Important Women in History - Cleopatra

Roy Elal
Ms. Moore
Humanities 8
17 March 2012

Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator, who became the last Pharaoh of ancient Egypt at the age of 18, was born in 69 B.C. and died in 30 B.C.
Cleopatra gained stability for her country Egypt by aligning with the most powerful nation at that time: the Roman Empire.  She seduced 2 of the most powerful leaders in the world - Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony otherwise they were ready to take over Egypt - she saved the day by being charming and pretty and these powerful men fell for her charms.  She ruled Egypt even though she was banished earlier by her brother.  She was the target of Octavian in the battle of Actium. And lastly, she was Macedonian, but could speak Egyptian fluently.

Cleopatra VII the queen had actually been poisoned and died from drinking a mixture of poisons. After studying historical texts and consulting with toxicologists, the historian concluded that the asp could not have caused a slow and pain-free death, since the asp (Egyptian Cobra) venom paralyses parts of the body, starting with the eyes, before causing death. 

Christian Saints

Roy Elal
Ms. Moore
Humanities, 8B
17 March 2012

Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas, born in 270 A.D., was at one point of his life the bishop of Myra, a town in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He died in 310 A.D. on December 6, which is why his feast is celebrated on that date. Saint Nicholas, who is recognized for his great generosity, is the patron saint of little children and school children.

The feast of Saint Nicholas was abolished on some European countries after the Protestant reformation of the 16th century. The Dutch, however, have preserved this ancient Catholic custom, and small Dutch children still await the visit of Sinter Klaas (Saint Nicholas) on the night of December 6.

Saint Nicholas, is also know as modern-day Santa Claus, who is a fictional character in young childrens minds, like the tooth fairy. Santa Claus is supposed to come on Christmas eve and put presents under the tree of the families who celebrate Christmas.




                                         

Saint Nicholas                                                                                     Santa Claus

The Fall of Rome

In A.D. 476, the Western Roman Empire fell. By fell, I mean it was sacked, and completely destroyed by the Germanics, also known as the barbarians, who after taking over, divided the territory into Germanic kingdoms. Other than that, there are many reasons that caused the empire to fall to the barbarians.
The barbarians decided to start invading the Roman Empire, because they knew that they were becoming weaker, as they were becoming bigger. Barbarian tribes like the Franks, the Vandals, and the Goths, all came to invade Rome, causing Rome to come to the end.


Workforce -----> There were fewer workers, and less slaves.
Social -----> Famine, plague, and civil unrest (riots and uprisings). 
Geography ----> Donut-shaped around the Mediterranean sea, which made it more of a Roman Lake, and week borders.
Economy -----> Depression (decline, income/wages fall, value of money decreases, cost of goods and services increases), wealthy not paying taxes, growth of army and the government, dependency on luxury items.
Government ----> Dishonest and corrupt, too big, civil wars wasting money, resources and lives.
Military -----> Not strong enough, spread out too thin around the borders, too many borders, and internal conflicts.

Mosaic Reflection

Explain the meaning of your symbol, reflect on the process of making a mosaic, and imagine what it would have been like to create a large scale mosaic in a church over  1500 years ago.


For this mosaic project, I chose to make a six-pointed star. This symbol is both a more minor Christian symbol, and a major Jewish religious, and Israeli national symbol. 
The six-pointed star is the Creator's Star or Star of Creation. Its six points stand for the six days of creation, and are also represent the six attributes of God: power, wisdom, majesty, love, mercy and justice.
Once finishing the mosaic, I am somewhat proud to say, that it doesn't look bad. Essentially it could have been just much neater and more organized, in the sense that there were minor gaps and spaces in between some of the paper tiles, and that there were some tiles that were overlapping. All in all, I feel somewhat successful after turning it in.
Overall, sticking glue onto the paper, was not that hard, the hardest part for me was actually picking the colors. In the end, I decided to make the outline of the star in purple, and the inside of the star and the background surrounding it purple. After doing that, I decided i wanted the border to be more exciting and approachable, therefore I made a combination of green and orange.




 

Roy Elal
Ms. Moore
Humanities
1/2/12

Judas Iscariot Superstar: Jesus Christ Superstar movie review

Norman Jewison’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” is the story  of Jesus’ last couple of weeks before he was crucified tragically, by the people’s decision. This film, shot in Israel, 1972, essentially met the expectations it was given, even though it attracted some criticism from some religious groups because of the ending, which didn’t show Jesus’ resurrection. Carl Anderson, who played the character of Judas Iscariot, definitely proved his outstanding performances throughout the hippie rock-opera version of Jesus Christ’s way to crucifixion. Although the movie was based on Jesus Christ who was played by Ted Neeley, and in my opinion failed the expectations he was (or at least should have been) given before the movie, but Anderson showing a superior understanding of the plot, made the movie somewhat worthwhile.

Alongside Ted Neeley (Jesus Christ) and Carl Anderson (Judas Iscariot), some of the other major roles played by Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magedeline), Barry Dennen (Pontius Pilot), and Bob Bingham (Caiaphas), all had some impact throughout the storyline, as they acted some of the more major roles of the story. The Director, Producer, and the Screenplay was all mostly done by Norman Jewison, who was definitely one of the two men who made this rock-opera somewhat amusing, or entertaining. What one must realize about this is that Ted Neeley demolished the movie with his singing, acting, and enthusiasm shown all together, but thanks to the multi-tasking director Norman Jewison and one of the main characters; Carl Anderson (Judas Iscariot), this movie was in my opinion a successful G-rated film.

As stated above this movie was based on the last couple of weeks of Jesus’ life, but more specifically, this movie is based on the conflicts and connection between Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot. Judas started off being one of Jesus’ first and closest followers, yet as the plot begins, Judas sees that Jesus is going to a new direction, where he is more concerned about his own popularity, than the message he was sending in the beginning, which eventually really bothers Judas; and in the end decides to assist the Jewish religious leaders in catching him, and sending him to Pontius Pilot.

One of the more humorous parts of this movie is the fact that some of the guards had guns, how this movie is supposed to be G-rated, yet there are prostitutes everywhere when they arrive to the market, or when Jesus doesn’t really show interest in Mary Magdalene. To be honest, this movie might have been a bit too modern with the guns, and the hipster King Herod was also bit over the top.

My opinion is very straight forward. Ted Neeley ruined this movie completely, whereas Carl Anderson drew my attention back into it, and made the movie somewhat worth watching. I have to say that in some way I actually did enjoy this film, which is absurd because of how fake it is and how it doesn’t even go with the real story (or at least how Christians believe.) All in all, the only reason I might recommend this movie is because of Carl Anderson and how he showed his efforts throughout the film, and because of the humorous parts in it including plains and tanks.

Was Caesar a Reformer or a Tyrant?

In my opinion, Julius Caesar was, in fact, a reformer. As he was a great leader, he ended the ruling of the dishonest, and corrupt nobles. Caesar upheld justice, which means he was fair. He restored the cities and aided the poor, and homeless. On top of that he also granted more citizenship and brought peace to Rome. Many people might say that he enjoyed the attention, the fame, and the power, but in my opinion, Julius Caesar was a motivation to people, and an admirable one. Everyone should always have a reason to do something. Even if Caesar's motive was definitely not selfless, his actions were for the good for many, and he was respected and appreciated him by most of the people of ancient Rome. By the end, when he was murdered by the senators of Rome themselves, a civil war started in Rome, which proves that he was the great leader, and reformer, of Rome.

Augustus and Julius Caesar

Gaius Octavius (Augustus), born September 23, 63 B.C., was the son of Octavius, a praetor from Velitrae, and Atia, the daughter of Julius Caesar's sister Julia. When Caesar went to Spain to fight the Pompeians in 45 B.C., Gaius Octavius went with him. Caesar arranging the schedule in advance, named Gaius Octavius Master of the Horse for 43 or 42 B.C. Caesar died in 44 B.C. and in his will adopted Gaius Octavius. Octavius took the name C. Julius Caesar Octavianus at this point.

I think Julius Caesar was a much more critical and major leader than his grand nephew Augustus. Julius Caesar did so much more for Rome; he was a disciplined and very strong leader, he was a great military commander, and he was a tactical genius. Julius Caesar also tried to prevent poverty in his homeland and was loyal to his followers and friends, and would punish criminals who broke the laws. He was the individual who started the Roman Empire. In the end he might have been crazy, had a disease, or he could have just been hungry for power and control, but in this debate, what he accomplished is what counts. Once he was murdered, in other words stabbed by all his friends and followers who were in the room, Rome went into another civil war. The other side of the debate, Augustus did bring 200 years of peace to Rome and expanded its Empire, but without the commence of Julius Caesar, Augustus would have been just another senator; bringing me to the point that without Julius Caesar, Rome would have never become the almighty Empire we know of.

The Geography of Rome

Geography of Rome is characterized by the Seven Hills and The Tiber River. Rome city situated on the eastern banks of river Tiber has a geographical position of 41° 54' N and 12° 29' E. Rome lies to the west of the Apennine Mountains that forms the backbone of peninsular Italy. Being close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, Rome experiences a Mediterranean climate. 

Rome is popularly called 'the city of seven hills'. These seven hills namely, Viminal, Quirinal, Palatine, Esquiline, Capitoline, Caelian, and Aventine were separated by marshy land and the River Tiber. Of these seven hills, the Caelian, Esquiline, Quirinal and Viminal hills were portions of a volcanic ridge. The Aventine, Capitoline, and Palatine hills formed the western group of hills. In ancient Rome each of the seven hills had separate walled cities. 

Works cited:

www.mariamilani.com%2Fancient_rome%2FAncient%2520Rome%2520Geography_.htm&ei=p9vETuHAE8X1-gaG3NXZDQ&usg=AFQjCNGpSjoA_9GISz5Vho2mvOIh9V4j9Q&sig2=cls-7dQR_086U8mx8uSymA

Founding of Rome

                 Remus and Romulus, twin brothers that were abandoned near the Tiver River, found by a wolf, and reaised by a shepherd, were the two who founded Ancient Rome.at around 753 B.C. they decided to build a city. The twins quarreled over the wall that Romulus built, and eventually lashed out at Remus and killed him.
                Even farther back than Remus and Romulus though, the famous epic by Virgil, the Roman poet, 
have really flashed out the creation of the empire. Aeneid was the story of the great Trojan hero Aeneas. According to the lefend, him and his band of travelers, crossed the mediterranean Sea after the Greeks captured Troy. As the Trojan armies managed to reach the Tiber River, Aeneas united both Trojans and the Latins, and become what is known as the "father" of Rome.
                Historians of today are not quite sure how Rome really began. Some say that Latins lived there at about 1000 B.C. The built hurts on Rome's hills, tended herds, and grew crops.
  

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great. Great. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word great means: Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent. Was Alexander III of Macedon remarkable in degree or extent? In my opinion he was. Alexander is known as Alexander the Great, Alexander III of Macedon, and the leader who conquered Europe and half of Asia, he is known as a ruler who wasn't ruthless and included Greek culture in his rule, and he tried to tie the Greek culture and the culture's of the cities he conquered together. Alexander is believed not to have lost a single battle he fought, and that just proves the man's superiority physically and mentally. 


Historians say "Alexander was very intelligent, he was even tutored by the great philosopher Aristotle. While conquering the world, Alexander came across the great Gordian knot, which was untied for centuries, he just cut it." This quote will show a person Alexander's mental preparation and readiness for it all, and how his intelligence was the key to success on the battlefield.


After all this, I would like to conclude that Alexander the Great, was in fact great. He was truly unbeaten in battle, but he also helped the cultures and people he conquered. Instead of killing the opposing soldiers and devouring their food and wrecking the city down, he hired the soldiers for his own army, he also invested in cities he took over and advanced and improved their living standards. After all this being done, Alexander will keep his title as the Great, and forever it will last with him.

Article Summary - The Spartan Way

Roy Elal

Due: October 11, 2011

Ms. Moore

Humanities 8B

Article Summary #2

For over 200 years, Sparta was considered as the most powerful city-state in Ancient Greece, along with Athens. Its power came from the strong, tough, and professional army. Brutal training that the kids faced from the age of 7 made every man a warrior and the army one of the most-feared fighting forces ever.

 Athens was the birthplace of democracy and freedom. Great artists and thinkers built the foundations of Western culture. Sparta, on the other hand, was a secretive place run by an oligarchy (an oligarchy was a type of government in which the ruling power is in the hands of a couple of people). This city-state has been admired over the centuries for how they valued great discipline over everything else. Sparta also ruled ancient Greece between approximately 600 B.C. and 371 B.C. leaving an immense amount of history behind themselves.

The army consisted of all men above the age of 30, which is also the age when they become full Spartan citizens and are gifted the ability to vote. Sean Price claims, "About 10 percent of Spartan men were full citizens known as equals. Their job was to serve as soldiers in Sparta's army." (Price, 176) This is a very substantial fact, because it tell us that 90 percent of the population was not above the age of 30, that Spartan males die at a young age, and that most males are still in training as boys and young men. Also the women, they were not considered official citizens of Sparta. Boys that are above the age of 7 are forced to join the forces for training, so that when they grow up, they will also be a part of the sturdy Spartan army. When they are born, city elders come over for examination. If the baby was not healthy looking, or did not have a strong organism, they left it on a mountainside to die.

        Women in Sparta had much more freedom versus any other city-state in the whole entire Ancient Greece. They were allowed to move around, and didn't have to stay home all the time. They could own land, which was unacceptable in Athens. They could also do business. Such power was shocking to men from other city-states.

        When Sparta started to fall apart, and getting conquered by the Dorians, all the rituals also became forgotten, but they left a long history behind them, the history of the extroardinary Ancient Greece.

Price, Sean. "The Ancient Olympics." The Ancient World. 2010. Print.

Article Summary *MLA Format*

Roy Elal

Due: October 9th, 2011

Humanities 8

Ms. Moore

Article Summary 

           The number of legends describing the beginning of the first Olympic competition is unknown. According to the legend, the king Enamaus, had a beautiful daughter who's name was Hippodamia. He promised her in marriage, If she would go hiding and the first person to find her and escape in a chariot with her father chasing them would be her lawful husband. Thirteen men have tried and they all failed, and murdered by the king. Then Pelops, the fourteenth came along and survived, so he was the one who married the beautiful Hippodamia. Then he declared himself king, threw a party to celebrate his victory and to give thanks to the god of the gods... Zeus, thus introducing the first Olympic festival.

           The reward given to the winner of the Olympic competition was a wreath of olive branches and the blessing of a god. The competition was a 180 meter long run. The first one to be held was at 776 B.C.E. and eventually ended in 393 A.D., when the Greek empire collapsed. During that time period, 293 Olympic events were held.

Athletic Competitions at the Olympic festivals were limited to male Greek citizens, as viewers and participants. Foreigners, slaves, and women were banned from competition. Each participant had to sign the Olympic 'agreement', swearing he has trained for 10 months and hadn't done anything to offend he gods.

           Records show that boxing, wrestling, and pancratium competitions drew enormous crowds. It probably came from the strong hostilities between cities and tribes. Chariot races also were events that would thrill Olympic spectators. Theodore Knight, historian, claimed, "...the quadrigae - a race for light, two-wheeled chariots pulled by four horses. The distance of the race course was twelve laps around two columns at opposite ends of the hippodrome - about 10,000 meters, or six miles." (Knight, 170.) This is relevant because those Chariot races have been extremely important and sports that would hype up Ancient Greece, and they are basically the reason for the huge crowds at the Games. 

          Once the Ancient Greeks abnegated, that affected the Olympics, that was once the Roman Empire defeated Ancient Greece at around 100 B.C., and the Roman culture and beliefs replaced the Greek ways, and the Olympics went into a decline that lasted for several centuries. For the Romans, war and trade were more important than philosophy religion, or athletics then.

Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863 - 1937) was the man who revived the Olympic Games. Because of his enthusiastic efforts, the first modern Games were finally held in Athens, Greece in 1896.

Bibliography:

Knight, Theodore. "The Ancient Olympics." The Ancient World. 2010. Print.

Ancient Greek Values

Some of the most important values in the Ancient Greek civilizations were ingenuity, hospitality, loyalty, and respect. I believe they're also considered important in our time, because we meet them in our daily life basis (I hope.) Most people would say; "WOW! It's amazing how from around 3000 B.C.E., such qualities evolved among us and still exist today!" Well it's not. These are important values so of course we have them at our time. What is amazing is how they had it in their time, not how it lasted.
Ingenuity means skill or cleverness in devising or combining; Inventiveness, this is important because it helps us think of new ideas and make us "genius". In the story of Odysseus, ingenuity is the most common quality found along his journey, and his many adventures. He thinks of all these how to keep himself away from death, and how to help his sailors and crew get home safely. For example, when he met the Cyclops, he called himself 'Nobody' and when the Cyclops screamed "Nobody's escaping!" to his guards after he got stabbed in his eye, the guards didn't know he actually meant someone is escaping. So that part was filled with many exciting and creative ideas and secret plans of escaping, which represent ingenuity.
Another very critical Ancient Greek value shown in the excerpts is hospitality. Hospitality means kindness in welcoming strangers or guests (My definition of the word.) Circe greets them with a very nice manner, but then she changes them into pigs, and erases their memory from home, so that they don't know where their desire is to go, and where exactly their home is (in general, the spell made them forget about everything they were attempting to accomplish.) Although, it is very common in the Ancient Greek times to be very kind/neighborly, even if the people are your enemies, you still had to greet them nicely. All of this represents hospitality.
Loyalty and respect were also extremely important in those times, and the Greeks would always value their family and friends. 

In modern society, one can find ancient Greek values in many places in the world. The positive side of peoples always present the values.  Besides athleticism of course, not everyone is athletic, but the rest all people have. For example, hospitality, it relates much to being caring and friendly these days. You don't have to help every single homeless or poor person that walks by, because back then, there weren't really that many people that actually needed help.
Another Greek value that is very common today, is ingenuity. Many people think of ways to avoid a problem or to solve it, by being 'genius'... basically lies or just helping.

Minoans Vs. Mycanaeans

The Minoan civilization and Mycenaean civilization had many things that were alike. Mycenae was founded 300 years after the Minoan civilization was, and because of the fact 300 years is not a lot, they had many similarities, although the Mycenae was more advanced. For example, the water management. Both civilizations had drain pipes, and bathrooms, with bath tubs and flush able toilets! Although there were differences, the Minoans did not have any house security; door locks or bolts, since there were no theives or  wars. That means that Crete (home of the Minoans) was a very peaceful and calm place. Meanwhile, the Mycenaenas had big fortresses, bridges and walls, to protect themselves from war. 

In my opinion in even later Ancient Greece (Ancient Greece was there for VERY long,) the aspects that would have survived the break-through, would definitely be the cultural practices and the religious ways, since it was of course the people that practiced and owned it, and not that they were forced to or something, like in other cultures/religions. And the cultural styles would have also survived, because they were passed on by oral presentations.

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal was built by a Mongul emperor named Sahah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Sahah Jahan was born in 1592, while his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal was born in 1593. They married in 1612 and had seven children. In 1628 Shah Jahan became the Mongul Emperor. Only three years later his beloved wife died shortly after childbirth. In 1632 Sahah Jahan began the project of building a mausoleum, or tomb for his wife, the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is located on the banks of the Yamuna River. It took twenty-two years to complete with an estimated 20,000 workers. The building is surrounded by four 138 ft. minarets and sits on a 315 ft. square marble platform. Each side has a 110 ft. arch and center dome is around 200 ft. high. The building is built in an Islamic style of architecture. Centered in the building is a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal. Next to her tomb, is the tomb for Sahah Jahan. The tombs in the building are empty. The bodies of the two are buried in a crypt below the building. The entire plan of the Taj Mahal is symmetrical, with one exception. Symmetrical means that one side of the building could mirror the other side if cut down the middle. The only exception is the tomb of Sahah Jahan which was added later to the building. There is a story which suggest that Sahah Jahan was planning on building a replica of the Taj Mahal for himself on the other side the river, though no evidence or plans of this has ever been found. Sahah Jahan was overthrown by his own son and imprisoned in the Red Fort within sight of the Taj Mahal. He was forced to spend the last eight years of his life in prison till his death in 1666.

Choose one practice from the Buddhist Eightfold Path and describe how you could incorporate it in your life OR provide an example from your life of a

#6 RIGHT EFFORT:

Without putting effort into something, or anything really, nothing can be achieved. Right now I may be putting my minimum, or my maximum amount of effort. I tend to try and put my maximum efforts in school, basketball, and my social life. Not all at the same time of course, that's not putting the right amount of effort, but more effort than my body, and brain can manage. Whenever I want to improve my shot in basketball, or get a good grade in a Humanities project, I try hard. Sometimes it is hard putting your maximum efforts, but sometimes it is also necessary. After hearing the two powerpoint presentations from Ms. Moore about Hinduism and Buddhism, i was extremely motivated, and decided I will try to do my best, and give all my EFFORTS in humanities class, and all the other classes, trying to get a 6 or a 7 on my report card. As i do not have the reputation of the student with the best grades in the Middle School, I would like that to change by putting more efforts. If you do not put in all your efforts, you will feel disappointed usually, or you won't be proud of your own work. Therefore if you want to be proud of yourself and of your own work, you must put in all your efforts.

Reflection on Maps

Physical features, climate, and elevation, they are all relates to each other somehow, and all affect each other. One example of how they affect each other could be a desert - the desert, being the physical feature, is only created by the climate of that area, which is a very arid, dry climate. If the desert had a different climate, it wouldn't be a desert!
I personally, learned a lot from this mapping project, mainly about India. I also learned that in any country, the physical features depend on the type of climate, and the elevation somewhat depends on the physical features. People usually settle in places where there are many natural resources, created by the physical features, the climate and the elevation of the location.

Lost City of Mohenjo Daro

Located, in the nowadays Pakistan, lays the lost city of Mohenjo Daro. Mohenjo Daro stood from about 2500 to 1900 B.C., But then at 1900 B.C. it was abandoned completely and was left as a 'Ghost City'. Scientists claim it was abandoned because the people were in jeopardy of starvation because of Earthquakes that occurred, leaving them without an ability to grow their foods.

The city was found in the year 1911, and many excavations were done in the 1920's through the 1940's. Scientists have found that this was an extremely advanced city. It was a fairly large city, and very advanced. It was built on a hill to prevent floods from the nearby Indus river, and it was one of the only cities of its time to have a sewerage system. It was obvious by the artifacts found that it was a fairly wealthy city, thriving in wealth and trade. Many scientists, archaeologists, and historians have studied every inch of this city, and we still have no idea what happened to make the majority of the cities population leave. It reaches some kind of obvious archaeological fruition about 1900 B.C.," Said Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. "What drives that, nobody knows."

Unlike most religions and beliefs their one was based on something else. The closest found to a temple in the town of Mohenjo Daro was a building that somewhat represented a temple. It is believed that this ancient civilization believed in cleanness every house had a well and a bathroom.

Shiva - The Destroyer

I know, that Shiva, the Destroyer, was definitely a popular choice, I think it would be really interesting to to my blog post about her, and what she did. In the Hinduism religion, it is believed that for something to be born, or re-born, something has to die. Shiva is the god, who takes and recycles the soul. Shiva -- The Destroyer, is worshiped by the Hindus because what the Hindus believe is that when you die, you soul is reincarnated... or else enlightened. When one dies, Hindus believe he is reborn either to higher, or a lower social class ranking. People can be reborn, into as high a rank as royalty, or as low as a poor man/slave/animal. Shiva is the God who takes away life... but she is also the God that reincarnates the soul.

Egyptian Art

For this piece of artwork I decided to depict Israeli workers making the great pyramids for a pharoah. The pharoah is in the after life, watching his workers work away. You can tell because the head of the pharoah is in the sky and his skin is a shiny silver color. The workers basically created the Egyptian pyramid legacy and brought them to life. They worked long and hard to finish them for their mighty pharoahs and they were very determined and strong people. I put 100% of my effort into this piece of art because I used may different colors, angles and thoroughly enjoyed making this picture and showing how hard the Israeli people worked. Their hard work to keep the Pyramids alive and for us to witness is possible and without them being strong we would never witness such a site. This piece of art could be found in tombs or in temples because it depicts the Pyramids being made for a certian pharoah. It can also be showed as a picture during the passover when the Israeli people escaped the Egyptian torture.