Mosaic

              For my mosaic i did the fish symbol. I was an early christian symbol for faith. The Greek word for fish was ICHTUS and it was a acrostic for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior." Jesus also chose several fisher man and declared them his disciples. The symbol also hid Christians to persecutes. There is also the picture of the fish with the word ICHTHUS inside. It also often has the word "Jesus" writing inside or the symbol of a cross. The symbol of a fish is also the symbol of baptism since a fishes home is in the water.
           I was hard to create the mosaic since i had to cut out each individual square and glue it into a specific spot. I cant even begin to imagine how long it would take to make a even bigger more detailed one. It only took about two blocks to complete mine and it would take many years to complete one to fit on the wall of a building.

Angela Merkel

        Angela Merkel is considered the most powerful woman in the world and the fourth most important person in the world (http://www.forbes.com/wealth/power-women/list).  Who is she and how did she get where she is today?  Merkel is the first woman Chancellor (our equivalent of the President) of Germany.   As Chancellor of Germany, she is the head of the most profitable member country of the European Union (EU) and she has great political influence in both the EU and the world.

Merkel did not start out in politics.  She was born in 1954 in Hamburg, Germany and studied science.  She received a doctorate in physics in 1978 and worked as a chemist for the Academy of Sciences for many years. (http://www.biography.com/people/angela-merkel-9406424).  Merkel got into politics when was appointed to the German Ministry of Women and Youth in 1990.  She continued to rise in the ranks of the party for 15 years.  In 2005 as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party, Merkel was elected as the first women Chancellor of Germany.

She is has long been a close ally of the United States and has stated that she believes that Europe in too dependent on Russian oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel).  In February of this year, President Obama awarded her the President Medal of Freedom for her contributions to contributing the U.S. interests and peace in the world.

St. Jude

St. Jude was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus.  He is also known by the name Thaddaeus in the Bible. The name Jude means give of joy and Thaddeus means generous and kind.  One of the reasons Jude’s name may have been changed was to make sure to differentiate him from the traitor Judas Iscariot.

St. Jude is important because he is credited for writing one of the devotions which discuss the ability of “ordinary people to call upon their powerful faith to triumph over seemingly impossible odd in their daily lives”.  (http://www.stjudenovena.org/stjude.html)

It is believed that St. Jude was born to a Jewish family.  He was raised in Paneas, in the region of Galilee, the same area where Jesus grew up.  He probably spoke both Greek and Aramaic and was a farmer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_the_Apostle).  St. Jude died a martyr with Simon the Zealot around 65 A.D in Beirut.  After his death, his body from brought from Beirut to Rome and he is buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Saint Jude’s symbols club, axe or palm branch, which represent his martyrdom, or a scroll or book representing the epistle he wrote.  He is also shown in some picture holding a picture of Jesus, which represents his relationship to him as a blood relative.( http://www.carmelite.org/index.php?nuc=content&id=112) 

 

The Fall of Ancient Rome

Although the actual invasion of the city of Rome occurred when the leader of the Visigoths, Alaric, conquered the city in A.D. 410, there were many events preceding Rome’s fall and historians mark the date A.D. 476 as the actual fall of Rome. This attack was not the first. Rome had been attacked by many invaders over 300 years after the Pax Romana ended and Romans referred to these invaders from beyond Rome as barbarians.  The Romans looked down on the Barbarians because they did not share the government systems and values.

By the A.D. 200s, internal problems allowed invaders to reach the center of Rome, and Diocletian and other emperors spent their efforts trying to protect the borders by increasing the size of the Roman armies and sometimes, buying off invaders with land exchanges.  Slowly these people were becoming part of the Roman Empire and the borders were fading.  Bu the early A.D. 400s the barbarians had invaded Gaul, Britain, Spain and North Africa and the emperors were losing their power and barbarian chiefs had control of most of the western empire.

Historians say that the final fall happened in A.D. 476 when Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor out of the western empire. The eastern portion of the empire stood for one thousand more years.  The fall of Rome corresponded with the growth of Christianity.

In addition to the problems with the Roman armies, weak leadership, and constant invasions which weakened the empire there were many other factors contributing to Rome’s fall.  First was geography.  Rome’s shape (like a donut) around the Mediterranean made it difficult to protect and easy to invade.  Protecting the western borders took money and soldiers away from Rome.  Another factor was the economy.  Rome could not afford to continue to import luxury items, and pay for social programs, and growth in government and military.  A high mortality rate meant there were less citizens and soldiers to support Rome’s needs.  Finally, Rome’s upper class had little interest in finding ways to improve technology and machines to help with labor, so fewer workers had to try and meet the demands of the armies.  All of these together, these factors lead to the military defeat and final collapse of the Roman Empire. 

Augustus

I think Augustus was a more important leader than Caesar because of his development of Rome.  Although Caesar made the initial reforms to Rome, he was also a dictator and was not liked by many of the people  Augustus, however, gave Rome many great buildings like the Altar of Peace, many temples, and the Forum.  He also developed the Roman Baths which improved the water system to the city.  
 
Instead of using politics which divided people for or against Caesar, Augustus used the buildings to strengthen the monarchy.  For example, he built the Altar of Peace to remember the peace he brought to Rome, and by give Caesar a temple, which was making him like a God.  This meant that Augustus also had this status.  All these treasure, strengthened Rome as a great city and Augustus avoided being murdered like Caesar.  These things made Augustus a more important leader.

Julius Ceaser : For

If I had been a Roman citizen, I would have liked Julius Caesar.  First of all, he brought peace and stability to Rome and also expanded it.  Then he ended the corrupt rule of nobles and rebuilt cities that had been destroyed by the Republic.
 
His soldiers were loyal because he was a great leader and strategist.  He was even fair in handling his enemies and appointed some of them, like Brutus, to positions in government.
 
Finally, he was focused on his people.  He established a public jobs program for the poor.  Caesar also offered Roman citizenship to people from other states and countries helping to build the population of Rome.

Geography and Climate

The geography and climate in and around Rome made it a good place to settle and it attracted other people which made it grow.  Although, there were mountains, they were less rugged than in Greece so people could cross them and communities were not so isolated from each other.  The large plains were good from farming.  The nice climate and good soil attracted people to the area.  Rome also grew because of where it was located.  The Tiber River gave Rome a regular supply of water and connected it will the Mediterranean sea meaning easy access to the rest of the world.