Category: 10th Grade History

The shift in power from the Merovingians to the Carolingians. Why did it occur, and how? These two families, the Merovingians and the Carolingians, governed the Franks, a Germanic people, who became Christians in the year 496. The Merovingian family ruled the Franks from the seventh century to the early eighth century. Over the years, the Merovingian dynasty had gone corrupt and many problems were beginning to occur. Under influence of the Merovingian family, corrupt practices were being brought into the church. Because of all these problems with the Merovingian family, the Carolingian family was handling the administrations. The Carolingian family held the place of mayor in the palace. During this corrupt time, Pepin the Short sees the need to legitimize his reign. He asks the pope, Pope Zachery the first, is it is good that the men with the power have no title and the men with the title have no power. The pope says that that is not good, so he blessed the change of dynasty from the Merovingians to the Carolingians.

What picture of Charlemagne emerges from Einhard’s biography? According to Wikipedia, “Einhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni, “one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages.”” In the biography of Einhard, Charlemagne is described as a great military leader a ruthless warrior, and a role model and idol towards his soldiers.

According to Wikipedia, “Roman civilization and history contributed greatly to the development of government, law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology, religion, and language in the Western world”. So, Rome was very significant in the history of Western civilization. Some other parts of Western civilization must have adopted some of Rome’s civilization, as in art, technology, architecture, etc. Rome was very significant.

In what ways did Christianity represent a departure from the ideals and practices of ancient Greece and Rome? When Christianity spread throughout all the Greco-Roman world, many Greco-Romans became Christians. Even if they were Christians though, that did not mean that they had to give up some of their Greco-Roman art, skills, practices, etc. In fact, they brought all of those stuff with them and even changed them a little bit so that they fit in with their new religion (Christianity). So many Christians today still practice those things from Greco-Romans from hundreds of years ago.

Discuss the relationship between Rome and the Visigoths. According to Wikipedia, “The Visigoths were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is known as the Migration Period.” So, they were basically barbarians. The way that these two groups are related are when the Visigoths looked for refuge among the Romans, and because they were a different people, they were treated poorly. Because of this, the Visigoths eventually invaded Rome and ransacked it until the Roman Empire paid them to leave.

What kinds of contributions did the monks make to European society? Since monks were like Christians and God-loving people, they preached the Word of God to the European Society. They also wrote many manuscripts and served as missionaries to many people. They also did many weird things like give up everything to serve God.

What was the attitude of most Christian writers toward the philosophers of ancient Greece? They both had a lot in common. Some philosophers thought that there was a Maker of the universe and some of them believed in the immortal soul. Some Christians actually believed that some of the traditions of ancient Greece were consistent with Christianity.

Paul’s story is located in the book of Acts in the Bible. Paul was a persecutor of Christians. That’s right. He persecuted (killed) Christians. At this point, he was called Saul. He witnessed Christians being persecuted. He was an evil person. And the bad part was was that he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought that the Christians were evil, while he was doing the evil part. When he was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians, the Angel of the Lord appeared in front of him and changed his life forever. The story is told here, in Acts 9: 1-9,

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

He regained his sight later, but that meeting changed his whole life. From that point on, he was called Paul and he proclaimed the true gospel of Jesus Christ. His enemies (Christians) became his friends. He went on multiple missionary missions and brought many people to Jesus.

Can we see anything in common between Christianity and the Greeks? I say we can, however, there are very few and I may be only able to mention two.

One similarity is that Christians and the Greeks both worship a god. Christians worship the one true God, and the Greeks worship multiple ones. Still though, they both worship a god.

Also, in Greek theory’s, they say that man was the first created human and woman was second. This is the same as Christianity. Man was the first created human, and woman was second.

This was not a good essay, even for me (I apologize), but if you find any more similarities, be sure to give them to me.

According to Seneca, a man’s unique good is “reason”. Man is separated from the animals because humans have reason. If man did not have reason, he would be no better than the animals. Reason helps man decide what is right or wrong, yes or no, day or night, etc. Animals do not have reason. That is what makes them animals.

The Julio-Claudian principate was a period of Roman emperors starting with Augustus and continues with Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and lastly, Nero. The Flavian Dynasty had the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and finally, Domitian. These emperors came right after the Julio-Claudian principate.

The Aeneid is a Latin poem and is considered an epic. The Aeneid was written by Virgil between 29 BC and 19 BC. Virgil was an ancient Roman poet. The Aeneid retells the story of a Trojan who fled the destruction of Troy and became the founder of Rome and the ancestor of the Romans.

In the story, after the Trojan who eventually founds Rome (Aeneas) and some of his fellow Trojans flee Troy, they head for Italy in a boat. However, they are blown off course and they land in Carthage. There he meets Dido, the queen of Carthage. They live as lovers for some time, but then Aeneas sails away to find a place to build a new city. Devastated by Aeneas’  departure, Dido kills herself with Aeneas’ sword he left behind. On his way to Italy, another storm blows there boat off course and they land in Sicily. After Aeneas’ father visits him in a dream telling him to go to Italy. he resumes his voyage. On the voyage, he enters the underworld to meet his father and to look into the future, then he knows the importance of his mission. He comes back from the underworld and continues his voyage. In the newly arrived land that they land in, Latium, the king thinks that Aeneas will marry his daughter, fulfilling a prophecy. But the queen wants here daughter to marry a local suitor. because of this, a war breaks out. In this war Aeneas and his allies win the war, and he continues to resume his journey and found Rome.

Julius Caesar was a Roman general in the Roman army. He was  also a statesman. He was also a member of the first triumvirate. He lead his armies into the Gallic Wars just before beating his rival, Pompey (they were political enemies). He became dictator of Rome in 49 BC until his assassination five years later in 44 BC. He was very important in the military.

The Struggle of the Orders (also called the Conflict of the Orders), was a struggle between the commoners (people who lived their and they were not very rich) and the aristocrats (very rich people), and was held politically. It was of the ancient Roman Republic and lasted from 494 BC till 287 BC. In this struggle, the commoners sought political equality with the aristocrats. It was a short time until the commoners challenged the aristocrats to have control over Rome. The richer commoners demanded a place in the government while the poorer commoners were unemployed with many in debt. The Roman commoners eventually left Rome looking for a new and better place to live.

Because of this evacuation of the commoners and Rome’s population decreasing, the government eventually accepted some commoners into the government, and ten years later, debt was banned. Thanks to this, the government “calmed down” a bit and became more official, thanks to the government being opened to both social classes.

Plutarch tells about an important episode in Alexander’s life. What characteristics is it intended to show? The story tells of Alexander taking over cities creating a giant empire. However, he did it with compassion and was a great leader. His goal was to unite as much of the known world as possible under his jurisdiction. His characteristics were compassion, care, love, and so much more.

What, in Plutarch’s opinion, makes a “great man”? Is Alexander great? In Plutarch’s opinion, a great man is someone who changes the world forever. Is Alexander great? YES! He united a lot of the world, his military strategies are still used today, he is a good influence on most people, so yes, he is a great man.