Saints

According to Christianity nowadays, a person becomes a saint by following a process named canonization. However, hundreds of years ago, the title of saints was accomplished in different ways. In the Eastern Orthodox religion John the Baptist would be considered a major religious figure. He was a prophet and even before Christ was born, he preached that the Messiah was coming. Herod, the leader at the time, got jealous and scared of the existence of Messiah and the thought of his power being endangered. Therefore he cruelly ordered that all new born male babies would be killed, however he didn't manage to achieve his goal. John the Baptist is also believe to be the man the baptized Jesus and many other in the Jordan River. His death is interesting as well. St. John was beheaded by Herod after being imprisoned. He was imprisoned because he reproved Herod for divorcing his wife and marrying his brother's wife, Herodias. Herodias felt alarmed. On Herod's birthday Herodias's daughter danced and impressed her father. He granted her anything, and when his wife heard that, she made the innocent girl ask for St. John's head.

  

Greeks, Romans or Byzantines?

In my opinion the Romans deserve all pride. It is true, they copied the basic government, architecture and technology from the Greek but they upgraded and made the best of it. They evolved the simple ideas and turned them into something that influences our lives majorly. It is true, the Roman Civilization struggled and fell terribly, but while it flourished, you could clearly see it was the most advanced.

They had an amazing army- one of the greatest the world had ever seen. They conquered to no limit with organized and intelligent strategies. The Romans were amazing engineers as well. They created the arch, and many other inventions with great impact on our world today. One of the most important ones being concrete which led to the development of roads and better, more stable buildings. They also created the first sewer system, still used today; and aqueducts. The Romans developed the government that most of our countries politics’ are based on. All starting with the famous 12 tablets. They had great ways of entertaining the people. Building the Coliseum was revolutionary. Amazing ideas bloomed every day. Christianity influenced it too. Great architectural achievements beautified the city. Peace, order, and a flourishing empire. But all good things come to an end.

Therefore I believe that the Romans were the most advanced. The Greeks may have started it but they weren’t even close to the Roman accomplishments. The Byzantine Empire just combined them together and hoped that by mixing two great civilizations together, everything will end up well. 

Reflection- Rome + Christianity

1) For this test I hardly prepared at all however I believe I have done a pretty good job. I didn’t feel the need to study a lot; I just went over some of the mind maps and roughly re-read through my notes and blogs. I think we already knew everything from class work as well as homework therefore we didn’t need to study a lot. The teaching itself was very effective. As usual I left it all for the last moment and on the test if, I would have studied poorly like I did without knowing anything before I wouldn’t even pass. We’ve learnt everything we needed too through our lessons and didn’t need that much reviewing. However, next time I plan to be more organized, not cram up and study even more.

2) The most surprising thing I’ve learnt during this unit was how many accomplishments the Romans had and how not only their inventions, but their ideas as well. It's shocking how they impacted our world from amazing technology we wouldn't survive without to religion and beyond.

3) If we had more time to spend on Roma and Christianity I would love to learn more about the many fascinating monuments in Rome today- not only the Colosseum. Also, more about how it developed in the Eastern part of the Empire.