Circus Maximus and the Colosseum

Circus Maximus means the biggest circle. Circus Maximus was a race track for charriot races, like NAASCAR today. All of the people in St. Paul, Minnesota could fit in Circus Maximus. It was 7 football fields long. People went there because they wanted to see the races. They had their own teams they wanted to win, like we do today. Chariot racing was not safe at all because the people who were driving the chariots had to tie reigns on their chest. If the driver fell out of the chariot he would have to cut the reigns very quickly or he would get trampled and dragged and maybe die.
All of the people in Mankato, Minnesota could fit in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was for entertaining people. People liked to see Gladiators kill and fight each other. I do not think that that would be a good entertainment at all. Gladiators were slaves and prisoners. They fought because people forced them to.

Mount Vesuvius Errupts

This picture is copied from here.

Around the time of Nero, there was a little city called Pomeii. Close by Pompeii there was a mountain called Mount Vesuvis. Mount Vesivius was a volcano. The volcano was about to errupt. The people in Pompeii were having a nice time and a good morning, the same morning as every morning. People would go, taking their carts into the streets, they would sell vegetables, cooks would cook their bread and visitors in Pompeii would look at fine jewlrey. In other places people would pray and eat. No one knew that Mount Vesuvius was going to errupt. Then Mount Vesuvius errupted and the people were trapped under hot ashes and they died. Other people escaped. Pliny, a little boy, saw this hapenning from a safe place. Pliny did not forget that day. When he got older he wrote stories about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. No one knew were Pompeii was because it was covered completely. Then some people were digging a well and they hit something hard. They thought it was a rock, but no, it was not a rock, it was a statue. They also found a stone that said POMPEII and they were extrememly excited that they found Pompeii.

For more information, you can read Pompei...Buried Alive by Edith Kunhardt.

Nero

After Augustus Caesar died there were a whole lot of emperors. Some of them didn't care about Rome. Nero was one of them. He like to play an instrument called the lyre. He liked to dress up and have fun. Nero was having a fun time with some of his favorite friends 35 miles from Rome. While, in Rome, it was burning. Some of the people were homeless and some of them died in the fire. Their things were all burnt. Nero thought that was fine, he didn't even care, he just sat up, watching the fire, and playing his little lyre. When he saw that Rome was burnt, he was very happy, he wanted to build a mansion and a huge garden. He built it and the people thought he made the fire. Nero knew he made a mistake and the people were very mad, so he tried to find somebody to blame. He blamed the Christians. Some Romans believe Nero's lies and they killed Christians. Finally, the Senate got really mad because Nero did not care about Rome. They sentenced Nero to death. When Nero hear about this, he was really scared and tried to run away but some soldiers found him. Nero knew he would die in the soldiers' hands so he stabbed himself. That was the end of Nero.

The teachings of Jesus

Jesus wanted people to know God better.

When Jesus was preaching a man asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus said that he would tell a story about a man who helped another man. The story was called The Good Samaritan. The story taught us to help other people even if we don't like them. It helps us know God better because God wants us to do that.

Jesus preached for three years then some people who didn't follow God crucified him. Jesus died. Three days later he came back to life and we call that day Easter.

Jesus

Durring the Pax Romana (Roman peace) the people in Judea did not like being ruled by the Romans. They prayed and prayed that God would send a messiah to lead them in battle against the Romans. In Nazareth, Mary was told she would have a son named Jesus. Jesus was the messiah who would save people from sin. Some people followed him and some did not.

Unit 3 Exam

Octavian's Rise to Power

First of all, before Caesar died he adopted his nephew, Octavian. The people were very sad about Caesar because they loved Julius Caesar a lot. I think they were pretty mad at the Senators and I think they felt kind of safe with Octavian because he was Julius's nephew. So, the people supported Octavian and the Senate did not get the power that they really wanted. One of the first thngs Octavian did is he threw a big party for Rome in honor of his uncle, everyone was invited and he gave presants to the poor people. Octavian sold wheat at a very low price for the hungry people so they could make bread and cereal. He used some of his money to make sure that everyone had clean water. People were happy that they made a good choice in Octavian.
Octavian wanted to be consul so he asked the Senate and the Senate said, "You are too young!" The Senate had to agree, though, because the people elected the Senators and the people wanted Octavian to be consul. If the Senators did not agree they would be out of their jobs. As Consul, Octavian conquored other lands as his uncle did. Octavian was smart, he did not make the same mistake as Julius Caesar. Instead, Octavian, asked permission from the Senate for things that he wanted to do. He was really just pretending to ask so the Senators thought they were involved.
A few years later...Octavian tricked the Senate into makeing him the First Citizen (Emperor) and the Senate gave him a new name, Augustus Caesar. Augustus means blessed and majestic. The Senators named the month August after Octavian. Rome is not a republic, now. Augustus still asked the Senate permission so that Senators were still happy.