Today in class we went over our paper and finalized it. The only thing we have to do is print it out.  Hope you're having fun Mr. Schick!!

Class on Friday was great, because we were able to finish the paper. No one was talking and everyone could concentrate. I am now working on finalizing the paper. Hopefully on Monday we will finish the paper and then can start studying for our test. Hope Mr. Schick is having fun visiting his daughter!!

Today in class we had time to work on our 1,000 word paper, watch the video, or study for our test thats on April 1st. I chose to work on the paper. Today in class I made an outline, wrote the introduction and first body paragraph. I think that my group needs to work a little harder so we aren't rushed to write this paper early next week. Hopefully tomorrow we will complete more of the paper!!

Today in class we went over the powerpoint once again
below are my notes ...

Gods & Goddesses

• What is unique about the Greeks' relationship with their gods is the interactions with humans 
• Poseidon (god of sea) interfered with Odysseus trying to return home
• Aphrodite (god of love) had lovers of both Gods & men 
• Dionysus (god of wine) son of Zeus (a god) & of semele (a human princess) 

Who's who in the Pantheon

• Zeus - ruler of heaven and earth; father of Athena; god of sky, weather, thunder, lighting, law, order, justice 
• Had a temper, was known to hurl thunderbolts 

Athena

• Athena - goddess of wisdom, skill, warfare (and peace), intelligence, battle, strategy, and handicrafts 
• She was born from Zeus' head fully formed & armed 
• Special patron of heroes - such as odysseus 
• She was patron of Athens 
• city named after her

Apollo 

• god of music, arts, knowledge, healing
• Zeus was his father, Artemis was his twin sister 
• he associated the sun, his sister with the moon

Poseidon

• god of sea, rivers, flood, earthquakes 
• brother os Zeus, king of seas & water 

Aphrodite

• god of love, beauty, desire, sexuality 
• had many lovers - Ares (god of war), Adonis (demi - god of desire), and Arichises (mortal - fathered a baby) 

Demeter

• god of grain, harvest, agriculture 
• Zeus's sister 

The fighting Sparta

• Greeks were certainly warlike people - especially the Spartans 
• Spartans were known for their tough, ruthless infantry: soldiers who fought on land 
• Spartan boys trained from the time thy were seven 
• Real Spartans were much more fearsome than those oily gym rats in the movie 300 (MHO) 

A Naval power 

• Athens had a great infantry too, but nothing could compare with their navy 
• their most effective weapon was the trirme: 
• a technological marvel 
• fastest ship in the world at the time 
• rowed by up too 170 men on three levels 
• could be used as a battering ram 
• agile, fast 

The Phalanx

• close - rank, dense grouping of warriors
• armed with long spears and interlocking shields 
• soldiers would advance slowly toward the enemy, until they broke through their ranks 

Philosopherlapalooza - Socrates 

• looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked 
• the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking 
• "the unexamined life is not worth living" 
• Socrates was charged with crimes 
• impiety (disrespecting gods)
• corrupting the youth
• At his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, Athens as a lazy old horse 
• didn't deny what he did, he asked for free dinners 
•  found guilty by jury, sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock 
• could've gotten out of jail - but he followed the rules and stayed

Today in class we went over Mr. Schick's example essay for us.  The essay went over the directions for our Ancient Greece essay.  I think this essay will be easy because I don't mind writing papers and if everyone works together it will be done in no time. Our essay is based on Art and Architecture which will be easy, because we did a great job on our powerpoint which will be used as an outline.

Class on Friday was very informational. We all had about 5 minutes to go over our Power points that were on different topics. I feel like my group did a good job presenting, but we don't know exactly until Mr. Schick puts our grades in. Im hoping we did a great job, so it will improve my grade !!

Today we took more notes on the powerpoint.
Below are my notes ...

Next in line

• with hippias gone, Isagoras & Cleisthenes (both are aristocrats) 
• Isagoras had support from fellow aristocrats, plus from sparta 
• Cleisthenes had support of the majority of Athenians

Isagros Wins

• he ostracize Cleisthenes 
• Cleisthenes' supporters & the ordinary Athenian Citizens - revolt against Isagros tyranny 
• They trap Isagoras on the acropolis for two days - on the third day - he fled & was banished 
• 508 BCE 

Cleisthenes & Democracy 

• Cleisthenes - definitely a member of the elite 
• very rich 
• insulated from the "hoi polloi" 
• a crafty politician 

Today in class we continued talking notes on Ancient Greece
Below are notes that Chris let me take off of his blog; because I forgot my book at school.

Transformation Of Government

-During the seventh and sixth centuries BCE aristocrats ran the show in most of Greece
-Really? Rich people held much more influence in society, and held much more governmental power, than the middle class or the poor.

Aristocracy

-Aristocracy is ruled by aristocrats
-They attended symposiums
-Symposiums were meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry, performances by dancers and acrobats and the coming of hetaeras (courtesans) while discussing politics

An Exclusive Club

-No women allowed (except the "entertainment")
-No middle class
-Certainly, no slaves
-Sometimes, even aristocrats who didn't have the right connections or who fell out of favor, were excluded
-What to do if you're "on the outside"?

Tyrants Seize Control

-Sometimes, aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites (well-armed soldiers) and set up an alternative form of government called a tyranny
-Tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis
-Modern meaning of tyrant: an abusive or oppressive ruler
-The Greek meaning of tyrant: someone who simply seized power on their own (usually with hoplite)

Clash of the Tyrants
-Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527 to 510 BCE
-His brother was murdered and his rule became harsh
-Eventually he was expelled from Athens (this is called being ostracized)
-In revenge, he began working with Persian King Darius I, helping them invade Marathon

Today in class, we had the whole mod to work on our projects. Our powerpoint follows the rubric, so we will get a good grade. I think that we should add about 5 more slides and we will have a great grade. Katie, Sophia, and I have been putting in a lot of information and we have shared the work evenly. I hope that we will have this project done by Wednesday, so we can go over it on Thursday, and then on Friday we can present.

Today in class we talked about our Project and Test coming up. I'm in a group with Katie and Sophia. The topic we chose was Art and Architecture in Ancient Greece. I think that this will be pretty easy.

Today in class we learned about Homer the Storyteller. And we also had a terrible pop quiz, which was absurd. Below I listed my notes ....

Homer the Storyteller

• Greek oral tradition - stories passed on by word of mouth 
• Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages"
• He composed stories of the Trojan War c. 750 - 700 BCE 
• The lliad: probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaens (the Trojan War) 
• The Odyssey: Odysseus attempt to return home, being thwarted by angry god of the sea, Poseidon 
• The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of clactylic hexameter 

Did Homer actually exist ?

• "Homeric question" Homer may have been a mythical creation himself 
• A blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure 
• lliad and the odyssey may be the culmination of many generations of storytelling 
• Or Homer actually existed and was just that awesome 

Today in class we went over the powerpoint on Ancient Greece
Below are my notes ....

• Greece is a mountainous peninsula 
• mountains cover 3/4 of Greece 
• Approximately 1,400 islands in the Adriatic 
• Ionian and Aegean Seas 
• This combination shaped Greece's culture 
• They had skilled sailors and ship builders 
• They had limited natural resources so they needed to trade
• It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain 
• developed small independent (communities) city-states 
• although fertile valleys cover on quarter of the peninsula
• only about 20% is suitable for farming 
• Greek diet consists of 
• grapes
• grains
• olives 
• lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization 
• back then the temperatures ranged from the mid 40s in the winter and in the summer it was in the low 80s. 
• had pretty nice weather - year round

Early People 

• Mycenaens 
• their influence began around 2000 BCE 
• Mycenaensis located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20- foot thick wall 
• Mycenaen kings dominated Greece from 1600 - 1200 BCE 
• controlled the trade region 
• 1400 BCE invaded Crete and absorbed minoan culture and language 
• "Sea people' & Dorians 
• around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" invaded Myceanae & burnt palace after palace 
• so, the dorians moved into this war - torn region 
• far less advanced 
• trade based economy collapsed 
• writing disappeared for 400 years 
• talk about culture in decline except  

Cyber Day 3/6/15

Plato - Greek Philosopher 

Plato - Greek Philosopher

Plato was born in Athens around the year 428 BCE. Plato's father died when he was a child, when his mother remarried, he lived with Pyrijampes. Plato's birth name is Aristocles. Plato studied music and poetry when he was younger. Plato met Socrates and knew he would be a perfect teacher for him. Plato took after Socrates and "adopted his philosophy and style of debate". From 409 BC to 404 BC Plato joined the military. After 399 BC Plato began to write greatly. We still don't know if he was writing before Socrates' death. Plato died in 347, leaving the Academy to his sister's child, Speusippus. Plate was a model for "institutions of higher learning".


Citation:
"Plato - Biography." 
Plato. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

Cyber Day 3/5/15

Below is my cyber day assignment ...

Three ancient Greece buildings 

1. Temple of Hera, Selinus 
2. The Theatre 
3. The Stadium 

Temple of Hera, Salinus

Temple of Hera

The Temple of Hera is one of the oldest temples in Greece. The temple has a "characteristic squat appearance", is very long, and is facing east-west. The temple has 3 chambers, pronaos, cella, and opisthodomos. The columns were made out of "shallow cavities", the lower part of the temple was made of shell-limestone, and the upper part of the temple was made out of mud brick. The temple was decorated in art work and with pictures of the winners from the Heraia games.

The website I used is:
http://www.olympia-greece.org/hera.html

The Theatre - Argos

The Theatre - Argos

Greek theaters were open, large, and always on hills for seating. As you can see in the picture you can see the seating goes down the hill. They built these theaters to honor their gods in the beginning, then moved on to being entertainment for the city of Athens. The theaters could hold up to about 20,000 people. The theatre was the gathering place for the whole city.



The websites I used are: 
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tragedy_theater.html
http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Theatre/

The Stadium - Nemea

Nemea Stadium 

The Nemea games were held at this stadium, the games were held every 2 years. The games went on for 573 BCE to 271 BCE. People would sit on the "grassy banks or the rows of stone seats." The surface is sorta like clay and is 178 miles long. Today in Greece every for years there is games that are held and are open to all. The stadium was constructed around 330 BCE. This stadium is just like others around Ancient Greece. During the roman time period this stadium became a place for farming and herding.

The websites I used are: 

http://www.ancient.eu/image/612/
http://nemeacenter.berkeley.edu/projects/stadium

Today in western civ class we talked about cyber days, for about 30 minutes. After Mr. Schick was done telling us about his idea of cyber days and how we have to have at least 45 minutes of work, he handed out the tests on Egypt. Hopefully next class we will go over the test & start talking about Greece.

Cyber Day 3/2/15

(Ancient) Greece if the Word
- an introduction to a great civilization

• The world's greatest civilizations are all located on rivers 

Great Civilization - Key River

• Mesopotamia - Tigris & Euphrates Rivers 
• Egypt - Nile River 
• India - Indus River 
• China - Huang He River 

Q1. Greece is surrounded by water which helps them and there culture. Greece seems to be very mountainous.

Q2. The bodies of water that surround Greece are the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea.

Q3. The large island that is south/southeast of Greece is Crete.

Q4. Athens and Sparta are both very close to the seas, but it looks like they are located far apart. They both seem to be on other sides of each other.