(no subject)
Mesopotamia started because it was a nation between two rivers. The rivers supported their way of life. The north received rain but most of it just ran off the soil and didn’t have time to absorb the water for nutrients. In the south is the opposite with little rainfall with rich soil. The rivers provided a way for the people to irrigate their crops, but then only for major floods to destroy their crops. Civilizations ended up growing in between the two rivers, the towns Eridu and Uruk began because of their irrigation systems. (Book:pg 8)
While over in Egypt, there was rich soil all along the Nile River. The land became very rich and kept their crops healthy for a good harvest every year. But Egypt only had two kinds of land. One was the desolate Sahara desert where nothing could grow and was uninhabitable. The other was the Nile valley which had nutrient soil and kept the crops alive as well as the Egyptians. Because of the desolate desert around them, there were isolated from trade and communication with other civilization which was good because there was less threat of war and they developed their own stable society.(Book:pg 14)
In Mesopotamia, women only had power over the children and servants while in Egypt, women were more socially accepted, where they owned land, businesses and could have legal responsibilities such as contracts for land and lawsuits in their courts. Women were not allowed formal education though which prevented them from holding public office. Mesopotamian gods were worshipped because they were similar to those who worshipped them. They had many gods for things in their everyday lives. In Egypt the king at the time was god, or whomever he worshipped, the people of the lands were supposed to follow in step and worship his god also.
The farmer-soldiers of the Roman Empire were the backbone of Rome. Rome could not survive without them, and they didn’t. “From farmers come the bravest men and the sturdiest soldier,” wrote Cato the Elder (Book:pg, 80). The normal soldier had a family and lives on 10 acres of land. They raised grain, bean, and hogs for themselves and sold the grapes and olives they grew. You could only fight in the Roman army if you were a citizen and to be a citizen you had to own land. The farmers planted in the spring, fought wars around Rome in the summer and were back in time for harvest. They were called the Citizen Army.
When the Roman Empire started expanding and the wars were getting further away from home, the farmer-soldiers would be away for years at a time and miss harvest. Their families would try to make due, but eventually they would essentially mortgage the land so that they could survive another year, only to fail again because the men hadn’t returned home, so their land would be sold. When the farmer-soldiers returned home, they would have land to live on, they had no money because they weren’t allowed to be soldiers without land, so they were forced to the streets or become a slave. This caused the first welfare system with the empire building housing projects for the homeless. And the soldier-farmers were forced to beg for money during the day and fed by the government inside the walls of Rome.
(Lecture:9/24/05) Virtue and honor were always important to Rome, but since these men were without either, Generals began taking advantage of the homeless farmer-soldiers. They began recruiting them into their own armies and paying them money and ignored the rule about soldiers having to own land to fight wars and the men were loyal to that general.
While over in Egypt, there was rich soil all along the Nile River. The land became very rich and kept their crops healthy for a good harvest every year. But Egypt only had two kinds of land. One was the desolate Sahara desert where nothing could grow and was uninhabitable. The other was the Nile valley which had nutrient soil and kept the crops alive as well as the Egyptians. Because of the desolate desert around them, there were isolated from trade and communication with other civilization which was good because there was less threat of war and they developed their own stable society.(Book:pg 14)
In Mesopotamia, women only had power over the children and servants while in Egypt, women were more socially accepted, where they owned land, businesses and could have legal responsibilities such as contracts for land and lawsuits in their courts. Women were not allowed formal education though which prevented them from holding public office. Mesopotamian gods were worshipped because they were similar to those who worshipped them. They had many gods for things in their everyday lives. In Egypt the king at the time was god, or whomever he worshipped, the people of the lands were supposed to follow in step and worship his god also.
The farmer-soldiers of the Roman Empire were the backbone of Rome. Rome could not survive without them, and they didn’t. “From farmers come the bravest men and the sturdiest soldier,” wrote Cato the Elder (Book:pg, 80). The normal soldier had a family and lives on 10 acres of land. They raised grain, bean, and hogs for themselves and sold the grapes and olives they grew. You could only fight in the Roman army if you were a citizen and to be a citizen you had to own land. The farmers planted in the spring, fought wars around Rome in the summer and were back in time for harvest. They were called the Citizen Army.
When the Roman Empire started expanding and the wars were getting further away from home, the farmer-soldiers would be away for years at a time and miss harvest. Their families would try to make due, but eventually they would essentially mortgage the land so that they could survive another year, only to fail again because the men hadn’t returned home, so their land would be sold. When the farmer-soldiers returned home, they would have land to live on, they had no money because they weren’t allowed to be soldiers without land, so they were forced to the streets or become a slave. This caused the first welfare system with the empire building housing projects for the homeless. And the soldier-farmers were forced to beg for money during the day and fed by the government inside the walls of Rome.
(Lecture:9/24/05) Virtue and honor were always important to Rome, but since these men were without either, Generals began taking advantage of the homeless farmer-soldiers. They began recruiting them into their own armies and paying them money and ignored the rule about soldiers having to own land to fight wars and the men were loyal to that general.