Western Civilization

Today in class we took notes and we got our test grades. I got an 88 out of 100 which is better then I thought I was going to get. Im pretty happy with that grade I'm pretty sure I got the question about tyrants wrong and the one with the oceans but I'm not completely sure. We answered questions in the textbook today. For question 1 we had to define terms,  Direct democracy is a from of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives. Classical art are values of harmony, order, balance, and proportion. Tragedy is a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, and betrayal. Comedy is contained scenes filled with slapstick situations and crude humor. The Peloponnesian war was between 2 city states,  Sparta  and Athens, Philosophers means "lovers of wisdom." Plato was a student of socrates and Aristotle was a philosopher. My answer to question 2 is that making the democracy  stronger was the most beneficial to today because  we us

Today in class we took our test on ancient Greece. I feel like I did pretty good, it was a hard test but I would be shocked if I got anything lower then an 80. Some of the questions we did not go over and that's what got me in the long run. I feel like I aced the map part where we had to label the parts of Greece and the oceans surrounding Greece. I also feel like I did pretty good on the questions where you had to match the body of water/river with the land that the body of water is supporting. But overall I think it was a pretty fair test and I feel like I did ok on it.

Today in class we went over the powerpoint one more time before the big test tomorrow, We also went over some of the test questions for the test. this helped a lot I think it will really help on the test because now I know what t o expect. One of the questions is  to label  Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea (it’s just north of the Ionian Sea), Peloponnesus, Athens, Sparta, Crete, Asia Minor, and Macedonia on a map. We will also need to know what the date 508 B.C means and why it is so important, also we will need to know about the culture, geography, and diet that ancient greek consisted of.

Today in class we went over the Greece powerpoint again, we took more notes and we found out we have a test on Greece on Thursday which is going to be a big test that is worth a lot of points. We learned that the term Draconian  is a very im portent term which is a very harsh way to rule or to be very harsh. We also learned that the Draco law allowed slavery debt which is a horrible concept especially to the poor people that cannot afford anything. Slavery debt is where a poor person can borrow money from a wealthier person but if they don't pay it back to the wealthy person in a given amount of time they have to be  a slave for them and the time depends on how much money was borrowed. We also learned about the election between Isagoras and Cleisthenes which isagoras had the power of the aristocrats and also the power of Sparta but Cleisthenes has the people of Athens for him and Isagoras won, but, the athenian people revolted against him and banished him from Greece where he then

Today we had another powerpoint to take notes.The Powerpoint was on government in Greece. We learned some terms that will be helpful to study for the test. Polis- Fundamental political un it made up of a city and surrounding countryside Monarchy- ruled by a single person Aristocracy-ruled by a small group of nobles, very rich, landowning families oligarchy- wealthy groups dissatisfied with aristocratic rule who seized power tyrant-powerful individual who seized control by satisfying the common people for support. Also men attended symposiums which were meetings where men would enjoy wine, poetry, entertainment ( from the women) while this meeting was only for the wealthy men and women or slaves were not welcome.

Today in class we went over another powerpoint about Ancient Greece.  We mainly focused on the trojan war. Experts use to believe that the trojan war was one of the made up stories because of the Homer (a blind storyteller) spoke of the war as involving gods but in recent years archeologists have found evidence in troy (location of the trojan war) that a war could of actually happen and taken place. the was was fought around 1200 BCE and was fought against troy and Athens. Homer plays a huge role in ancient Greece but some people also think that even him was made up. He was said to deliver stories to everyone and was blind which seems a bit unbielveable which is why some people think that he was made up in greek culture just like the gods such as Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon.

Today in class we reviewed the powerpoint that we learned yesterday. I also got to teach the class in the beginning then Connor then matayo. We learned a bunch ion new stuff with the new powerpoint we started. Some of the stuff we learned was that  The Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olives and fish.There was a l ack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization. also temperatures usually ranged from mid 40s in the winter to low 80s in the summer but it was usuallyvery hot in Greece. We also learned about the trojan war which was fought around 1200 BCE. P art of Greek mythology was until the 19th cent.We also learned that Athens was named after the greek god named Athena.

oday in class we got out test's back I got an 81  we went over Greece again, The great civilizations and key rivers in Greece are  Mesopotamia / Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Egypt / Nile River, India / Indus River, and China / Huang He River. Greece had many significances such as the location, topography, and surroundings. On the test we need to know  w hat bodies of water surround Greece, w hat large island is to the south/southeast, and we need to d escribe where Athens and Sparta are located relative to the sea, and to each other. T hey had many skilled sailors and shipbuilders. A lso farmers, metalworkers, weavers, potters. T hey had poor / limited natural resources, so they needed to trade, it was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain. Greece developed small, independent communities (city-states), and that’s who they were loyal to.

Today in class Mr. Schick was out, so Mrs. Ferry was our sub. We read pages 127-133 in our textbooks. The text was focused on Warring city-States. The main idea was power and authority. The growth of city-states in Greece led to the development of several political systems, including democracy. It matters now because many political systems in today's world mirror the varied forms of government that evolved in Greece.    Terms that we need to know are  acropolis, monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, tyrant, democracy, helot, phalanx An oligarchy is a government ruled by a few powerful people. Tyrants were powerful individuals, usually nobles or other wealthy citizens, they were rulers. A democracy is  a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Helots are peasants forced to  stay  on the land they worked. 

Today in class we got our tests back. I got an 88 so I guess I did ok. After everyone got their tests back we did questions 1,3,4, and 5 on Greece in out textbook. 1) Mycenaean- people who settled on the greek mainland around 200 B.C  -Trojan war- a 10 year war against Troy   - Dorians- people that moved into into the war torn countryside -Homer-a blind storyteller -Epics-narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds -Myths-Traditional Greek stories about their gods 3)Greece lacked natural resources so the sea was available for trade and also made Greece become skilled sailors 4) the Mycenaeans learned how to trade by sea and saw the use in that. They also developed the Minoans writing system, religious practices, art, politics, and literature. 5)The Greeks lacked literature and were forced to have learned history through spoken word so the epics give us literature on Ancient Greek history.

today in class we had a test and I think I did I ok,  then we took notes on Ancient Greece here are some of my notes.  Dorians - moved into war torn countryside- less advanced- spoke Greek Homer - greatest story teller-blind Epic - narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds- between 750-700 BC Myths - traditional stories about their gods The Sea shaped Greek civilization Greeks lived around the sea Rugged mountains covered 3/4 of ancient Greece- Northwest to Southeast- divided the land Greece had varied climate- 48 in summer, 80 in summer Large wave of Indo-Europeans migrated to Eur ope, India, and Southeast Asia Aegean sea, black sea and ionian sea provided transportation Greeks became skilled sailors Provided trade routes for the resources they lacked Land travel was difficult Henrich Schliemann- dug up artifacts from the Trojan war

Today in class we went over the powerpoint as we took notes. Here are my notes -Afterlife (ka) which the mummified bodies to preserve them for this past death journey -Earliest Egyptians writing formed around 3100 b.c.  which were small pictures known as hieroglyphics -egyptian scroll was written in ink on papyrus -papyrus was stored in scrolls which were the ancient books of egypt -the delta is where the nile river widen and emptys out into the mediterranean sea -nile flows from south to north -cataracts are the rapids of the nile -nile river is about 4100 miles long -temple of Amon at Karnark is the worlds largest religious building \ -The guy who broke the code of the rosette stone was a man names Jean Fransois Champallion

Today in class we took notes on ancient Egypt, before we did that the people that were absent took their quiz, while we studied and did work for another class. My notes for the powerpoint are here.  -Maat is the harmony and balance in the universe. - The Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians -isfet is the  opposite  of  Maat. -Upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the nile -a ll souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and either sent to a n after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster  - Women could inherit money and land and divorce their husband -p haraoh was all powerful, worshipped as a god, and intimately connected to  the other major Egyptian gods and  goddesses -g ods were often portrayed as being people with animal heads or bodies -e gyptians believed in after-life (ka) and they mummified bodies to preserve them for this past-death journey

Today is class was the end off the plague and almost all the sick students came back but they had a lot of work to so the people that were there all week (like me) worked on the blog for today and any other makeup work from a different class. Through the week we learned about Egypt,  Egyptians were polytheistic and believed in many gods such as Re the sun god, Osiris the god of the dead, and Isis, goddess representing the ideal mother and wife. Egyptians b elieved in an afterlife, where their hearts would be weighed by Anubis and had to be as light as a feather or the devourer of souls would appear and eat it.The Egyptians had many beliefs like the belief that the pharaoh or king of Egypt was a god and to be treated like one. They also had social  class  so they were more elite and  powerful   Egyptians  that  got  the  opportunity to be mummified and welcome to the afterlife.