The Benefits of Empire

During Rome's period of dominance as an Empire, the Mediterranean world and nearby environments experienced a period of relative peace.  Scholars called this period the "Pax Romana" as mentioned in your textbook.  Our initial inclination today is to think of an empire with so much power concentrated centrally in it as something dangerous. However, the emergence of the Empire seemed to unify the entire area in a way that the Republic hadn't.  Do you agree with the decision of individuals like Caesar and his successors to create and sustain an empire if it meant fostering a new sense of peace for 200 years?  Would you have preferred the in theory more representative Republic before corruption and economic turmoil affected it (perhaps inevitable?) when it couldn't guarantee the same stability that the Empire seemed to foster?  States are constantly at war today for a variety of reasons.  If so, couldn't we argue that the creation of a morally guided empire would be a much better form of government if it could prevent conflict and encourage reform?  Why or why not?  Please respond to this prompt in AT LEAST TEN SENTENCES of thoughtful reflection and try to cite the textbook or your notes on it at least twice. Happy writing.

Our Own Private Augury

Today in class we recognized that the Etruscan religion was gloomy and weirdly superstitious.  The Etruscans thought they could discover the will of the Gods by means of augury, that is by watching the flight of birds and by examining the entrails of animals.  OK, sure this is a little strange.  I'm guessing again that many of you haven't done anything quite like this.  And if you have, perhaps we should talk tomorrow about it?

In any case, even if we aren't quite as strange as the Etruscans, we all no doubt have our personal superstitions or somewhat odd traditions before we do something or when we're approaching anything in life.

What superstitions do you have?  How did they develop and what are they for?

Preferring Persia and "THIS IS SPARTA!"

In the Greek view of things, as we've seen, the Persians get a bad rap (are viewed very negatively). However, while reading the Chapters on Persia, we saw a number of features that actually made Persia seem not only powerful, but also considerate of the needs of other groups in the Persian Empire.  In other words, life in the Persian Empire didn't seem so bad.  Is the Greek view of the Persians just another form of demonizing "The Other" that one finds consistently throughout history, especially in the books of Western cultures as they view Eastern cultures?

Similarly, the book and other sources seem to look at Sparta in a somewhat critical light.  Indeed, we didn't exactly all react warmly and then look at bringing back some of the features of Spartan culture.  Nonetheless, there were real reasons in a sometimes harsh, fragile, and threatening Ancient World for both the Persians and Spartans to create and nurture the cultures they did.  They thought their way of approaching the world was both needed and justified.

Books and history often glorify Athens, but in a Blogpost of AT LEAST TEN THOUGHTFUL AND WELL-REASONED SENTENCES make the case for why one should actually embrace Persian OR Spartan culture. Choose ONE of the cultures to defend.  Go back to the book and notes on Persia to defend life in the Empire with some details.  Rely on our recent notes and the book for your defense of Sparta.  Make sure you use specific historical examples AND, here goes, write from the perspective of an ancient historian evaluating the differences of Athens vs. Sparta/Persia.

The Principles and Goals of Harkness Critical Conversations Going Forward

Today we used the Harkness Method officially for the very first time.  We will use it regularly going forward during this year. At the beginning of the class, we mentioned focusing on three points: 1) Posture, 2) Engagement, and 3) Looking at the Class.  Given that we will be using this method and now that you've had a chance to begin to use it as a group for 20 minutes, please reflect on what principles and "rules" (i.e., posture, engagement, etc.) you think that you as an individual and the group as a whole must focus and develop to make our critical conversations even more effective? Please respond by offering THREE thoughtful ideas about what you think you AND the group must do together to improve our work in class even more.  You can respond in bullet points, but if you do make sure they are complete sentences with a clear explanation of what you mean.  Avoid using the things we focused on today (the three I named) unless you want to offer another level of reflection on them.

The Dangers of Democracy

During the past week, we've looked at the emergence of various strains of Greek civilization from the Dark Ages, the age of Greek Colonization from 750BC-550BC, and the gradual rise of democracy in the fundamental unit of ancient Greek political organization, the polis. For the most part, we seem to have assumed that the gradual development of a democracy is a "good thing" or a kind of progress within these communities. After all, these communities gradually moved from some form of monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, or oligarchy in which political decision-making rested in the hands of the few. But, is the story really that simple? Please respond to the following prompt in AT LEAST TEN thoughtful and focused sentences. SERIOUSLY defend ONE of the following forms of government and its advantages to the disadvantages of democracy (a more direct form of government in which many citizens represent themselves in the political decisions of governing): 1) a monarchy (rule by an individual hereditary royal who is supposedly focused on the good of all, 2) a tyranny (rule by an individual who has gained almost absolute power by appealing to the basic needs of the middle class and poor) 3) an aristocracy (rule of a few wealthy individuals who are supposedly focused on the good of all), 4) an oligarchy (rule by a few wealthy individuals who have gained almost absolute power within a community. Good luck!