Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has a rather large collection of paintings, finger rings, Roman coins, Silver and watches. The first opening of the Museum in 1683 and was open to the entire public. Presented by Elias Ashmole and charged a public fee and the museum included natural and man made specimen from across the known world, and it became and instant hit. The museum's success has grown since.

http://www.ashmolean.org/about/historyandfuture/

Museum of London's Golden Coins

A horde of Roman coins have been discovered in London and are no on display in the London Museum. At Plantation Place in London, Museum of London archaeologists excavated 43 coins from a wooden deposit box under the floor of a wealthy Roman London residence.The Romans introduced a currency system into Britain based on three metals: the aureus of gold, the denarius of silver and lower denominations of copper alloy. This valuable hoard consists solely of gold aurei, coins never in everyday circulation but used by administrators, bankers or rich merchants.

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/exhibits/coins/index.htm

Priscus

Priscus was from Panium during the 5th Century A.D. HE was a diplomat, a sophiast, and a historian. He accompanied Maximinus , the ambassador to Theodosius, to the court of Attila in 448. During the reign of Emperor Marcian he also took part in missions to Arabia and Egypt. He also wrote and eight volume book called "History" which was about the ascension of Attila to Zeno. His work is largely preserved in Byzantine excerpts and the account about the court of Attila is almost perfect,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscus

Pigiorini Museum

The Pigorini Museum in Rome houses two floors of artifacts, some of which date all the way back to almost 500B.C. This museum is a part of the band of European museums. Below is some information about the museum.

The Museum Today
The Pigorini Museum is now organized in two branches: Ethnography and Prehistory. The first one, at the first floor, devoted to the important ethnological  collection from Africa, Oceania and recently too America (partly again in progress); meanwhile the last section - Asia - is planned for 2006.

The Prehistory
The prehistoric exhibition, at the second floor, starts with an introductory section conceived as an explanation of the stratigraphic approach in modern archaeological research, realized throw suggestive reconstructions of true archeosurfaces and goes on with the so called 'Evolution Box', an innovative tool of communication that is actually the 'blockbuster' of our young visitors. A more classic exposition of the prehistoric collections is presented in the following parts of the Museum, with several thousand of objects and contexts from the major Italian and European sites.

The Public
The public of the Pigorini Museum - around 40.000 visitors each year - comprises mainly scholars and prehistory-fans, with well oriented interests on certain items in the exhibited collections or in the deposits, and alumni of the low and high schools, as shows the monitoring of the visiting flows during the year with clear peaks in the winter and autumn months.

http://www.europeanvirtualmuseum.it/museum/repertimuseo2.asp?museo=Rome

Greece Virtual Museum

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted  to ancient Greek art.It was founded at the end of the 19th century protect antiquities from all over Greece displaying historical, cultural and artistic value. In its galleries are long evolution of ancient Greek culture. The Museum's Collections include Prehistoric, Sculpture, Vases and the Minor Arts, Bronze, and Egyptian Antiquities.

http://www.europeanvirtualmuseum.it/museum/repertimuseo2.asp?museo=Athens

Virtual Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum brings collection of antiquities never shown before in the New World. No one has seen any of these artifacts in a “real museum” for the past 25 years. It includes images, side commentaries, and interactive reference tools they prepared will take one on a different kind of exploration of ancient Egypt—the most stable, enduring society in the story of mankind.

http://www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/

Poetry In Highschool?

Poetry is a main course in many high schools as a result of the pure essence of importance it holds in people's lives. Poetry comes in more than the regular rhyming scheme prose that people always think of; instead it appears daily in everyone's life. without understanding of the mechanics of poetry, we cannot understand ancient writings and therefore will not be able to understand history. Also, poetry is an expression of one's culture, and therefore it differs vastly from other cultures. By gaining an understanding of how the author uses poetry, one can gain knowledge of the history of that culture to learn about it to its fullest extent. Without learning poetry a student cannot understand history, religion, or even science in some ways as well. As much as I hate to say it, poetry should be taught in every school.

Catullus or Horace?

I prefer Catullus because he has a lot more satire in his poems and he is more down to earth than Horace. Horace's poems are very good but they are harder to translate because he tends to run on in his sentences; making finding the verb harder than it should be. Horace's poems have a very good message as well, and tend to be outright philosophical whereas Catullus hides his philosophy in his satire which in some ways makes him the wiser of the two. Overall Catullus humor and stories win me over hands down.

Definition of Poetry

Poetry-
noun
1.
the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
2.
literary work in metrical form; verse.
3.
prose with poetic qualities.
4.
poetic qualities however manifested: the poetry of simple acts and things.
5.
poetic spirit or feeling: The pianist played the prelude with poetry.
6.
something suggestive of or likened to poetry: the pure poetry of a beautiful view on a clear day.

In my own opinion I believe poetry is an expression of emotion about an event or happening in aperson's life.

Berlin Museum

Dating all the way back to 15000B.C. these artifacts are priceless. Housed in Berlin, the 175 year old museum has every reason to be proud. It survived, despite destruction from World War II, and has continued the destruction for years and hopefully will continue the tradition for years to come. Below is some more information about the museum.

In six exhibition rooms the Prehistoric cultures of Europe and Middle East are presented. Apart from the famous Schliemann collection of Trojan antiquities archaeological remains from the Cypriote area and Middle East are shown on the ground floor. The exhibition on the first floor guides the visitor through a chronological tour from the early Stone Age to the Middle Age. The highlights of the collection are objects of the early Stone Age art, the "Berlin Gold Hat", the Iron Age cuirass of Sticna, objects of roman glass art or splendid jewellery of the Early Middle Age.

http://www.europeanvirtualmuseum.it/berlin.htm

Story

John Marshal awoke to the sound of his alarm early on a Friday morning. He groggily gained consciousness, and realized the sad recurrent day ahead of him. He punched the alarm, and tossed the covers off his body and walked to the bathroom. As he looked in the mirror during his shave he was greeted by the same fatigued person he had known for the past seven years. Ever since he had taken his job as a doctor at Upper Chesapeake, he had been hounded by late night calls from the overcrowded emergency room. As he finished his shave, he sauntered to his bedroom to dress in the same attire he had known for what it seemed eternity. He just wanted something exciting to happen in his life; something to break his drone of a life and get him into the field of something more excited. He was tired of getting the same cases in his clinic over and over again, and wanted to explore the breathtaking experience of life. He looked at the picture of a vacation spot he had planned to go on about 2 years ago, but had been canceled ever since the breakout of avian flu hit the United States and his job hard. He looked at it with the intensity of almost being there and he closed his eyes and imagined what an exhilarating experience it would have been, and he felt a rush along with a brush of wind over his exposed skin. He opened his eyes reluctantly to what he expected to be the world he had always known, but was greeted with the voices and bustle of the streets of Oslo, the vacation spot that had been taken away from him so long ago. He closed his eyes again to see if he was hallucinating, but he found the experience to be as authentic as he had before he closed his eyes. H quickly ran up the street, dodging traffic and construction obstacles in his way. John ran to the nearest store to try and grasp what he thought was a trance. The response from the shopkeeper was a jumble of words in a deep northern European accent. He tried to grasp what was going on but couldn't. He backtracked to try and target where and how he had started to travel. Then he remembered, it was the picture; yes it was definitely the picture. He decided to try it out again and looked at the picture of a Fortune 500 magazine, seeing one of the newest built penthouses of Mr. Toyota in Tokyo. He closed his eyes, and he again shuttered as the wind rushed him to the next location. He landed on the mat that looked similar to the one he had taken yoga on some years back. He looked around the room and saw articles of Mr. Toyota's accomplishments through the years, and his rise to the top of the chain of the car industry. He walked quickly into the next room, only to be greeted by the stares of hundreds of Pokémon figures from the selves that lined the room. This was the most scared that John had been in a long time. He fled the room only to run right into a Yu-Gi-Oh statue and passed out. When he awoke, he was met by the stare of one of Mr. Toyota's guards in their unusual outfits; Pokémon outfits. He was escorted out by the guard and kicked out into the bustle of a wave of short people outfitted with strange anime clothing. He was lost and upset, he felt like crying but he couldn't find an alley to enter the feedle position because not a square foot was unused. He had to find a magazine, and quick. He stumbled into a consignment shop and found a magazine in Japanese, but could still make out the picture of the top hospitals in America. Obviously Upper Chesapeake wouldn’t be on there but he could sure find John's Hopkins. He walked outside only to find a pile up of Toyota Priuses. Good old Japanese engineering had cause the electrical breakdown in the cars, and people were flying everywhere from the uncontrollable car. Then he saw it, a small lunchbox looking car, hurtling toward him while he frantically paged through the magazine trying to find John's Hopkins. He found it millimeters before the car hit him and he felt that euphoric feeling again, and was dropped into the center of John's Hopkins visitor center. He was home again.

Plutarch

Plutarch was born around 46A.D. in Cahaerona, Boeotia. He came from a wealth family and eventually served as a priest a the temples of Apollo and Delphi. From his writings he soon became a sensation in Rome, but he continued to live in Chaerona even serving as mayor. His writings came after the reign of Nero, Diacletian, and the Roman Civil Wars, and later inspired the Golden Age of Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian. Plutarch's most famous writing, "Lives", compared lives of Roman leaders to those of Greek leaders. He ended up writing conclusions about the lessons of life and his writings have survived since. Plutarch later died around 120A.D. in Delphi.

http://www.e-classics.com/plutarch.htm

Spartacus

Sparticus was trained at the Gladiatorial school near Capua and was owned by Lentulus Batiatus. He and some 70 slaves escaped the school, stole knives from the cook and a wagon full of weapons and fled to Mount Vesuvius. his force grew quickly as other slaves joined him till his numbers grew to 120,000. Soon the Senate sent Claudius Glaber to put down the revolt. They were soon slaughtered by Spartacus forces. Spartacus defeated the two other legions sent to destroy him. They worked their way north to try and join up with the revolts in Gaul or Hispania, but instead he turned back South toward Italy. Crassus was soon sent to destroy Spartacus forces and he isolated Spartacus' army with his eight legions. Spartacus broke through the lines and fled north only for hsi force to be captured and Crucified on along the Via Appia from Rome to Brundisium and the bodies were never taken down.

http://www.paralumun.com/famspar.htm

The Great Jewish Revolt

After the Roman Conquest of Judea in 63B.C. a new group of Jewish rebels called Zealots had risen up in number. After Caligula started hand picking the High Priests, the Jews became even more infuriated and the moderate Jews even began to side with the Zealots especially after Caligula threatened to burn down the sacred Temple of Solomon. Further Roman infractions such as exploiting themselves in the temple, burning a Torah, and letting Gentiles live in Israel brought on the revolt. In 66B.C. the last roman procurator of Judea stole a lot of silver from the Temple causing riots in Judea and eventually the overthrowing of the Garrison in all of Judea. An army from Syria was soon sent down to crush the revolt but that army too was crushed. This Jewish victory though perhaps crushed the Jews chances of winning as well, because they believed they could now defeat any Roman force. Soon after the Roman's sent a force of 60,000 men to Galilee where they crushed the Jewish garrison and slaughtered over 100,000 men women and children. The Jews then threw themselves into a civil war between the moderates and the radicals almost killing themselves off before the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Jerusalem soon fell and the slaughter of over 1 million Jews soon followed. Israel would not gain political independence again until 1948 when it was established by the United Nations.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html

Roman Sports

Rome enjoyed the pleasure of have the option to play the many sports that were available to them. The most favorite of all the sports though, was a spectating sports; gladiator fights along with all the other killing games in the arena. Nothing quite got the Romans riled up like a good killing match in the Colosseum. Other than deciding others fates with the flick of a thumb, they enjoyed ball games such as Handball (Expulsim Ludere), Trigon, Soccer, Field Hockey, Harpasta, Phaininda, Episkyros, and certainly Catch and other games that children might invent, like Dodge Ball. They also played board games such as checkers.

http://www.crystalinks.com/romerecreation.html

Attila the Hun

Attila was born in 406B.C.and his empire stretched from Germany to the Ural River to the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his campaign against Rome he marched through Gall twice and marched as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chaelon. His name is revered in many Eastern countries such as Hungary and Turkey but it is also feared as during his conquests he was known for his cruelty and avarice. It is also said by the Roman historian Priscus that Atilla received his sword by miraculous means therefore making him a revered chosen recipient of the gods. He also is the inspiration of three Norwegian works of literature.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/attila1.html

Marcus Licinus Crassus

Crassus, born into a wealth Roman family in 115 B.C., and acquired an enormous wealth through as Plutarch put it "fire and rapine". One of his most rewarding ploys was building a fire fighting force of over 500 men because Rome did not have one. While the building was on fire the fire fighters would do nothing while Crassus would bargain a price to put out a fire with the property owner. If they couldn't come to a deal he would just let the property burn to he ground. Another one of his more intricate schemes was to buy unskilled slaves, train them and then sell them again for a higher price.

http://www.trivia-library.com/b/richest-people-in-history-marcus-licinus-crassus.htm

Saint Valentine

The mystery and superstition of Saint Valentine dates back all the way to the marriage of Zeus and Hera in Athens and the Roman Festival of Lupercus. The one that is believed to be true by many though is that a priest named Bishop Valentine who married young people illegitimately, even as young as 12,was caught doing so by Emperor Claudius who believed married soldiers made poor soldiers. He had the bishop arrested and put in jail. There Valentine fell in love with the jailers daughter and left her a not at before his beheading that said, from your Valentine.

http://www.harlowherald.co.uk/content/hlwherald/news/story.aspx?brand=HLHOnline&category=NewsHarlow&tBrand=HertsCambsOnline&tCategory=newslatestHLH&itemid=WEED12%20Feb%202010%2017%3A08%3A44%3A320

Latin Check

1.1
Dono- 1st person indicative active of "dona" meaning "to gift"
Solebas- 2nd person present indicative active of "soleo" meaning "to be acquainted to"
Expolitum- 1st person present singular accusative of "expolito" meaning "to claim"
Esse- present active infinitive of "sum" meaning "to be"
Explicare- 3rd person present singular accusative of "explatio" meaning "to plunder"
Habe- 2nd person present indicative active of "habeo" meaning "to have"
Maneat- 2nd person present indicative active of "maneo" meaning "to reamain"

1.10
Duxerat- 3rd person singular pluperfect indicative active of "duxeo" meaning "to lead"
Foro- 1st person singular present indicative active of "foreo" meaning to "pierce"
Venimus- 1st person plural present indicative active of "venio" meaning "to come about"
Esset- 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive active of "sum" meaning "to be"
Haberet- 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive active of "habeo" meaning "to have"
Respondi- 1st person singular perfect indicative active of "respondeo" meaning "to respond"
Erat- 3rd person singular imperfect indicative active of "sum" meaning "to be"
Esse- 3rd person singular present infinitive active of "sum" meaning "to be"
Referret- 3rd person singular present indicative active of "reffero" meaning "to refer"
Faceret- 3rd person singular imperfect indicative active of "faceo" meaning "to make"
Dicitur- 3rd person singular present indicative passive of "dico" meaning "to say"
Facerem- 1st person singular perfect indicative active of "Facio" meaning "to make"
Fuit- 3rd person singular perfect indicative active of "sum" meaning "to be"
Posset- 3rd person singular imperfect infinitive active of "posee/sum" meaning "to be able"
Inquit- 3rd person singular present indicative active of "inqueo" meaning "to inquire"
Dixeram- 1st person singular perfect indicative active of "dixeo" meaning "to say"
Habere- 3rd person singular present infinitive active of "habeo" meaning "to have"
Fugit- 3rd person singular present indicative active of "fugio" meaning "to flee"
Vivis- 1st person singular present indicative active of "vivo" meaning "to live"

Ad Cornelium Structual Analysis

Plot: Catullus is trying to make a point that the material that lasts through the ages is stuff that people care about such as things that they can relate to; whereas Cornelius' writings didn't get past the medieval ages.

Hermeneutics: Catullus compares his work to Cornelius and he also uses praise in a sarcastic manner to emphasize that his work is actually stuff that the common class along with the high class.

Semic: One connotation that Catullus is trying to make is that people only care about things that they can relate to. In Cornelius case he wrote about the history of the first ages of Italy and it was lost, but the biographies were kept. His crowning achievement was not kept because the masses, who later took over Rome during the Invasion, did not find it appealing to them.

Symbolic: He uses the God Jupiter, who was the leader of all the other god's to show sarcastically that Cornelius was above everyone especially the common class. Catullus calls his writing a little book in comparison to Cornelius because he wants to make his writings seem as small as possible in comparison to Cornelius work. Once again he is being sarcastic.

Reference: He uses Cornelius book Chronica as the source of his satire. Chronica was a book of history written by Cornelius and was a three volume Universal History of Italy, which was a part of the 16 part book De viris illustribu. These books themselves were actually very concentrated on the famous men's lives and effect of morale on the men rather than their actual achievements. From a historical standpoint Cornelius was very inaccurate and omits important information, such as Epaminondas crowning achievement of the Battle of Luectra which was talked about little to none.

Diagetic: Catullus sets up Cornelius for his Satire in the first two lines and finishes him off with the last two lines of the poem. The rest of the lines in the middle he uses to praise Cornelius and give information to the reader on how the satire relates to the subject he is writing about.

Ghengis Kahn

Name meaning "Iron Worker", Ghengis Kahn was born in 1162 near Burkahn Khaldun. Legend has it that he was born with a blood clot grasped in his fist, which is a sign that he will become a great leader. Once he came to power he quickly conquered the Western Xia Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, the Kara-Khitan Khanate, and the Khwarezmian Empire all in Central China within 10 years.

Ghengis eventually moved west with his massive army quickly encircling all of the Caspian Sea and effectively crippling what would become the Russian empire at that time. They defeated all but the Bulgarians, but the bilgarians were later defeated in 1250B.BC. concluding the campaign. Ghengis later died 1227 from either battle wounds sustained in Egypt or from falling of his horse. Either way he still had the largest Empire the world has ever seen.

http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm

Cornelius

Cornelius Nepos (100?-25? bc), Roman historian and biographer whose major works were Chronica, a universal history, now lost, and De viris illustribus (Concerning Famous Men), still in existence. The 16 books of De viris illustribus present parallel biographies of distinguished foreigners and Romans: kings, generals, orators, poets, historians, philosophers, and scholars were treated in each successive pair of books. The De viris illustribus book on foreign generals includes 19 short biographies of Greek generals, including Miltiades, Themistocles, and Alcibiades; one Persian general, Datames; and two Carthaginian generals, Hamilcar and Hannibal. Also in existence are the books about the lives of the Roman historians Cato and Atticus. Nepos’s writings were sophisticated and cosmopolitan. Writing biographies interested him more than simply writing about historical events.

Encarta Dictionaries & Wikipedia

Catullus 1

Ad Cornelium
To whom do I gift this charming little book which is fresh off the pumice stone?
To you, Cornelius: For you are the only one who is acquainted with my work. Furthermore you write about all the first ages of Italy …..You teach, like Jupiter, and works very hard! Wherefore you can have whatever you want of this little book-- Whatever, that, O Virgin Patroness, it may perpetually remain more than one age.