BRSA -- Blogmeister

Las Líneas de Nasca están uno de los misterios arqueológicos más famosos del mundo. Hay miles de líneas únicas. Las líneas son muy grandes, y algunas líneas son 10 millas de largo. Las líneas son pinturas de muchos animales y formas. Algunas líneas de peces, ballenas, aves, monos, arañas, personas, y flores. Hacer las líneas, el estrato oscuro se quitó. El astrato menos oscuro está debajo. El rocío pega las guijarros juntos por noche todas las noches. ¿Qué son las líneas? Una teoría es que las líneas son mapas de las estrellas. Otras teorías son que las líneas son una señal de los aquaductos.

Es mi línea favorita.

Overview:
For Social studies we were asked to use our knowledge,notes and textbook to write a factual essay comparing the culture and lifestyle of the Germans and the Romans.

Essay:
The Germans, tribes and clans and little civilization. Then there’s the Romans, big civilized cities, Emperors, plumbing and such. There are a lot of differences between them, but first you have to answer one very important question- who were the Germans? Well, the Germans were a group of tribal people who invaded Rome and took over in 475 B.C. They took part in Roman life, but kept much of their own culture, which is very different from Rome’s. The Romans and the Germans were very different, but three of the major ways they were different were the differences between their governments, their living conditions,and their militaries. Throughout this essay you will learn about these three topics.

First off, you will learn about the differences between the two governments. The Roman Empire had Emperors, who had all the power and could do pretty much whatever they wanted. The Germans on the other hand thought law came from the people. The people decided what laws were passed, and the rulers couldn’t change any laws unless the people agreed. The Germans based their laws on customs. They also memorized them and passed them down from generation to generation. The Romans wrote down their laws, and the laws were mostly based off of the twelve tablets, which were mostly about wills, property rights court actions and other similar things. As you can see, for the most part the Roman and German governments were very different.

The second difference is the difference between living conditions. The Roman poor lived in multistory houses called islands, and their living conditions were very poor. The Roman rich were the opposite. They lived in large, lavish houses called domuses,and had servants, plumbing and lavish meals. The Germans didn't live like either. The Germans lived in long, single-story huts that they shared with their animals. One end was where the family lived, and the other end was divided into stalls for the animals. The animals helped to heat the house. The rich Romans had furnaces to heat their houses. The Germans and the Romans had very different living conditions.

The last thing you will learn about is the differences between the Roman and German warriors. Germans began their training to be warriors as young boys. When they became adults, they were brought to a special gathering on a night of a full moon. This gathering was held in a sacred grove, and at this gathering the man received a shield and spear. The man had to keep these with him at all times and if he lost them he lost his honor. The German warriors were broken into clans based on family ties. The Roman warriors were different. The Roman warriors were broken up into legions, that had about 5,000 warriors each but had nothing to do with family ties. The Romans also didn’t start training as young boys. One thing though that both have in common is that both groups of warriors were very loyal to their military leader. As far as warriors go, the Germans and Romans were different, but had a few similarities.

The Romans and the Germans are overall very different. Their living conditions, government, and warriors were all different. The Romans lived in either very poor or very lavish homes, and the Germans were kind of in between. The Romans were ruled by an Emperor who had sole power, and the Germans were basically ruled by the people. The Germans were broken into military groups by family ties, and the Romans were broken into legions that had nothing to do with family. There were a couple of similarities though, like whom they are loyal to in the military. In conclusion, the Romans and the Germans were very different.

In Social Studies, we did a project on Roman gladiators. We researched the life of Roman gladiators,the Colosseum,and daily life in Rome. After researching, we created a fictional journal about a fictional Roman gladiator, from the gladiators point of view. Here are two excerpts from my journal.

Excerpt 1:

I am now a trained Hoplomachus gladiator. Hoplomachus is one of the many different types of gladiators. They have a small bronze shield, like that of a hoplite, a spear to thrust at the opponent, a helmet with a crescent shaped crest and a griffin’s head on top, and heavily quilted defenses and leg greaves. Leg greaves are the armor that a gladiator wears on his legs. Of course, this dress style is specific to Hoplomachus, and every other type of gladiator dresses differently. Here are the other types of gladiators:

Murmillo
The name Murmillo comes from sea fish.
This gladiator has a large, heavy weight shield,
an infantry sword used to thrust at the opponent,
heavily padded over boot and leg greave on the
left leg to protect it from the opponent and
banging from his own shield, and a helmet
that has a large dorsal fin, representing sea fish.

Mymillo
This gladiator has a dagger, a shield, and leg bands.

Retiarius
This is the most vulnerable of gladiators. This
gladiator has a Trident to inflict blows at long
range, a net used like a whip to trip and ensnare
the opponent, a dagger used for the face off, and
only a shoulder guard to protect him.

Laquerius
Laquerius is similar to Retiarius. This gladiator
has a trident to inflict blows at long range, a
shoulder guard and arm armor, and no helmet.
The biggest difference between Laquerius and
Retiarius gladiators is that Laquerius have a lasso
to snag and trip his opponent, instead of a net.

Saminite
This gladiator has a crested helmet, a sword, and
a large shield.

Secutor
This gladiator chases his opponent, and is lightly
armored.

Thracian
This gladiator has a small shield, curved dagger,
and leg greaves.

Andabatus
This gladiator has a helmet with no eye holes,
and charges blindly on horse back at his
opponent.
Essendarius
This gladiator drives a horse drawn chariot.

Dimachaerius
This gladiator fights with two swords,and has
little armor.

Velitus
This gladiator has only a spear.

Women
It is very rare to see a female gladiator, but it does
happen.

As you can see, there are many types of gladiators. Some have a lot of armor, so some gladiators have attendants to carry their equipment. I must get back to practice now, I have my first battle tomorrow.

Cearian

Excerpt 2:

I did very well today at my first battle. It began with a warm up fight, using wooden swords, while spectators gambled on which one of us they thought would win. Then we were given our real weapons, and musicians began to play flutes ,war trumpets, and pipes. The battle was tough, I was up against a Retiarius and almost got snagged several times by his net, but my agility from fighting back home came in very handy. The Retiarius did succeed in stabbing my arm with his Trident though, and the doctor has to tend to the wound. Luckily, I managed to knock him to the ground during the face off and keep him there, and I won the battle. He raised one finger on his left hand to appeal to the Emperor, who then turned to the crowd and asked what they wanted. The crowd decided to spare his life, by turning their thumbs up and waving their handkerchiefs around, but they also seemed very pleased by my first performance. I am very thankful there were awnings today, for it was extremely hot. The awnings, which are used for shade to cool the inside of the Colosseum since there are no breezes inside the Colosseum, are canvas suspended by a system of ropes, which are suspended from 240 wooden masts, which are supported by 3 stone brackets per each of the 80 bays at the top of the Colosseum. A group of sailors execute the complex operation of raising and lowering the awnings. “Vela erunt”- “there will be awnings”- is posted outside the arena to encourage people to come to the performances. I hope I continue to do this well as I move on to fight more battles in the Colosseum. It is mid-day now, and those who survive until mid-day get to rest and watch prisoners fight.

Cearian

In Social Studies class, we divided into groups and researched different Peloponnesian wars and made Prezis, which are similar to slideshows, to present what we learned. My group researched the Battle of Marathon. We had to research causes, effects, who, what, where, when, and why. We split the work between the 5 of us. I researched causes, someone researched effects, and two people researched who, what, where, when, and why. I used my Social Studies textbook to find information for the project.

Ever really looked at your eye?

We have started out the year learning about the eye in science.