History and Mythology of Ancient Rome: A Comprehensive Overview
Roman Republic
Expansion and Conflicts (Mid-3rd Century BC)
In the mid-3rd century BC, Rome exerted control over Italic populations and Greek colonies in southern Italy. The First Punic War resulted in Carthage losing control of key islands.
The Punic Wars
During the Second Punic War, Scipio faced Hannibal. After Hannibal’s conquest of Sagunto, Rome fought back. Hannibal returned to defend Carthage in the Battle of Zama, where Scipio defeated him. The Third Punic War ended with the conquest and destruction
Read MoreModernism in Poetry: Exploring Key Trends and Influences
Modernism in Poetry
Overview
Modernism, a significant literary movement of the early 20th century, marked a resurgence of the anxiety characteristic of European Romantic literature. This sentiment, which seemed to decline with the rise of 19th-century experimental rationalism, reappeared, demonstrating that reason alone could not explain everything. Modernist poetry often reflects on cherished memories of the past: childhood, lost paradise, and idyllic gardens.
Major Trends of Modernism
The modernist
Read MoreFeudal Society & Ramon Llull: Courtly Love, Poetry, and Religion
Feudal Society (11th-13th Centuries)
Two Social Classes
Feudal society consisted of two distinct classes: the nobility and the commoners. The nobility, including lords and ladies, lived in palaces and managed vast estates. The commoners, including serfs and slaves, lived in humble mud and straw huts, dedicating their lives to farming, animal breeding, and serving the nobility.
Feudal Army
To maintain control over their serfs and extract maximum economic benefit, the nobility formed feudal armies of
Read MoreDemocracy, Totalitarianism, and the Rise of Fascism
Democracy and Totalitarianism
1. The Crisis of Liberal Democracies
1.1. Consequences of World War I
The democratic states’ victory in WWI led to the fragmentation of empires and the birth of new countries with parliamentary systems, such as Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Universal male suffrage was introduced in many nations. Economic hardship followed the war, with high unemployment and inflation in the early 1920s, leading to social unrest and strikes.
1.2. Democracies and the Crisis
Countries
Read MoreCervantes, Don Quixote, and the Baroque Prose
Cervantes and the Baroque Prose
Life and Thought
Miguel de Cervantes’s life is marked by three distinct stages: his military career, his work as a supplies manager in Seville, and his final 11 years dedicated to writing, beginning with La Galatea in 1585.
Three factors shaped Cervantes’s thinking: the decline of the Spanish Empire, the transition from Renaissance to Baroque, and his own life experiences. His writing explores themes of Christianity, reason, faith, humanism, utopianism, individual conscience,
Read MoreA History of Oratory: From Ancient Greece to the Imperial Age
Oratory: A Historical Overview
Ancient Greece
Oratory, the art of public speaking, emerged in the democratic city-states of ancient Greece. Sophists like Protagoras and Gorgias developed theories about persuasive speaking techniques, and schools of rhetoric flourished, spreading throughout Greece.
Ancient Rome
Roman nobility embraced Greek rhetoric with enthusiasm, while some conservatives viewed it as a tool for the common people. A decree even expelled rhetoricians from Rome for a time, but they
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