The Proccess of Photosynthesis

Plants need sunlight. Houseplants lean toward the Sun, and if they do not get enough light they wither and die. Plants use sunlight to make their food. This process is called photosynthesis.

 Photosynthesis is a scientific word made up from Greek words. These words mean “putting things together using light.” Inside plants’ leaves, light causes air and water to combine to make new chemicals. These chemicals are food for the plants.

DNA, Genes, and Heredity

Have you ever heard a news reporter talk about DNA? Reporters talk about DNA found at the scene of a crime. They talk about police finding DNA “fingerprints.” Police sometimes use DNA as a clue to find out who committed the crime.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a substance that makes up genes. Everything alive has genes. Plants have genes. Animals have genes. You have genes.

Gregor Mendel

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Austrian monk, whose experimental work became the basis of modern hereditary theory.

Mendel was born on July 22, 1822, to a peasant family in Heinzendorf (now Hynčice, Czech Republic). He entered the Augustinian monastery at Brünn (now Brno, Czech Republic), which was known as a center of learning and scientific endeavor. He later became a substitute teacher at the technical school in Brünn. There Mendel became actively engaged in investigating variation, heredity, and evolution in plants at the monastery's experimental garden. Between 1856 and 1863 he cultivated and tested at least 28,000 pea plants, carefully analyzing seven pairs of seed and plant characteristics. His tedious experiments resulted in the enunciation of two generalizations that later became known as the laws of heredity. His observations also led him to coin two terms still used in present-day genetics: dominance, for a trait that shows up in an offspring; and recessiveness, for a trait masked by a dominant gene.

The Water Cycle (Rain Cycle)

Maybe you recycle cans, glass, and paper. Did you know that nature recycles, too? One of the things nature recycles is water. Water goes from the ocean, lakes, and rivers into the air. Water falls from the air as rain or snow. Rain or snow eventually find their way back to the ocean. Nature’s recycling program for water is called the water cycle.

The water cycle has four stages: storage, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff. Most of the water on Earth is in the first stage, storage. Water on Earth gets stored in oceans, lakes, rivers, ice, and even underground. The oceans store the majority of this water.

Napoleon Bonaparte: A hero in France

The French called Napoleon Bonaparte “a man of destiny.” A hero in France, Napoleon was hated elsewhere in Europe. Today, Napoleon is remembered as one of the greatest military leaders of all time. He built an empire that covered much of Europe.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. At the age of 16, Napoleon chose a career in the French army.

In 1789, a revolution began that rocked France. The king and queen were executed. Hungry working people demanded new freedoms. Revolutionary governments in France swept away old laws. They declared war on supporters of the former king. The French Revolution lasted until 1799.

Life in the Alps

The Alps make up the largest mountain system in Europe. They are world-famous for their scenic beauty. The Alps are a region of majestic, snow-capped peaks, deep valleys, narrow lakes, and wide glaciers.

The Alps reach across south-central Europe in a broad arc. They stretch all the way from southern France, in the west, to eastern Austria. Along the way, the mountains cross Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The Alps form a chain that extends about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers).

Why are Rain Forests important?

Where would you go to find more kinds of plants and animals than anywhere else on Earth? You would go to a tropical rain forest.

Tropical rain forests are home to an amazing number of plants and animals. A patch of tropical rain forest no bigger than a school parking lot can have almost as many different species (kinds) of trees as there are in all the forests of Canada and the United States!

Biologists believe that more than half of the world’s plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests.

A rain forest is a place where there is lots of rain. One kind of rain forest is called a temperate rain forest. You can find temperate rain forests where the weather is cool and mild, and very wet.

A temperate rain forest grows near the Northwest coast of the United States. Just a few kinds of evergreen trees grow there. Most of the world’s rain forests are tropical rain forests with many kinds of trees.

Tropical rain forests grow in warm places near Earth’s equator. The equator is an imaginary line that goes around the middle of the planet. There are tropical rain forests in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. The world’s largest rain forest is the Amazon rain forest in South America. It is always hot and wet in a tropical rain forest.

Different kinds of plants grow in different layers of a tropical rain forest. The ground in a rain forest is called the forest floor. The soil on the forest floor is very thin and poor. Some plants living there get their food from dead plants. Other plants on the ground eat insects. The pitcher plant is an insect-eating plant that grows in rain forests in Asia.

The plant layer just above the forest floor is called the understory. Not much sunlight gets down to this layer. Young trees and plants that like low levels of light grow in the shady understory.

The top layer of the rain forest is called the canopy. The tops of tall trees make up the canopy. They capture most of the sun and rainwater falling on the forest. The canopy is thick and green.

Between the understory and the canopy is a layer called the midstory. Medium-size trees grow in the midstory. Thick vines climb up, around, and between the trees. Mosses, orchids, and other air plants (plants without ground roots) grow on the midstory trees.

Most of the animals that live in a tropical rain forest are insects. The forest is alive with millions of beetles and ants. Bats and beautiful moths fly about at night. Snakes glide silently in and around the trees. Birds are everywhere.

In Africa, wild pigs, gorillas, and other large animals live on the forest floor. Elephants walk through the rain forests of Asia and Africa. Jaguars hide in South American forests and wait for prey, such as a wild pig, to go by.

Most of the rain forest animals live in the canopy. Monkeys swing from branch to branch in the rain forests of Central and South America.

Rain forests are home to huge numbers of plants and animals. Scientists are discovering new ones all the time. Some rain forest plants are used for medicine. Scientists believe there may be many other plants that could be used to treat cancer and other diseases.

Rain forests are like the “lungs” of planet Earth. The trees take up a gas called carbon dioxide. They give off a gas called oxygen. All animals must breathe oxygen in order to live. Too much carbon dioxide in the air could make Earth grow warmer.

For thousands of years, people have lived in the rain forests. People native to the forests hunt wild animals and collect plants for food. They use certain rain forest plants for medicines.

Today, rain forests all over Asia, Africa, and South America are being cut down. Loggers cut down hardwood trees for lumber. Teak, rosewood, and mahogany make beautiful furniture.

Farmers clear the rain forest to plant crops. But the poor rain forest soil soon washes away. Then the farmers must move and clear more rain forest.

People cut roads through the rain forest to reach mines and oil wells. Lumber companies build roads to haul logs. The amount of rain forest cut down every year would fill the state of Wisconsin!

Conservationists are looking for ways to save the rain forests. Some countries, such as Costa Rica in Central America, have set aside rain forests as national parks.

In other places, poor people need the rain forests for food and wood. Conservationists are looking for ways that people can use the forests without destroying them. People are learning how to grow nuts, seeds, and other crops in the rain forest. They are learning how to make butterfly farms and other places that people can visit on a vacation.

Will the Universe end?

 Look up at the sky on a clear, starry night. What you see is part of the universe. You could never see all of the universe. No one even knows whether the universe has an edge or if it goes on forever. The universe contains all matter and energy. The universe holds all space and time. You are a part of the universe. The universe includes everything there is.

Earth and all the planets in our solar system make up just a tiny part of the universe. Billions of other stars like our Sun all form a group called the Milky Way Galaxy. With telescopes we can see billions of other galaxies. Galaxies are in turn clumped together in enormous groups called clusters and superclusters. There are at least 100 billion that’s 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. The universe is a big place!

The universe holds many strange things, such as exploding stars. It holds great clouds of gas and dust where new stars form. It also holds black holes. Black holes have a pulling force called gravity. Gravity is the force that holds you to the ground and makes things fall when you drop them. Black holes suck in all the matter around them. The gravity of black holes is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

Astronomers think there is even more matter in the universe than we can see. The matter we see makes up gas, dust, galaxies, stars, and planets. Astronomers think there is a type of invisible matter that they call dark matter. They think there may be a lot more of this mysterious dark matter in the universe than there is regular matter that we can see.

Astronomers also think the universe holds a strange substance that they call dark energy. They don’t know much about dark energy except that it seems to make the universe expand.

Many astronomers think the universe began about 14 billion years ago. They think it suddenly exploded into being. They call this beginning the big bang. All space and time began with the big bang. With a special telescope, astronomers can see radiation left over from the big bang. They call this cosmic background radiation.

The big bang theory says that the universe was hotter than you can even imagine at the moment it began. The universe started to fly outward, or expand. As it expanded, it started to cool. Tiny particles that would make up matter started to form. All of this happened in just a few minutes.

When the universe was about 1 million years old, it had cooled to about 5900° Fahrenheit (3300° Celsius). This temperature was still scorching, but it was cool enough that tiny bits of matter called atoms started to form. All the objects around you the computer, the floor, the air are made of atoms. The hot atoms gave off rays of light. The universe was like a huge, hot fireball.

Over millions of years, the force of gravity pulled gas and dust together. Stars and galaxies formed from clumps of gas and dust. The stars began to shine. Our Sun and our solar system formed about 4.6 billions years ago.

Rays of light travel across the universe. Even though light travels extremely quickly, it takes light millions or billions of years to travel from galaxies far away. When astronomers see light from the most distant galaxies they know the light is “old.” They know they are seeing the galaxies as they were billions of years ago.

Astronomers want to know what will happen to the universe. They think it is still expanding. In fact, the universe seems to be expanding faster and faster as time goes on. Many astronomers think the universe will go on expanding forever. If it keeps on expanding, everything in the universe will eventually grow cold. Billions of years in the future even the stars will stop shining.

Why is Gold valuable?

“Gold! Gold! Gold!” screamed the newspaper headlines. “Gold discovered in California!” That was in 1848. The news brought 100,000 people rushing to California. They came seeking the yellow metal that could make them rich.

People since ancient times have used gold for jewelry and money. They used it in religious objects and works of art. Wars have been fought over gold. And sometimes, as in California, gold changed the course of history.

Gold is unusual among metals. It does not rust or tarnish (grow dull and discolored). Gold coins recovered from sunken treasures are still as shiny as when they sank.

Gold is soft enough to be easily shaped into jewelry and other items. An ounce (31 grams) of gold can be hammered into a sheet 16 feet (5 meters) on each side. It can be stretched into a wire 62 miles (100 kilometers) long.

People find gold beautiful. And it is rare. All the gold in the world would fit in a cube 65 feet (20 meters) on each side. Because it is so rare, its value doesn’t change much from one year to the next. In ancient times, people could easily carry a lot of wealth in the form of a small bag of gold.


The easiest way to mine gold is with a pan. You fill the pan with sand or gravel that contains tiny bits of gold. Then you swirl the pan under a gentle stream of water. The lighter gravel or sand gradually washes out with the water. The heavier gold particles collect at the bottom of the pan. Gold is so heavy that it doesn’t take many tiny flakes to make an ounce.

Today, gold is most often mined by digging underground with machines. Rock that contains gold is treated with chemicals to separate out the gold. Nuggets of solid gold are quite rare. The largest nugget ever found weighed about 130 pounds (59 kilograms). It was found in Australia in 1869. About two-thirds of all gold mined today comes from South Africa.

Gold is used for many things besides coins, decorations, and jewelry. Gold conducts electricity very well. It is used in tiny electrical circuits. There are very small amounts of gold in your computer.

Gold is also used to protect tall buildings and spaceships from the Sun’s heat. The Sun's rays bounce off even a thin coating of gold. Gold-coated mirrors are used in telescopes. Dentists use gold for tooth fillings. Gold is even used in medicine, to treat cancer and arthritis.

Gold has always made people who controlled it wealthy. Folktales of many peoples tell of greed for gold. The ancient tale of King Midas tells of a greedy king. Midas wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. But he was sorry when his wish was granted. He could not eat because his food and water also turned to gold.

In the 1500s, the Spanish conquered Mexico and Peru while searching for gold. They brought back tons of gold looted from native peoples. The peoples of those regions had never considered gold very valuable.

The discovery of gold in parts of western America and Australia brought in thousands of people seeking quick fortunes. Many stayed on and settled those regions.

How do Crystal form?

Look closely at some table salt through a magnifying glass. You’ll see that the bits of salt are made up of tiny cubes. Each cube is a salt crystal. The salt crystals within the particles can be different sizes, but they always have this shape.

A crystal contains identical particles that are arranged in a particular pattern such as a cube, rectangle, or hexagon. As a crystal grows in size, this pattern is repeated over and over.

Salt is made up of the elements sodium and chlorine. Extremely tiny particles of sodium and chlorine, called atoms, form a repeating cubic pattern in a crystal of table salt. The more times the pattern is repeated, the bigger the crystal that forms.

Crystals form when some liquids turn into solids. A liquid may freeze into a crystal. Snow, for example, is made of tiny crystals of frozen water. Crystals can also be left behind when a liquid dries out. When seawater in a rock pool dries out, tiny crystals of salt remain.

Most of the rocks and minerals in Earth’s crust are crystals. Some crystals were formed from melted rock when it cooled and became solid. Others were left behind by the waters of a sea, lake, or river that dried up long ago.

Many crystals are beautiful. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are crystals that are made into attractive jewelry. Crystals also have many practical uses. Quartz crystals are used in clocks, radios, and sonar, the system that allows ships and submarines to see things underwater. Quartz crystals can also be pressed or heated to make electricity.

Who discovered gravity?

Try to jump as high as you can. Bend your knees. Now jump! No matter how hard you try, or how high you jump, you always come back down again.

Something called gravity pulls you back down. Gravity holds you down on Earth. Without gravity, you would fly off into space. You would jump up and just keep on going. That might sound like fun, but you could not live very high up. For one thing, you need to breathe air. The higher you go, the less air there is. You need gravity to keep you down on Earth.

UFO Still be a Mystery

You’re watching the sky after dark. It’s a clear night. Many stars are visible. Suddenly you see a streak of light. Perhaps it’s a shooting star. As you watch, it slows down. Now it’s a moving point of light. Maybe it’s a plane or a space shuttle. You see it slow to a stop.

Half a minute passes. Just when you think you’re looking at an ordinary star, it suddenly speeds away. In seconds, it disappears over the horizon.

Have you seen an unidentified flying object? Most certainly. Was it a spaceship from another planet? Almost certainly not.

Sir Isaac Newton was a famous scientist

Isaac Newton was always wondering about the things he saw around him. What holds the Moon and planets in the sky? How does a rainbow form? He uncovered basic laws of nature. He used mathematics to explain these laws and predict how objects would behave. He became one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England, on December 25, 1642. He loved to build mechanical models, but he was not a good student. His mother took him out of school so that he could help run the family farm. Newton did not like farming. He liked to read and study on his own. A former teacher knew that Newton was very smart and helped him go to the University of Cambridge.

Albert Einstein was a genious person

Dents in space, light in bundles, and matter that turns into energy sound like science-fiction fantasies. However, Albert Einstein said they were real. Other scientists proved through observations that Einstein’s theories were right. Einstein revolutionized the science of physics and helped bring in the atomic age.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. He grew up in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Einstein taught himself geometry when he was 12 years old. School bored him because it required endless memorizing and reciting. He often skipped classes to study on his own or to play his violin. Yet he graduated from college in 1900 and earned a Ph.D. degree in 1905. From 1902 to 1907, Einstein worked as a clerk in the patent office in Zürich, Switzerland. His job left him plenty of time to think.

The Beatles were a Rock Music Sensation

The Beatles were a rock music sensation in the 1960s and 1970s. Everyone had a favorite among the four. For some people, it was Paul McCartney, the sweet one, or John Lennon, the funny one. For others, it was George Harrison, the mystery man, or Ringo Starr, the bouncy drummer. The Beatles changed popular music for all time, with their songs and their sparkling personalities.

All four Beatles were born in Liverpool, England. All four loved music, especially American rhythm-and-blues and rock music. Lennon and McCartney were the main songwriters, with Harrison as their brilliant guitarist. When Starr joined up in 1962, the group began rocking with the songs “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “She Loves You.”

Himalaya: The Highest Mountains on Earth

The name Himalaya means “home of snow” in the ancient language of Sanskrit. It’s a fitting name. The Himalayas are the highest mountains on Earth. Snow and ice cover much of this impressive mountain range year round.

The Himalayas rise in southern Asia the world’s biggest continent. They form a chain that stretches nearly 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers). The mountains separate the plains of northern India from the high plateau of Tibet, in China.

The Himalayas contain nine of the world’s ten highest peaks. One of these, Mount Everest, is the highest mountain on Earth. It rises to a height of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters).

Who was Plato?

Plato was a very original thinker who lived in ancient Greece. He asked questions that nobody had asked before. He even tried to explain how the human mind works.

Plato was born about 428 BC in Athens, Greece. He became a pupil of Greek philosopher Socrates. Then he set up a school in 387 BC. He called his school the Academy. Pupils studied astronomy, biology, mathematics, politics, and philosophy at the Academy.

Plato wrote dialogues debates that he imagined taking place between teachers and pupils. He hoped these dialogues would help students understand his ideas.

Plato investigated many topics, from friendship to the heavens. But his most important work was a study of knowledge.....

Great Wall of China

Imagine a huge wall stretching for thousands of miles across the land. The wall winds through hills, climbs mountains, and crosses deserts. If you visit China you can see a wall like this. The Great Wall of China, as it is known, is the longest structure ever built.

The Great Wall of China zigzags across parts of northern China. It was built section by section over centuries. In fact, there are many gaps between the sections, so the Great Wall isn't a single, solid wall. But if all the sections are measured, the wall is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) long!

Since ancient times, Chinese people have built walls to protect their borders. Some walls were built between parts of China that were fighting each other. Other walls protected China from outside invaders.....

Pyramids from Egypt

Grand tombs and gateways to the afterlife, the pyramids of Egypt are among the world’s most magnificent monuments. Their massive size and simple shape fascinate people.

Ancient peoples in the Americas and the Middle East also built pyramids. But the largest and best known were constructed in Egypt more than 3,500 years ago. Around 100 pyramids still stand on the west bank of the Nile River.

Pyramids were lavish tombs built only for royalty and other high-ranking people. The ancient Egyptians believed that the spirits of dead people could live on only if their bodies survived. So they preserved dead bodies by making them into mummies. Mummies are dried-out bodies wrapped in linen bandages. The ancient Egyptians buried the mummies securely inside pyramids.

Many treasures were buried with royal mummies. The ancient Egyptians believed that all of the items a person used in life would also be needed after death. They buried thousands of items with pharaohs and other important people. These items were made of the richest materials, such as gold and jewels. Some mummies even had coffins made from solid gold!.....

The Mighty Amazon

A dense, green forest lines the riverbanks. Monkeys chatter in the trees. Off to the side, a big crocodile sticks its eyes and nose out of the water. This is what a boat trip on the Amazon River can be like. Be careful not to fall overboard! Fish called piranhas may be swimming near the boat. A group of piranhas can gobble up a large animal in minutes.

The Amazon is a long river in South America. The river starts in snow and tiny streams, high in the Andes Mountains in Peru. It flows east through Brazil. After 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), the Amazon empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Antartica is The Coldest Continent

You are on the highest and windiest continent on Earth. It is also the coldest. Even in summer you need to wear a parka and thick gloves. Almost nothing lives here, although some penguins might waddle past on their way to the sea. You are on Antarctica. Antarctica is a large ice covered continent that surrounds the South Pole. The Southern (Antarctic) Ocean surrounds this frozen land.

Antarctica lies at the bottom of the southern half of the globe. Summer begins there in December and winter in June. In midsummer, the sun shines day and night. It never sets. In midwinter, the sun never rises above the horizon. It is dark day and night.

Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. It is warmest along the coast, but you would still find it plenty cold. Summer temperatures along the coast reach the freezing point 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius). You don’t need ice for your lemonade. If you set it outside, it will freeze. In winter, temperatures inland fall as low as -110° Fahrenheit (-80° Celsius) in the winter.

Caribbean Islands is Beautiful Place

What would you see if you took a cruise to the Caribbean Islands? Palm trees and coconuts? White beaches and clear, blue ocean? Colorful corals and even more colorful fishes and birds?

You bet. There are thousands of islands in the Caribbean Sea. They are famous for their warm, tropical climate and great natural beauty.

The Caribbean Islands form a chain that separates the Caribbean Sea from the rest of the Atlantic Ocean. They’re like a long necklace that stretches between North and South America. Many of the islands were formed by the eruption of ancient volcanoes. Others are low-lying coral islands that gradually rose from the ocean.

The Caribbean Islands are known by several names. The earliest name used by Europeans is the Indies, later changed to the West Indies. The explorer Christopher Columbus called the islands the Indies in 1492 because he thought he was near the coast of India. Later, Spain and France called the islands the Antilles.

Socrates: The Ancient Greece Philosopher

What is love? What is truth? What is justice? Socrates, a philosopher in ancient Greece, asked big questions like these and tried to make people think. Socrates was born in Athens, Greece, in 469 BC. He devoted his life to philosophy. He taught students, made speeches, and debated with anyone who would listen to him.

Socrates wanted to find out the best way to live. He wondered why some people behaved well and others behaved badly. He thought that bad behavior resulted from ignorance. He believed that once people knew what was right, they would choose to behave well. Behaving well, Socrates claimed, was the best way to live.

Socrates’ beliefs made him urge fellow citizens to think hard about what they were doing. Was it right? Was it honest? Was it permitted by law? Through questions like these, he hoped to help people recognize their mistakes. This knowledge would bring them closer to the truth and help them lead better lives.

The Apartheid Law

Apartheid, policy of racial segregation formerly followed in South Africa. The word apartheid means “separateness” in the Afrikaans language and it described the rigid racial division between the governing white minority population and the nonwhite majority population. The National Party introduced apartheid as part of their campaign in the 1948 elections, and with the National Party victory, apartheid became the governing political policy for South Africa until the early 1990s. Although there is no longer a legal basis for apartheid, the social, economic, and political inequalities between white and black South Africans continue to exist.

The apartheid laws classified people according to three major racial groups white; Bantu, or black Africans; and Coloured, or people of mixed descent. Later Asians, or Indians and Pakistanis, were added as a fourth category. The laws determined where members of each group could live, what jobs they could hold, and what type of education they could receive. Laws prohibited most social contact between races, authorized segregated public facilities, and denied any representation of nonwhites in the national government. People who openly opposed apartheid were considered communists and the government passed strict security legislation which in effect turned South Africa into a police state.

Nelson Mandela is a Hero

Nelson Mandela, a boy from an African village, grew up to become the first black president of South Africa.

Before he became president, Mandela led a long and difficult struggle against segregation in South Africa. Under segregation, black and white people were kept apart. Segregation denied blacks many basic rights. Mandela spent many years in prison for trying to end segregation in South Africa.


Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in 1918 in a small village in the Transkei region of South Africa. His father was a chief of the Thembu tribe. Mandela’s parents named him Rolihlahla, an African word that means troublemaker. Little did they know how fitting his name would be!

At the age of seven, Mandela became the first person in his family to go to school. At school, Mandela was given the name Nelson. He went on to attend college and earn a law degree in the city of Johannesburg.

Who Invented Democracy?

When you play with friends, who gets to choose the game? Do you all decide together? Do each of you play a part in the decision? If so, you and your friends are a democracy.

Usually, when we speak of a democracy, we mean a country. In a democratic country, the people choose how they will be governed. Most of the time, they do this by electing leaders who run the government.


There is more than one type of democracy. In a pure democracy, elected leaders simply carry out the wishes of the voters. But this is not easy to do. Voters must get together often to tell elected leaders what they want. They must take part in many, many decisions.

Most democratic countries are republics, not pure democracies. In a republic, elected leaders are supposed to do what they think is best. Then, if the voters don’t like it, they can elect new leaders.

Julius Caesar The Brilliant Soldier

Was Julius Caesar mostly interested in serving the people whom he ruled? Or was he only interested in grabbing power? People who met the Roman statesman could not agree. Caesar was a brilliant soldier and a clever, capable ruler. But he was also extremely ambitious.

Caesar was born in 100 BC, to one of Rome’s most famous families. But his family had many enemies, and Caesar thought it best to leave Rome. He trained as a soldier and went to study in Greece. But he hoped for a political career.

Caesar returned to Rome in 73 BC and made plans to run for office. He worked on the election campaigns of army general Pompey and Crassus, a very rich noble. The men were running for consul, which was then the highest office in Rome. To win support for the candidates.