Austin Buschbacher

HIST134

Professor Lark

June17th, 2017

Portfolio Reflection

Looking back on all of the amazing things that I learned throughout the entire

History 134 course, many things about the ancient civilizations and cultures stuck with

me that seemed to influence the way that things are operated today and we would not be

where we are today without them. The biggest thing that interested me throughout the

whole thing was how the ancient political systems and governments worked, involving

some of the greatest leaders and some of the worst as well. With that being said, the focus

of this document will be on how the politics/bureaucracy of many ancient civilizations

have influenced not only me, but the entire world government as we know it.

First off, I would like to look all the way back the ancient Mycenean civilization.

The Myceneans were one of the very first successful and well ran civilizations that had

many traditional and cultural things such as a specific belief system, a followed religion,

and government leadership. One of the most influential leaders to come from this period

of time was Agamemnon around 1200 BCE. This leader is said to be the son of the great

Atreus, and according to an article from module 5, he is believed to have been not only

king of Mycenae, but of all of the Archaean Greeks and leader of their expedition to Troy

to recapture Helen (Cartwright). Putting that into perspective, Agamemnon was

someone that his people could look up to and see as a great leader, which is what many

people in todays modern society want in a government official. Also from that quote, he
ruled over many people, not just simply the Myceneans, which broadened his capabilities

and made him more powerful. Going back to the subject of our current society, we do not

have any world leaders that rule more than one country, but there are definitely some that

have more power than others, and I think that this ancient civilization created some form

of a shape of what current government is.

Another great society of people that we learned about that greatly impacted that

way that we operate our political systems was the ancient Roman Empire and Republican

Rome. One of the most influential leaders of Rome was Augustus. Augustus is said to be

the first actual emperor of Rome and he is the one to begin the foundation of an

expanding civilization that would grow to be one of the biggest in history. After reading

about Augustus, he seemed like he was a leader that cared for the people he ruled upon

and he always wanted nothing but the best for Rome. According to an article out of the E-

Text from module 8 that was written about Republican Rome, Augustus also had rebuilt

most of the older parts of the Roman state and developed new networks of roads,

conducted new structures, he established a police and fire-fighting service for his people,

built up the military, and even reformed the Roman tax system. This goes to show that

many of the accomplishments back then are very similar to what we face today. Even in

many of our current elections, almost every candidate no matter what party they are

affiliated with makes promises about rebuilding old into new, managing infrastructure

and reforming old policies. To me, that is very interesting to see how many similarities

there actually are between back then and right now.

The last great leader that I wanted to talk about is one that we learned about in

module 6, and he is Alexander the Great. He was so powerful that he had defeated the
Persians which was one of the strongest civilizations in the world at the time and had

overthrown the king, resulting in a takeover of the Archaemenid Empire. He had

expanded his empire so much, that he founded over twenty cities and had so many

settlements and citizens that it resulted in forming a new type of Hellenistic civilization.

The Wikipedia article that is linked into the Module 7 of the E-text goes into great detail

about how successful he actually was and how his powers affected every other

civilization. With all that in mind, he was a very powerful and well-respected leader

which is what many of our politicians strive for on the global stage in current times.

Every leader wants their nation to be the best and they want to be the best possible leader

they can be, which is what Alexander the Great wanted as well.

For myself, I think that looking at the article called What Can History Teach Us

Today? under module 13, we can learn a great deal about what our ancestors and other

ancient people have accomplished and learn from their successes and mistakes, no matter

what the circumstances were regarding the people involved including different cultures

and religion. There is a part of the article from module 13 that says it best, Additionally,

the study of history can encapsulate perspectives from different groups, genders, or

classes who may have varying views of the events that have unfolded in the past, and it

can provide a platform for authentic discussion, compromise, and empathytraits that

are the basic ingredients for active citizenship in a complex and ever-changing world

(Postma). That sums up a great way of thinking about how ancient politics and

government has influenced what we see today throughout the modern world and

Agamemnon, Augustus, and Alexander the Great played major roles in that.
 Works Cited

"Alexander the Great." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 June 2017. Web. 18 June

2017.

Alexander the Great (Alexander of Macedon) Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2017.

Cartwright, Mark. "Mycenae." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 02 Sept. 2009. Web.

18 June 2017.

"Emperor Augustus." Roman-Empire. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2017.

Kamm, Antony. "The Romans." The Classics Pages: Antony Kamm's 'The Romans': 3.2

Augustus. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2017.

Postma, Michael. "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22 - What Can

History Teach Us Today? N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2017.