After finishing the article on the reconstruction and restoration of Notre Dame I believe that the church should be rebuilt with a mixture of historical and modern methods. Since the restoration of Notre Dame has already attracted many donations, within days of the fire being put out an estimated $1 billion dollars has been pledged to the church’s restoration. The money that has pledged could go to supporting the dying art of stonemasonry while also giving those who still practice it, in France, a big contract and a chance to help restore one of their countries oldest landmark. The stonemasons would restore the church in the traditional style, using specially treated stones that are fire resistant. The reconstruction would be assisted by modern machinery to help speed up the process.
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Olando Alexis – How would You Rebuild A Gothic Church?
After the unexpected and horrible fire of Paris’s Cathedral of Notre Dame on April 15th 2019, there has been an ongoing argument on how the destroyed cathedral should be rebuilt. Also, after reading the the article and hearing opinions on both sides, I honestly believe that the cathedral should be rebuilt back to its original form. Since the original way the building was built would probably be hard or difficult to replicate, I believe that they should try to replicate the important aspects of it such as the roof and the walls. I also believe that they should also insert some modern construction so that the building could be stronger and be able to handle or prevent disasters such as another fire.
HW2: How Would You Rebuild a Gothic Church?
After reading the article and hearing opinions from both sides, I think the Notre Dame should be rebuilt the same way. This is due to the fact that if the fire had never happened, there would be no need to change it. No one was thinking of changing it before hand because the design and architecture became apart of Paris’ culture, history, and a religion. It should be rebuilt with the same design as before but the way it’s rebuilt should be updated to make it more sturdy and safe. This would help prevent another tragedy like this from happening.
HW2: How Would You Rebuild a Gothic Church?
On April 15, 2019, a massive fire broke out in Paris’s Cathedral of Notre Dame. Immortalized in Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, this church is considered by many to be the spiritual heart of the nation of France. The destructive fire ravaged the roof of the building and toppled the steeple, but the relics (such as the objects of religious veneration that we studied in class) were saved. The project to restore the church has begun but there is much debate over how it should be rebuilt. Should the French rebuild a Gothic church? or should they build a modern one? Listen and look at the photos of some ideas for the rebuilding of Notre Dame on NPR (https://tinyurl.com/yxe4xmhc).
Write a 100-word post sharing your thoughts on the rebuilding of this Gothic church. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR POSTS BY MONDAY November 18 Midnight (Same DUE DATE as your in-class powerpoint presentation of the 4-icons assignment)
HW1#: How Evil was Commodus? – by Garnet Garcia
It was rather difficult to make it through most of the article, mainly because the things this man did was so unfathomably gruesome that I had to stop every now and then just to stomach what I had read. Is it the worst behavior I’ve ever seen? Probably not; I’ve seen similar displayed in movies and shows that aim to either reflect or exaggerate behaviors such as this one. However, there is something jarring about reading this as the behavior of an actual human being who lived as opposed to just watching some actor play out a character in Game of Thrones or Gladiator.
Vile is an accurate description, but the word that came to mind for me more often was deranged. It was said in class that he was not the worst of the emperors. That’s actually terrifying. There’s something exceedingly childish about his behavior; it’s as if someone gave a sociopathic 10-year-old all the power in the world and let him do what he pleased. The child has no conscious and only knows his selfish desires no matter how inhumane or insane. It says there was no respect for anyone no matter the ability or status, which means no matter who you were or what you did, you could easily be his next victim.
Sabiha Begum: How evil was Commodus?
The picture of this sculpture is a bust of Roman Emperor Commodus, styled as if he were similar to Hercules. Lucius Aurelius Commodus, born 161 A.D was a Roman emperor who ruled along with his father Marcus Aurelius and after the death of his father in 177 A.D. Based on the reading in Life of Commodus in Lampridius’s biography, at his young age Commodus is portrayed first just as a typical spoiled dishonorable, and cruel and lewd individual. In his biography, he portrayed the first act of his cruelty when his bath was drawn too cool, he ordered the bathkeeper to be cast into the furnace. Following this, there are many examples that prove that Commodus was indeed an evil and unbelievably wicked emperor. According to Historia Augusta, Commodus pretended that he was going to Africa, so that he could get funds for the journey, then spent them on banquets and gaming instead. “He allowed statues of himself to be erected with the accoutrements of Hercules and sacrifices were performed to him as to a god”. He disgraced every class of men in his company and was disgraced in turn by them. For fun, he would do despicable things such as placing a starling bird on a head of one man who had a few white hairs, resembling worms, and caused his head to fester through the continual pecking of the bird’s beak. He would murder many people, just because of the fact that they were handsome, pluck out the eye or cut off the foot of many others. It is also claimed that he often mixed human excrement with the most expensive foods, and he did not refrain others from tasting them.
Jeron Ryan: How Evil was Commodus
Commodus as expressed in the Historia of Augusta was a highly offensive, morally debased individual. In the biography he is depicted as an emperor who abused his power. In the bust of Commodus, he is shown with what appears to be a club in his right hand, along with fruits (probably apples) in his left hand. Commodus was a very violent person and thoroughly enjoyed observing and take part in gladiator matches. This might be why he has the weapon in his right hand. Also, in the bust, Commodus has the remains of a lion on top of his head with the lion’s paws wrapped around his shoulders. I believe that this was done to portray a level of fierceness, power, and respect. Besides being an extremely vile individual, Commodus seemed to be very narcissistic and absorbed with himself. He really wanted to be seen as Hercules and also had the names of months changed in order to honor himself. I also gather the sense that Commodus was an extremely sadistic person. In the biography is says that he placed a starling on top of the head of a man that he noticed had a few white hairs amongst the black which resembled worms. This in turn caused the bird to continually peck at the man’s head, causing much pain and discomfort. Commodus’ bust also has a defined, muscular build, demonstrating strength and authority. This bust commemorates one of the many emperors whom abused their position of power.
Anjie S: How Evil was Commodus?
The Bust of Commodus as Hercules portrait portrays Commodus as a very powerful and authoritative figure. His head and chest are encompassed with the skin of a lion perhaps as a symbol of protection by such a fierce animal. He has a club in his hand that was most likely used to scold or reprimand those who did not abide by his rule. In his left hand he has some golden apples which symbolize immortality. This is especially significant because Commodus thought he was the reincarnated Hercules, a divine Roman hero who was also the son of Zeus. Upon reading Lampridus's biography, I learned that Commodus wasn't at all what he was portrayed to be. He was a very vile man that abused his power and went on senseless killing sprees. He was a complete lunatic who even went as far as renaming certain months such as September to Hercules and insisting that his flatterers refer to them as their new names. The biography even stated "Even as a  child he was gluttonous and lewd. While a youth, he disgraced every class of men in his company and was disgraced in turn by them. Whosoever ridiculed him he cast to the wild beasts." It is clear that violence and anger took over Commodus's life and spoke to his soul.He thrived on being destructive.
