The 6 Powerful Julii Women + 1 Extra

A while ago I was researching ancient Rome and the powerful men that ruled their nation. While I was researching these men I found that each family has a bunch of powerful women in it as well. One family peeked my interest. They were the Julii. Yes... The powerful women that were related to Julius Caesar. There are 6 women that stood out.

1.  Julia Cornelia, she was the wife the powerful consul and general Cornelius Sulla. She is Julius Caesar's Cousin on his father's side of the family.
2. Julia, She was the wife of Gaius Marius. He was a powerful general and consul of Rome 7 times. Julia was Caesar's aunt.
3. Julia Antonia, She was the mother of Mark Antony. She was also another cousin of Caesar's.
4. Julia Major, She was one of the older sisters of Caesar's. Little is written about her.
5. Julia Minor, She was the grandmother of the future Emperor Augustus.
6. Julia Pompeia, She was the daughter of Julius Caesar. She was married to Pompey the Great. He was a powerful consul, general and conqueror.

There was one other powerful woman in the Julii family. Her name was Aurelia Cotta. She was the mother of Julius Caesar. She was a huge influence in Caesar's life and later raised Caesar's daughter. I found a few pictures. The first picture is of Caesar's mother and the last one is of Caesar's daughter.

Haakon the Crazy... Fierce Not Insane

While I was looking into Eric the Memorable I found another interesting character. His name is Haakon the Crazy. That is one interesting name. Not a lot of people in history have the nickname of Crazy and not be insane. You heard that correctly, he was not insane. Let him tell you what I found out about Haakon the Crazy. He was a Jarl in Norway during the Civil War Era in Norway (1130-1240). He was born in the 1170s and dies in 1214 CE. He controlled a good chuck of Western Norway. He served and fought under several kings. Those included: King Sverre, Magnus V and Guttorm. He got his nickname by being fierce in battle, which can be translated as frenzied, furious or crazy. Other then that there really not a lot of info in this guy. I could not find a picture of Haakon, but I did find a photo of a painting depicting a famous story from the Civil War Era in Norway.

The Unmemorable Eric the Memorable

Eric the Memorable... You would think with a name like that people would remember who he was. That is not the case with Eric II of Denmark. Most historians can not find a thing on why people should remember this king. I will tell you what I have found. He was born around 1090 CE and died in 1137 CE. He ruled Denmark from 1134 to 1137 CE. He gave land and titles to his followers to keep them happy. He went on a Crusade to Rugen Island in the Baltic Sea in 1136 CE. He was killed by an upset noble in 1137 CE. His nephew Eric III was elected to replace him. Here is one of the only pictures I could find of Eric the Memorable.

BC/AD VS. BCE/CE

Someone asked me what is the difference between BC/AD and BCE/CE. Well BC is short for Before Christ. AD is short for Anno Domini which is Latin for Year of Our Lord. BCE is short Before the Common Era. CE is short for Common Era. AD and CE are used to show dates that happened after year 1 or the birth of Jesus. CE and BCE are used to show dates that happened before year 1. Here are a few examples: 453 BC, 33BCE, 1453 AD and 1988 CE. Other then the religious side of the two systems they are the same. So... it is just which system you want to use. I found a few pictures of the people who promoted these two systems. The first picture is a photo of a statue of Charlemagne. He made the people of his kingdom use BC/AD. The second picture is of Johannes Kelper. He tried to get the BCE/CE system installed in Europe and the BC/AD system removed or replaced.

From Constantinople to Istanbul

A friend of mine asked me the other day about the cities of Constantinople and Istanbul. He wanted to know about the name change. I told him that the city was also called Byzantium. The early Greeks settled there and called their city Byzantium. The city kept this name from 657 BCE to 330 CE. The city was later taken over by the Romans and a later Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great changed the name of the city to Constantinople, in honor of himself. The city kept this name from 330 CE until 1453 CE. In 1453 the Ottoman Turks captured the city and yet again changed the name of the city to Istanbul and till this day the city is called Istanbul. So... I told my friend an easy way to remember all of the changes: Byzantium is Greek, Constantinople is Roman and Istanbul is Turkish. I have also found a couple of maps. One is a map of the Roman city of Constantinople and the second is of Istanbul in modern Turkey.

The Last Battleship

While I was researching the South American battleships I found one that peeked my interest. The HMS Vanguard was the ship that I found. It is called the last Battleship. She was commissioned in 1940 and served the United Kingdom until 1960. The ship was constructed too late to see service in WWII. She was the biggest and fastest battleship that the Royal Navy had in it's service. the Vanguard served mostly as a royal yacht for the British royal family. The ship was also in films, one was Sink the Bismarck! in 1960. The ship played the roles of Bismarck, Hood and the King George V. Out of all of battleships from that era the Vanguard had one of shortest careers in naval history. I found a few pictures online of the HMS Vanguard.

Red, White or Black Russians

Over the years I have been asked if I knew what the difference between a Red, White and Black Russian was. So... I did some digging and found that besides names for very colorful drinks made from vodka. White and Red Russians were nicknames given the armies under the control the Communist and Tsarist groups during the Russian Civil War in 1917. The Communist forces were called the Red Army. The Tsarist forces were called the White Army. So the nicknames of White and Red Russians stuck. The first picture is of the Flag of the Red Army. The second picture is of the flag of the Imperial flag of the Russian Empire. The Black Russian is just a drink... no real historical ties that I could find.

South American Battleships

When people talk about battleships, we all think of the German battleship Bismarck, the Japanese Yamoto and the American ships Missouri and Arizona. But, did you know that other nations from that time period also had battleships. I did some research and found a few nations that surprised me. Those nations are Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Brazil had 4 battleships, Argentina had 2 and Chile had 2 as well. Most historians say that these nations had a rivalry and they called it the South American Dreadnought Race. All of them agree these battleships would have been some of the best in the Western Hemisphere, if WWI had not broken out. The race fell apart after the first world war due to a change in the public view on ships, money and pressure from other nations. I found a few pictures of these nation's battleships. The first is the Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes. The second ship the Argentine ship Rivadavia and the last is the Chilean ship Almirante Latorre. There is also one more fact that all of these ships have a common... they are all were all made in other countries. Most of these South American ships were scrapped in the mid or late 1950's. Thus ending South America's attempt to being a naval super power.

5 Years

5 years... it has been 5 years since I wrote or even visited my blog. I am sorry dear readers, life has a way of leading people down different paths. My path has finally lead me back to this blog. I am finally back and willing to continue my mission. That mission is sharing fun and interesting historical facts with the world!!!