Blog Post #4

Grade 8 Mosaic Field Trip (Kalemegdan Fortress - St. Petka Chapel) 


1. Describe the mosaic you have chosen and include details about figures, colors, clothing, objects, etc.
What message is the mosaic trying to convey?
2. Compare your chosen mosaic to our checklist. Is it a good example of Byzantine Art? Why/not?

In St. Petka I saw pictures of eagle bodies with a realistic face, a lot of environment, nature, a lot of saints, Jesus Christ, angles, jewelry, mosaics, icons, new born babies, symbols, lots of color, leaders, repeating drawings, a king holding a castle, birds (freedom), floating feet, the more important person centered or closer, long dresses, all done in tiles, a lot of gold colored, feathers surrounding pictures, showing god many times and floating feet.  

1.In the St. Petka Chapel, I chose the Angles. I think that angles are very unique. The angles in the chapel could mean a new born baby, bishops or even messengers. The color of the angles were white. Showing peace and freedom. There were two angles. One on each side of the baby. The figures shown in this mosaic I chose was that the baby was on a huge chair. Maybe showing that the new born baby was really important and could of been Jesus Christ. The angles were placed so they were facing the new born baby.

2. I think that if I compare the mosaic I chose to the Byzantine Art checklist it is a good example because the angles were turned in a meaningful gesture to face the new born baby, they had their feet floating and the huge chair that the baby was sitting on was symbolic, showing that the baby is someone really important. The scale that the mosaic placed is interesting because the baby is in the center showing the importance and the two angles are on each side floating. The angles our wearing white, so it is kind of shinning out and showing peace. The story seems really clear to me and is a good example of Byzantine Art.

St. Petka Chapel, Belgrade, Serbia

Blog Post #3

Upon completion of your mosaic, explain the meaning of your symbol, reflect on the process of making a mosaic, and imagine what it would have been like to create a large scale mosaic in a church over 1500 years ago.


For my mosaic I did the 4- Point Star. The four-pointed star symbol in Christianity is usually styled to show a cross. Also known as the Star of Bethlehem or natal star, this star represents both Jesus' birth and the purpose for which he was born.
It is used especially for church decoration during the Advent and Christmas seasons. 
  Making a mosaic was really fun. It took me one in a half hour to finish the mosaic. I did my borders blue and inside the border brown, continuing with green. I had my 4-point star in the middle I made it blue on the two sides and the rest I did it purple. This was a mosaic so I needed to have spaces in between each tile of paper. The tiles of my border were really close, but after when I got inside the picture I fixed that. 
  If I were to create a large scale mosaic it would take a long time and I would need to have some powerful glue and maybe need some help. I think that it would be really valuable to have a great mosaic in a church that is over 1500 years ago. I guess that it would mean a lot to
 the people from that religion. 

This is one of the classic mosaics that people make. 

A mosaic from the Byzantine Empire

BlogPost #2

Christian Saints Research and write a mini-bio on a saint from either the Orthodox or Catholic faith.
(include image, MLA format, approx. 250 words)

Ergi Kirkin
Ms. Moore 
Humanities
March 04,2012

 St. Casimir

Casimir grew up in a world where his life was not his won. As a prince of Poland, the second son of King Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria, his life was scheduled to cement his father's authority and increase Poland's power. This saint realized from an early age that his life belonged to someones else, but someone much higher, to a King than his father. Born the third of thirteen children in 1461, Casimir was committed to God from childhood. Casimir participated in his true King's plans wholeheartedly by praying, studying, and helping the poor. Rejecting even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer. And when he did sleep, he lay on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though he was a prince, many of those around him must have laughed and joked at his choices. Yet, in the face of any pressure, Casimir always friendly and calm. Though his father must have wondered about him, he must have seen and admired Casimir's strength. His father, however, was furious at being deterred from his plans and banished Casimir to a castle in Dobzki, hoping that imprisonment would change Casimir's mind. He died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung disease. He was buried with his favorite song, a Latin hymn to Mary called "Omni die dic Mariae" which we know as "Daily, Daily Sing to Mary." Because of his love for the song, it is known as the Hymn of St. Casimir though he didn't write it. His feast day is March 4 and he is the Patron of Poland and Lithuania.

UNIT #3

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE

Unit Question:

How did Christianity unite the empire?

Blog Post #6: The Fall of Rome

 Summarize the reasons for the fall of Rome. In your opinion, which reason(s) was
    the most important and why?




   The reasons of Rome's fall was the geography, economic decline, growth of government, decline in the work force, lack of technology and military defeat. 


Geography: The Roman Empire was shaped like a donut around the Mediterranean. It defended the weak western borders from the barbarian invasion. 


Economic decline: In the last century of the empire, both the army and the government kept growing. In addition Romans continued to important luxury items from distant lands. They did this while the Roman economy was not strong enough to support such activities.


Growth of government: The large government kept demanding more of the people and after a while Civil wars wasted Rome's valuable resources of people and moneys. Leaders fought over for who would be the emperor.

Decline in the work force: There was a very high death rate and a decrease in the number of slaves which concluded the empire had fewer workers and fewer soldiers. 

Lack of technology: The upper class Romans did not direct their interest and attention to developing ways to save labor.

Military defeat: The Roman army was no longer strong enough to defeat the barbarians.

The most important reason for Rome's fall was the growth decline in the work force. No one worked properly which ended up being very few workers and soldiers. For sure the other reasons were also important, but I think that this was the main reason and this ended up the military defeat, because the empire was weak and couldn't defend themselves anymore. 

Jesus Christ Superstar Movie Review

Ergi K. 8A

Humanities

Ms. Moore

2/5/2012

The movie “Jesus Christ Superstar” was interesting by the name. I thought it would be fun and it was in the beginning, but after a while it just got boring because there was just singing which made it a bit less exciting that I thought it would be.

“Jesus Christ Superstar was produced in 1973 and it was by Frank Lloyd Wright. There are two main characters which are Jesus and Judas. Jesus is acted by Ted Neeley and Judas is acted by Carl Anderson. The movie is about Judas thinking that Jesus has gone too far and still not realizing it. Judas is trying to end Jesus acting in the way throughout the movie.

The setting of this movie is in Israel. Judas tries to stop Jesus of spreading his ideas because he knows that Jesus will get in trouble. Judas knows that the Romans are looking for a reason to arrest Jesus. Judas tells Jesus to stop but Jesus ignores him so he goes on the other side joining the enemies of Jesus for some money.

This rock opera didn’t interest me as much as I thought it would in the beginning. There were some fun parts were the music and the acting was nice to watch but some of the music just got repeated so many times that it didn’t give the taste that it gave when it was played the first time.  If I would rate this movie I would probably give a 4 or 5 out of 10. The reason is that it repeated too many times and it almost made me sleep because it couldn’t get my attention at all. Another reason was that the Romans made the setting feel wrong and bad at the same time.

I would only recommend this movie to someone who enjoys old music and like rock operas because it would be too long for someone that doesn’t like this type of movies.  People could watch a short section of this movie just to see it but I wouldn’t like to watch it again. I would rate this movie a 4 out of 10. Another reason why I didn’t like this movie was that it was to repetitive and almost made me sleep. The actors weren’t acting really well.  I didn’t have a lot of fun, but still some parts were interesting to see as the movie went on.  

BlogPost #5: Caesar vs Augustus

Who do you think was a more important leader, Caesar or Augustus? Explain your     answer using details and relevant facts to support your opinion. 


I think that Augustus was a more important leader than Caesar. Caesar killed many people that hurt many innocent women and children. Augustus made numerous reforms to the law and tax system. He fought against unfair and greedy tax collectors because the town wished for it. One of the important reasons that I think that Augustus was a better leader was that he was the leader when ancient Rome was in their glorious times. 
In conclusion, even though Julius Caesar fought for the rights of many unprivileged citizens, and attempted to expand the Roman Empire, Augustus still had a much more positive impact on Rome's people, as well the city of Rome itself. During his rule, there was much less crime, and he was a lot less blood-thirsty in comparison to his great uncle, Caesar.