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It would be easy to discuss many of the ancient Greeks inventions that took place which were associated with warfare. Almost everybody is aware of the fact that Alexander the Great and his conquests were some of the most renowned throughout all history. In just a short period of time, he and his army overtook most of the then known world and if his life would not have been cut short, he would have continued his conquests. There were, no doubt, many ancient Greek inventions which helped to make his conquests successful. The one invention that I will discuss, however, is the canon.  It is thought that they were one of the first to use a Canon although it did not use gunpowder. By using compressed air, these canons were able to hurl a projectile over long distances.  One well-known ancient Greek invention is the Antikythera mechanism. Believe it or not, this was a type of calculator that is thought to have been invented some 2000 years ago. As a matter of fact, many people consider this to be the world's first computer, although it was nothing like the computers that we see today. Through the use of a complex system of gears, it was able to calculate the relative positions of the sun, moon and stars whenever a date was entered. This is one of the ancient Greeks inventions that was truly far ahead of its time. The ancient Greeks were also well known for their work that took place under water. Aristotle first described this type of contraption some 2400 years ago. It is thought that this is one of the ancient Greeks inventions that was used in order to salvage the floor of the ocean for various items. It is unknown what other applications this ancient Greek invention had but it was ingenious that they were able to come up with the concept.  Another one of the ancient Greek inventions that is rather interesting is that of the shower. Although nothing was known about germs at that particular time, the Greeks thought that it was a healthful practice to wash the body with water. The fact that there were showers during this time period is recorded in various art murals that have been excavated . It is hard to know what other ancient Greeks inventions were in existence during that time. One thing's for certain, they were a society that was rather enlightened and well ahead of their time. Perhaps with some more archaeology work on our part, we may be able to discover that they were behind some other ingenious ideas as well.

Many of Alexander's accomplishments were made possible by his father, Philip of Macedon.

In 338 B.C.E., King Philip of Macedon invaded and conquered the Greek city-states. Philip took advantage of the fact that the Greek city-states were divided by years of squabbling and infighting. Philip succeeded in doing what years of fighting between city-states had not done. He united Greece.

Alexander's the Great's tutor was the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

For years, the massive Persian Empire threatened the very existence of the Greek way of life

Alexander, took the throne in 336 B.C.E., he vowed to complete the plans of his father. In 334 B.C.E., Alexander invaded Persia, which lay across the Aegean Sea in Asia Minor

Alexander smashed the Persian armies at the Tigris River and conquered the mighty Persian Empire, including the legendary city of Babylon. For many Greeks, this victory marked a moment of sweet revenge against a bitter foe

at the age of 25, Alexander ruled an expansive empire

Alexander conquered Egypt and founded a city at the mouth of the Nile River.

ntil he reached India and the Indus River in 326 B.C.E. At this point, his exhausted troops refused to fight further.

Without the support of his army, Alexander had no choice but to turn back and begin consolidating and organizing his far-flung empire. On his way home, Alexander died from disease in 323 B.C.E.

First, his father was able to unite the Greek city-states, and Alexander destroyed the Persian Empire forever. More importantly, Alexander's conquests spread Greek culture, also known as Hellenism, across his empire.

Without Alexander's ambition, Greek ideas and culture might well have remained confined to Greece.

in 13 short years he amassed the largest empire in the entire ancient world

Alexander's reign marked the beginning of a new era known as the Hellenistic Age

Equals were the soldiers who reached thirtieth age, but if any soldier who disgraced himself in any way was risked not becoming an equal.

They were granted expanded rights and allowed to participate in politics

the military and the city state were the center of every Spartan citizen’s life

place where travelers could stay during

helped to feed the poor, take care of the sick, and provided education to boys in the local community.

day in the Middle Ages was spent praying, worshiping in church, reading the Bible, and meditating.

different jobs depending on their talents and interests.

Abbot - The Abbot was the head of the monastery or abbey.

A part of this vow was that they were dedicating their life to the monastery and the order of monks they were entering.

They were to give up worldly goods and devote their lives to God and discipline. They also took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Monks and nuns were generally the most educated people during the Middle Ages. They spent much of their day in silence.

A scribe may spend over a year copying a long book like the Bible.

An army of life-size clay warriors famously guards the city-sized tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 B.C. The main burial chamber of Qin Shi Huang has yet to be excavated, but according to legend, it has rivers of mercury and a ceiling encrusted with gems. Archaeologists recently found the emperor's palace complex at the site near the city of Xi'an.

taking part in this, believers symbolically shared in the victory paid for – and won by - Christ over the power of sin (known as the atonement).

Celebrating mass

Everyone

sermons that people learnt Bible

few laypeople had direct access to the text of the Bible.

Sermons had several functions:

The idea of purgatory was based on the obvious fact that most people are neither extremely good nor extremely evil.

To educate people about the Christian faith and the Church’s rituals and practices To make known the contents of the Bible, the Church’s interpretations of the Bible, and also the lives of saints To help people understand the system of confession and to prepare for their confession to their parish priest in a careful way To explain about sin and virtues.

Venial sins were relatively small faults and shortcomings. The individual could confess these privately to God Mortal, or ‘deadly’, sins were wrong acts committed consciously and deliberately. They therefore placed the soul in serious danger and the Church taught that, in normal circumstances, they could only be forgiven through the sacrament of penance and by confession to a priest.

believed that being too absorbed in the life of the body and material things was bad for the soul.

The simple food monks and nuns were supposed to keep to The regular fasting periods that all Christians observed during the Church year.

repentance means the person wants to turn away from undertaking wrong behaviour and actively decides to do so henceforward.

The priest would hear the confession and talk to the penitent to ascertain that they truly repented and resolved to do better in future. The priest then pronounced absolution, declaring that Christ forgave the sins of the truly repentant.

Penance  This means an action which demonstrates that someone has repented of their sins. The priest might order a penitent, for example, to do one of the following for a period: Go on pilgrimage Fast (abstain from food) Donate alms to the Church or the poor.

knowledge of the Christian faith came, above all, from preaching and teaching, week by week from parish priests.

people,

would not go straight to heaven after death either. Instead, they would spend a period in the spiritual state of purgatory where they could ‘pay for’ / atone for sins committed on earth

It was believed that, whilst still alive, people could undertake deeds that would speed either themselves (in the future) or a dead friend or relative through this process

the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires “both strength of mind and body.”

resign on Feb. 28 because he was simply too infirm to carry on — the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415

Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March,

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote in the conclave, the secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals cast ballots to elect a new pope. As per tradition, the ballots are burned after each voting round; black smoke that snakes out of the chimney means no pope has been chosen, while white smoke means a pope has been elected.