Barca

Hannibal Barca is the most celebrated of this influential Punic Clan. He himself led the charge against the fledgling Roman Empire, marching from southern Spain, over the Pyrenees and through Gaul, to finally cross the Alps into Northern Italy. All with 30+ elephants. But few other members of the Clan are ever mentioned. Hamilcar, his father, Hasdrubal his brother in law and his brothers Hasdrubal and Mago.

Before Hannibal was even born, his father, Hamilcar, was deeply involved in the first of a string of wars to be later named, the Punic Wars. Hamilcar led the defense of Carthaginian Sicily and achieved succes in defending the western half of the island, only evacuating due to multiple Carthaginian loses at sea. So the 1st Punic war ends with Sicily lost, but Hamilcar keeps Carthage alive through the mercenary army rebellions. "In a savage campaign that lasted for three years (with no quarter on either side). Hamilcar finally brought the war to an end with the total destruction of the rebels." (Bradford)

Hamilcar is then sent westward and through the next few years campaigning lays the ground work for Carthaginian power in Southern Spain. Unfortunatly he is killed in 230 BCE and succeeded by Hasdrubal his son-in-law who completes the conquests south of the Ebro River. The territory is ruled by Hasdrubal who expains and calms it untill he is assasinated in 221 BCE.

After spending 16 years with the armies of Carthage in the field Hannibal takes command at the age of 26 and so begins the story of Hannibals march and the history that rocked the Roman world. But Hannibal was not the only Barca to invade Italy; in 207 Hasdruabal, the brother, crossed the Alps and invaded Italy, following the same path Hannibal took. Two years later the youngest, Mago, sails to Northwestern Italy and sacts the towns in the area.

Bradford, Ernie. Hannibal. New York: Dorset, 1991. Print.

Alexander The Great

Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) is known to be one of the most famous conquerors at all time. Yet he did so much when he was so young. Born to King Phillip of Macedonia and Queen Olympia, Alexander was tutored by none other than Aristotle. Taught with other children, Alexander met his long time best friend, Hephastion. When King Phillip left Macdonia to fight rebels however, Alexander was left in charge of Macedonia, being only 16 years old. I can hardly imagine ruling one of the most (if not the most) powerful country in euro-asia, only being 16 years old. Seems pretty intense to me.

Alexander and his father never got along quite well. When Phillip divorced Olympia, Alexander left. He was allowed to come back, but he did not until Phillip was murdered (some expected Olympia was behind the assassination). Upon the death of Phillip, Alexander became King, at only 20 years of age. It's hard to imagine someone to become King who might just be getting into their college years. He had previous experience though, temporary ruling when he was 16, so that was definitely an advantage. But it also had its disadvantages: Greek cities, such as Athens and Thebes, who were content on serving Phillip, were not as comfortable being under the command of a 20 year old boy. 

Alexander continued to rule over the area, conquering Egypt, where the citizens voluntarily made him Pharoah as well as India, where he met one of his greatest battles where his horse died. Gretly upset, Alexanxder named a city after his horse, Bucephalus. He evntually died, a most mysterious death, with new theories how he gotten ill coming out periodically. He was 33 when he died, without naming a successor which eventually caused the ending of the Macedonian empire.

Alexander has always piqued my interest since he accomplished so much, much of it at quite a young age. If he hadn't died at such an early age, who knows what he might have accomplished that could have perhaps prevented the collapse of the Macedonian empire. His story is somewhat a sad one; not getting along with his father, not achieving fatherhood himself and having so much potential, yet having it taken by death. But in his short life, he left a legacy that is globally known, which reminds us to do as much as we can with the time that is given to us. If we do this, we might just get to be the next Great. 

Thanks for reading!

Information obtained through: http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.the.great.html

The Life of a Buddha

There are times in life that we all wish we could make the world stop spinning, change our course of action, and live an entirely new life. While sitting in class yesterday we discussed a few different ideas of how people should live their lives. One prince, Siddhartha Gautama, did in fact completley turn his life around and when he was finished becoming the person he sought out to be, he attempted to help others change their own.

Siddhartha Gautama was born into royalty and just a few days after birth his entire world was decided by one holy man. This man proposed two different paths that Siddhartha's life could take him. The first one being a great military conqueror and the second being a great spiritual leader. His father quickly decided on the first option and placed him in a palace where he would live a life of luxury and never experience the "real" world.

When the Prince became old enough to realize that there was a life outside of beauty and riches, he left to experience what was beyond the walls that confined him. What he found amongst his very own city was old age, sickness, and death. These realizations of the world that he had been taken from created an unsettling emotion inside of him.

He cut his hair, changed his clothes, and began a quest of enlightenment soon after he realized the life of the rich was not for him. Along his journey he first attempted the polar opposite of his earlier life, physical discipline and pain. He quickly realized that there must be a place in the middle of these two extremes.

As he settled into meditation underneath what is now known as the Bodhi Tree, his mind fought battles with the demon of destruction. He refused to let his guards down and in the end became one with the land. After his defeat of the demon he realized that he had found englightenment and became a Buddha.

After this change, he was reluctant to teach the people around him what he now knew. This was because he was positive that they would not understand his method nor would they comprehend what he was truly trying to teach them. When compassion overcame him he preached his first sermon, which focused on the four noble truths:

1. The truth of suffering (dukkha)
2. The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
3. The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
4. The truth of that path that frees us from suffering (magga)

http://buddhism.about.com/od/thefournobletruths/a/fournobletruths.htm

After this sermon, Siddhartha Gautama became an inspiring teacher with hundreds of followers eager to become enlightened themselves. Before his death at age eighty his final words to his followers were:

"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."

http://buddhism.about.com/od/lifeofthebuddha/a/buddhalife.htm

The prince, Siddhartha Gautama, was just one of many men to provide the people with their ideas on how life should be lived. Even though each idea had several different aspects, they were all extremely important to the people of that time. Their ideas were not kept to themselves or to the royalty, but instead brought out to the people, with teachers and sermon's, to help them come together and to become better as a whole.

Daoism

Since we talked about it in class a little bit today, I wanted to blog about Daoism. I first learned about Daoism last year in my philosophy class and to be completely honest, it seems crazy to me! To start with some backround information, Daoism is when people pretty much just go with the flow, but with every aspect of their lives. Laozi (also known as Lao-Tzu) was the main person tied to this way of life. These people follow the Dao, or “the Way” to become one with nature. “One should endeavor to do nothing (wu-wei). But what does this mean? It means not to literally do nothing, but to discern and follow the natural forces -- to follow and shape the flow of events and not to pit oneself against the natural order of things” (http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/lao.html). As said in lecture, they devout all of their time and energy into reflection. In my opinion, this seems like people are not living their life at all! It would probably be relaxing for a day or so to pretty much do nothing, but not for my entire life. Does anyone else think they could follow this way of life?