His belief in the need for education among the Frankish people was to bring about religious, political, and educational reforms that would change the history of Europe. ... Charlemagne then added "King of the Lombards" to his title, and gave control of the northern part of Italy to the Pope. ...
Machiavelli's Discourses Throughout his discourses, Machiavelli gives a political and philosophical interpretation of the first ten books of Livy's History. ... Machiavelli tends to put a strong emphasis on Roman religion by addressing the fact that it held the Roman Empire together for such a long period of time, unlike Christianity of his day which kept Italy in disunity. ... Machiavelli's focus on liberty and greatness of empire can be seen throughout his discourses on Rome's history. ... He not only discusses Rome's history and accomplishments, but he also equ...
Thomas Wiedemann states in his book Emperors and Gladiators, "When Caesar invaded Italy in 49 BC, his opponents were particularly concerned about the 5000 gladiators owned by him kept at or near Capua. "3 It is likely that the opponents of Caesar were simply looking for a means to vilify him rather than having any true concern over his use of gladiators in the armed conflict to come. ... Cassius Dio wrote of Cicero's return from exile in his Roman History, "During the very taking of the vote on the measure Clodius, knowing that the multitude would be on Cicero's side, took the gla...
Dualism: The Struggle To Find Order and Meaning The struggle to find order in the world and to distinguish humans from other forms of life has been the primal exercise of philosophers throughout recorded history. ... Many predominant modern philosophies in Western civilization are directly traceable to Zoroastrianism through (1) the Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, (2) the Roman Stoics, (3) the Manicheans and Saint Augustine of Hippo in the Third Century A.D., (4) the Albigensians of Southern France and Spain in the early Middle Ages, (5) the Italian scholastic philosophe...
This is where Livy came in with his sweeping history of Rome. ... Second, he clearly projects the events of his own time onto his history simply because that is what he understands best. ... The events of these two centuries formed the lens through which he viewed the history of the early Roman people. ... This shows that Livy is using the Conflict of Orders to resemble the recent history of conflict between the Optimates and Populares. ... Livy most likely thought of the injustice done to Gracchus when he wrote this account into his history. ...
Caesar's intentions were not at first to conquer Gaul, but rather Illyria, due to three of his legions being based in Italy. ... Not only this, but he also never mentioned spoils of war or booty obtained by the army, which history shows, is a driving factor in an armies desire for victory. ... History, being written by the Victors, will likely focus their attention more on the great feats achieved, rather than the infamous aspects of their victory. ...
The Roman Empire, beginning as just a small city-state in what is now modern-day Italy, expanded it's territory mainly through military aggression and invasion, and would continue to do so for another 400 years. ... In one ancient Roman text, written by a citizen, named Florus, who wanted to record the empire's history, said, "Again, what brought the servile wars upon us except the excessive size of our establishments?...
Among his important works is the Chronographia, covering the history of fourteen Byzantine Emperors, beginning with the almost 50 year reign of Basil II, the Bulgur-Slayer (976 AD -1025), and ending some time during the reign of Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078). ... In Ravenna, the capital of Byzantine Italy became the center for mosaic making. ...
