Matt and Phil Taught the Class

Today in class, Matt and Phil taught the class. They read and talked about the notes that they took on LO3. Some notes that they had are:

• Only a from thousands live in Greek City State, but Athens reached up to 250,000
• Phalanx: a unit of several hundred hoplites, who closed ranks by joining shields when approaching the enemy 
• Tyranny: rule by a self-proclaimed
• A tyrant in ancient Greek, wasn't a ruthless person. This was just a person who took oven
• Over time the word "tyrant" became made in a bad way
• The way of life that dedicated male citizens entirely to the service of the state. The farms were worked by the helots. 
• Male citizens took part in democracy
• No: women, children, immigrants, slaves, etc.  
• Triremes: massive fighting vessels with banks of oars. Men steered the oars three rows of oars (triremes- "tri") 
• Sparta: the military idea
•  Helots: non citizens forced to work for landholders in the ancient city-state of Sparta
• The Spartans were the descendants of Greeks who had conquered part of the southern mainland (The territory of Laconia)

*Know Geographic Features of Greece

• Adriatic Sea
• Aegean Sea
• Ionian Sea
• Crete: island, at the bottom 
• Athens 
• Sparta
• Peloponnese 
• Mediterranean Sea- middle of the earth 

Working with Ellie and Carly

Today West Civ, we had a sub. Mr. Schick wasn't here, so he left instructions on his blog and told us what to do. We had to make a Google Doc Presentation about Sparta and Athens. I worked with Ellie and Carly. It was fun working with them, and we learned a lot. I am not sure if our PowerPoint is due tomorrow. I did a slide about women in Sparta and Athens and the government. I think that this helped us learn about the lesson without having to sit and read the book. I bet that we are going to have to present our PowerPoints in class. I am glad that we got to work with partners, because it made less work and it made it more fun. We almost finished our presentations, and will probably finish them tomorrow in class!

LO3

LO3 Citizens and Communities: The Greek City-States

• Acropolis: the high fortified citadel and religious center of an ancient Greek town 

City-States and Citizens 

• The notion of citizen participation seems to have originated partly in geography
• City-States started to develop when the Assyrians were reaching for power westward from Mesopotamia 
• An Athenian Owl- that was the slang name of this tetradrachma because of the owl, the sacred bird of Athena, on the reverse side
• Hoplite: a heavily armed and armored citizen-solider of ancient Greece 
• Phalanx: a unit of several hundred hoplites, who closed ranks by joining shields when approaching the enemy 
• Poorer citizens fought as light-armed infantry, harassing the enemy ahead of the phalanx's charge or covering its vulnerable flanks  
• "Alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt there now appeared a third great civilization: that of classical Greece" 

Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, Democracy 

• Monarchy: a state in which supreme power is held by a single, usually hereditary ruler 
• Triremes: massive fighting vessels with three banks of oars, used to ram or board enemy ships
• Tyranny: rule by a self-proclaimed dictator
• Democracy: in ancient Greece, a government in which all adult male citizens were entitled to take part in decisions 
• In the earliest times of classical Greek civilization, the communities that would become city-states were ruled by kinds and their leading companion warriors, as described in the epics of Homer
• But other city-states, particularly those that developed into large commercial centers, gave far more power to the majority
• In these large city-states, social conflicts sometime led to the emergence of tyranny 
• Like most tight-knit communities, Greek city-states were in many ways narrow and exclusive
• Sparta: The Military Ideal  
• The Spartans were the descendants of Greeks who had conquered part of the southern mainland, the territory of Laconia 
• Along with this government system there went a way of life that dedicated male citizens entirely to the service of the state 
• helots: non citizens forced to work for landholders in the ancient city-state of Sparta

Athens: Freedom and Power

• To the Athenians, the Spartan life was not worth living 
• Aristocrats: members of prominent and long-established Athenian families 

More Notes

• Adriatic Sea
• 20% good for farming
• Valleys covered 1/4 peninsula
• Diet of grains, grapes, and olives
• Lack of resources most likely caused Greek colonization
• 48-80 degrees (winter/summer)

Mycenaean:

• Began at 2000B.C.
• Mycenae located on a rocky ridge and protected by 20ft. thick wall
• Kings dominated Greece 1600-1200B.C.
• Controlled trade in the region
• 1400B.C. Mycenaean invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language

Culture in Decline:

• Around 1200B.C. sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
• The Dorians moved into the war-torn region
• Far less advanced, economically collapsed, and writing disappeared for 400yrs

Homer and Myths:

• Stories were passed on by word of mouth
• Blind, poet, and old
• Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages"
• Recorded stories of the Trojan War and The Iliad and the Odyssey (written 750-700B.C.)
• Trojan war was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans
• Odyssey was 12,110 line of dactylic hexameter

Greek Concepts:

• Arête: virtue and excellence  
• Epics: narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
• Myths were created to explain creation
• Zeus: leader of the gods
• Hera: Zeus' wife
• Athena: goddess of wisdom

LO2: The Aegean Encounter

• The scene of this encounter was a region stretching from mainland Greece across the Aegean Sea
• Farming wealth from this region came from a combination of grain fields, vineyards, and olive groves

Minoan Civilization

• About 2200BC, a distinct civilization, known today as Minoan arose on the Aegean island of Crete. 
• This civilization drew its wealth from control of the surrounding seas and from thriving trade with many eastern Mediterranean lands, above Egypt.
• The Master of the Animals: this Cretan gold pendant, made about 1700BC, shows a powerful being with geese in each hand, and a bull's horns looming behind him

The Arrival of the Greeks: Mycenaean Civilization

• At the time that Minoan civilization arose, great changes were taking place in the lands that stretched for thousands of miles to the north and east of Crete
• There is no way of knowing exactly when, where, or how the Greeks developed into a separate ethnic group, but at the time that they made their way into their new homeland, they seem to have been a European barbarian people much like any other
• The Mycenaean Greeks were a warlike people whose leading warriors rode into battle in horse-drawn chariots and who protected their settlements with massive walls

The "Dark Ages"

• Mycenaean civilization lasted until shortly after 1200BC, when it fell victim to the same regional crisis that involved the downfall of the Hittites and the attacks of the Sea People on Egypt 
• "The minstrels' listeners absorbed the traditional values that the heroic songs celebrated- the values of a warrior aristocracy that was at home on both land and sea."
• In the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., as their wealth and population grew, the Greeks joined the Phoenicians as traders, travelers, and settlers across the sea

The Renewal of Greek Civilization 

• Colony: in ancient Greece, a new city-state settled in an oversea territory by a group sponsored by a city-state located elsewhere
• 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
• By about 800BC, the Aegean region, like the lands to its south and east was on the way to recovering from the crisis 
• All the same, the Greeks maintained a sense of oneness which was expressed above all in their common religion 
• As much as it inherited from the Aegean past, this renewed civilization was very different from the old one- mainly as a result of new influences from the changing lands to the south and east 
• In the early development of their civilization, the Greeks began by doing what the Babylonians, the Hittites, and countless other people had done before them

The First European Civilization: The Greeks Chapter 3 & Why the Greeks Rocked

• Barbarians are people that had a distinctive way of life, based on farming and warfare
• Greeks invented Democracy
• Citadel and Shrine: the Athenian Acropolis was already ancient when its temples were rebuilt after Persian invaders destroyed
• Over 3 thousand yrs. up to the time of the Persian Empire, civilization had spread from its Sumerian and Egyptian homelands right across southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa
• Even before the historic encounter, the way of life of the peoples of Europe had undergone many changes and advances
• Tribe: people held together by there way of life, clothes they wore, what they liked to do, what they ate, religion, etc.
• Stonehenge: the most famous megalithic structures was built by a farming and trading people in the west of England

Why the Greeks rocked:

• New ideas
• Incredible art forms
• Democratic government w/ citizen participation
• Innovators in warfare

LO1- The Europeans Barbarians

• 4000BC- farming and village life spreads from Sumerian and Egyptian lands across SW Asia and NE Africa, and the European continent
• 3500BC- some are organized enough to construct megaliths, massive rough-cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs, such as Stonehenge (finished in England in 2000BC), consisting 160 massive boulders weighing up to 50 tons (100,000lbs) each, stacked in circled and aligned to the movements of sun and moon
• From 2500BC on- Indo European nomads migrated from the steppes in eastern Europe
• Their language would evolve into Greek and Latin
• Their lives centered around strength and courage, comradeship and loyalty, contests and battle
•  Thinner populations than Egypt or Mesopotamia- they formed tribes, social and political unit consisting of communities held together by common interest, traditions, and real or mythical ties of kinship
• Tribes were headed by powerful hereditary chieftains, thought of as kinds (or, rarely, queens)
• This is how Europe came to be populated by speakers of Indo European languages who were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, and warfare
• No cities, no written records, no fixed structures of government
• They were barbarians (from Greek barbaros-"non-Greek")
• They adopted the way of life of those they encountered, and as they traveled (from 2000 BC to AD 1000), this is how civilization eventually spread throughout Europe
• The distinctive civilization the Greeks developed is the first that counts as definitely "Western"

Geography of Greece

• Mountainous peninsula
• Mountains cover 3/4
• Approximately 1,400 islands in the Aegean and lonian Seas
• Location shaped its culture
• Skilled sailors
• Poor natural resources
• Difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain; developed small, independent communities
• Approximately 20% suitable for farming
• Fertile valleys cover 1/4 of peninsula
• Because of geography the Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olives
• Lacks of resources most likely led to Greek colonization
• Temperatures range from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer

Checking the Test

Today in West Civ, we got our tests back. I got an 88% which i was very happy about. The first page of the test was hard. I thought that I didn't know any of those answers, but I only got one of those questions wrong. I got the question about what weapon wasn't invented or something like that. We went over the answers so that we will have them to study for for finals. I am glad that we do this because it will make it so much easier to study when finals come around. I wonder what we are going to learn about next in Western Civilization.

Pyramid Challenge

Today in Human Geo, we did the Pyramid Challenge. Doing the Pyramid Challenge was really hard to do. You have to get the correct combination, and if you don't, then you have to start over. I was partners with Ellie, and we couldn't figure out the combination the entire class! At first we hired servants, and you weren't supposed to do that. Then, we picked the wrong location and building materials. We also picked the wrong supplies. Once we figured out that there was an "Advice" button, it helped us a little bit more. Then we had to steer a boat and that took a long time. Mr. Schick showed us a way for us to skip that step. When we started to get closer to the correct combination, it would take us further in the game. But, after moving on a little, it would say that we failed. For homework, if we complete the game, then we get some credit. After class, I finished the game! That game was a very hard and frustrating game to play!

Chapter 3 Outline

The First European Civilization: The Greeks (2200-400BC)

• "Within classical Greek civilization there appeared ideas, art forms, and types of government whose influence on western civilization has lasted down to the present day."
• The earliest Greek civilization was very much an offshoot of the ways of life of their eastern neighbors. Citadel and Shrine: the Athenian Acropolis was already ancient when its temples were rebuilt after Persian invaders destroyed them in the 5th century
• Barbarian-a term used to describe the distinctive way of life based on farming, warfare, and tribal organization that became widespread in Europe beginning around 2500BC
• 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 interests, traditions, and real or mythical ties of kinship
• Over tree thousand yrs. up to the time of the Persian Empire, civilization had spread from its Sumerian and Egyptian homelands right across southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa
• Even before this historic encounter, the way of life of the peoples of Europe had undergone many changes and advances
• The early Europeans cannot have had any sense of common identity, but time most of them came to share a distinctive way of life
• "When a leading warrior died, his horses and chariot, his bronze swords and daggers, and his gold and silver drinking cups would all go to the grave with him- presumably so that he could go riding, fighting, and drinking as a comrade of the gods in  the afterlife."
• People began to speak languages of Indo-European origin that were distant ancestors of Greek and Latin
• Stonehenge: the most famous megalithic structures was built by a farming and trading people in the west of England
• About 2200bc a distinct civilization, known today as Minoan arose on the Aegan island of Crete
• The Master of the Animals: this Cretan gold pendant made about 1700BC shows a powerful being with geese in each hand and bull's horn looming behind him
• Mycenaean civilization lasted shortly after 1200BC
• The Greeks settled in mainland Greece

2 Questions!

Short Answer A:  Name and describe three technological innovations or inventions of the ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians invented some things that are still used today. One invention was the sailboat, which they used for traveling up and the Nile. They also invented the calendar. They made it with 365 days, which is what we still use today, to make a better sense of the seasonal events. Lastly, one other invention the Egyptians came up with was hieroglyphs. This was the very first writing form that started in 3100BC and was made up of small pictures.

 

Short Answer B:  Describe three important features of the Egyptian pyramids.

A very interesting and important feature that the Egyptian pyramids had was that they were covered in marble. Inside the pyramids there were stone sculptures and interior paintings that depicted humans and gods in series of regulated poses often in profile without perspective, but were highly effective. One pyramid that we looked at closely in class was The Great Sphinx of Giza. One very cool feature was that it had a recumbent lion with a human's head. The Great Sphinx of Giza is the oldest monumental statue in the world.

Cyber Day Essay

        In our Western Civilization class we are studying the ancient Egyptians. We have learned so much about them so far. In my next two paragraphs I will explains the social hierarchy of the ancient Egyptians and the importance of the Nile River in the lives of the Egyptians. I will use my notes that I have taken in class to help me write my essay.  Both of these two topics are both key point to what we have studied so for. I know that both of these things were very important to ancient Egyptians and there way of life back then. 
          Ancient Egypt society was set up in a hierarchy. Depending on where you were on the hierarchy showed how respected or what importance to Egyptian civilization you had. The hierarchy went, slaves and servants at the bottom, farmers, artisans, merchants, soldiers and scribes, government officials (nobles and priests), and at the top there was the all-powerful pharaoh. The pharaoh was the highest of them all in ancient Egypt. The pharaoh was the political and religious leader of the Egyptian people. He or she held the title of ‘Lord of the Two Lands’ and ‘High Priest of Every Temple.’ Pharaohs were called god-king and were all-powerful. They were worshiped as a god and connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses. Under the pharaohs there were the nobles. The nobles were known as the “white kilt class” because that is what they wore. These people were the priests, physicians, and engineers. The scribes and soldiers were under the nobles. The scribes kept records, told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and medical treatments. The soldiers used wooden weapons with bronze tips and some rode chariots. Then, under the scribes and soldiers were the merchants. Merchants used the bartering system. This meant that they might accept bags or grain for payment. Later the use of coinage came about. The artisans were under the merchants and they would carve statues and reliefs that showed military battles and scenes of afterlife. Under the artisans were the farmers. The farmers raised wheat, barley, lentils, and onions which all benefitted from irrigation of the Nile River. Lastly, at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, were the slaves and servants. Now being a slave in Egypt wasn’t nearly as bad as it was being one in America back in the day. The slaves and servants just helped the wealthy with household and child raising duties. This was how ancient Egyptian civilization was set up.  

           The Nile River was beyond important to the Egyptians. This was their life source. The Nile is 5000 miles long and was the Egyptians major provider to life. It flowed south to north and Egyptians lived alongside of it. The Nile flowed into the Mediterranean Sea. The water from the Nile was used for drinking, irrigating, bathing, and transportation. The Egyptians made sailboats to use as transportation on the Nile. Every July the Nile would flood and every October it would leave rich soil for farming. The Delta was attached to the Nile and is a broad, marshy triangular area of fertile silt. Managing the river required technological breakthroughs in irrigation. As you can see, the Nile was clearly so important to the lives of Ancient Egyptians. 

Before the Snow

Today we had West Civ class. IT is supposed to snow a lot tomorrow so we might not have school tomorrow or maybe even Friday. Our class doesn't meet on Monday, so possibly we won't have class again until Tuesday! Next time we have class, we have a test. The test is on the PowerPoints and notes that we have took about Egypt. I am going to bring my copybook home to study. Also, if we don't have school we will have homework assigned to us on the blog. I am glad that we have to do work during the snow days because that means that we won't have to make up days at the end of the year! Today we watched a video from the guy who wrote "The Fault in our Stars." He was teaching about Egypt and it was very helpful. He made a mistake though because he said that the Nile flowed north to south, but really it flows south to north.

Notes on 5 Elements of Ancient Egypt

5 Elements:

1. Geography
2. Daily Life
3. Pharaohs
4. Goddesses and Gods
5. Pyramids

• Geography:
• Egyptian life  centered around Nile River (S-N and into Mediterranean)
• Water was for drinking, irrigation, bathing, and transportation
• Every July it floods and every October it leaves rich soil
• Delta is a broad, marshy triangular area of fertile silt
• Managing river required technological breakthroughs in irrigation
• Pyramids:
• Great Sphinx of Giza-
• Built in 2555-2532 BC
• 4546yrs. old
• Recumbent lion with a human's head
• Oldest monumental statue in the world
• Been attacked, someone shot the nose off
• Daily Life:
• Order- Pharaoh, government officials (Nobles and priests), soldiers and scribes, merchants, artisans, farmers, and slaves and servant
• Slaves/servants: helped the wealthy with household and child raising duties
• Farmers: raised wheat, barley, lentils, onions-benefitted from irrigation of the Nile
• Artisans: would carve statues and reliefs showing military battles and scenes of afterlife
• Merchants: barter system was used and might accept bags of grain for payment, but later coinage came about
• Scribes: kept records told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and medical treatments
• They wrote in hieroglyphs and hieratic  
• Soldiers: used wooden weapons (bow, arrows, and spears) with bronze tips and might ride chariots
• Upper class: known as the "white kilt class"- priests, physicians and engineers
• Pharaohs: political and religious leader of the Egyptian people, holding the titles, 'Lord of the Two Lands' and 'High Priest of Every Temple.'
• As 'Lord of the Two Lands' the Pharaoh was the ruler of the Upper and Lower Egypt
• Hatshepsut was a women who served a Pharaoh
• Cleopatra VII served as pharaoh but much later (51-30)BC

More on Notes

• Nile River is 5000mls long
• Major life provider
• Governed by a God King
• -Pharaoh all powerful, worshipped as a god and immediately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses
• Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe, called "maat"
• Pharaohs has multiple wines, sometimes sisters
• Women could inherit money and land, and divorce their husbands
• Gods, Humans, and Everlasting Life
• Often portrayed with animal heads or bodies
• Believed in 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 be either sent to an after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster
• The Writing of the Words of gods
• Writing formed c.3100BC and were small pictures know as hieroglyphs
• Represented religious words or parts of words
• Papyrus the precursor to paper was stored in scrolls and these scrolls were the books or ancient Egypt
• Astronomers created a calendar with 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles
• Egyptian doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created potions and cures for a number of common ailments
• Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability on the Nile
• Pyramids and Temples
• The pyramids were massive stone tombs, originally covered with marble
• Some stuff was stolen and raided
• Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in series of regulated poses often in profile and without perspective, but were highly effective

LO3

LO3 Land of the Pharaohs:

• During the Neolithic Age, the people of the Nile had moved toward civilization in response to the same influences that gave rise to the cities of Sumer, but Egyptian civilization was more stable more stable than that of Mesopotamia
• The Narmer Plette: was used for grinding makeup for divine images in an Upper Egyptian temple about 3100BC
• Map 1.3 Ancient Egyptian: grew up in a thin strip of fertile land where the Nile crosses the North African desert, and in the border region of the river's delta  
• Egypt stretches along the lower reaches of the Nile's four-thousand-mile course from Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea
• Pharaohs: the rulers of ancient Egypt
• "Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! Hidden in his form of appearance, a darkness by day, to whom minstrels have sung. He that waters the meadows which Re created, in order to keep every kid alive. He that makes to drink the desert and the place distant from water: that is his dew coming down from heaven." -Hymn to the Nile
• The Egyptians, like other polytheistic peoples, recognized no hard-and-fast boundary between humans and gods, and in the case of the pharaoh, they took this belief  mush farther than the Mesopotamia's
• As a god, every pharaoh was identified in different ways with three of the country's ruling  deities.
• The women who were closest to the pharaoh, the King's Mother and the King's Principal Wife, also had a touch of divinity, for it was god who made them pregnant and a god to whom they gave birth.
• The Great Sphinx: this famous monument, carved out of solid rock in the royal burial area at Giza, expresses the Egyptian belief in the pharaoh as god-king
• Many Egyptian deities, tracing back to the Stone Age, were originally conceived in the form of animals
• Writing arose in Egypt, as it did in Sumer, along with civilization itself, but the initial impulse was different.
• Hieroglyphs: the earliest Egyptian writing, in which pictures stood for whole words or separate sounds of words
•  Egyptian civilizations, like that of Sumer, both needed scientific and technical knowledge and had specialists who could provide it
• Pyramid: a massive structure with sloping sides that met at an apex, used as a royal tomb in ancient Egypt
• King Menkaure: the queen has her arm protectively around her husband, a typical pose in Egyptian statues  To hold the Egyptian state together for many centuries on end was no easy matter.