Android Teaches the Class... again 2/26/14

REVIEWING GREECE

- Athens and Sparta were the size of some U.S counties
- Greece communities didn't get along
- They often fought each other
- White male/landowners could have political power
- Trireme (there were 3 levels of men rowing) was a fighting ship to sink other ships or run into it
- Women set up places for meetings that involved men
-  In Sparta, women were required to be physically healthy so they could bear a healthy child.
- Sparta started loosing wars and battles so they closed off different ways to get to and from Sparta
- Peloponnesus is an island that is barley connected to the land
- Aristocrats were married among themselves
- Boys from Sparta were very physically fit
- Athens government is democracy
- Golden age of Athens (30 years) paracles was in charge
- Athens were also good fighters
- Sparta was a very basic lifestyle but rough and tough.  no comforts or luxuries
- Peloponnesian war was between Athens and Sparta
- The expedition was to solomos and Marathon
- Greeks were not expected to win many battles
- Meeting in Athens were help once a week and less than 5,000 showed up
- Athens was named after the goddess Athena
- Slaves were treated very fairly; if owner died they would be released most of the time

Greek Geography 2/25/14

Greek Geography 

-lots of mountains
-about 1,400 islands
-skilled sailors
-poor natural resources
-difficult to unite Greeks because of the terrain; they developed small, independent communities
-20% of the land was suitable for farming
-fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the peninsula
-diet: grains, grapes, and olives
-temperatures ranged from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer
-lack of resources led to colonization

Mycenaean

-2000 BC
-located on a rocky ridge protected by a 20 foot thick wall
-dominated the area 1600-1200 BC and controlled trade in the region
-Mediterranean means middle earth
-1400 BC they invaded Crete and absorbed their culture and language
-Around 1200 BC "sea people" invaded Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
Dorians moved into the region
     -they were far less advanced
     -economy collapsed
     -writing disappeared for 400 years known as the dark ages

Homer and Myths

-stories were passed down by mouth
-lived at the end of the dark ages
-recorded stories of the Trojan war in the Iliad and the Odyssey
     -Iliad- epic poem
     - Odyssey- 12,110 lines long

Reading Assignment LO3 2/24/14

LO3 Citizens and Communities: The Greek City-States:

Vocabulary

1.  Acropolis- a high fortified citadel and religious center of ancient Greek town
2.  Hoplite- A heavy armed and armored citizen-soldier of ancient Greece
3. Phalanx- a unit of several hundred hoplites, who closed ranks by joining shields when approaching the enemy
4. Monarchy- a state in which supreme power is held by a single, usually hereditary ruler
5. Oligarchy- A state in which supreme power is held by a small group
6. Triremes- Massive fighting vessels with three banks of oars, used to ram or board enemy ships
7. Tyranny- Rule by a self-proclaimed dictator
8. Democracy- In ancient Greece, a form of government in which adult male citizens were entitled to take part in decision making.
9. Helots- Non citizens forced to work for landholders in the ancient city-sate of Sparta.
10. Colony- In ancient Greece, a new city-state settled in an oversea territory by a group sponsored by a city-state located elsewhere
11. Oracle- A priest or priestess who was believed to give answers that were inspired by a god or goddess to questions from worshipers at a temple
12. Aristocrats- Members of prominent and long-established Athenian families 
13. Ostracism- Banishment for ten years by majority vote of the Athenian Assembly 

Athens 

• These 2 city states were the giants of all the city-states
• the population of both town and country ordinarily numbered only a few thousand, though Athens may have reached as many as 250,000.  
• Both fortresses and temples were vitally important to the Greek City-states
• They were fiercely competitive communities that fought one another, and their single most important civic activity was the worship of the god and goddesses to whom each community was dependent on.
• Athens was the city of the goddess Athena.
• most powerful and wealthy state
• boys would go to war at age 18 for only 2 years
• girls would get educations
• They had a good education system
• Persian war (Athens won) this led to the golden age
• the people here flowed daring inventiveness, glorious literature, and stunning creations of mind and hand
• They had more of a free government
• They had a very strong navy
• women were treated well

Sparta

• Sparta had a very strong army
• They had more of a strict government
• They were all about physical fitness and military courage
• To hold down the Helots, the Spartans citizens had to accept the government system that put them under almost total denomination by a few among themselves 
• how the Spartans developed their government is unknown
• The Spartan way of life was dedicated to male citizens to the service of the state: boys were taken from their families at age 7.  They were taught manly behavior, reading, writing, and started on a lifelong routine of physical toughening and military training.  
• These boys were permitted to marry after age 20: otherwise, bachelors were punished
• Spartan girls were also required to participate in drills and exercises that were designed to develop them into healthy, child-bearing women.  The women could NOT take place assembly meetings, or hold government positions.  
• Spartans "sealed" of their state from outside influences; they had little contact with foreigners
• Spartans started loosing wars

Today: Laura and Erica Teach the Class

• Greece shared in crisis and recovery of the lands between the Mediterranean sea and Indian Ocean
• "Classical" Greek Civilization = 800 B.C
• Art Forms, and types of gov. = was created
• Greek city states = citizen participation in gov.
• Barbarian - based on farming, warfare, and tribal org. that became widespread in Europe beginning around 2500 B.C.
• Megaliths - massive rough cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs
• Tribe - a social and political unit consisting of a group of communities held together by common interest; traditions and real or mythical ties of kinship.
• 4000 B.C. = farming and village spreads
• 3500 B.C. = Western Europe construction happens
• Stonehenge = huge open air monument built by farming and trading ppl in west of England
• Final form = 2000 B.C.
• People started to change languages > Indo European origin..
• Warriors were highly respected = warriors were like gods; when they died they went to an after life with his horses and chariots etc.
• Women came with the warriors to battle to encourage or even join the fight.
• Groups of villages or farmsteads formed tribes, held together by common interest, traditions and real or mythical ties of kinship.
• Traded with Asia Minor, Mesopotamia or Egypt in return of some luxuries of civ.
• Europe = no cities, written records or form of gov.
• 2000 - 1000 B.C. barbarians came to contact with civ.
• 1st contact with civ. were the Greeks > first to be counted as "Western"
• Greeks settled in mainland Greece = 2000 B.C.
• 1200 and 800 B.C. = spread through islands and eastern cost-lands of Aegean Sea

Their lives centered around strength and courage, comradeship and loyalty, contests and battles.  They always lived their lives to the best of their ability. 

Wrapping up Egypt 2/19/14

Today in class we went over the answers to the test.  I actually had to take the test today because I was absent the day the class was taking it.  Mr. Schick made me take the test out in the hallway... :(     I always hate taking a test in the hallway.  We finally started to finish wrapping up Egypt today.  Now we get to move on and see what other different things there are to learn about.

Building pyramids 2/18/14

Today in class we build a pyramid online.  We had to choose a partner to do it with us.  We were graded on who finished first, second, third, and so on.  Laura and I were partners for this.  We failed so many times but continued trying.  Alexa and Meagan got 1st and Laura and I were running out of time. Finally with 3 minutes to spare, we successfully completed our pyramid and got an 18/20 for our grade.  That was a very stressful game.

Essay #2 2/14/14

(1)The sail boat was one of their most famous inventions.  This was important to them because it helped them travel on water instead of by horse or by foot.  It also made trading much faster.  Another famous invention was the pyramid.  This was the final resting place(s) of the pharaohs.  It was very big and complex for a tomb.  These are still standing today.  Another invention that is still standing today, is the sphinx.  The Spinx was build to protect the tombs and the bodies inside of it.  It had the body of a lion and the head of a human.
(2) In the ancient pyramids, there were many different rooms and tunnels.  This was to confuse the people/person if they tried to break into the tomb.  Another important feature was there was a hidden entrance that only a couple people knew about.  The bricks/blocks were put together so well, that you couldn't even fit a small knife blade in between them.

Essay 2/13/14

The social hierarchy of the ancient Egyptians was very unique.  It was pretty much like a social pyramid.  The slaves were at the bottoms of the pyramid.  Then came the farmers, artisans, merchants, scribes, soldiers, priests, and the pharaoh in that order.  I thought it was a coincidence that the bottom of the pyramid was the biggest and that was how big the population of each group was.  The pharaoh owned all the land, was in charge of all the taxes, and protected from the land from other foreigners.  
The Nile River was so important to the Egyptian people because it was their source of water, for them and to grow their crops.  It was an important way of transportation to trade goods and needs with other Egyptian etc.  The people all lived around the Nile river because it provided just about everything they needed for them.  It was their provider.  Every July is flooded and every October it left rich soil for the people.  They used that to plant crops and harvest food.  

Class 2/11/14

Today in class a lot of unusual things occurred.  Mr. Schick broke one of the teacher's desks, Laura and Arri couldn't get along, and to top it all off, Laura was complaining that she has a "tumor" on her ear?  At the beginning of class, we watched a 3 minute movie on the mummification profess again but this time with sound.  The rest of the whole class everyone laughed as Arri and Laura continued to argue the entire time.  This was pretty much what happened in our West.West. Civ class today.

More notes on Egypt 2/10/14

Today we took more notes on mummification and the different classes of people.  We talked about geography, daily life, pharaohs, goddess and gods, and pyramids.  Mr. Schick explained more about how the Nile River was so important to the people who lived there.  Every July is flooded and every October it left behind good soil.  We talked about slaves, farmers, artisans, merchants, scribes, soldiers, priests, and the pharaoh.  I learned that there were over 2000 different gods in their religion.  RA was the sun god.  Since we over exaggerated that name for almost 5 full minutes... the gods "controlled" the life of humans.  The Pharaoh owned all the land, made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt against foreigners.

notes for 2/7/14

Today we took more notes on the Egypt, and mummies!  I thought it was cool that the gods thing was pretty cool, and how the slaves crafted and built those huge pyramids and didn't use cranes or bulldozers like we would have today!  That probably took a really long time.  The Pharaohs were in charge or everything but if there was a drought or something bad happened, they would be kicked out of their position as a leader because the people believed that the gods were mad because the Pharaoh did something wrong.  Learning about Egypt was pretty cool.

SNOW DAY 2/3/14

TODAY WE HAD ONE CLASS... WE HAVE GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 10AM TODAY AND IM SUPER EXCITED (WHICH IS WHY IM TYPING IN ALL CAPS).  WE DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN WESTERN CIV TODAY BUT LOOK AT THE PRETTY SNOW.  I FELT LIKE A LITTLE KINDERGARTNER EXCITED ABOUT THE SNOW!  IM NOT EVEN SURE WHAT IM SUPPOSED TO BE BLOGGING ABOUT RIGHT NOW BUT WE WERE TOLD TO DO ONE SO I AM :).  SSNNNOOWWWW!!!