Roman Emperor Septimius Severus

Roman Emperor Septimius Severus Severus came to power by disposing of rivals with a better claim to power than his own. His immediate predecessor was Didius Julianus. Septimius Severus died peacefully, leaving, as joint successors, his sons Caracalla and  Geta. Dates April 11, A.D. 145-February 4, 211 Reign 193-211 Places of Birth and Death Leptis Magna; Eboracum Name Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus (Severus) Occupation Ruler (Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was born in Africa, at the Phoenician city of Leptis Magna (in Libya), to a presumed equestrian (wealthy) family with consuls in it, on April 11, 145, and died in Britain, on February 4, 211, after reigning for 18 years as Emperor of Rome. Family Parents:  P. Septimius Geta, (equestrian) and Fulvia Pia Wife:  Julia Domna Sons:  Bassianus (Caracalla) (b. 188); Geta (b. 189) Following the murder of Pertinax, Rome supported Didius Julianus as emperor, but as Severus entered Rome having been declared emperor by his troops in Pannonia on April 9, 193 [DIR], the supporters of Julianus defected, he was executed, and soon the soldiers in Italy and the senators supported Severus, instead; meanwhile, troops in the East proclaimed Syrias governor, Pescennius Niger, emperor, and the British legions, their governor, Clodius Albinus. Severus had to deal with his rival claimants. He defeated Pescennius Niger at the A.D. 194 Battle of Issus not to be confused with the battle in 333 B.C., in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Great King Darius. Severus then marched into Mesopotamia, where he set up a new legion and declared war on Roman emperor Clodius Albinus. Even with the legions of Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Spain, behind him, Albinus still lost to Severus in 197 near Lyon [see Lyon Museum], and committed suicide. The reputation of Septimius Severus changes with the times. Some consider him responsible for the Fall of Rome. According to [virtual-pc.com/orontes/severi/MoranSev193.html, 6/29/99] Jonathan C. Moran, Gibbon blamed Severus for the changes that led to turmoil and ultimate decay in Rome. The De Imperatoribus Romanis entry on Severus explains the charge: by giving greater pay and benefits to soldiers and annexing the troublesome lands of northern Mesopotamia into the Roman empire, Septimius Severus brought increasing financial and military burdens to Romes government. His reign was also considered bloody and according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he may have been involved in the murder of his predecessor, Pertinax. The Catholic Encyclopedia also says he persecuted the Christians and forbade conversion to Judaism and to Christianity. On the other side, Septimius Severus restored stability to the Roman Empire. He improved performance and increased morale by making (expensive) changes in the military and praetorian guard. He restored Hadrians Wall and was involved in other construction projects. He also played the part of the traditional emperor: He reformed the grain supply for the city of Rome.... He put on games... for the people to keep them diverted and on his side. He freed his friends from debt and gave donatives to the soldiers and people. He also heard lawsuits.... Severus also began appointing his own men to the senate, one the emperors traditional prerogatives.- [www.virtual-pc.com/orontes/severi/MoranSev193.html#1, 6/29/99] Severus and Traditional Auctoritas Print SourceSeptimius Severus: The African Emperor, by Anthony Richard Birley Also, see Historia Augusta - The Life of Septimius Severus Septimius Severus and the Severan Emperors Septimius Severus and his successors were known as Severan Emperors Septimius SeverusCaracallaGetaEmperors Pertinax and Didius JulianusRoman Emperors Timeline 2nd CenturyRoman Emperors Timeline 3rd Century Ancient Sources on Septimius Severus HerodianHistoria AugustaDio Cassius

Whether vs. If

Whether vs. If Whether vs. If Whether vs. If By Maeve Maddox A reader writes: A colleague at work says the following sentence is incorrect: â€Å"Promotion depends on if the employee maintains a good attendance record.† I don’t see anything wrong with it. Is she just being disagreeable? I can’t say whether the colleague is being disagreeable or not, but I can say why she objects to the sentence. The conjunctions if and whether are often used interchangeably. Sometimes such usage can pass, but sometimes whether is the only choice. One rule often cited is that if does not follow a preposition. Corrected, the sentence is â€Å"Promotion depends on whether the employee maintains a good attendance record.† Seeking to avoid confusion, Sir Ernest Gowers added this entry to the 1963 edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage: To avoid possible ambiguity it may be prudent to confine if to its proper duty of introducing the protasis of a conditional sentence, and not to use it as a substitute for though or whether or (with not) to introduce a possible alternative. Note: In the context of grammar, protasis is â€Å"the first or introductory clause in a sentence, especially the clause which expresses the condition in a conditional sentence.† The Chicago Manual of Style spells out two instances in which if should not be used in lieu of whether: 1. to introduce a noun clause in an indirect question the answer to which is either yes or no. INCORRECT: He asked if his tie was straight. CORRECT: He asked whether his tie was straight. The only possible answer is yes or no. 2. to avoid ambiguity. INCORRECT: Call me to let me know if you can come. CORRECT: Call me to let me know whether you can come. With if, two interpretations are possible: 1. Call regardless of your answer. 2. Call only if you will be coming. By using whether, the speaker makes it clear that a call is desired, regardless of whether the person is coming or not. Chicago includes three other notes on the if/whether dichotomy in the â€Å"Good usage versus common usage† section: determine whether; determine if. The first phrasing is irreproachable style; the second is acceptable as a colloquialism. The same is true of decide whether versus decide if. doubt that; doubt whether; doubt if. Doubt that conveys a negative sense of skepticism or questioning: â€Å"I doubt that you’ll ever get your money back.† Doubt whether also conveys a sense of skepticism â€Å"The official says that he doubts whether the company could survive.† Doubt if is a casual phrasing for doubt that. question whether; question of whether; question as to whether. The first phrasing is the best, the second is next best, and the third is to be avoided. Paul Brians (Common Errors in English Usage) acknowledges that if â€Å"can’t really be called an error,† but adds, â€Å"when you are discussing two alternative possibilities, whether sounds more polished.† A note by David Foster Wallace in the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus offers â€Å"a simple test†: If you can coherently insert an â€Å"or not† after either the conjunction or the clause it introduces, you need whether. He gives these examples: He didn’t know whether [or not] it would rain. YES She asked me straight out whether I was a fetishist [or not]. YES We told him to call if [or not] he needed a ride. NO If is used to express a conditional. Whether is used to introduce alternative possibilities. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†Rules for Capitalization in Titles30 Words Invented by Shakespeare

Designing Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Designing Learning - Essay Example Dimensions of competency: It is important to be able to measure the dimension of competency. This serves as delimitation for the training course and ensures that training is delivered within certain boundary and that learner d not receive what may not be necessary for his preferred field. Format and structure of accredited courses: A knowledge about the format and structure of accredited courses ensures that the trainer masters the course content and show good command and mastery on it when delivering it. Format and structure of competency standards: Knowledge about the competency standards also ensures that the course is delivered within a range needed by the learner and that training does not fall outside the scope of learning. Functions of training package: It is important to know what the function of each training package entails so as to specify what to look out for in each package. Without knowledge on the function of a particular training package, the learner may not have any benefit from the package because he would have not basis for undertaking the training. Methodology relating to analysing and using competency standards for a range of applications and purposes: Knowledge on the methodology to use in delivering training package is very important. This is because the success of the whole program depends on how the instructor goes about his training program. A poor or unsuitable methodology would result in a situation where the learner will find it very difficult to grasp concepts being taught. Language and terminologies: Appropriate use of language and terminologies is very important. The instructor must use language and terminologies that are at the level of the learner to facilitate comprehension. Different delivery modes and methods: Once the instructor has different modes and methods of delivery, it is easier to change from one methodology to another if it is detected that one method

Societies Degrees of Mental Wellness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Societies Degrees of Mental Wellness - Essay Example Here, one can start considering the multitudes of psychological testing they endured before expiration. Then, familiar pop-culture icons are useful in bringing reality to the subject of insanity which, he says, has inoculated all of society. So, those interested in the extremes of horror for their personal entertainment become news headline. Those indulging in such primal insanity bring personal fears up front, close and personal because they were never caught. He also reinforces those warnings the parents and caregivers pass onto their children, as they venture out into a world where everyone is dealing with issues of psychological wellness to some degree, leaving individuals ill-equipped to identify people like those who got away with it. Upon the review of his literary and cinematic stories, it gives one pause when trying to pin point him on his own mental illness scale. Therefore, horror entertainment fanatics are targeted by Stephen King, as he introduces them to what he calls a totally mentally ill society. He shows how all the forms of horror entertainment allow followers to savor their individual mental illness without repercussions, because they are authorized by pop-culture idols and logically ingested by his use of deep-seated analogies, which leave the audience with a humorous look at our society as being made up of a population of the mentally ill. When the analysis turns the reader to seek out and determine the normal, conservative reactionaries, King directs them to pop-culture icons. First, by showing in the horror film junkie what real ugliness is; then, he shows the beauty that a lot of people aspire to and, in turn, lets them know that no one could never be truly ugly†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Freda Jackson as the horrible melting woman in Die, Monster, Die! confirms for us that no matter how far we may be removed from the beauty of a Robert Redford or a Diana Ross, we are still light-years from true ugliness.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (King, line 8). To explain this , Freda Jackson is perceived as a melting woman in Die Monster, Die! substantiates that no matter how far we may be away from the beauties of Diana Ross or Robert Redford, we are not even close to being ugly. This also results into feeling re-establishment of ordinarily; the horror film is essentially traditional and reactionary. This leaves those who watch such films to sit back and simply get entertained and have fun, only that this type of fun is unique in its coming from seeing other menaced and even occasionally killed. This has led to some critics suggesting that horror film has been turned into public form of execution. As King complements readers on their behavior, people are only there to enjoy each other and to clarify one's reality of normalcy. He says, â€Å"I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (King, line 1). Something worth noting i s that everybody is insane; what brings the difference amongst them is the degree of sanity. It is at this point that the severely insane part of society is acknowledgeable by those who have not expired at their hands, or otherwise. For instance, there are those capable of carving women, like in the case of Jack, â€Å"were the likes of Jack the Ripper, the Cleveland Torso Murderer, we clap you away in the funny farm (but

To live outside Essay Example for Free

To live outside Essay As I stand still in the traffic filled New York City Street attempting to crawl as if I were a turtle trying to cross the road, I begin to contemplate the true beauty of living in the city. It is now the month where everything should be glooming, pleasing, and living, however it is not. In the Waste Land by Thomas Sterns Eliot, he states, April is the cruellest month. This is a metaphor which in my situation reflects the truth. There are many reasons as to why people prefer to live outside of the city but work in the heart of it. I look forward and try to imagine what T.S. Eliot would think if he saw these city streets. In his book, the Waste Land, it is forced into our imagination that the world is dead; the earth is a waste land. He calls the city an Unreal City, making the reader think of the city that is referred to as a place worse than any nightmares can ever imagine. When imagining a city that I do not want to live in, first thing that comes to mind is a city thats always dirty and cold. If one was to analyze New York City, it can easily be found that most of the time it is cold; cold enough to need someone there with you if you do not have a home. Just as in the book you would read in the first story that you can only be kept warm in the winter with someone next to you. It is written, Winter kept us warm. It is also dirty to the extent that the street cleaning trucks that are made to clean the streets cannot handle the amount of filth the ground holds. The Waste Land takes on the degraded mess that Eliot considered modern culture to constitute, particularly after the First World War had ravaged Europe. April is the month that everything should be regenerating. Regeneration, though, is painful, for it brings back reminders of a more fertile and happier past. In the modern world, winter, the time of forgetfulness and numbness, is indeed preferable. Maries childhood recollections are also painful: the simple world of cousins, sledding, and coffee in the park has been replaced by a complex set of emotional and political consequences resulting from the war. The topic of memory, particularly when it involves remembering the dead, is of critical importance in The Waste Land. Memory creates a confrontation of the past with the present, a combination that points out just how badly things have  decayed. The final episode of the Waste Land allows Eliot to finally establish the true wasteland of the poem, the modern city. Eliots London references Baudelaires Paris (Unreal City), Dickenss London (the brown fog of a winter dawn) and Dantes hell (the flowing crowd of the dead). The city is desolate and depopulated, inhabited only by ghosts from the past. Stetson, the spirit of the speaker recognizes, is a fallen war comrade. The speaker pesters him with a series of ghoulish questions about a corpse buried in his garden: again, with the garden, we return to the theme of regeneration and fertility. This encounter can be read as a quest for a meaning behind the tremendous slaughter of the First World War; however, it can also be read as an exercise in ultimate futility: as we see in Stetsons failure to respond to the speakers inquiries, the dead offer few answers. The great respective weights of history, tradition, and the poets dead predecessors combine to create an oppressive burden. In conclusion, there are many reasons as to why people prefer to live outside of the city, yet work in the center of it. In the first episode of the Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, the city that is described is one that is regenerating because as it is beaten into your mind, the city is dead. Eliot speaks about the land and how dust filled it is and how nothing is alive. He then explains that everything is reviving, but that means that at the current time, after the First World War, everything is dead and life totally different then it was earlier. Even though he talks about the city and how unreal it is, he explains that Marie has recollections of sledding and family life. Usually family life and things like sledding are pastimes in a more countryside based area. Therefore, it is as if he is saying that city life is no longer good, while Marie remembers the good times she had sledding in the countryside. In the last episode, we, the readers, can see even more about how Eliot perceives the city. He refers to other stories to explain this city. He uses Dantes Hell as well as Dickenss London to explain the dead streets and the ghost roaming them. He uses a fallen soldier as the main character and shows  that the streets are full of ghost and no one living. If you would look at the city in the modern times, you can imagine people having nothing on their mind but work. They wander the city streets going nowhere but to their place of work, being worried of getting fired and not being human to the extent that they are forced to do something. It is if they are roaming the streets just like the ghosts, however, these people dont think that they are dead. Just like the saying goes, I come alive on the weekends. Then you can imagine that the soldiers that did return breathing would want to live in a place where it is peaceful and quiet. The countryside is where they would most likely find this. Therefore, it can be seen that the ghost or the workers work in the city, while the living stay home in the countryside.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Essay -- Poet Persuasive Argumentative Poet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A Fellow’s Long Worth How does one describe a poet when he has already described himself with his own words? Although Henry Wadsworth Longfellow isn’t popular, he is such a poet. As described by Arnold Bennett, Longfellow is "the chief minor poet of the English language." Among a harsh lineup of critics, however, they claimed he fell short of literary. This is quite the contrary. Longfellow attended Bowdoin college, near Portland, Maine where he was born and raised. The college offered him the newly formed position as chair of modern languages. "Two things are striking about this event: the informality of the academic approach to language studies and the obvious natural gift that Longfellow possessed" (Fuller 3). Traveling throughout Europe before settling into his new job (as well as during numerous trips after), Longfellow practically learned the languages by osmosis. He could speak splendid amounts of French, Spanish, Italian, German and some Scandinavian. After leaving Bowdoin, he later taught at Harvard University. At this time, his pen began to constantly scratch prose and poetry. After almost twenty years as a professor, Longfellow retired and devoted himself to his craft of poetry. After tasting random stanzas and meters of Longfellow’s work, it is easy to identify his tone: uplifting, positive and somewhat glowing. Along with his shorter pieces that evoke positive feelings, Longfellow also tells stories with his longer poetry. He used lyrical verses to describe, weave and introduce new characters or feelings. From the poem "The Skeleton in Armor" to "Paul Revere’s Ride," Longfellow opened up worlds with his words, whether as real as the Revolutionary War, or as mystic as Nordic my... ...t, overall, passion was underneath his skin. As he wrote in "Michael Angelo: A Fragment," "The fever to accomplish some great work that will not let us sleep. I must go on until I die." It is unfair that Longfellow isn’t praised more as an American poet, especially with a backpack heavy with accomplishments. His hike through the literary world was rugged, but his perseverance left readers with kind, unassuming meter and lyric. Works Cited Fuller, Edmund. Introduction. Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1967. 1-13. Untermeyer, Louis. Introduction. The American Poets: Longfellow. By Henry Wadwsworth Longfellow. New York: The Heritage Press, 1943. ix-xv. Wagenknecht, Edward. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: His Poetry and Prose. New York: The Ungar Publishing Company, 1986.

Monogamy Versus Polygamy and Other Forms of Marriage

â€Å"I believe in monogamy if that is what a couple decides upon together, but it all depends on the personal history and culture of the two involved. † -K. D. Lang. The traditional family system–a lifelong alliance of a man and a woman–has in the past served as an institution for mobilizing the economic, moral, and emotional resources needed to raise children, (Bergmann, 1996). In many cases, marital satisfaction is influenced by the husband’s supportiveness, maternal employment and the age of the husband. However, â€Å"a 50 percent divorce rate in the USA makes a mockery of the beautiful brides’ pictures that appear in newspapers across this nation. It suggests that America's belief in a lifetime monogamous marriage has degenerated into the mere acceptance of serial matrimony† (Miller, 1989). Roget’s Thesaurus defines monogamy as â€Å"a kind of marriage. † In other words, there are other kinds, and perhaps one of these might suit us a little better (Preston, 2011). Monogamy is the only form a legal marriage in Western society. Monogamy can mean marriage to only one person for a lifetime or, as is more common today, marriage to one person at a time, aka â€Å"serial monogamy. † Monogamy is usually between opposite sex couples, though same-sex monogamy is becoming legal in some states and countries, (Libertine, 2008). â€Å"Society expects marriages to be both, but studies that have shown that ten percent of babies are fathered by men other than their legal fathers indicate that the two don’t always go hand in hand; that while social monogamy might be ubiquitous, biological monogamy is not†, (Libertine, 2008). Monogamy can mean marriage to only one person for a lifetime or, as is more common today, marriage to one person at a time, aka â€Å"serial monogamy,† (Libertine, 2008). Monogamy is usually between opposite sex couples, though same-sex monogamy is becoming legal in some states and countries (Libertine, 2008). Monogamous marriage defined as sexually exclusive, though we must distinguish between social monogamy and biological monogamy. The assumption is that this has been the one â€Å"right† way to be married since ancient times, until threatened by the sexual revolution starting in the 1960s. According to a report released by the Census Bureau in October 2006, legally married heterosexual monogamous marriages are no longer the majority of American households, though various forms of marriage-clone relationships continue to flourish. Many other more popular types of marriages do exist. Polygamy, also known, as polygyny is either man or a woman can have more than one spouse. Polyandry, although much less common this is when one woman has several husbands. It has occurred in Tibet, Mongolia, the Canadian Arctic, South America, Nepal, Bhutan, among other places. Polyandry is especially suited to populations that have more males than females, which is perhaps why it is less common than polygyny, because females outnumber males in most societies. In all marriages, there are obligations and duties that the couples agree upon once entering into marriage. Pinning down the No. 1 duty of a spouse can be a tough call, but there is evidence that honest communication is the most important role a married person can play (Herrington). A 2005 study examined the relationships among communication, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction, demonstrated that communication and sexual satisfaction independently predict marital satisfaction, (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). However, the findings go on to say, â€Å"if couples have difficulty communicating but are sexually satisfied, they will experience greater marital satisfaction than if they have a less satisfying sexual relationship. † Thus, sexual satisfaction may partially compensate for the negative effects of poor communication on marital satisfaction (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). Herring also pointed out in her article the ever so important sharing of responsibilities. Studies revealed that when one partner feels family duties are shared equally, he is more likely to consider the marriage a happy one. This can prevent one spouse from feeling that he shoulders all of the burdens of life, which often leads to marital strife. Helping to absorb the stress of daily life helps couples feel their relationship is fair, and is an important obligation for married people (Herrington). Sharing responsibility is often connected to the sharing of financial responsibility. The role of economic forces in the development and operation of families, he suggests reasons why the development of nontraditional, non-nuclear families is congruent with economic laws, and why their development is to be expected, today and even predicted in the future (Westley, 1998). Well-known economist Gary Becker asserts â€Å"the primary motivating factor in human action is self-interest, an indisputable basis from which to begin†. Although most economists agree with this concept of human behavior as it relates to economics, Becker also understands how this same concept applies to marriages. People will marry when they think that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when single, and they divorce when they feel that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when married (Westley, 1998). The traditional family system has its advantages and disadvantages however, â€Å"whatever the character of society or state, polity or economy, religion or culture, parents cannot escape responsibility for the quality of their children as citizens† (Halsey, 1997).