Sophia Elahi RPC Blog

Rome and the Samnite were allies, how did they end up fighting 3 long and bloody wars?

The Samnite wars began with the Samnites wanted to expand and attacked the Campanians. The Campanians called on Rome to help since they were on the fringe of Rome. Rome agreed and came to the rescue. The Campanians surrendered their land to Rome, so the Samnites were attacking Roman soil and the Romans, of course, fought back.

The First war lasted 3 years, and then the Samnites called for peace. The Romans and Samnites made a peace treaty and it lasted for 15 years until the Romans broke it by starting a colony on the Samnite’s soil without asking.

The Second war lasted 20 years. After 5 year the Samnites called for peace again. The Romans agreed, but put out very harsh and unfair terms. The Samnites wouldn’t agree to those so the war continued for another 15 years. Peace lasted for 28 years.

The Third and final war lasted 50. It started when the Samnites called on the Etruscans to help them defeat the Romans. The Etruscans tried to get the Gauls to help as well but they refused to fight againt Rome. The Third war ended when Rome defeated the Samnites and the Etruscans.

After deafeating the Samnites, the Romans owned almost all of Italy, except Poe Valley which the Gauls owned. I wonder if they fought the Gauls for Poe Valley? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Roman gams were bloody, gory, and, entertaining? Well the Romans though so.

The Romans Games were a form of entertainment, unlike the Greek Games which honored men and the gods. The Roman Games had two different sections, the morning games and the afternoon games. The morning games consisted of gladiator games and fighting animals. Criminals are sent into the arena, defenseless to get torn apart by the wild animal. Or you can watch two men fight each other to the death. The afternoon games consisted of chariot racing and such.

I know this essay is short but it’s a summary of the Roman Games. Thanks for reading!

 

This week I learned about several of the Roman kings and what they did in their reign. In this essay I’m going to focus on Romulus, founder of Rome and the first king of Rome, and Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome and probably one of the best.

Romulus

Romulus was a twin, if you follow my blog or have read past essays you would know who Romulus is. If you don’t that’s fine, I’ll recap:

Romulus was a twin, his brother named Remus. As children they were cast off into a river left to die and was found and raised by a she-wolf and a shepherd. Anyways, they found out that they were royalty and decided to make their own kingdom. They disagreed on where they should put Rome, in the fight Romulus killed Remus and became the founder of Rome.

However, Romulus couldn’t get many people into his city! Then he thought that Rome could be a refuge for those who were in trouble. Whenever he found out that someone had committed a crime somewhere he would invite then to Rome. Clever right?

But another problem had come up; most civilians were men, none had wives! How would the city prosper if there were no off springs? So he came up with a plan. He invited the next door tribe, the Sabines, for a grand feast. While the men were talking and having a grand time the women were kidnapped! Titus Tatius, the Sabine’s king was enraged! Especially since they also kidnapped his daughter. Rome and the Sabines almost had a war, but the women stopped them saying that they were happy with their new husbands and that they were treated well. Titus Tatius then gave his daughter his blessing and the two tribes didn’t go to war.

Romulus was a pretty good king, he was very tricky though, the civilians loved him while the nobles or higher ranking people distrusted him. He conquered and won many battles through trickery at first, but when his military expanded he knew that trickery wasn’t needed anymore and that he would 100% win the battle.

Romulus died in 717 BC, the way he died isn’t clear. The civilians, who worshiped him like a god, said that he was whisked away to heaven by a “magical” cloud; while the nobles say that they killed him. No one knows what is true, even to this day, the body hasn’t been found. Guess we’ll just have to… well, guess!

 

Alexander was an amazing king, he made a name for himself, conquered all the known empires at the time, never lost a military battle, made Macedon rich, and showed his intellect at the age of 10!

ALEXANDER PROVES HIMSELF

Alexander was born in 356 BC. When he was 10 he mounted a skiddish horse that was afraid of its shadow; he turned the horse around so it couldn’t see its shadow and mounted it with ease.

ALEXANDER’S CONQUESTS

In 336 BC, Alexander’s father was assassinated and became king. In that same year he started his conquests. He first went to attack Greece and then move on to Asia Minor through the Hellespont. His first successful siege battle was in Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor. The empires that Alexander conquered were looted and left with a trusted general to rule over the empire. The loot was sent back to Macedon;  this made Macedon quite rich.

ALEXANDER’S TITLE

Alexander gained the title “the Great” because he never lost a military battle. Impressive, huh?

DEATH

In 323 BC Alexander died at age 32, we are not sure what caused his death.  He was sick with Malaria or Yellow Fever a few weeks before his death; some believe it could have been failed assassination. It happened  so often in Macedon it was like a tradition.

Darius was the 3^rd king of Persia, he married Cambyses the Great’s daughter. He was a great king, though he was harsh and quick to violence.

During Cambyses the Great’s reign Darius planned to take Babylon and killed the imposter king that was ruling Persia at the time. After Cambyses died Darius took over the throne.

Darius killed anyone he thought committed treason, included his family. He suppressed all revolts in his kingdom within a year of ascending to the throne. He repaved roads and chose Aramaic as the national language.  Darius administered gold coins called Darius to everyone in his kingdom.  This made purchasing outside of your country much easier.  He also improved the road system to boost trade.  Darius’ religion was something called Zoroastrianism.  He worshiped one god called Ahura Mazda.

Although he believed differently from others, he did support other religions.  Darius helped the Jews rebuild their temple.  He built a canal from the Red Sea to the Nile and from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Rebellion ceased in the city of Babylon, so in the tenth year of Darius’ reign he planned an attack on Scythia.  Sadly, Persia lost.  Darius escaped with his life.  His thirst for conquest stayed with him for a long time but, he did not try to capture any country for twenty years.

Darius died when he was preparing troops for a battle in October 486 B.C.

Darius was a good king; he supported other religions and helped Persia grow. Though he made some mistakes and some things that absolutely appalled me, but, he was still a good king.

 

This week I learned about multiple Greek myths. In this lesson I’m going to tell the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece.

Jason is a prince, who gets his throne stolen from him; when he comes of age he is told that he can get his throne back if he retrieves the Golden Fleece, which symbolizes Kingship. So he gathers a team of Greek heroes to help him and set of on his ship the Argo.

After a side journey of freeing a king from Harpies, Jason finally finds the Golden Fleece he is told by King Aeetes, (who is currently guarding the fleece) that he needs to complete a few simple tasks and he can take the fleece.

These “simple” tasks weren’t so simple, Medea, the king’s daughter, who also is an expert enchantress, falls in love with Jason and helps him to complete the tasks by making various potions. With Medea’s help Jason retrieves the Golden Fleece and runs away with the fleece and the king’s daughter.

Unfortunately, the couple doesn’t live happily ever after. They killed Medea’s brother while fleeing from the island where King Aeetes was. They also committed a few other crimes while getting the Golden Fleece and it came back to haunt them later in life.

 

The Odyssey is an epic tale of how Odysseus, a solider in the Trojan War, makes his 10 year journey back home after the Trojan War.

On Odysseus’s journey back home he faces the wrath of the Greek Gods, resists the temptations of the sirens, defeats cyclopes, and just fighting the crazy storms on sea! While Odysseus is facing monster and such back home his son, Prince of Ithaca, Telemachus, and his wife, Queen of Ithaca, Penelope, are fighting off suiters who want to become Penelope’s husband so they can become the king of Ithaca.

But all the suiters failed when Odysseus comes home again. Since he has been gone for 20 years his wife and son don’t recognize him, he proves his identity by slaughtering all the suiters and claiming the crown and takes his rightful place as King of Ithaca.

I hope that after you’ve read this essay you feel like finding and reading this great book.

 

God protects me from the devil, Satan

When I get scared I pray to God

He keeps my spirit alive

He protects me form evil spirits and He loves me

A really long time ago there was a poor young man named Saul who worked for his father. He was found by Samuel, one of God’s messengers, and just like that, Saul became a king.

Saul’s first action as king was to go to war. Saul saved the city Jabesh Gilead, claiming a victory and favor from his people and Jabesh Gilead’s. However, after the first two years of his reign he loses the peoples respect when he sinned.

Saul’s 3 sins

1. Saul made a sacrifice. That is something only priests can do.
2. Saul made a stupid oath. The oath was that no one should eat or drink until the enemy is completely beaten.
3. Saul doesn’t destroy the Amalekites like he was commanded to. Saul saves their king and their best sheep and oxen for sacrificing.

After all of Saul’s sins God tells him that his sons will never be king and that the kingship will be passed on to another. Samuel then finds David, son of Jesse. David is now the new king and Saul is a thing of the past.

 

A really long time ago there was a poor young man named Saul who worked for his father. He was found by Samuel, one of God’s messengers, and just like that, Saul became a king.

Saul’s first action as king was to go to war. Saul saved the city Jabesh Gilead, claiming a victory and favor from his people and Jabesh Gilead’s. However, after the first two years of his reign he loses the peoples respect when he sinned.

Saul’s 3 sins

1. Saul made a sacrifice. That is something only priests can do.
2. Saul made a stupid oath. The oath was that no one should eat or drink until the enemy is completely beaten.
3. Saul doesn’t destroy the Amalekites like he was commanded to. Saul saves their king and their best sheep and oxen for sacrificing.

After all of Saul’s sins God tells him that his sons will never be king and that the kingship will be passed on to another. Samuel then finds David, son of Jesse. David is now the new king and Saul is a thing of the past.