Ramses II is considered to be one of the greatest Egyptian pharaohs of all time, earning him the moniker Ramses the Great. He lived somewhere in between 1303 BC and 1213 BC, ruling from 1290 to 1224 BC during the New Kingdom. Ramses II’s grandfather, Ramses I, was the one who had “elevated their commoner family to the ranks of royalty through his military prowess” (National Geographic). His father, Seti I, ensured Egyptian’s prosperity by opening many mines and quarries. Although Ramses is most well-known for his building endeavors, he was also the first ruler to take part in a peace treaty whose record has survived. Many believe that Ramses was a good and effective ruler. Ramses influenced many aspects of Egypt, including its geography, religion, achievements, politics, economy, and social structure. Consequently, some of these categories also had an influence on Ramses. To say that Ramses changed Egypt’s geography would not be fully accurate. Rather, he added to its geography, quite literally. Ramses had conquered Canaan and the Israelites, but was constantly threatened by the formidable Hittites. In his early days, much of his rule was defending the Hittite-Egyptian border. This problem plagued him for several years before he finally negotiated a treaty with the Hitties, which happened to be the first peace treaty that historians know about. Besides his military prowess, Ramses is also known for his building projects. The most notable of these include his temple and Abu Simbel and Karnak, which happen to be located on the bank of the auspicious Nile River. This is most likely due to the fact that the Nile provided easy transportation of building materials and workers to and fro. Ramses also used historically legendary locations to his advantage; he built the city Per-Ramesses next to the city Avaris, a historically well-known city. Because this city was already known by many and had a strong reputation, Ramses further established his own repute among his subjects. However, his building endeavors were not carried out with only himself in mind. Ramses’ building projects were often influenced by his religious beliefs: most of his buildings were temples, including the ones at Abu Simbel and Karnak. What’s more impressive is that these temples are relatively unscathed (besides Abu Simbel, which had to be relocated to higher ground because of a flood). Most of these temples were dedicated to the sun god Ra, whom Ramses identified with. As an example, Abu Simbel was dedicated to Amun-Ra, a god that was a combination of Amun, another popular deity, and Ra. Besides gods, Ramses also built temples in honor of himself and his favorite wife, Nefertari (not to be confused with the more famous Nefertiti). The influence of religion on Ramses is also evident in his military campaigns. During his most famous Battle of Kadesh, he named his divisions after four major Egyptian gods: Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seth. Although Ramses isn’t known for being a particularly pacifist pharaoh, he is known for his skill in negotiating. As mentioned earlier, he signed the first known peace treaty in history with the Hittites, which was a result of several years of negotiation. He then went further and married the Hittite king’s daughter to establish a gesture of goodwill toward his past enemies. The peace that Ramses established increased his appreciation from his subjects, and seeing that he wasn’t murdered during his 66 years of reign, he must have done his job well. However, biblical texts also paint a picture of him as notorious for relentlessly enslaving the Israelites and not letting them go. Ramses II influenced Egypt in a way unparalleled by any pharaoh before or after. He conquered land and defended it; he built buildings that are still standing; he won a battle with smaller numbers; everything about him is impressive. As a result of his legendary status, many pharaohs to come remembered him by taking the name Ramses; a fitting way to preserve the legacy of the incredible ruler of Egypt. –
Spartan Education
Sparta’s ruthless education may have been controversial, but it made them into one of the most battle-hardened city-states to ever walk the earth. The Spartans’ notoriously tough education allowed them to become one of the largest military powers of their time, even though their population was relatively small. Although Spartan education was brutal by modern standards, the system was extremely beneficial to the country and its survival. The strengths of Spartan education did outweigh the weaknesses for three reasons: it provided physical training, training of mentality, and important life skills. The brutality of Spartan education forced young Spartan boys to become tougher, and didn’t leave room any slack. The most obvious example of this is the harsh conditions young Spartan boys were forced to put up with. These conditions forced members of the agoge to either adapt and harden themselves, or die. In addition, Spartan boys were not provided with much, and had to live through the year with only 1 garment and scarce amounts of food. Finally, girls were not exempt from physical training, because Spartans believed that strong parents produced strong offspring. All of these aspects of Spartan education kept young children extremely fit and in shape, and also helped them adapt to tough conditions. These skills would be incredibly valuable once they moved on to become adults. Although the Spartans were mainly focused on physical dominance, they were also taught to have a tough mentality. The scarce amount of resources provided to young Spartans prevented them from becoming spoiled, which would prepare them better for adult life. Discipline and obedience were also important concepts taught at the agoge. Finally, young Spartan boys were taught to show respect to those who deserved it; namely, men who were older than them. Oftentimes, people are easily hurt or influenced by words and peer pressure among many other forms of non-physical forms of influence, but the Spartans were trained to withstand the effect of these kinds of situations. Finally, Spartan education taught young Spartans many important life skills. As mentioned earlier, Spartans were almost always being trained to survive under harsh conditions, which made them more resilient and able to withstand pain in the future. Also, because they were only allowed one garment throughout the whole year, they were taught to easily adapt to any type of weather. They were also taught to read and write, but, because this was purely for practical reasons, they were effectively prevented from wasting time reading and writing non-essential text, which gave them more time to focus on more important tasks at hand. These aspects of Spartan education kept Spartans both effective and resilient, and provided great boons to their lives in the future. It is true that Spartan education had some weaknesses when it came to the harshness it exhibited on young children. However, the three reasons presented above – that Spartan education provided both physical and mental training, in addition to important life skills – show that, in the end, the strengths of Spartan education outweighed its weaknesses.
What is the Stock Market?
When you hear the words “stock market,” it sounds like a frightening mess that is impossible to make sense of. Bears, bulls, short, call options, IPO–what do all of these things mean? What is the point of the stock market? What is a stock anyway? Who is buying and who is selling? All of this may seem confusing, but in truth, the stock market is based on two fundamental principles: buy it low, sell it high, or sell it high, and buy it low. With that in mind, let’s dive in! What is Stock? Succinctly, a common stock is a share of a company (which is why stocks are also called shares). For example, if a company had one million shares, and you bought one share, you would own one millionth of a company. Another type of stock is preferred stock, which is less volatile (i.e. less likely to vary a lot in price) than common stock and has higher priority than common stock when paying dividends. Even though preferred stocks do not include voting rights, it still signifies ownership of a part of the company. So what does this ownership mean? Voting rights (only common stock): you get to decide on company matters. This is why shares are actually very important in companies; the more shares you have, the more decision-making power you have. This is why it is recommended for one person in a private company (typically the CEO) to hold at least 51% of the shares, so that decision-making can be faster and more streamlined. Dividends: There are two kinds of stocks, and each pays a different dividend (i.e. a part of the company profit). Common stock is not guaranteed a dividend–every quarter, the company can choose if they want to pay a dividend or not. Preferred stock, however, must pay a dividend every month or quarter. However, dividends are often not a reliable way to make money fast, especially with common stock. The most common use of stock is to buy it at a low price, say $10, then sell it at $30. While this kind of price increase is highly unlikely (Apple stock only increased about 130% over the course of the past year), assuming it were to happen, you would turn a profit of $20. The hard part is predicting whether the stock will rise or fall. A company first sells stock during its IPO, which is the first time the company allows the public to acquire shares. This is known as the primary market. There are multiple motives behind this: To raise money. Billions of dollars can be raised at IPOs. To allow public ownership. Going forward, the company must satisfy popular demand, and there is no easier way to do that than allowing the public to get a say in company matters. Buy or Sell? So when should you buy, and when should you sell? If you believe a stock’s price will go up, you should buy the stock as soon as possible. For example, if you believe the stock price will increase from $10 to $20, you probably want to buy it when it still costs $10, rather than wait for it to increase to $15, to maximize profit. You should sell when you think the price will go down. For example, say you bought this stock at $10, and it has now reached $20 but is predicted to drop down to $15. In order to maximize profit, you should try to sell it at the highest price ($20) rather than a lower price ($15). Of course, it is hard to predict price increase and decrease. Here’s a simple guide on how to get a relatively good idea on what the price of the stock will look like in the future: How is this company doing? If it’s suffering a lawsuit, for example, less people will be likely to give this company money or buy its products and earnings will be reduced, thus driving down the stock price. Are they going to have any new sources of revenue in the near future? I remember Intel stock dropped because they had delayed the release of their new computer chip. Many people sold their stocks on that day, driving down the price by a lot (about 17%). What is its potential for growth? Is it already a mature company that won’t grow rapidly anymore? Or is it likely to develop in the future? Do a SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Look at current stock trends (i.e. stock price over past year, global economy performance, industry performance, national economy performance). Another thing to keep in mind (this part is fully my opinion): the more money you invest, the shorter you should keep it in the stock market. Why? Imagine you invest $200 in the stock market. Over the course of half a year, the stock grows by 5%, and at the end of the year, it increases by 10%. If you had sold your stock in the middle of the year, you would have earned $10. But if you wanted to make $10 when only investing $100, you would have to wait until the end of the year. So what’s the downside of investing more? Well, if the price dipped by 10% instead at the end of the year, if you had invested $200, you would be losing $10. On the contrary, if you have invested $100, you would only be losing $5. Hence, keeping a lot of money in the stock market at once can be dangerous, and it is usually a better idea to sell stock at first gain, in my opinion. Advanced: Call Options, Margin Accounts Earlier, I said a way to make money in the stock market was to buy low and sell high. But what about selling high, then buying low? At first, this seems absurd: how can you sell stock without buying it first? It turns out, this can be accomplished with something called a margin
