last presentation day

Architecture in Grecian times was important to life the and today. There are 3 different types of pillars in this architecture. These include doric, which were plain, ionic, which had a scroll at the top, and Corinthian, which were the fancy type of pillars. The Parthenon was a very important piece of architecture. This was a temple dedicated to Athena. It was doric with ionic features.

Alexander the great. One of my favorite lines in Mary Poppins, the musical, was “she knew Alexander, when he wasn’t so great”. He became king after his father died, he was stabbed. He was 20 when he first became king and he grew up with a lot of war and leadership skills. He invaded Persia and became the pharaoh of Egypt. 

Presentation Day 2

Please excuse the lateness of this blog, I have been dealing with the loss of my grandfather, and yesterday I was with my grandmother.

We continued our presentations in class, so here are our notes.

The Delian League

·        Made of city-states

·        Led by Athens

·        Made to stop the Persians

·        Founded in 478 BCE

·        At the highest point there were 150 city-states

·        Sparta was reluctant to join because they had a lot of differences with Athens

o   This caused the Peloponnesian war in 431 BCE

·        United nations is a great example and so is NATO

o   NATO had a common enemy after WW2

Pericles

·        Wise statesman

·        He lead Athens during the golden ages

·        Held support for 32 years

·        Lead Athens form 461 – 429 BCE

·        Goals for Athens

o   Hold Athens strength

o   Strengthen Athens democracy

o   Glorify Athens

§  With Delian league money

o   He increased the number of public officials

·        He died from the plague

·        He lost his sons to the plague

·        When he died Athens fell from their golden age

·        Aspasia

o   Lover of Pericles

o   Most beautiful and intelligent woman in Athens 

Presentation day 1

Today in class we went over our presentations. My group did great other then our font being hard to read due to Mrs. Zurkowski’s dumb projection screen. The last group that went definitely did not do enough research. All they were saying was stuff straight out of what we already learned. I think we will continue to do presentation next class and I  am excited.

Hype for the SLideshoe

My group ate some guacamole today because we already finished our slide. After a big debacle over a prezi we just gave up and just ate our little hearts out. After running out of tortilla chips we made Holly run out and grab some doritos. It was a good combination. Guacamole with a subtle hint of cheese. I also ate a fruit roll up, that was a pleasant time. This mod was pleasant.

New Group Project

Whoop whoop, today we began a new group project. I do like the group projects in this western civ class, especially because we get to pick our own group. My group consists of Maureen, Holly, Lauren, and Jessica. We were given the subject of Grecian art. Grecian art comes in many forms including paintings, frieze’s, and sculptures. I did my research on the sculptures of Ancient Greece. As it turns out men were a main focus of Ancient Greece, I wonder what it would be like in a world where men are favored… *cricket noises and eye rolls*. What was surprising was that they did not care about the woman figure, only that they resembled a man.      

Test Talk #1

WOOHOO TEST DAY… wait that didn’t sound like me, let me restart. Wooo hoo test day *eye roll*. Yes, I hate tests, but this one was not as miserable as the tests usually are. I find a fascination with Greece, although this fascination is not as intense as Mr. Schick’s LOVE of Greece. Let’s all pray that I do well and keep my grade high.

Test Review :)

Today we just studied for an upcoming test. I feel kind of prepared but I definitely will be studying tonight, wish me luck! 

Cyber Day #2

The Persian wars began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia. This war was between Greece and the Persian Empire.  Around 546 B.C. Persians conquered the area that Greece had been long settled in. When the Ionian Greeks revolted Athens sent ships and soldiers to their aid. This was a failed attempt and the Persian king vowed to destroy Athens. When 25,000 men got to Athens there were 10,000 Athenian men ready and neatly standing in a phalanx. The Persian army was no match for the phalanx and they lost about 6,000 men before retreating.

After their great win on the coast of Marathon, Athens was no longer protected. A young runner named Pheidippides ran all the way back to Athens and told the good news. He then collapsed and died. The Greek army hurried back to Athens and when the Persians sailed into the harbor they found a protected city and retreated.

Ten years later there was another attack on Athens. Most people did not want to fight it. In the end, many Spartans were killed in an attempt to protect. The Athens decided to take the fight to the water and trapped the Persians in a canal because the Persian boat was too big to turn around. The Athens ended up sinking their boat with many battering rams and small boats.  

Sub Work

Today we did some sub work:

3. Aristocracy was state ruled by nobility, this rule was hereditary and based on family ties. Oligarchy was a state ruled by citizens. This was based on wealth also, but ability was a large factor in the rule too.

4. Solon firstly outlawed debt slavery, the he allowed all Athenian citizens to speak at assembly’s. Lastly Solon made rule that any citizen could press charges. Clisthenes allowed all citizens to submit laws. Clisthenes and Solon took big steps to what is democracy today.

6. While Athens were moving toward a democracy the Spartans were becoming strong warriors.  For example, the Spartans were becoming more fearsome. They used the formation of a phalanx in battle. Although when the Spartans were getting more violent, the Athens were getting more educated by training their bodies and their minds.

Philosophy

Philosophy was very important to Ancient Greece. Socrates was one of these main philosophers. He looked to science and logic instead of simple beliefs. He created the Socratic Method which fostered critical thinking.  A famous quote by him stated,” The unexamined life is not worth living”.  For everything he had done, he was still charged for some serious crimes, including disrespecting the gods and corrupting the minds of the youth. As punishment, he was sentenced to death and drank the poison hemlock.

    Plato soon followed after Socrates. He was a student and follower of Socrates. He wrote 2 books, the Apology and the Republic. Both of the books were based off of Socrates’ teachings.

    Aristotle followed Plato. He helped foster Greece into an intellectual place. His school, the Lyceum, focused on cooperative research. He had an idea of something like the internet. He wanted a central place where you could find knowledge. He wrote extensively on so much.

    The main ideas of this chapter was that living around, and on, the sea led to adaptations. The Grecians had to learn to travel more by boat. The Mycenaean’s learned from the Minoans. The adapted to sea trade and learned a different writing system. Lastly, the Dorians believe Epics were so important because that was how the learned about their culture. The epics told stories that were not written down and they told all about the Gods. 

The Fighting Greeks

The greeks were a war-like people. The Spartans were especially violent. They were known for their tough and ruthless infantry. An infantry is a group of soilders who faught on land. The Sparatan boys were trained from age 7. This caused the Spartan soilders to be very fearsome.

Those who did not have the muscle power of the spartans had t resort to naval power. A ship, such as a trireme was used for fighting. A tireme was the fastest ship at the time and was rowed by up to 170 men. These men were located on 3 different levels of the ship. The tireme was not only a ship, but could have been used as a battering ram.

Another war tactic used was a phalanx. A phalanx was a group of men fighting together in a herd. They were armed with long spears and interlocking shields. The phalanx would use the tactic of advancing slowly toward its enemy. 

Tyrants Everywhere

In Ancient Greece, there were a lot of changes I government. In 621 B.C.E Draco was in charge. All Athenians are equal under the law. Although things were more equal, death was a punishment for many crimes. Draconian is a term used for punishments that are worse than crimes. Draco also allowed people to pay their debt by being slaves of the people they owe. This was in no way fair.

Solon’s reform came next. He decided to outlaw slavery. He also allowed Athenian citizens to speak at assemblies. Many times today we used the word citizen when we were not talking about fair citizens. These citizens were only considered as such if they were men, land owning, and free. They were also allowed to press charges no matter if they are wealthy or poor.

In 500 BCE Cleisthenes took over, I will address him as C because his name is sooo long to type.  Under his law all citizens could submit laws and he created the council of 500. The council of 500 was 500 random “citizens” being chosen to talk to the assembly.

Hippias was a tyrant in 527-510 BCE. He was a harsh tyrant due to the fact that his brother was murdered. He was soon ostracized form Greece. With him gone, there was a struggle for power between Isagoras, who had the help of aristocrats, Cleisthenes, who had the help of citizens. In the end Isagoras won. He then ostracizes C but C’s supporter revolt! The supporters of C ostracize Isagoras in 508 BCE.

Greece Is The Word

Today in class we reviewed and learned some new information. Did you know the people of the Aegean Sea have been nominated for a Nobel peace prize?  We looked at the Trojan War and if it was real or not. Some people may not have believed the Trojan War was real because many people in ancient Greece made up stories with Greek Gods and Goddesses. Turns out that archeologists discovered evidence to a real war in Troy.

    In 1150-750 B.C.E Ancient Greece went through the Dark Ages. The Sea People or the Dorians overthrew Grecian empires. These were considered the Dark Ages because the Dorians were not so smart and they did no writing and no teaching.

    During the 6^th and 7^th century aristocrats ran the show. These wealthy men, with lots of land, were in charge… I wonder what that would be like. No woman were allowed to be part of the government. The aristocrats would go to a symposium. These are meetings where the aristocrats would enjoy poetry and do things like watch acrobats.