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.