How Legos have influenced my life...
As a three year old, I received my very first Lego set. It was for a castle, and I loved it! I was hooked on Legos, and got many more sets through the years. They inspired my love of history and design, and were my largest creative outlet for a long time. Working with Legos helped me learn how to read directions, look at schematics, learn how pieces are able to fit (or not fit) together. In later years, I had to learn how to work around the constraints of a square-based block to make my own creations. I have used the Lego Digital Designer to create my own ships, castles, and one enormous traction city. Oftentimes, my designs would become large and complicated enough that they crashed the program.
At sixteen years old, I have spent most of my life designing and creating things. My grandfather was a carpenter, and my father showed me a lot about metalworking, so I grew up around tools a lot and used them often. They also taught me how to do things like design machines and structures. Mostly I used these skills for historical recreation and traditional craftsmenship, but they are useful for modern use also, and often I would fix machines and items with the knowledge they gave me and knowledge acquired on my own through research and experimentation. I soon learned the usefulness of spatial skills and the ability to think in three dimensions, as well as the interpretation of schematic drawings and sketches. Perhaps the most important thing I learned though was the value of extensive research and prime sources; too many times, I have made the mistake of using uncited sources and inadequate research! Off-time research has perhaps been one of the best activities for furthuring my knowledge.
Following the Legos through the timeline of ancient civilizations...
ETA: This Parthenon is my own creation! I designed it using the Lego Digital Designer, and then earned the money to purchase the pieces and build it. What do you think?
In Ancient Egypt, the crocodiles and zombie mummies guard the underworld in the Valley of the Kings.
The Pharaoh's Mummy comes back to life and uses his magic asps to control everyone!
In Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar is resting in his palace while the guards protect him. Then he declares that there will be war!
The soldiers and legionnaires gather together to conquer new land.
In Ancient Greece, the gods and monsters are all gathering...
Medusa, the Cyclops, and the Minotaur want the monsters to have more control.
But Poseidon and Athena know that the gods need to stay in control, and they will do whatever it takes to keep their power.
The Greek gladiators get some help from the gods, and are allowed to use Pegasus to defeat the monsters.
.......stay tuned until next time, when we will zoom through the dark ages and time of exploration!
Roman Household
- Use two ionic columns pieced together from Lord Business' Office Tower.
- Put them on a baseplate, then add a Roman couch in between the columns (made from four regular yellow bricks).
- For the top, use a grey baseplate with a fence piece on it.
- Make marble walls from three white, regular half-bricks.
- Use single-piece circles to finish off the ionic columns.
Roman Chariot- Use a regular black horse with a red horse helmet, and top with a fire piece from a Ninjago set.
- Take two wagon wheels and connect them to axles. Connect these with two 3x3 baseplates.
- Put two regular 2x2 bricks in the front center of the baseplate.
- Use four 2x2 'macaroni bricks' (two in each stack) and add to the sides of the chariot, on either side of the center. Use a flat piece across the top to hold them all together.
- To connect the horse to the chariot, use a hinged 2x2 brick.
- Most of these pieces came from the Lego Movie Castle Calvary set.
This is our Roman chariots (we made more than one) beside our Roman house....and my brother wouldn't get out of my picture!!!I want to build a Lego Coliseum, but don't have enough of the right kind of bricks. If you want to create a Coliseum, maybe you can convince your mom to get this set. It's not Lego, but it's similar!
Lego ancient history
This is an updated version of the Lego chariot which now has a better standing area and two horses.
I now have three
Lego Legionaries which I have placed in phalanx formation, but I wish I could have put them in testudo formation. Next to them is their
Commander.
The Lego roman structure has been enlarged and has more columns now than the previous structure.
These are my new
Egyptian soldiers. I decided that living soldiers were much better than living mummies.
The ones on the right are my Greek Hoplite mini-figs which I ordered of off
Brick Forge.
The other one is the series 2
Spartan WarriorThis is my the biggest piece in my Lego ancient history theme the
viking longship, complete with Jormungandr (aka the world serpent).
