The Greek: Crucible of Civilization

Today in class we watched a video called The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization. It is narrated by Lain Neeson, but has many professors  and  scholars talk in it.  It talks about how in 508 BC in the Athens the ordinary people turned against their rulers. The ruler at the time was named Cleisthenes.  He was born around 570 BC and was brought up as a ruler and taught he was an aristocrat. When the people revolted he realized that ordinary people should have freedom, so he sent the Greeks on the road to civilization. In Athens in the 6th century BC the aristocrats ruled Athens. Athens had public places but was mostly village life. Athens was built around  an acropolis. In Athens reading and writing was not common and there was no science. The average life expectancy was 15 years and that is very low. Ancient Greek life was tough for ordinary people because the aristocrats had power of the citizens. 3/4 of Greece was covered in mountains, so it was not possible to have one ruler. There was alot of individual city states with different rulers. Argos was one of the very powerful city states. Corinthians was a city state that dominated Greek trade. Sparta was the city state that had military power. The boys of Sparta were brought up from birth to be soldiers and were brought up to put up with anything. They had very bad tasting food in Sparta. In battle they dyed their cloaks red in case blood got on them so it didnt show. Sparta conquered about 4000 miles of land around them.  To the Greeks the Spartans were always a threat. Homer was a man who would sing the stories, The Illiat and The Odyssey to the different city states. In the middle of the 6th century a man named Pisistratus seized control of Athens as a Tryanny. He rode in with a neighboring village girl and claimed she was the goddess, Athena. The Athens welcomed him as their leader because they believed he had a goddess to protect him. Pisistratus was an excellent politician and was extremely smart. he turned to the common Athenians for support. he reduced taxes and leaded them money. Now the people worked for themselves instead of Aristocratic and this was the beginning of free enterprise. The land around Athens produced the best olives. Athens first artistic legacy was the vase. The artisans live din the red light district.

Chapter 4

Today in class people that did not take the test on Monday took the Chapter 3 test. The rest of us were suppose to work on a worksheet online but the internet was not working at first. The rest of us started to read chapter 4 instead. Chapter 4 is called New Creations: Greek Religion,Arts, and Ideas. The rise of Greek civilization was accompanied by an outburst of artistic and intellectual creativity. Greek religion had a great deal in common with the beliefs of other polytheistic peoples and was directly influenced by the Greeks' southern and eastern neighbors  but the Greek gods and goddesses had a lifelike and human quality that helped inspire a lifelike and human art and literature. LO1 was about Greek Gods and Goddesses. The Greeks, like other polytheistic peoples, had no single set of beliefs about how the gods and goddesses were to be worshiped or about their plans for and demands on the human race. The Greeks worshiped countless deities, who they believed could wield their power for good or ill on individuals, families, and city states, so that it was vital to win their favor. Impiety was openly denying or insulting a deity. Zeus was the ruler of the sky,and he presided over a divine family. Zeus shared over lordship of the world with two of his brothers: Poseidon, ruler of the sea, and Hades, or Pluto, king of the underworld. The gods and goddesses displayed human frailties and emotions, including ambition, lust, pride, and vengefulness. Then the internet came back on so everyone could start the worksheet. We did not have alot of time so I only got done a couple of the questions.

Chapter 3 Test

Today in class we took our Chapter 3 test. We were aloud to use our books, which was very helpful.The night before when I was studying I highlighted some of the important information, so today I could find it better. Doing that helped me get down the multiple choice questions faster, so I had more time to write my essay. On the test there was about 30 multiple choice questions,some short answer questions, and then an essay. For the essay we were given two options, and I choose to write about essay B. For essay B I had to compare Athens and Sparta. I think I did pretty well on the Chapter 3 test today.

End of Chapter 3

Today in class we talked about our test on Monday. Mr. Schick will not be here on Monday so we can't use our blogs. we are allowed to use our texts books. After we talked about the test we finished up the Chapter 3 outline.  The last part of it was Athens: Freedom and Power.  In 800 BC many old established communities in the Attica Peninsula merged to form a single city-state that was known by the name of the most important community: Athens. Over the next 300 year, Athens grew to become the wealthiest and one of the most popular city-states, largely as a result of overseas trade.  Athens produced and exported wine and oil. There workshops  produced weapons, pottery, and articles of silver, lead, and marble. With a rising population and greater wealth came social and political conflicts. Usually between aristocrats, which were people who owned land, and increasingly numerous demos, which were regular people that worked for the aristocrats. In the conflicts with the aristocrats, the demos could generally find aristocrats to lead them whom they respected and who wanted their support. As a result, Athens passed through several stage of political government, beginning with monarchy and including both oligarchy and tryanny. Eventually politic power was extended to all adult male citizens, with aristocrats becoming leaders instead of rulers. After we finished going over the outline we watched the  video, The Persians and Greeks: Crash Course with John Green.

More of Chapter 3 Outline

Today  in class we talked about the outline for LO3.  The first part of the outline we talked about the City-States and Citizens. The Greeks soldiers were called hoplities. They were Greek infantry men equipped with bronze helmets and armor, round shields, long spears, and short swords.  Then we talked about the Greek governments, Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, and Democracy. In the earliest time communities were ruled by kings. Monarchy then gave way to new forms of government that distributed power more widely among male citizens. Oligarchy was a minority of citizens that dominated the government and the power of the majority was limited in various ways. Other city states gave more power to the majority, particularly those that developed into large commercial centers.In these city-states the common people were too numerous and active to ignore. In these cities social conflicts sometimes led to the emergence of Tyranny, which is a rule by a dictator. Tyranny was often only a passing phase on the way to democracy, which was all government decisions were made by the majority of male citizens. Although  Greek city-states had many features in common, each was individual in character. Then he outline talked about Sparta: The Military Ideal. Spartans were descendants of Greeks who had conquered part of the southern main land called the Laconia. By 800 BC they were a minority of landholders ruling over  a majority of helots, which are non citizens forced to work for landholders. Messiaen helots, however frequently rebelled. This forced Spartans to accept a governmental system that put them under almost total domination by a few among themselves. By 500 BC policy decisions had been taken over by a council of elders. The spartan government was a leading example of Oligarchy. Spartan male life was dedicated entirely to the service of the state. The relative freedom of Spartan woman aroused admiration and disapproval  among other Greeks. To protect this way of life, Spartans tried to seal off their city- state form outside influences. After this we had the rest off class to finish any homework tat we might have.

Outline of Chapter 3

Today in class we went over a Chapter 3 outline that Mr. Schick made. It started off by talking about LO1, The European Barbarians. In 4000 BC farming and village life spread through out Europe.By 3500 BC the increase in population and wealth lead to the building of religious structures. Then his outline  talked about the Barbarians Way of life. They had a common way of life as a result of the Indo-European nomads(2500 BC and onward) from the steppes that bordered Europe on the East. Their languages are the ancestor languages of Greek and Latin. The Elite people in their group were the warriors. They had a farming and village life. In this way, Europe came to be inhabited by peoples who spoke mostly Indo- European languages, who were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, and warfare, and who were fairly well organized on the local level, but had no  cities,written records, or fixed structures of government.In 2000 BC to 1000 Ad these barbarians came into contact with civilization. The first such European barbarian people to make contact with civilization were the Greeks. Their civilization, the first to emerge in Europe, was the first to definitively be labeled " Western".  Then his outline talked about LO2, The Aegean Encounter. In LO2 it talked about the  Minoan Civilization. In 2200 BC a distinct civilization known as the Minoan arose on the Aegean island of Crete.  Minoans drew wealth from control of the seas and trade with eastern Mediterranean lands, especially Egypt. Then it talks about The Arrival of the Greeks: Mycenaean Civilization. When the Greeks made their way to the Aegean, they seem to have been  a European barbarian people much like any other. Eventually they came under the influence of nearby Crete. By 1600 BC Greek chieftains had established settlements along the mainland's southern shore and some islands. The struggles between Mycenaean and Minoans for control of the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean lasted until 1400 BC with the destruction of Minoan towns, perhaps as a result of Mycenaean conquest.   Then the outline talked about the Dark Ages.  The Mycenaean Civilization lasted until shortly after 1200 BC due to the conquest of the Sea peoples. In 1150 BC Mycenaean was sacked and all settlements deserted in addition, the population dropped, and writings fell out of use. This led to the eclipse of civilization for almost 400 years known as the Dark Ages( 1150-750). The Greeks themselves survived and even expanded their territory. The Renewal of the Greek Civilization was the next topic talked about in the outline. In 800 BC the Aegean region was recovered. The population expansion led to founding of colonies in 800- 600 BC. The Greeks joined the Phoenicians as the leading commercial and seafaring nation of the Mediterranean  They had a common religion. They also had new developments in the use of iron tools and weapons,coined money,borrowing of Phoenician shipbuilding and warfare techniques, and writing and the alphabet formed the Greek language. Then the outline talked about Citizens and Communities: The Greek City States(LO3). Notion of citizenship seems to have originated partly in geography.

Presenting Chapter 3 Powerpoints

Today in class we started going over our powerpoints. The first powerpoint was very good. I liked how they had alot of pictures and colorful backgrounds to make the presentation more interesting. In their powerpoint they talked about how the Greeks had a distinct way of life based on farming and warfare. The "Classical" Greece started around 800 B.C. The people of Greece got alot of eastern influence. The Greeks thought that the Mediterranean Sea was the middle of the world. The land mass with Sparta on it was called the Peloponnese. The Greeks had a huge sea navy. Then their powerpoint talked about LO2. In their LO2 section they talked about the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. The name Minoan came from a King named Minus. The Minoan's civilization was devoted to bullfighting. In their society when a boy became a man they had to catipulet  over a bull. The Mycenaeans protected their settlement with massive walls. The nest powerpoint also talked about the Minoans. The Minoan civilization arose on the Aegean island of Crete. It drew its wealth from surrounding seas and from trade between many lands, especially Egypt. The Minoan civilization was very wealthy becuase of trade. The second powerpoint also talked about the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages lasted from 1150 B.C to 750. The Mycenaean civilization lasted until about 1200B.C where it fell to attacks of warlike Greeks and sea people. It is also possible that Mycenaean civilization could have been corrupted by overpopulation and war. I think both of the powerpoints that presented today did a very good job.

Review of Chapter One Test

Today  our class was shortened because we got out at 12:40. We went over our chapter one test today. I got an 88 on it. I got four of the multiple choice answers wrong. The first one i got wrong was number 9. The question was The ancient civilization of Sumer was found between which two rivers? The correct answer was  B, Tigris and Euphrates. The second question I got wrong was number 13. The question was The yearly flood of the Nile was caused by? The correct answer was A, spring rains and melting snow in the lands south of Egypt. The third question I got wrong was  number 22. The question was The "white kilt class" might have had several professions, which was not one of them? The correct answer was B, artisan. The final question I got wrong was number 23. The question was What was not one of the duties of ancient Egyptian pharaohs? The correct answer was A, distribution of grain.

LO2 Powerpoint

Today in class Mr. Schick was back.we worked on our power points again today. Yesterday my group finished the LO1 part of our power point, so today we started working on the LO2 part. We finished LO2 today. I think that our powerpoint it pretty good. We have alot of imformation from the notes we took and also from the text book. Eleanor, Mackenzie, and I tried our best on the powerpoint. I think we might get to present them tommorow.

Minoan and Mycenaean

Today in class Mr. Schick was not in class, so the sub told us to work on our power points. My group finished the LO1 part of our power point  Then we started to look for information in LO2 but ran out of time.In LO2 it talks about The Aegean region and the people that live in it. The Minoan Civilization started around 2000 BC on the island of Crete. They got their wealth by controlling the surrounding seas and from trading with many eastern Mediterranean lands, above all Egypt.  The Greeks settled in the Aegean area too. They settled among the people they found in their new homeland  developed a way of life that combined their own traditions and local ones, eventually came under the influence of nearby Crete. By 1600 BC Greek chieftains had  established fortified settlements along the mainland's southern shore and on some of the islands, and these settlements had become the centers of a  new civilization. The civilization was called the Mycenaean civilization. The Mycenaean Greeks were a warlike people. The Mycenaean struggled with the Minoans for the control of the Eastern Mediterranean . The rivalry ended about 1400 BC with the destruction of the Minoan towns, perhaps destroyed by the Mycenaean conquest. The Mycenaean civilization lasted until shortly after 1200 BC.

Powerpoint and Notes on Chapter 3 LO1

Today we talked about Chapter 3: The First European Civilizations. The acropolis was an area of land that was over the city used as a lookout place. The highest point in Athens was called the Parthenon. In 3500 B.C Megalithic structures constructed in Europe. In 2500 B.C Indo- European nomads from the steppes migrate into Europe: European barbarian way of life evolves. Indo- Europeans are all those people from India to Europe that migrated around.Then we talked about the earliest barbarians. The barbarians were tribal people of Indo- European descent who eventually came into contact with civilization, The peoples of prehistoric Europe were organized enough to establish cultural rituals and built megaliths, stone tombs, and monuments. Stonehenge, in England, was built with massive stone boulders and arranged according to solar and lunar cycles. Then we talked about the geography of Greece. Greece is a mountainous peninsula. The mountains cover three fourths of the terrain. The location shaped Greece's culture.  The sea between Greece and Turkey is the Aegean Sea. The sea between Italy and Greece is called the Ionian sea. Crete is the island under Greece. Their are approximately 1,400 islands in the Aegean Sea and Ionian Sea. The Greece were skilled sailors. Greece had poor natural resources that is why they traded mostly. It was easier to trade by sailing around Greece then going through the mountains. Greece was difficult to unite because of the terrain. They developed small independent communities. They thought the Mediterranean Sea was the middle of the world. Then we started working on a powerpoint on what we learned today in partners. My partner is Eleanor.

Chapter 3 LO1

The Intro Section of Chapter three talks about the European Barbarian people and the first Greek civilization. Barbarian was a word used to describe a distinctive way of life based on farming, warfare, and tribal organization that became widespread in Europe around 2500 B.C. The Greeks started to move to Europe's southwestern region around 2000 B.C, so they were close to the people of the Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The earliest Greek civilization got most of its way of life from its neighbors.In 800 B.C a classical Greek started and even though it still was influenced mostly by its neighbors it had some new things. Within classical Greek civilization, there appeared ideas, art forms, and types of government that influenced Western Civilization. Western Civilization was  the civilizations on the west side of the earth like Europe .The Greek city states were the first government that let their citizens participate. The Greeks also started to fight by land and sea. In 500 B.C the Greeks got their independence from Persia, who were the main country in charge at the time. In LO1 it talks about European Barbarians. Most people  still lived in the prehistoric village life that came from the Agricultural Revolution. By 4000 B.C farming and village life had spread all over the western hemisphere.The people also became wealthier and the population rose. By 3500 B.C there were people in western Europe who were numerous enough and well organized enough to build ceremonial monuments. These monuments were circles and rows of huge upright boulders and huge earthen tombs and fortifications. The stones in these monuments were called megaliths. Megaliths were massive rough cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs. The word megalith comes from the Greek word meaning " large boulder".One of the most impressive European achievement was the Stonehenge. The Stonehenge was a huge open air monument built by the rich farming and trading people in England. It was rebuilt alot, but finally reached its final form in 2000B.C.  From about 2500 B.C onward  Indo- Eurpoean people moved into Europe . The Indo- European people were the people that had migrated from the Indian area to the European area. The peoples of the region began to speak languages of Indo- Eurpoean origin that were distant ancestors of Greek and Latin. Some Europeans were warriors but most were farmers. They lived in villages or in big farmsteads that housed several families, generally the settlements were widely spread. Groups of villages or farmsteads formed tribes. Tribes were social and political units consisting of a group of communities held together by common interests, traditions, and real or mythical ties of kinship. The tribal groups fought each other for  metals, slaves, and other items that brought prestige to their prossessors or could be exported to Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, or Eygpt in return for the luxuries of civilization. Tribes were mostly temporary. Europe came to be inhabited by people who spoke mostly Indo- european languages, who were skilled in farming, metalworking, and trade, and who were fairly well organized on the local level, but had no cities, written records, or fixed structures of government.

Chapter 1 Test

Today in class we took our first test of the semester. It was on chapter one. We were aloud to us our blogs, which was very helpful. It was a little challenging because we did not have alot of time to write the essay. The essay had to be three paragraphs. I think I did okay for my first test in Western Civilization.

Powerpoint and Review for Test

Today in class we reviewed for our test tomorrow by going over a power point. The first slide of the powerpoint was on the Land of the Pharaohs.  Upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile. Lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile delta, emptying into the Mediterranean sea.In 3100 BC the two lands were united under a single king or "pharaoh".The Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians. The next slide was on Government by a God-King. The pharaoh was all powerful, worshiped as a god and intimately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses. Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe which they called "maat".Pharaohs had multiple wives and all routes to financial and social success were through the palace.Woman could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands, through only a tiny few ever wielded real political power. Woman did pretty well under Egyptian rule. The next slide was Gods, Humans, and Everlasting life. Gods were often portrayed with animal heads or bodies. Egyptians believed in an afterlife and mummified bodies to preserve them for this post death journey. All souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and can be either sent to an afterworld paradise or the jaws of a monster. The nest slide was called The writing of the words of God. Earliest Egyptian writing formed about 1300BC and were small pictures known as hieroglyphs. Papyrus, the precursor to paper, was stored in scrolls and these scrolls were the books of ancient Egypt. Hierolyphs represented religious words, or parts of words. The next slide was called Calenders and Sailboats. Egyptian astronomers created a calender with 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles. Due to their excellent knowledge of human anatomy Egyptian doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created potions and cures to a number of common ailments. wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability on the Nile. The last slide was called Pyramids and Temples. The pyramids were massive stone tombs, originally covered in marble but the marble was later stripped off during the Muslim conquest.The temple of Amon at Karnak is the largest religious building in the world, also made out of huge block of stone. Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in a series of regulated poses, often in profile and without perspective, but were highly effective. Then after the powerpoint we watched a video on mummification. The video talked about a man who was mummified around the 1st century AD. First all the internal organs are taken out. Then the body stays in salt for 40 days. Linen is wrapped around the body and then more wrapping are. Pictures are painted on the outer layer.

Pyramid Challenge

Today in class we played a game. The game was a challenge.We had to build a pyramid. It was much harder then it looked. We had to pick the right measurements, right workers, right materials, right location, and we had to get there in a certain amount of time. It took me many times to complete it. We were aloud to work in pairs to try and complete it faster. I was paired with Eleanor and we completed in class, so we both got 8 points. I really enjoyed playing this game and learned alot about how the Egyptians use to build the pyramids.