West Civ blogs

I was not in class today because I had a lacrosse game in Annapolis.

Today in class we had a project preparation day and we worked on our powerpoint. During this time, it took me a while to find a reliable picture. For the connections to Greek people, the Athenians believed in many Gods/Goddesses. I picked Athena to do my project on. Also known as Athene, she named the city of Athens after her. The olive tree was a symbol of peace and wisdom.  We still need to create our paper that is due Thursday and we are the first group to go. She is Zeus' daughter and she was born from her father's head. When she came out, she was in full armor and an adult. She is also Zeus' favorite daughter.

We took a test on Ancient Greece. I think I aced it and Mr. Schick told us a story of a doctor who said he was related to Alexander the Great. We had to know about Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus,  protected by a 20-foot thick wall.Homer lived at the end of these “Greek Dark Ages”. polis: fundamental political unit, made up of a city and the surrounding countryside politics (affairs of the cities), policy, political, etc. monarchy: rule by a single person (a king, in Greece) aristocracy: rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families oligarchy: wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, who seized power (often with military help) tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support Draco (621 BCE) all Athenians (rich or poor) are equal under the law but death is the punishment for many crimes debt slavery is OK (work as a slave to repay debts) Solon’s reforms ...

Cleisthene's gave some middle and lower class the right to vote. As long as they are male, free and born in Athens. Citizens could participate and they practiced a direct democracy. Agora- Citizens argued, made speeches, then voted with either white (yes) or black (no) stones- 500 BCE The Gods and Goddesses interacted with people as if they were real. Zeus-God of thunder, heaven, lightning, had a temper. Athena-Wisdom, skill, warfare, (and peace), intelligence, battle strategy and handcrafts. Athena was born from Zeus' forehead fully grown.  Sparta's people were very aggressive and made their kids join the "infancy" at age seven. Athens had a great infancy but their navy was amazing. Draco was a terrible King and has a adjective named after him. phalanx- long spears with interlocking shields. Persian wars- Greeks won but Persia was HUGE. Greece still won.

Today in west Civ we took notes on a powerpoint to get prepared for our test on Friday. We took a ton of notes which included... polis- fundamental political unit made up of a city and the surrounding country-side. Politics (affairs of the cities)  policy, political etc. Monarchy- rule by a single person Aristocrats- rule of a small group of noble and very rich landowning families oligarch-wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocrats rules who seized power (often with military help) Tyrant- powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support Symposiums-elite men get together ,enjoy wine, poetry, performances, acrobats, and the company of women tho entertain them. Cleisthenes-allowed all citizens to submit laws for the debate at the assembly, created the council of 500(members chosen at random as long as they are are not a women, child, slave, or a  "foreigner" Homeric question= Is homer real?

Today in west civ. we worked on our 200 point projects and KG wasn't there so she doesn't know much of her part. My group is Kendall, KG, Emma and I.  We picked Greek Gods and Goddesses. At first I picked Poseidon but then I switched to Athena. She is the Goddess of Wisdom and war tactics. I will dress like her the day of the presentation, my group will create an essay, a powerpoint, and act like their God or Goddess. We went over the rubric and had to know what was on it not only for our grade but to be able to grade the other groups presentations. We have two days in class to work on our projects and the rest of the time we will have to do it as homework. It was extremely cold in Mr. Shick's room so he let us go to our locker to get our sweatshirts and sweatpants.

1. )10 years 2.) two weeks 3.)Around the twelfth century BCE 4.) eighth century BCE 5.) "A long narrative poem; on a serious subject; written in a grand or elevated style; centered on a larger -than life- hero. 6.) Penelope 7.) Telemachus 8.) He was able to talk himself out of it. On finding Odysseus and his men in the cave , the Cyclops became enraged, grabbed two of the men, smashed their heads against the rocks, ate them, and fell asleep. 9.) Yes he is a hero because he had an extraordinary attribute or ability. 10.)"And so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, her white arms around him pressed as though forever."

Today In West Civ we learned about Greece and Homer. The temp. of Greece in the summer is around 80 degrees and the mid 40's in the winter. Mycenaeans influenced around 2000 B. They built a 20 foot wall to protect themselves from intruders. 1400 BC, Mycenaeans invade Greece and invaded Crete.  They then absorbed their cultures. Homer lived in the time of the "Dark Ages" and was blind. He was making his trip home and it should of taken two weeks. It took ten years. His beautiful wife who lived in a palace, was very hopeful that he would return and so other men tried to get her to marry then but she said "no". Their writing disappeared after four hundred years. Trojan war-1200 BC Homer the bard (storyteller) On his trip, Poseidon was angry and had the waves send him to different islands. There, he told the people the stories of the iliad and the Odyssey. Then he would move on to the next island. the people helped each other remember it.

Today in western civ, we continued to take notes in the beginning of class while our teacher went to help with the holocaust remembrance day. Great Civilizations=On water Mesopotamia/ Tigris and Euphrates Egypt/ Nile River India/ Indus River China/ Hung He River Cultures of Mts. and the sea The typography of Greece is very Mountains We will need to know the Agean Sea, Ionian Sea, Adritic Sea, Peloponnesus, Athens, Sparta, Crete, Asia Minor, and Macedonia. Mountains cover 3/4 of Greece. There are about 2000 islands. People's jobs were skilled sailors , ship makers, farmers, metalworkers, weavers and potters. Greece was loyal to city states. Greece was also a peninsula which together, shaped Greece.

Today we took a test in Western  Civilization.  I got a B on the test. We studied Ancient Egypt so we studied a bunch of words like  these. The Nile and and the "two lands" Upper Egypt is located on the mountains and lower Egypt is located on valleys; wide land of the Nile delta emptying into the Mediterian sea. Around 3100 BC, the two lands were united by a pharaoh named Narmer.  Pharaoh's were worshiped as gods and intimately connected to the other Egyptian Gods. N armer- King pharaoh- Egyptian God Kings theocracy- Type of government in which rule is based on religious authority pyramid-For the kings of the old kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure. mummification-embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. hieroglyphic- Greek words hieros and gluph meaning "sacred carvings" papyrus- papyrus reeds.  They grew in marshy delta areas. Split the narrow reeds

I was absent today because I wasn't feeling well.

Today we did the rest of our powerpoint to pre-pare for out quiz tomorrow.  The quiz will be fifteen questions long and it will be out of seventy five points.  The Nile and and the "two lands" Upper Egypt is located on the mountains and lower Egypt is located on valleys; wide land of the Nile delta emptying into the Mediterian sea. Around 3100 BC, the two lands were united by a pharaoh named Narmer.  Pharaoh's were worshiped as gods and intimately connected to the other Egyptian Gods. N armer- King pharaoh- Egyptian God Kings theocracy- Type of government in which rule is based on religious authority pyramid-For the kings of the old kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure. mummification-embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. hieroglyphic- Greek words hieros and gluph meaning "sacred carvings" papyrus- papyrus reeds.  They grew in marshy delta areas. Split the narrow reeds