Ancient Rome Activities - Free Essay Example

The Roman empire was at one point the largest empire in the entire world, covering up to 1.7 million square miles of land. During the years 27 B.C. to 476 A.D. the roman empire ruled. During this time, Rome thrived in almost every way of life, they proved themselves to not be messed with, and were not afraid to take what was not theres. Rome was amazing, however all good things must come to an end, and so did Rome on 476 A.D due to several reasons. The Roman Empire was extremely wealthy, the high-class people had servants, chefs, resident philosophers, a wide variety of food and wine, home libraries, all sorts of jewelry, entertainers, and bathing pools. The Roman people payed for all sorts of different types of architecture. They payed extra for the reason that there dining rooms would have amazing views. The people had fountains and, marble sculptures and all sorts of art scattered across there extravagant homes. If you are wondering how these people got this wealth, they got it from taxes and trade. The Romans would trade all sorts of types of jewels, and wools, they would also trade silver and gold. At its peak the Roman Empire stretched all the way from Scotland to the Persian Gulf. The Romans had a total land mass of 1.7 million square miles. They achieved most of this land by conquering countries, these countries were, Wales, Spain, England, Greece, Middle East, France, and some parts of Africa. Where this all started was when Rome wanted to trade in a route which the Carthaginians held. So, the Romans and Carthaginians got in 100-year war and the Romans came out on top. Rome became the powerhouse of the Mediterranean after winning the war. This gave the Romans all the chance and confidence to expand their land. After taking control of all the land near them this was not enough to satisfy them. They soon realized that land further away held wealth which would only make them even more wealthy then they already were. This victory gave Rome the go-ahead force to go and extend further then they already were. Many of the nations they took over benefited from Rome. Rome would h ave public bath, stone roads, and housing. However, all this land they had would end up being one of the many reasons of their tragic downfall. Ancient Rome had all sorts and different kinds of resources. Whether it came from trade, what they harvested from there land, or what they took from other nations, Rome had a lot of resources. These resources heavily affected Romes economy. Rome had resources such as salt, gold, silver, wine, olive oil and various types of precious metals. With these resources the Romans would use them for trade purposes. These trades were extremely important to the Roman economy as they would bring in a lot of wealth and were the reason the way most of the Roman people achieved their wealth. Romes main trading partners were in Spain, France, the Middle East, different parts in North Africa, and all types of people all across the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman Army is one of the most powerful, and effective fighting forces in history. The Romans almost all the time were involved in war with many different nations. In almost all of these wars no matter who they fought or how long they fought, the Romans would usually come out on top. The Roman Empire itself had about 45 million to 120 million people. It is estimated that the Roman military had about 3.75 million people fighting for them. The soldiers in the Roman Army were just regular Roman citizens who have signed up for 20 years of military. The army was divided up into Legions of 5,400 soldiers and the soldiers in that legion were normally led by a senator or governor. The Legions were made up of ten groups of soldiers called cohorts. Cohorts were made up of 80 men called centuries. The Roman soldiers armor was usually made up of iron. Some weapons the Roman soldiers used were daggers, swords, spears, javelins, and bow and arrows. The Romans would use catapults to catapul t huge rocks and use very large crossbows to fire, fire arrows the size of spears at there enemy.

Science in Gothic Literature Darwin and Freud in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Stolen Bacillus - Literature Essay Samples

The representation of science is a trope often used in Gothic Literature. In this essay, I will compare how two Gothic texts, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and â€Å"The Stolen Bacillus† by H. G. Wells, represent science in terms of duplicitous personalities. I will examine how scientific thought on instinctual emotional responses and the idea of duality corresponds to the portrayal of science in Gothic Literature. Charles Darwin (522) establishes a connection between how human beings and animals display emotions, suggesting â€Å"primitive† (523) responses emerge in human beings under certain emotional situations, such as the appearance of anger. Though many Gothic texts deal with Darwin’s observations, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is possibly the most significant of these texts. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two different sides of the same character. They are seemingly opposite in every way including personality and appearance. Dr. Jekyll is portrayed as a moralistic man, while Mr. Hyde is described as an animalistic version of a human, â€Å"like some damned Juggernaut† (Stevenson 9). However, it becomes clear throughout the course of the text that Mr. Hyde is really just a repressed version of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll uses Hyde as a mask for his own primeval instincts, which Darwin (523) would suggest are inherent instincts of all human beings. Hyde’s monstros ities are clearly evident through his appearance and distinctly evil conduct, but I would argue that Jekyll is the more monstrous of the two. He attempts to hide his monstrous nature under the guise of scientific enquiry when really his intention is to commit evil crimes, as Christina Schneider (5) posits, without the pressure of social and moral obligations. Sigmund Freud (547) discusses the idea of the â€Å"double† in Gothic Literature as not only being two individuals that are alike, but also a singular individual with multiple aspects to their personality. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde demonstrates Freud’s idea through the two characters that are actually one; Hyde is as much Jekyll as Jekyll is Hyde’s creator. Jekyll demonstrates a â€Å"doubling, dividing and interchanging of the self† (Freud 547) through his creation of Hyde as a reflection of his own darker, more primitive self as suggested by Darwin (523). Freud’s double is also evident in â€Å"The Stolen Bacillus† through the characters of the Bacteriologist and the Anarchist. The Anarchist is portrayed as the obvious villain, with his appearance and gleeful demeanor at causing harm to others clear indications of his monstrous nature. The Bacteriologist, on the other hand, is portrayed as being slightly submissive and half-witted, but is considered in the texts as a good man. However, a closer reading of the text reveals the Bacteriologist’s hidden nature. He appears to enjoy possessing a harmful weapon, even giving a speech that poetically describes â€Å"death – mysterious, untraceable death, death swift and terrible, death full of pain and indignity† (Wells 409). But it is perhaps his suggestion of a great power that he has that reveals his true motivations. He implies his power over the bacillus through his ability to contain such a harmful disease, proclaiming, â€Å"Yes, here is the pestilenc e imprisoned† (409). Perhaps this is suggestive of his own â€Å"primitive† (Darwin 523) desires of power. He even admits to his wife his desire to â€Å"astonish† (Wells 412) the Anarchist with the deadly virus and acknowledges his own foolishness suggesting he is aware of his social and moral obligations (Schneider 5). Keir Waddington discusses how â€Å"Gothic writers were fascinated by questions of identity and the idea that outward appearances concealed something sinister within† (59). This is in agreement with Darwin’s and Freud’s ideas about the duplicitous self; however, I would suggest that Gothic writers are interested in establishing the possibility for anyone to have sinister motivations not just those with the outward appearance of evilness. Dr. Jekyll is the prime example of this, outwardly he appears to be a respectable, moral citizen, but really this is a mere semblance for his true self, Mr. Hyde. Even the Bacteriologist in â€Å"The Stolen Bacillus† is shown to have darker ulterior motives, though not to the same extent as Dr. Jekyll. Both texts contain opposing characters, Jekyll versus Hyde and the Bacteriologist versus the Anarchist, and both texts contain opposing, or competing, motives within the same character, human versus animal and obligation ver sus power. While these sinister motives were obvious for the bad characters, they were not as clear for the supposed good characters; however, both Robert Louis Stevenson and H. G. Wells hinted at conflicting motivations for these characters before eventually revealing their own sinister motives. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde portrays the extreme version of the Freud’s (547) double and emphasizes the primal instincts that Darwin (523) attributes as inherent in all human beings. Hyde is the epitome of the monster, but it is Jekyll’s monstrous nature that is most shocking as he does not possess the â€Å"outward appearances† (Waddington 59) of a true monster, making him an even more terrifying prospect. â€Å"The Stolen Bacillus† also discusses Darwin’s (523) and Freud’s (547) ideas, but portrays a much less grim view of humanity than Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. While we do see primitive ulterior motives from the Bacteriologist, it is his ability recognize these motivations as wrong that makes him a foolish hero unlike the monstrous Jekyll. Gothic Literature uses scientific theory to establish a duplicitous self, implying that all human beings have an inherent ability to revert back to primitive motivations allowi ng for conflict within oneself. Works Cited Darwin, Charles. â€Å"From Charles Darwin, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).† Gothic Evolutions: poetry, tales, context, theory. Ed. Corinna Wagner. Moorebank: NewSouth Books, 2014. Print. Freud, Sigmund. â€Å"From Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny (1919).† Gothic Evolutions: poetry, tales, context, theory. Ed. Corinna Wagner. Moorebank: NewSouth Books, 2014. Print. Schneider, Christina. â€Å"Monstrosity in the English Gothic Novel.† The Victorian 3.1 (2015): 1-11. Web. 27 August 2016. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Katherine Linehan. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 2003. Print. Waddington, Keir. â€Å"More like Cooking than Science: Narrating the Inside of the British Medical Laboratory, 1800-1914.† Journal of Literature and Science 3.1 (2010): 50-70. Web. 27 August 2016. Wells, H. G. â€Å"The Stolen Bacillus (1895).† Gothic Evolutions: poetry, tales, context, theory. Ed. Corinna Wagner. Moorebank: NewSouth Books, 2014. Print.