Hello, super-explorer Noah Matricciani speaking. For over 500 years, I've been exploring the life of the ancient Romans, but sadly, this magnificent empire is coming to an end. Ever since the last of the "good emperors", Rome has been in a slow decline and it is now on the verge of breaking apart completely.
It all started when Marcus Aurelius, the last of the "good emperors", died. Thus his son Commodus took over. Commodus was a very violent ruler who loved to see bloodshed and he spent a large amount of Rome's money on bribing the soldiers to support him. When Commodus died, he was followed by multiple bad rulers who were great generals, but horrible politicians. These rulers kept on stealing from our treasury just to spend it for themselves and on the army. These emperors have plunged this economy further into a hole and the senate had lost his emperors. Rome also has no stability, for example, from the years 180 to 284 A.D., there were 29 Roman emperors and most were murdered.
The army has also lead to the fall of the Roman Empire. Before, Roman soldiers fought for the glory of their land and were ready to defend it at a moments notice. However, the Roman soldiers refused to fight unless they got paid an incredulous amount. Thus the Roman government had to hire a mercenary army to defend it. However, this mercenary army was very untrustworthy and would constantly change sides in the middle of battle.
Another flaw in the Roman Empire was its vast size. Since the Empire was so big, Rome needed separate governments to rule certain sections of the empire which just divided Rome. Also, with all this land the Romans needed someone to defend it but without the soldiers, Rome was, and still is constantly being attacked by tribes from all different borders of the Empire. Now that the Empire was so large, Rome couldn't conquer anymore land so its main source of income is gone. Thus putting the Empire into a serious economic recession.
With the economy in ruins, people couldn't buy enough food, thus the government produced a lot more coins. However, since the government wasn't getting its silver or other valuable minerals from other nations, with every new coin that Rome produced, the value of the coin became lower. Eventually this inflation became so uncontrollable that the Roman coin became virtually worthless.
However, Rome wasn't done yet, or else I would be long gone by now to a different time period. But the Roman emperor Diocletian decided to divide his empire into two sections. The east and the west. Diocletian decided that he would rule the more wealthy east side, so he then appointed a co-emperor to rule over the west. When Diocletian retired in 305 A.D., the emperor Constantine took his place. After claiming that he saw the Christian God in the midst of a battle that he won, Constantine allowed freedom of religion in his empire. Thus the newly found religion of Christianity flourished. In his 25 years of ruling, Constantine constantly worked on strengthening the Church. He even moved the capital of Eastern Rome to Byzantium, where it was renamed Constantinople in his honor.
However, although Constantine was trying so hard to keep the empire intact, he eventually couldn't stop the waves of barbarians that kept on trying to invade Rome. The last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, was eventually captured by the barbarians and sent to work on a farm.
However, although Rome was lost, the former Eastern empire moved on to became the Byzantine Empire which lasted another thousand years.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Life in Sparta
Hello, scientist Noah Matricciani speaking. Today I decided to visit the ancient Greek city state called Sparta. For the day, I toured around the city state to see it's government, traditions, economy, life style, daily work, and what it's education is like here. Sparta is located in a fertile location that is very isolated. In fact, it is so isolated that it is surrounded on three sides by mountains. This city didn't often connect with other nations because Sparta was able to grow it's own food so they didn't need to trade. This city state values three characteristics to a person: Strength, simplicity, and military skills. From what I've seen so far, this country is very military based. Even the educational system is primarily based on military skills. Boys and girls are both taught here to defend the city state at all costs. In fact, boys began military training at age 7 and finished their duty at age 60. Your success in life is all about military service. Like at age 20 you have to take an exam that test your physical fitness, leadership skills, and military ability. If you passed this test, you immediately became a soldier and a full citizen. As you can probably guess this test was very hard. As a matter of fact, two days ago I took the test and I didn't pass. It looks like I not going to become a Spartan citizen anytime soon. Well, after the test, if you passed, the Spartans wanted you to primarily focus on your career as a soldier so you can't live at your home until the age of 30. Even if you are married and have children you still can't live with them.
The government of this city-state is an Oligarchy, where the government is in the hands of multiple people. This form of government had an assembly and a council. Where the council thought of soon to be laws and the assembly voted on them. The council had two kings and 28 other men and the two kings inherited power and shared it equally. To be one of the men on the council of elders you have to be at least 60 and belong to a noble family. The assembly can be overthrown by the council. Three days ago, I was invited to watch the council in session and it was basically completely silent. You see, there is absolutely no debating. You either say "Yes" or "No" and thats that.
The economy of this city-state relies primarily on farming and capturing other lands; and they also depend on slaves and non-citizens for work. Sparta had a group of slaves called Helots who are allowed to live in their own villages, but have to pay high taxes and give most of their crops to the city-states. Sparta used non-citizens to fight in the army but as I mentioned before, they weren't allowed to be members of the council. The currency for this city-state is iron bars which are really heavy so stealing never really happens here. This nation was also very secluded because the Spartans usually keep to themselves and didn't want to trade with other city-states.
Women and slaves are treated very well in this city-state. Like they can both own property because when the men are fighting, the women have to look after the land and the house. Even Helots are allowed to become citizens if they pass the physical fitness test at age 20.
I'm afraid that I'm going to have to leave Sparta tomorrow but it is a very interesting place to watch as daily life goes on. Now, what place should I go to next...
The government of this city-state is an Oligarchy, where the government is in the hands of multiple people. This form of government had an assembly and a council. Where the council thought of soon to be laws and the assembly voted on them. The council had two kings and 28 other men and the two kings inherited power and shared it equally. To be one of the men on the council of elders you have to be at least 60 and belong to a noble family. The assembly can be overthrown by the council. Three days ago, I was invited to watch the council in session and it was basically completely silent. You see, there is absolutely no debating. You either say "Yes" or "No" and thats that.
The economy of this city-state relies primarily on farming and capturing other lands; and they also depend on slaves and non-citizens for work. Sparta had a group of slaves called Helots who are allowed to live in their own villages, but have to pay high taxes and give most of their crops to the city-states. Sparta used non-citizens to fight in the army but as I mentioned before, they weren't allowed to be members of the council. The currency for this city-state is iron bars which are really heavy so stealing never really happens here. This nation was also very secluded because the Spartans usually keep to themselves and didn't want to trade with other city-states.
Women and slaves are treated very well in this city-state. Like they can both own property because when the men are fighting, the women have to look after the land and the house. Even Helots are allowed to become citizens if they pass the physical fitness test at age 20.
I'm afraid that I'm going to have to leave Sparta tomorrow but it is a very interesting place to watch as daily life goes on. Now, what place should I go to next...
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
A trip through Ancient India
Hello, explorer Noah Matricciani writing. I am now writing this from ancient India. In this entry of my journal, I am going to talk about all of my findings and interesting thoughts about India. In the peninsula, or subcontinent of India, I am now visiting at the time of the summer monsoons. where the strong winds from the ocean sweep up and bring tons of moisture from the ocean. This is great for the inhabitants of ancient India because it the moisturized air is good for the crops. However, if there is too little amount of moisture in the air, their won't be any food for the inhabitants; and if there is too much, there will be flooding. I asked one of the inhabitants about the winter monsoons and he said that they bring very dry air from the Northeast or mountain ranges. India also had a very geological advantage. On three sides, it is surrounded by water and on one side, there are mountains. This must be very good for the inhabitants.
There are also magnificent cities here too. Like in the Indus River Valley, there is a wonderful city known as Mohenjo-Daro. This beautiful city is mostly dominated by artists and merchants and the houses have open courtyards where kids can play. This city also had plumbing which is very advanced.
India also had a social class system, or a caste system. The top people were priests or otherwise known as Brahmins, the second class consisted of warriors, the third class had regular people or workers, and the fourth class had prisoners of war. What is very interesting about this class is that unlike ancient Egypt, it is impossible to move up in your social class. The only way you can possibly move up is if you die and get reincarnated to a higher social class.
Now about reincarnation, I just met a man on the street the other day who persuaded me to become a Hindu. This religion had very interesting views. This religion is a mix of Aryan beliefs, and Indian belief and is also one of the most popular religions with about 700,000,000 followers. The Hindus believe in one spirit, but many Gods. The spirit being yourself. The Hindus believe in one main God called Brahman, and that Brahman is made up of three parts; the Gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This religion believes in something known as Dharma, where in each section of the caste system, the people have certain religious and moral duties to follow. So if you follow your Dharma, you will be closer to Brahman. Hindus also believe in Karma which means that if you do good things now, good things will come. Another very big topic that Hindus believe in is reincarnation. Where if you die, your soul is transferred into a new body. However, your past life affects on your new one. So if your good in your past life, you'll most likely be reincarnated into a higher position in the caste system, and if you live a bad life, you won't be reincarnated into a higher class. If you follow your Dharma to its full extent, then you can even be released from the wheel of reincarnation and you can spend the rest of your happy eternity with Brahman. Hindus also believe in Ahimsa which is non-violence unless in self defense because they believe that Brahman created everything.
Another religion in Ancient India is Buddhism. This religion is very similar to Hinduism. Buddhists also believe in non-violence. But Buddhists follow the 4 noble truths and the eightfold path which talk about ending suffering and how to end it. Buddhists also believe in Nirvana where you find everlasting peace and end suffering so you can be released from the wheel of reincarnation.
Out of these two religions, Buddhism is doing a lot better. Since Buddhism thinks everyone is equal, their is no Dharma to judge people by their place in the caste system so people think as Buddhism as freer than Hinduism and you can practice any way you want.
After looking at these two religions, I'm still at a stand still of which religion I should practice; Hinduism or Buddhism. They both have great reasons to join. Maybe staying here in ancient India will help me decide.
-NM
There are also magnificent cities here too. Like in the Indus River Valley, there is a wonderful city known as Mohenjo-Daro. This beautiful city is mostly dominated by artists and merchants and the houses have open courtyards where kids can play. This city also had plumbing which is very advanced.
India also had a social class system, or a caste system. The top people were priests or otherwise known as Brahmins, the second class consisted of warriors, the third class had regular people or workers, and the fourth class had prisoners of war. What is very interesting about this class is that unlike ancient Egypt, it is impossible to move up in your social class. The only way you can possibly move up is if you die and get reincarnated to a higher social class.
Now about reincarnation, I just met a man on the street the other day who persuaded me to become a Hindu. This religion had very interesting views. This religion is a mix of Aryan beliefs, and Indian belief and is also one of the most popular religions with about 700,000,000 followers. The Hindus believe in one spirit, but many Gods. The spirit being yourself. The Hindus believe in one main God called Brahman, and that Brahman is made up of three parts; the Gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This religion believes in something known as Dharma, where in each section of the caste system, the people have certain religious and moral duties to follow. So if you follow your Dharma, you will be closer to Brahman. Hindus also believe in Karma which means that if you do good things now, good things will come. Another very big topic that Hindus believe in is reincarnation. Where if you die, your soul is transferred into a new body. However, your past life affects on your new one. So if your good in your past life, you'll most likely be reincarnated into a higher position in the caste system, and if you live a bad life, you won't be reincarnated into a higher class. If you follow your Dharma to its full extent, then you can even be released from the wheel of reincarnation and you can spend the rest of your happy eternity with Brahman. Hindus also believe in Ahimsa which is non-violence unless in self defense because they believe that Brahman created everything.
Another religion in Ancient India is Buddhism. This religion is very similar to Hinduism. Buddhists also believe in non-violence. But Buddhists follow the 4 noble truths and the eightfold path which talk about ending suffering and how to end it. Buddhists also believe in Nirvana where you find everlasting peace and end suffering so you can be released from the wheel of reincarnation.
Out of these two religions, Buddhism is doing a lot better. Since Buddhism thinks everyone is equal, their is no Dharma to judge people by their place in the caste system so people think as Buddhism as freer than Hinduism and you can practice any way you want.
After looking at these two religions, I'm still at a stand still of which religion I should practice; Hinduism or Buddhism. They both have great reasons to join. Maybe staying here in ancient India will help me decide.
-NM
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