Roman+Group

Project is available [|here].

===Looks like I have all the information I need... I have everything in a word document and am planning on getting it all transfered to iWeb tomorrow...today...ugh...3rd period. Hopefully I'll be done by 8th period tomorrow, and I was hoping to stop down with the finished product in your class. Good luck to us.===

I, Jon, Need everything put on the wiki, __in paragraph form,__ of everything you have by 5 pm tonight. I am finishing up writing up the iWeb, and I need everything. Make sure ALL of your sources are listed on this page!!!! And also, all the pictures on this page must have permission from the owner!!! We can not use pictures without permission... If any pictures don't apply, please find more, or a cartoon drawing will be put in its place. Also, I need a time line- dates and events you covered. Thanks.

I, nate c, am posting this note. I will comply with your request, and will to the best of my ability try to get all of my information in before third period...but we had to waste class time and take a beta test for a web-based stantard test this period. I have to retype all of my battles, and that might take longer than what the deadline is.

I can promise that it will be in before eighth period tomorrow.

Many thanks, Nate

= = = = = = =READ THIS!!!=

I, Jon H, need EVERYTHING posted by tomorrow 3rd period. All information, pictures, movies, and anything else should be posted on this wiki, in your own section. I'll be working on putting the iWeb together the next 2 days in class. Please put everything you have so I can edit all of it. If you have more information later, thats fine, but I would like most of it by tomorrow. Thanks.

P.S. - Joe brings up the point that everything on this page must be in your own words and cannot be taken directly from a website of any kind. If anything on this page is not already in your own words, please edit it so that it is, and place your name above everything that you edit. If you want to be extra awesome, you can color code things too. A timeline would be immensely appreciated, but if you don't make one, please include times and dates with the other info. Thanks again.

=READ ABOVE!!!!!=

Post everything we do here. To start off, we thought of some topics we could cover. __Physics:__ Catapult Ballista Swords Shields Armor Inventions Bridges Architecture

__Gov:__ Architecture Political Timetable Battles Fall of Rome

Keep adding or commenting on the topics. I also suggest we put all of our sources on this page.

I, Nate C., do so proclaim on this day of May 16, that i will cover the impact of the architecture of the roman republic on the united states. should anyone have a qualm with this proclamation, i am willing to have a duel for the rights to this topic.

I will destroy....

Joe and Jon agree that it will be much easer to put together this project when we talk about topics that can relate to both physics and gov. So, nate, its not such an easy topic to relate physics to architecture, unless you talk a lot about the bridges, and the water systems. Also, a great topic to relate would be the battles, and how the weapons affected the turnout of the Roman Empire. Just some thoughts. If you guys figure out your own topics, and give us an outline, it will be much easer for us to start the physics of the project. Joe would like to accept Nate's gratitude for correcting his misspelling of the word "proclamation".  And He shall put forth the origin of the republic. And he shall Study Plato and James Madison and the holy Roman Empire. And his name is Tyler. Also - he has judged and found Joe and Jon's logic extremely lacking. If it is difficult to discuss the physics of architecture - as you say "unless one discusses arches and water systems"; then is it actually easy to discuss architecture in terms of physics //because one can discuss arches and water systems//

No, you have no logic...we are right.

=__Physics Notes__=

//Bridges://
Uses arcs for strength, disperses force of bridge throughout the arc around the semicircle. Most materials have a much stronger compressive strength then tensile strength. By arching the bridge, instead of leaving it flat, the stones of the arches are forced, or compressed, against each other. As the strength of the force bearing down on the arch increases, said force is channeled through the arch and results in a horizontal outward force at the bottom of the arch. This horizontal force is counteracted by the rest of the wall, or in the case of a bridge, another arch. Each arch pushes against the others equally, leaving the entire bridge in perfect equilibrium, and allowing it to sustain a significantly larger amount of force than the previously constructed Greek bridges.

//Catapult://
Uses torque and angular acceleration. Centripetal force keeps the projectile from firing until a certain point. After the projectile is released, simple projectile motion equations can be used to calculate the distance that the projectile was launched, the acceleration at which is was launched, and the velocity at which it flew. Utilizing KE and PE equations, the amount of destructive force in the projectile can be found as well.

//Ballista://
Utilizes knowledge of Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy (Elastic). Also deals with projectile motion.

//Plumbing://
Had flushing toilets, public bath houses, and utilized PE to allow for pressure in plumbing. Aqueducts supply the city with over one million cubic meters of water daily. They were powered by nothing more than gravity.

//Plato (mathematics)://
"Doubling the area of a square" problem. Plato presented this to many of his young students, knowing that the mental picture of it was very simple and easy to visualize. Many students first claim that doubling the sides will double the area, but this actually quadruples it. The most common second response is to add 50% of the area, which increases it by a factor of 2.25 instead of just 2. The solution found by Plato was that by doubling the diagonal of the square, its area is perfectly doubled as well.

__Gov Notes Architecture:__ Bridges, aqueducts, the Colosseum, and the water system.

Nate Notes: In lieu of recent suggestions made by my physics counterparts, I will now be tackling the arduous task of assembling a wiki that will delve into the depths of roman warfare,

the same warfare took asunder the roman empire, tearing apart the mighty juggernaut limb form wretched limb.

Nate C: Notes on major battles of the roman empire (to be condensed):

Battle of Cannae 216 BC

During the Second Punic War, Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, marched from Spain, through Gaul, across the Alps, and into Italy. Hannibal, although never directly attacking Rome, still managed to greatly strain the resources of the vast empire. Under Fabius Maximus, the only way that Rome could manage to evade defeat was to engage in guerilla tactics, attacking and destroying the supply lines of Hannibal's army. Though this tactic appeared to be working by slowly effacing the patience of the great warlord, Rome itself became in patient and eventually came to the decision to fight Hannibal directly. In 216 BC, the two consular armies plus their allies, totalling 70,000 men, were ready to fight Hannibal. Outnumbered, Hannibal line up his men. Lines of Spaniards and Africans were in the front and very close behind them were his own troops with the cavalry on both flanks. Ingeniously, as the Romans pressed forward, the front lines fell away, leaving the unsuspecting Romans in a bit of quagmire. The Carthaginian cavalry swept arround and surrounded the Romans, who were panicked, tired, and unorganized. The Carthaginians completely slaughtered them. Estimates of the number of Roman survivors are as low as 2,000. Quite obviously this was a crippling and demoralizing blow to the Romans, and eventually led to their unwillingness to engage Hannibal until the Battle of Zama.

The Battle of Zama 202 BC

As mentioned before, even while Hannibal was in Italy, Rome was still wasting resources in other parts of the empire fighting on other fronts, most notably, in Spain. Out of this Spanish conflict came the great military leader Scipio, who was elected consul in 205 by promising that he could defeat Carthage completely, an old monkey on the Roman back. After experiencing some mild success, Carthage panicked and recalled Hannibal from Italy. It took nearly three years until Hannibal could make it back to Carthage, but it was well-worth the wait, as he had grown his ranks exponentially, now with the inclusion of battle-ready elephants. The battle occurred in the desert at Zama. Both sides were about equal in manpower, but Hannibal had, of course, giant elephants while Scipio had some pretty awesome calvary. The battle began agressively, with Hannibal sending forth all 100 of his war-mongering elephants. Scipio was prepared, however, and his army deftly rearranged, forming large alleys into which they herded the elephants and as the beasts rode through, the Romans killed their drivers quickly, rendering the elephants useless n the war field.. After this cheeky usage of a spontaneous strategy, the armies engaged. Scipio, learning from Hannibal himself, used the same strategy that Hannibal had used at Cannae. He allowed his infantry to fall back as his cavalry defeated Hannibal's and then swept around behind the Carthaginians. The Carthagians were so completely destroyed, Hannibal advised the city to surrender, thus totaling ending the Second Punic War.

The Battle of Cynoscephalae

The conclusion of the Second Punic War had left Rome with virtually no major enemies left on the continent, and Rome, with spirits soaring from the great victory, had a giant policy shift from imperialism to something more like preservation The Second Macedonian War resulted, as Rome invaded Greece to protect it from Philip V of Macedon, who had conquered several cities and appeared ready to seize all of Greece. In 197, the Romans were lead by the wise Faminus, more renowned for his intellectual pursuits than his military vigor. Flamininus and Philip finally met at Cynoscephalae. On the morning of their battle, a thick fog covered the battlefield so that neither army could see the other. Both leader, unsure of the other's numbers, sent out small groups of men to attack each other blindly until the fog lifted. Then, both armies lined up and engaged. Philip's powerful calvary dominated the Romans on their right flank, forcing them back. However, on their left flank, fortunately for the Romans hills and uneven ground caused the Macedonian calvary to lose its formation and it was only a matter of time until the Romans swept the floor with the panicked Macedonian army. The cavalry then swung around to attack the successful calvary members on its flank. Overwhelmed and left with few options, it was clear the Romans won that day. After this loss, Philip abandoned most of his holdings in Greece and in 196 Flamininus declared Greece free, though Rome kept close watch on it.

The Battle of Pharsalus

After the dissolution of the First Triumvirate, Pompey remained in Rome, dominating the Senate while Caesar served as proconsul in Gaul. Seeing an oppurtunity, Caesar killed Crassus in Spain, leaving only Pompey to oppose him. Seeing as this did not make him that poplar of a guy, charges of treason were brought against Caesar in the Senate, and he was forced to return to Rome to defend himself. However, when he did so he brought his quite intelligently army along too, and when they crossed the Rubicon River into Italy it was received as a declaration of civil war. Caesar marched on Rome and drove out (obstensibly meaning that he killed a ton of people)his opposition. Pompey fled to Greece with many of the senators who still supported him. Caesar followed the next year, 47 BC, and they met at Pharsalus. Caesar led 22,000 veterans from his wars in Gaul. Pompey had 40,000 inexperienced soldiers, including many prominant senators (who had never seen a battle field). These senators pushed Pompey into hastily attacking Caesar, who, by virtue of his better skilled men, defeated them soundly. In an act of rashness, Pompey fled to Egypt where he was killed by the locals before Caesar could get to him. Caesar was the only remaining Triumvir, most of the senate had been killed either by Caesar or in battle, and the army was fiercely loyal to him. Thus, Caesar declared himself the dictator.

The Battle of Actium

Following Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, his friend Marc Antony became the prominent man in Rome. Understandably, his did not fly with Caesar's adopted son and heir Octavian who also claimed his right in the Roman power structure. Both the Senate and Marc Antony tolerated the youth and continued belligerence, sincerely believeing they could use him as a pawn in the system, but Octavian had devious plans. Using Caesar's name, he raised an army from the experienced soldiers and subversively gained more and more power. Despite a great deal of disagreement and rivalry, Antony and Octavian ruled Rome together, albeit tensely, for ten years, but in the year 33 things began to hit the fan. Antony divorced Octavian's sister in order to marry Cleopatra, a passionate decision than a political one. This enraged Octavian and he set out to destroy Antony and Cleopatra. They met at Actium in 31. Octavian had a fantastic navy, but Cleopatra assured Antony that the Egyptian navy would help them out of the severe situation. However, what they didn't plan was Octavian's smaller, faster ships being able to sail circles around Antony's bulky and undermanned Egyptian galleys. Seeing an eminent defeat, Cleopatra then retreated to Egypt and was followed rather quickly by Antony. When Octavian eventually reached Alexandria, they both had committed suicide, thus leaving Octavian the sole dictator of the Roman world. In 27 B.C. he would officially declare himself the emperor of Rome.

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/dave/ROMAN/battles.html

ARCHITECTURE Colosseum notes

The Colosseum was the largest ever built in Roman Empire. It was one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Construction began during 70-72 AD under Emperor Vespasian, and ended in 80 AD under Emperor Titus. -It had several uses, including gladitorial contests, public spectacles, mock sea battles, executions, animal hunts, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. It ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era It was a great triumphal monument built in the Roman tradition of celebrating great victories (in reference to their triumph in the Great Jewish Revolt in 70). [|more colosseum information]

BRIDGES They were the first strong and durable bridges built. They were built with stone, sometimes concrete. They utilized arch as basic structure. The oldest stone bridge is the Pons Aemilius, which was built in 142 BC. The biggest stone bridge is Trajan's Bridge which was built by Apollodorus of Damascus. They are usually more than 5 meters wide. They usually slope a little bit. They feature rustic work and stones linked together with metal bars. [|more information about bridges] AQUEDUCTS They are defined as a man-made channel, made to take water from one area to another. They were used as early as the 7th century B.C. in Rome. They were built almost everywhere in the Roman Empire. They totaled over 260 miles worth in Rome alone. One famous Roman-built aqueduct is the Pont du Gard, in southern France. [|more information about aqeducts] THE WATER SYSTEM First, they tried to just use the Tibet River, but it quickly became polluted, so they created a system using aqueducts. The water descends lightly through the concrete channels, and then debris was cleaned out of the descended water, and put on the bank. They required constant attention by officials, to make sure that the water was clean, and safe for people to use.

Nate is back and has cool pictures of roman battle tactics. You can thank me later.



This is the tortoise. Quite obviously, it is used as a defensive position to block missle attacks by the enemy. In this way, the group of infantry men are completely protected from fatal attacks, and can advance forward without harm.



This is the wedge. An attacking formation, it is used to break open the enemy lines, which was crucial to winning a war.



This is the repel formation. As you can tell, it used for...uhh...driving back the enemy. Protected by foot soldiers and airborne attacks, they can launch a spear and arrow onslaught on the unfortunate enemy.

For open advancement, the skirmish formation is the way to go. Standing in rows if two staggered prevents holes from forming in the ranks, and good mobility is a plus on uneven terrain.



The Orb.

Not the best formation to find oneself in, as it obvious indicates that you are probably cut off from the main force and being besieged by the enemy. Used for heroic last stands, the orb is also known as the

Widowmaker.

Not really, but it sounded really cool.