Monday, November 18, 2013




Roman Gladiators Vs. Today's Professional Athletes






For a Roman Gladiator the only qualification was to be a man, any man would be taken as a slave and trained to be a Gladiator.  Gladiators were forced to risk their lives in a fight to the death with either animals or other gladiators. Since a gladiator must take a high risk of his own physical being when fighting they are paid handsomely, and are very popular with the groupies (Often widowed women who want companionship).  A gladiator is set free when they are given their wooden swords symbolizing freedom.  In order to earn the wooden sword they must fight in the Colosseum and win, this proves he is worthy of freedom because he is the strongest Gladiator. In order to be a Boxer you must have great hand-to-hand combat and you can only fight using your hands. The only risk in being a professional boxer is being physically harmed such as getting bruised or losing a tooth. Your live is not a risk when Boxing. The perks to being a professional Boxer is fame and earning a lot of money. 3.

Manny Pacquiao



 1.

  Manny Pacquiao is a well renown professional Boxer and has won many fights against other well known fighters. He is the only person in the world who is an Eight-Division World Champion making him a serious threat in the Boxing Community. His boxing record shows that he has 54 Wins, only 5 Losses and 2 Draws. Manny Pacquiao is also the second highest paid athlete in the world. In boxing the aim is to knock-out your opponent, meaning they lose consciousness or stay down for the 10 count. In this fighting profession you are not able to strike with your feet but you are able to jump. 2.



Roman Gladiator

1.
                                   
             Roman Gladiators are well known in their time because fighting was the only real entertainment at that time.  Gladiators were slaves and were forced to fight, but they were still paid handsomely for their dangerous efforts daily.   They also got to hook up with some desprite women whom have lost their husbands.  There are not many rules when it comes down to gladiators than to defeat your opponent, but when you clearly have won the fight you must wait for the sponsor to decide the losers fate, death or survival to fight another day.  2.,  3.

The similarities between these two different sports is that they both incorporate violence for others entertainment.  The difference is that in boxing, you aren't aiming to kill your opponent, just to knock them out.  Gladiators aim to kill their opponents.  Our values have changed over the course of time, now we frown upon the death of others especially for ones entertainment, rather than relish in the bloodshed.  Our peoples morals have changed for the better in this modern day.2.  3.

Resources:
1.Google/Images/gladiators
2.Wikipedia
3.Film of Gladiators

Monday, November 4, 2013

Athens 399 B.C.E.

The Trial of Socrates
 5.



         Socrates is accused of Atheism (No belief in any god.) and importing, and or corrupting the minds of the young with his ideals. During the trial Socrates gave his testimony on why he should be acquitted for his crimes , he gave a rather impressive argument although he did not take the trial very seriously and that reflected on him badly.  When the trail ended Socrates was found guilty.  Socrates was placed in his prison to await his death after his trial had took place.  Crito pays Socrates a visit about the arrangements to smuggle Socrates out of prison to the safety of exile. Although Socrates seemed quite willing to await his impending execution, realizing this Crito presents many arguments to persuade Socrates to escape, but to no avail.  Socrates death will reflect badly on his friends, people will think they did nothing to try to save him. Also, Socrates will not worry about the financial cost to his friends although they are willing to pay, and they have also arranged to find Socrates a pleasant life in exile.  Crito presents two more pressing arguments: first, if he stayed, he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would be acting unjustly himself.  This means he would also be abandoning his sons and leaving them without a father.  Socrates still did not change his mind.  2.,3.

         Socrates was a wise man, he was told this by the Oracle .  When the trial was drawing near, Athens was coming out of a major recession  The Golden Age had just come to an end.  The Golden Age ended in 399 B.C.E.  Socrates was the wiser of all those in the city, even knowing this he was never over confident or felt that he was above everyone else.He was a modest man and the people still looked at him as if he was a pompous man.  The jurors also saw him this way, which lead to his conviction and death.  1.

         Justice was not served  I believe that Socrates should have fled with his friends to safety. Socrates did not take his trial very seriously and that did not help him to be acquitted, but even though he was jesting during his testimony he did not deserve such a rash course of action.  There was a jury of 501 jurors and he was sentenced to death by the count of thirty more votes against him and was killed just because he thought differently than everyone one else, he dared to believe reason rather than the gods and was gravely punished.  The reason why i believe he wasn't given a fare trial is because they were angry with him.  They were angry because he dared to ask the questions that none of them could answer, and dared to believe that there were no gods, that everything that occurs can be explained through logic.  This way of thinking questioned everyone in the cities way of thinking, they wanted to get rid of him before others could get "corrupted" and ask the very same questions that Socrates asked.
4.
Resources:

1.Trial of Socrates blog post by Shadi Landrum- http://land8576.blogspot.com/
2.Video on the Trial of Socrates
3.Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socrates.HTM
4.No justice picture-http://www.carvedrecords.com/no-justice-at-okc-thunder-game/
5.Trial of Socrates Picture-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates