D. 60, the Romans tried to finish the subjugation, in brutal fashion.

“First, his [Prasutagus'] wife Boudicea was scourged, and his daughters outraged. All the chief men of the Iceni, as if Rome had received the whole country as a gift, were stripped of their ancestral possessions, and the king’s relatives were made slaves,” wrote Tacitus, a Roman writer in The Annals. (From the book, “Complete Works of Tacitus,” 1942, edited for the Perseus Digital Library.)

This led Boudicea (more commonly spelled Boudicca) to form an army and lead a revolt against the Romans. At first she was successful, defeating Roman military units and even sacking Londinium. In the end the Romans rallied and defeated her at the Battle of Watling Street. With the Roman victory the rebellion came to an end, and a town named Venta Icenorumwas eventually set up on their land.  [Top 12 Warrior Moms in History]

“The Iceni vanish from history effectively after the Boudicca revolt in [A.D.] 60-61,” said Bowden.

But while they vanished from written history, archaeological clues hint that their spirit remained very much alive. Bowden and David Mattingly, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester, both point out that the area has a low number of villas compared with elsewhere in Britain, suggesting the people continued to resist Roman culture long after Boudicca’s failed revolt.

This lack of villas, along with problems attracting people to Roman settlements in the area, “can be read as a transcript of resistant adaption and rejection of Roman norms,” writes Mattingly in his book “An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire” (Penguin Books, 2007). 

There is “still a fairly strong local identity,” said Bowden, who cautioned that while local people may have lived at the complex, the winged building is out of character for both Roman and Iceni architectural styles, a fact that leaves his team with a mystery.

It was Diocletian that arranged for Lactantius to become a renowned tutor of rhetoric at Nicomedia. However what the Emperor gave with one hand he took away with another one.

For it was Diocletian that launched the last official persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. On discovering that Lactantius had become a Christian, Diocletian had him removed from his post in 303 AD. He was fortunate not to lose more than his job.

The persecution launched by Diocletian proved to be the catalyst for Lactantius’ main writings, the Divine Institutes, On the Wrath of God, and also On the Deaths of the Persecutors.

Bibliography

Speake G (1994) The Penguin Dictionary of Ancient History, Penguin Books, London

For example, Richard J Brickstock wrote about the coins of the Roman Empire, Tim Cornell contributed entries on the Roman Republic, James Longrigg was the expert on philosophy, Greek medicine, and ancient science. Further contributions were made by Louis P Rawlings, Ellen Rice, and also Harry Sidebottom.

Although the main emphasis is placed upon the importance of the Greco – Roman World and its achievements it does have entries on the other cultures and powers that had an influence upon, or a relationship with that world.

Over all this is a really useful guide to the Greco – Roman World.

The health of the general public has been a major determinate in the success of a nation, such as that of the United States and Roman Empire. The public health of the Roman people was decreased due to the aqueduct system in Rome, which were made out of lead. The lead then got into the water, which the people drank causing lead poisoning. Over time, the lead in the water led to a decrease in the mental capacity of Roman citizens, propelling the decline of the Roman Empire. While the United States does not suffer from many infectious diseases, it does suffer from another type of disease of obesity. Obesity, over time, could cause a decrease in the amount of work being completed overall in the nation. It could also coincide with a decrease in the length of life of citizens throughout the years, which could lead to a decline of the United States. Health directly affects the ability of a nation to complete important tasks that without would cause a major decline within the nation.

The Roman Empire and United States have political positions chosen with money as a major influencer. Political corruption was largely seen in Rome during its decline, the position of emperor was sold to the highest bidder. Corruption led to an unexpressed opinion of the general people, leading to an unsatisfied community of citizens. These leaders who then bought the position of emperor were highly ineffective and did not fulfill their duties as emperor. In order to run for political office in the United States, candidates must spend large sums of money on campaigns in order to win. In this manner, political offices can only be held by those wealthy citizens who can afford to run. The more money one is capable of spending, the greater chance that they have of winning an election. Corruption in government in the manner of finances being the major or only determinate in choosing leadership positions ultimately leads to a decline of nations.

The Roman Empire and United States both had non-citizens provide labor cheaper than citizens, causing unemployment and the decline of these nations. In the Roman Empire, slaves were replacing the Roman people’s jobs. Farmers who employed Roman people found it cheaper to replace their employees with slave labor. Slavery then caused an increase in unemployment throughout the Roman Empire, causing its decline. The high unemployment rate in the United States, which is around nine percent, is partially due to the outsourcing of jobs. The United States is sending jobs to overseas countries, whose workforce is willing to accept lower wages, causing the cost of labor to be cheaper. Outsourcing has led to unemployment in the United States because it is cheaper than employing United States citizens, causing a decline in the United States. Unemployment is the result of less costly work from outside sources, causing a decline in standards of living, as well at the entire nation.

The United States and Roman Empire both have experienced a decline in values, which have led to immoral decisions being made, leading to destruction. The decline of the Roman Empire directly correlated with the decline of morals, making the decline of morals a main cause for the decline of Rome. Large sums of Rome’s money were wasted on unnecessary immoral practices. The Roman people lost the sense of pride they had in being Roman, which caused a decline in their morals, ultimately leading to their downfall. The culture of the United States has seen a steady decline in values and morals because of influences of media and other sources. The lack of morals has skewed the United State’s vision of what is important and just causes, which could lead to decline. If the United States cannot search out what it seeks as important as being a good cause, then time and money will be wasted heavily on immoral practices. The unjust practices of the United States and Roman Empire causes a shaky foundation of morals and values, ending in wasted money, time, and having an improper view of what should be attended to.

While Rome spread out the size of its empire, the United States is spreading the ideas of its nation, both of which are a cause of decline. The Romans had a great amount of difficulty maintaining power in an empire of its vast size. The Romans had simply increased the size of their empire too much for their own good; the empire was too big for Rome to handle. Increased responsibility, due to the large area of land Rome obtained, propelled the Roman Empire into decline. The United States has put spreading democracy as a top priority, which has led to internal issues in the United States to be neglected. The United States has made the choice to take democratic nations under its wing, leading to a lack of control in not only other democratic nations, but the United States as well. Unneeded responsibility that the United States put upon itself, being too occupied with the issues of other nations, has led to its internal decline, being too occupied with the issues of other nations. When nations experience too much responsibility due to land that the nation is watching over, inevitably leads to neglect of some areas, leading to a decline.

The causes of decline of nations appear to fall under the same general categories. Both the United States and Roman Empire declined due to too much land responsibility and poor health of the people within these nations. Terrible morals found within nations also inevitably leads to a downfall of the mindset of the people, ultimately developing into the decline of the nation. Unemployment also hurts the economic situation of nations causing a decrease in the legacy of the nation; a nation cannot function without a strong economic foundation. The decline of the United States directly runs along with the decline of the Roman Empire.

“When We Were Gods”

By: Colin Falconer

Arresting beautiful and fiercely intelligent Cleopatra VII of Egypt was barely more than a girl when she inherited the richest empire in the world – one that stretched from the scorching deserts of lower Egypt to the shining Mediterranean metropolis of Alexandria with its famed library and lighthouse.

Imperiled at every turn by court conspiracies and Roman treachery, the young Queen was forced to flee Alexandria and live in exile while a foreign army overran her city and her own family plotted her downfall.

With nothing to lose, Cleopatra sought a partnership with the only man who could secure Egypt’s safety: Julius Caesar, a wily politician and battle-hardened general with a weakness for women.

The result was a passionate love affair that scandalized Rome and thrust Cleopatra into a world of deadly intrigue played for the very highest stakes – a world she would continue to mesmerize and manipulate even after Caesar was gone.

At the height of her power and fame, Cleopatra fell in love with Caesar’s successor, Marc Antony, a general known as much for his drunken hedonism as his victories in battle. Brash, irresistible and fatally unreliable Antony’s once-strong hold on the Roman empire soon slips away, and with it Cleopatra’s fortunes. When the tide finally turns against her she plots a last, spectacular manoeuvre to save her children, her empire, and her place among the gods.

1.        Characterization

a.         Cleopatra

Cleopatra here describe as implicit detail, that she was a great queen of Egypt, but unfortunately her rule already realized and become real after her death. The character of the novel who has been decided to be protagonist and main character as the story told around about her.

“From this day on and to all the world I am Cleopatra the Seventh, Queen of the Two Lands, Upper and Lower Egypt, Philopater Philomatris, Father-Loving Nation-Loving God. But that is just words. The truth is, I am eighteen years old, just a girl, without experience, without help, and without friends. And everyone around me wants me dead.”

From the quoted above it can be concluded that Cleopatra has a strong mind, confidence, wide minded, and respected queen. But, it is not enough to be done as a real. She had to face all the trouble and made decision to continue her power among the damage maker to her society, Egypt.

She also had a powerful intelligence that never can be equal with her brothers and sisters.

“…No other Ptolemy had taken the time to learn the language of the people they ruled. To his knowledge, she was the first to speak anything other than Greek. If Isis had decided to reincarnate, she might well have chosen tore-invent herself in Cleopatra.”

She also could be a special person in her position. She knew what she had to do with herself what ever she had, and what ever she did. She has an easy to understand every body mind so that makes Cleopatra special.

“But she forced herself to ignore her discomfort. This theatre was intrinsic to her destiny, and the uncertainties that had plagued her after her father’s death sloughed away the further they sailed up the great Nile. I can do this, she told herself. I can prevail in my father’s palace of serpents.”

“…Most years they had enough to feed not only Egypt but half the Mediterranean. But this year countless thousands of her own people would starve, no matter how many times she stared at the figures in the ledgers and how many different ways she tried to calculate the numbers.”

She is like her father and almost the same how to think anything. She loves her society, her Egypt, custom of his father.

b.        Ptolemy XII

He had no more differences with his daughter, Cleopatra but death. In which as he still alive he is a king who has let his body and odd to his society to be more prosperous.

“He had called himself the New Dionysius, the Saviour who would rescue the East from the tyranny of Rome. He had the Bacchic ivy leaf tattooed on his body and was initiated into the secrets of wine and music and abandon. They had laughed at him behind his back, called him The Piper because of his fondness for the Rites of Pan, others just called him The Bastard and sneered at his efforts to stall the Romans.”

As Father, he has a strong mind, confidence, mature decision, wise personality and a perfect king as his society obey him and keep his custom of the father.

He put his mouth to her ear; she felt the wiry hairs of his beard tickle her face. “This is the world you have inherited,” he whispered. “Every palace is filled with snakes, twice as deadly as these. You will live among vipers all your life so you must learn to use your venom as wisely but strike without hesitation when you must. Do you understand?”

c.         Pothinus

As brother of Cleopatra, he has bad attitudes. 180% far difference from Cleopatra, as he wants to Cleopatra dead and makes the Egypt to be him. As far he couldn’t make Cleopatra given up, he will never surrender either.

“Cleopatra stared at him. So, that is the rumour you intend to spread

about me. At least you did me the honour of letting me hear it first.”

As quoted from that statement above that Pothinus had intended a rumor to weaken her control of her country, Egypt. Pothinus here is described as the one who has a little feeling of diplomacy, so that’s Cleopatra wants to have taught him about it.

“Meanwhile she waited for news from Greece on the outcome of the conflict between Caesar and Pompey. Everyone in Alexandria believed Pompey would defeat the upstart general. She was sure her decision to send Pompey soldiers and supplies would be vindicated. That would teach Pothinus a thing or two about diplomacy.”

d.        Mardian

This character is the one who ever get close with Cleopatra. The teacher when she was child and the friends to share everything since she was child.

“…But it was just Mardian, her tropheus, her tutor since childhood. The closest thing she had to a friend. He was fat, as many eunuchs were, his blue chlamys as voluminous as the royal pavilion and his face as crumpled as a discarded gown.”

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