William Tell 

It’s unclear whether or not William Tell was a real person or a fictional character, however there is some evidence that his story was based on historical fact.  The Hapsburgs were in charge of neighboring Austria and set Gessler as the governor of the town where William Tell lived. Gessler set up his hat in the town square and demanded the people who passed it to bow. The people did what he asked except for William, he refused to bow to the hat or Gessler himself. William and his son who happened to be with him were arrested for his disobedience. Tell was a very skilled bow hunter and marksman. Gessler challenged him to a special shot that would prove how good he was; he was told to shoot an apple off his son’s head. William made the shot successfully without hurting his son. William had an extra arrow in his pocket and Gessler had asked him why he had it. He only needed one to complete the challenge. Tell replied that if any harm came to his son he was going to shoot Gessler for it. His comment made Gessler angry, and William ended up back in Gessler’s dungeon. Later on, Tell was chained to a ship and sent away from the castle. A storm came rolling in and in fear of their life the men freed William so that he could help them make it safely back to shore. As soon as the ship had reached land William ran for his life and was free once again. 

William participated in the uprisings of the Swiss against the Habsburgs and was finally able to get his revenge on Gessler.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was born in 1254. Marco had been living with his aunt and uncle while his father was away traveling. After they came back from their trip Marco’s father brought him with them on their journey back to Kublai Khan. They were all welcomed warmly and given everything they could want. Kublai Khan appointed him to important positions in the court. Polos served in the courts of Kublai Khan for 17 years. Kublai Khan was getting older and the Polos wanted to make sure that a new leader wouldn’t force them to stay. At first he didn’t want them to leave, but then he agreed to let them go home. They accompanied a Mongolian Princess to her wedding to the Persian Prince and then returned to Venice. They were away for 24 years, they struggled to fit in at first. 

A war broke out when Marco Polo became captain of a galley ship. He was captured and during his time in jail he told his fellow prisoner about all of his travels. After he was freed he published a book about his adventures. It became a bestseller despite many people not believing everything he wrote about and would often ask him to tell the stories himself. 

Last year I had two goals for myself; One was to get in shape and get better at goat tying, and work on my barrel racing skills. I had lots of people helping me achieve these goals. I worked with a lady who used to do college rodeo and she was really good at goat tying. I’d go meet her once a week and she would teach me everything she knew, she even gave me one of her old goat tying ropes to practice on. At home I worked on practicing everything I had learned from her. I even started teaching one of my friends who I rodeoed with how to tie goats. I had learned that if you try and teach what you have learned to someone else then it’ll really help you. My horse was even learning how to run past the goat so I got off of him while he was still moving. 

 I had also started working with two other women who were helping me with my barrel racing. One of them went to a lot of barrel races and had great horsemanship. With her help I had learned what I had done wrong after a run. Like if I needed to drive my horse a little faster out of the first barrel and into the second, or if I needed a bigger pocket so I would’ve knocked down the barrel, maybe I sat down too soon and my horse tried to turn before it was time. I was even doing the same thing with goat tying. I would start to notice if I didn’t grab the legs right, or flank correctly. Or if I face-plant and know that I clearly didn’t get off of my horse correctly. 

I had started to set new goals for myself. The goals were to beat my own time from the last rodeo. 

The last rodeo I went to was a two day rodeo. The first night it had started raining and we had to call it for the night and finish the last two events in the morning. And that’s all I remember, because that second day as I was running barrels my horse gave to his back leg and we fell. I hit my head and took a nap in the arena. I ended up in the hospital in El Paso Texas. Which I live in New Mexico so I’m guessing it was a lot to drive. I still do not remember what happened or being in the hospital. 

I guess I succeeded in reaching my goal, but then I’ve had a set back to my bigger goal. Which was to win a saddle from rodeoing. My horse hasn’t really recovered from that fall and I don’t even know if I can ride him again. He was already old but he still had a lot left to give. I honestly don’t know if I want to continue with rodeoing. The only other horse I have to ride is only good for working on the ranch. The longer I don’t ride and stay away from the rodeos the more I don’t feel like wanting to do it. I’m not sure how I should feel about it, but I’ve got way too much going on with my show animals, so I’m trying to just focus on them.

The title of Knight was given to a person honored by a king or monarch for a service. Originally knights were just mounted soldiers and were thought of as lesser nobles. The idea of warriors on horseback came from the Franks after the fall of Rome and was expanded by Charlemagne. Any rider that had armor was considered a knight in the early times. 

 Eventually knights became honored people, and they were even recognized for great deeds outside the military sometimes. Knighthood became a more defined respected position under the Feudal system.

Chivalry was very important to the point they organized a code of follow. Chivalry was an ethical standard that knights had to live by. Knights main occupation was to be skilled fighters on horseback and provide military service to their king. During times of peace they lived in castles or large fortified houses. Christianity had several influences on chivalry and knighthood. Knights pursued the values of “faith, hope, charity, justice, strength, moderation, and loyalty. Knighthood and chivalry became forgotten during the Renaissance.

In modern culture, the tales of a knight in armor saving the damsel in distress is still a popular story line. 

Christianity began to spread rapidly in the first century despite the hate from Nero and other emperors. By the 3rd century, Christianity had become a dominant religion in the Roman Empire. But it was not until 312 that persecution of Christian officially ended. In 395 AD Theodosius declared Christianity the state religion. 

The early church borrowed from Rome when they developed their system of government. Each region was ruled by a bishop. Each bishop reported to an archbishop. Jerusalem, Alexandra and Antioch were seen as special bishoprics.

Part of the early church was the development of monasticism. Some Christian became solitary hermits.  The idea of the lifestyle spread and soon a system was created where monks could live out their solitude with other monks.   

Teotihuacan 

The Teotihuacan people made temples that were built like pyramids but with steps up the temple. The city was located in the valley of Mexico. It was a grid like design, with streets like Rome. The city in its golden age was bigger than the city of Rome at its golden age. They had adobe huts for the poor and single story homes for the higher class. They were an agricultural society. They traded lots of things. 

Maya

The Maya people made temples like the Teotihuacan people did but they worshiped nature instead of gods. The Maya were an agricultural society.  They had independent city states like Ancient Greece. They were warlike people like the Romans. They had a ceremonial ball game in which warriors played. The loser was sentenced to death, it was important that you won.

Both societies were based around agriculture and trading. Both built pyramid-like temples. The Teotihuacan and the Maya had similarities to Rome, yet they are still so different. The Maya were a warlike people and played violent games like the Romans did. Making them terrifying. The Teotihuacan people built and worked to expand their city. Eventually at its golden peak the city was bigger than Rome. They also build nice smooth roads that are still there today.  

Egypt 

Egypt was ruled by mostly Pharaohs for a majority of its existence. Pharaohs were treated  like a god. Egypt was an agricultural society that was based around the Nile. There was a huge difference between the rich and poor in Egypt. Farmers and slaves had to work for their food everyday. Unlike the people of a higher class who never had to face such hardships. The Old Kingdom was the time period when a majority of the pyramids were built. After that time they moved on to building other things like temples. In the Middle Kingdom area the  Hyksos invaded during that time.  They were defeated and the golden age for Egypt began. That was the time of The New Kingdom. In the time of the New Kingdom the Egyptians expanded their territory thanks to them now having irrigation systems so they could water their crops easier. 

There were strong Pharaohs in The New Kingdom, but like most empires, Egypt fell into decline that it never recovered from. Afterward Egypt  then fell to the Roman Empire in 31 BC.

This year I learned a lot about Roman history, culture, and beliefs. I’ve always been fascinated with Romans and Greeks and I was excited to learn that I was getting to know more about them in this year’s history. I learned how there are some things that we still use today thanks to the Romans. I think that the most fascinating thing that I learned this year was the Roman games. I don’t exactly know why I found that the most interesting. Maybe it’s because it shows how powerful the Roman empire could be and how violent its people were.

Slaves of the Romans usually did all the heavy work so the Romans had lots of free time.  When the empire first began the Romans held the game for 93 days. Lots of time, money, human and animal lives were wasted on the games. Emperors and politicians used the games to gain popularity.  Lucius Tarquiniass Prscus was the first king of Rome to prompt the games. He outlined the area that would become the Circus Maximus for the chariot and foot races. Later on the Colosseum and other amphitheaters were built for watching the other games that were held. The Circus Maximus was 1800 feet long 600 feet wide, the stadium was 250,00.  The races that were held had up to 12 chariots and 7 laps in length. The races were dangerous and resulted in death or injury. Champions could become rich and famous. 

There were two different types of games. Morning and Afternoon. In the morning animal ‘hunts’ were held. Sometimes gladiators fought animals, or defenseless criminals were fed to the animals. 

The afternoon games were the main focus of the games since it was the gladiator fights. The gladiators were slaves or criminals that were forced to fight. They mainly fought to the death but could ask the emperor for mercy if they had fought well. There are four main popular types of gladiators. Samnite, Thracian, Retiarius, and Murmillo. The Samnites wore a plumed helmet, carried a short sword and a large shield. Thracians had a curved sword and had a helmet. Retiarius carried a net, a trident, a dagger and they had no helmet. The Murmillo had a helmet, loin cloth, had gladius and had a tall shield. 

Sometimes the amphitheaters were flooded and gladiators fought each other on ships. The city of Rome had revolved around the games and all work ethic was lost. The focus on the games was one of the main reasons for Rome’s collapse. 

Another fascinating thing I learned about was Mark Anonty and Cleopatra. The thought of actually finding out why they were so important instead of trying to figure out references from movies and TV shows was exciting. Not only was Roman and Greek culture fascinating but so was Egyptian culture. 

Right after Julius Caesar’s death there had been a struggle in Rome for someone to take over and rule.  That’s when the Second Triumvirate was formed. The Second Triumvirate had  Octavian, Mark Antony, and March Lepidus. They were legally empowered to rule Rome for 5 years. Together they worked together to clear Rome of their enemies and the opponents of Julius Caesar.  They all had equal power in the arrangement, however it was clear that Mark Anonty and Octavian each wanted to be the main one in charge.  

Lepidus avoided any struggles with the two men and retired later on. After he retired Antony took Egypt and Octavian took Rome for them to rule over. However that still wasn’t enough for the two of them. Both men still wanted to rule over both Rome and Egypt but decided to keep the peace for a while. That was until Antony fell in love with Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt.

Antony and Cleopatra formed a private empire together. They were trying to build up Egypt’s strength against Rom and Ovtavian but they lost the battle. 

The reason for Ovtavian fighting Antony and Cleopatra goes back to the time when Julias Caesar was still alive. Cleopatra wasn’t a native Egyptian but a Greek, however she had been brought up to be the next Pharaoh and she turned to Egyptian culture. As she was fighting her brother for control of Egypt she met Julius Caesar and they fell in love. He helped her win control over Egypt, Caesar proposed that she could still rule Egypt from Rome if she would come with him. She agreed however she didn’t get the welcoming she thought she was going to have from the Romans and she went back to Egypt after Caesar’s assanation. Which brings up back to why Ovtacian fought Antony and Cleopatra. When Antony fell for Cleopatra he divorced his first wife who happened to be Octaivan’s sister. 

When the Egyptians were defeated someone told Antony that Cleopatra died in battle. So he tried to kill himself. He was still alive when he was brought back to Alexandria and he died next to Cleopara who also committed suicide.

This all led to the victory of Octavian and the fact that the Romans now only had one ruler. 

To be honest the story of Cleopatra and Mark Antoney sounds like a modern day TV drama that goes on for half a season. But it’s still interesting to learn. I’ve learned so much from this year and I can’t wait to see what I’m learning about next year. I don’t there was a part of the history class that I disliked, and thanks to this class for the first time history has been considered one my favorite subjects.