Romans into one unit

I believe that it was the Pax Romana that allowed the Romans to combine into one unit. It allowed the Romans to have a break from all of their strife and struggle to focus on the values and structure of their society. The Pax Romana was a two hundred year period of time where there was relative peace. There was almost no war with outside invaders and this time of peace was important because it allowed them to make advancements because they weren't fighting the whole time. Though converging into a city-state created lots of spiritual and political repercussions, they recognized that as opposed to looking to be better than another place, they had to be a better self.

The character of Rome was originally formed through three centuries of constant warfare, and during this time they valued simplicity, seriousness and dignity. They also valued the worshipping of the gods, performing their duty to the state and to one’s family. This shows that the Romans could not survive through these tough times with constant warfare and were only able to get through it with their loyalty to their gods, state, and family. Simplifying more and more created more of a passion and stamina for the Romans. So when they were simply in one unit, it was easier for the Romans to stand strong and connected with the place that they lived.

Athenian vs. Present day democracy

How would an Athenian of the 5th Century BCE criticize our present-day representative democracy? (or.... how would they approve of it?)
I think that if the Athenians were to see our representative democracy today, they would be disappointed in the way that many of the populations voices are being disregarded and put aside. When we vote on one person to represent such a large body of people, they are expected to incorporate all of their opinions and make an even compromise. This is nearly impossible when the people you are representing are from different backgrounds and living conditions. So much that they are sometimes oblivious of each other. When the Athenians had their democracy, they had an election that had nothing to do with opinion, almost luck, and they weren't allowed to be in that position long enough to pose too much control. On the other hand, this took longer for them to make and act on their decisions because one person can decide something while a group can argue. I think that the Athenians would commend us on our ability to take quick action and make quick decisions. I think that the Athenians would say that their democracy was more just but that our present day democracy is more practical.

mayan culture today

Today many of the values are portrayed in our daily life through family, threat, and multimedia. People value their parents and elders today and would do anything for them. They know from birth that they are supposed to follow and recreate the actions of the people that gave life to them. The mayans also worshipped many Gods and their superiors. They showed this through sculpture and stone carvings, making scenes of family love. Also, the Mayans strongly valued the afterlife and worked through their entire life to make it to heaven as apposed to hell. People today would use hell to threaten others. For example, when people are mad at one another they might say "go to hell" to make somebody nervous or worried. The multimedia nowadays shows through movies and stories the same values and actions that the mayans took. They have different genres like scary movies where they show sacrifice and love stories that show the relationships between two people. These relationships were also shown in mayan art and the friendships and hardships that people go through. Its surprising how easy it is to recognize the little details throughout our days that relate to this mayan culture.

confucianism vs. legalism

Confucianism and legalism have two different beliefs on how humanities good and evil inclinations impact us. They disagree on how people are born, Confucianism saying that everyone was born good and legalism saying that human nature is born selfish. While legalism believes that if someone performs a wrong act then they should be killed, Confucianism believes that education is the answer as apposed to punishment. I think that Confucianism is a more effective form of government because though they don’t punish for wrongdoing, they teach what is wrong and write. If they were to just punish, people would not be able to conquer their evil inclination, it might just grow further.

effective ruler

What is the most effective way for a ruler to maintain order?

I think that the most effective way for a ruler to maintain order is that they take advantage of the good and compensate for the evil tendencies and people. They have to keep an even balance between justice and mercy by taking advantages of the good things that people do, making harsh punishments, but also deciding what laws are important to your civilizations and be more lenient on the less important. There obviously has to be constrictions so that people are not tempted by their evil tendency but if there were only punishment, nobody is perfect and everybody would be punished.

Jered Diamond's thesis

I agree with Jered Diamond’s thesis because civilizations can go from being thriving communities while in the hunter gather period to being one of the least advanced. This is all because of the land and resources they were provided with. In the Middle East, they were one of the first places to control their agriculture, making it more predictable so that they would have enough food. They succeeded in making large sources of food and sell surpluses. The problem was that their climate didn’t provide the right habitat for the plants and they weren’t able to grow the agriculture that would provide the most. They fell behind the times while other civilizations were inventing and developing cities.

Agriculture and farming

Do the advantages of agriculture and farming outweigh the disadvantages?

I think that the disadvantages of agriculture and farming outweigh the advantages because it takes more responsibility, money, and worry about health issues. One of the biggest disadvantages of farming is that you have to be concious of when you are going to water it and check that its in the right habitat with the right recources to grow. Also, you have to pay to get the plants. The last disadvantage is that if you protect the plants with pesticides then there is more reason to eat plants from the wild so your not scared about the chemicals.