Today's Events VS Past Events

We've been studying Greece and the people who ruled it over time. In the past, Athens was hit with a plague too. Although Coronavirus isn't exactly the plague, it's kind of acting like one would. The people who reigned over Greece are also, in a way, like the political leaders trying to calm everyone down. Pericles was a crafty politician, inspirational speaker, and revered general. Our current president is defiantly not a general, but he is a crafty politician and inspirational speaker like Pericles. Pericles kept everyone in his city from turning into criminals. I know that our governor announced that he would send put people in jail if we were out of our houses in large groups for anything other than grocery shopping. People today look at political leaders for guidance on what they should and shouldn't do. I think that without good leaders the whole nation would be in a bigger panic than they already are and the whole economy would start to collapse. When looking back at history, it seems that our current situation isn't that different from the past. I researched how many Coronavirus cases there were in Greece right now and there were more than a thousand. That's still less than how many people died in Greece from that plague. The difference, though, is that this virus is affecting the whole world and that disease only affected Athens. If America acted like Greece in the past, then we would probably call on the gods to help cure us. Since most people in America, though, don't worship more than one God, we are probably sending our prayers up to him. I think that if we all work together, but not come together, we can help stop the spread of the virus. I do think that once we get through all of this it will be cool to look back on and see this in new history books. That’s my take on how the events in Greece are like those of today.

COVID-19 & THE PLAGUE THAT HIT ATHENS

I did some research on the plague that hit Athens and the Coronavirus and this is what I found. The plague of Athens came in through their port which is by water. I'm pretty sure that most of the states here that first got it are by the coasts. A difference between the two is that the Athen's Plague was an epidemic and COVID-19 is a pandemic. Some of the symptoms are similar as well. For example, a symptom of Coronavirus is a fever. The Athen’s Plague has a symptom of high fever as well. I found that Coronavirus has killed more people than the Athen’s Plague. An estimated 100,000 people died in Athens from the plague. That was about 25% of the population of Athens. COVID-19 has already killed around 2.8 million people around the world. Our current disease is already surpassing the fatality rate of the Athen's plague from thousands of years ago. Another difference between the two is that when someone catches the Coronavirus they don't always know they have it, but when someone caught the disease in Athens they always got the symptoms and probably felt like they wanted to die. There' a lot more differences than similarities between the two diseases. I feel like this "plague" is worse than the one in Athens. Anyways, that's all for today.

Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and Darius III

Phillip II :
Phillip II was a king who ruled over Macedonia from 359 to 336 BC. He used skilled military and diplomatic strategies to expand his county's territory and influence. He ended up taking over almost all of his neighboring Greek city-states. Before he took over the throne his brother ruled over Macedonia. While his brother reigned, Philip II was taken as a hostage in Thebes. This is where he learns most of his military strategies. A lot of his brothers ruled before he did so he had a long way to go. His second brother to take over brought him back from Thebes. Phillip became some sort of military general guy. As king, while he was preparing to move into Persia, one of his bodyguards assassinated him. He was only 46 years old when he died.

Alexander the Great:
Alexander the Great was King Phillip's son and reigned as king over Macedonia from 336 to 323 BC. During his rule, he united Greece, reestablished the Corinthian League, and conquered the Persian Empire. He also became king of Persia, Babylon, and Asia, and created Macedonia colonies in the region. Alexander hated his dad because he was never around. His first education he got was from Leonidas of Epirus. He taught Alexander math, horsemanship, and archery. His second teacher was Lysimachus. He used roleplaying to get Alexander's attention and keep him focused. The last teacher he had was Aristotle. Aristotle taught him many things and in a way helped inspire him to be a heroic warrior. He was 19 when he became king. Alexander was a ruthless king and went into many battles with his horse. He conquered a bunch of places and everyone loved him. Alexander died of malaria in Babylon when he was only 32 years old. After he died, his empire collapsed and the nations in it battled for power.

Darius III:
Darius III was also called Darius Codommanus. He was the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. His reign began in 336 BC. Darius III had to strengthen the army to defend against Alexander the Great. A guy named Bagoas murdered the king before Darius and that king's son two years later. He wanted to have a king who would be easy to control, so he chose Darius, who was a distant relative of the royal house. Darius distinguished himself in a combat of champions in a war against the Cadusians and was serving as a royal courier. Bagoas tried to poison Darius too but Darius was warned about it and forced Bagoas to drink the poison himself. Darius was the king of a very unstable kingdom. There were a lot of rebellious people living in his kingdom. Darius lost to Alexander the Great  in battle twice. Darius was assassinated by someone named Bessus after he had fled from his previous battle with Alexander the Great. Alexander gave Darius a magnificent funeral and eventually married his daughter.

Alexander the Great & Bucephalus

After researching Alexander and Bucephalus's relationship I found some very interesting things. Bucephalus was brought to Macedonia and presented to Alexander's dad, King Philip II. Bucephalus was bigger than usual horses and also wild and unmanageable. His coat was all black except for a white star shape on his head. He was being sold for three times the normal price of a horse. Since he was so crazy, King Philip II told the people who brought him to take him away. Alexander was watching the whole thing go down and decided that the horse is too magnificent to let go. He realized that Bucephalus was just scared of his own shadow so he turned him away from it, got on him, and rode off. When he came back his dad was proud of him. Ever since that day they were inseparable. He didn't let anybody else ride him. He rode him into every battle that he went into. After one of the battles, Bucephalus was kidnapped while Alexander was away. Alexander was so angry that he threatened to chop down every tree, lay waste to the countryside, and slaughter every inhabitant of the region. Bucephalus was returned shortly after with a plead for mercy. Bucephalus eventually died of either battle wounds or of old age. Alexander was so sad and grief-ridden that he decided to name a city after him called Bucephala. This shows how strong Alexander and Bucephalus's relationship was. I really liked researching Bucephalus and Alexander. I found it cool how inseparable they were and how much they loved each other. That's all for today.

Cyber Days

I think that the Cyber Days are just ok. I haven't been too overloaded with work and I usually finish it before school would normally end. The subjects that take me the longest are usually Math, English, and Spanish. When I had all three on the same day it took me as long as a school day would normally last. The easiest subjects are Western Civ, Religion, and Art. Biology is like the middle subject. It's not that easy but it's also not that hard. I honestly like when we go to school better than these cyber days. I like to see all of my friends at school and I also like to see my teachers. I hope that this Corona Virus passes over soon so we can go back to regular school. I do like how I can sleep in for longer. That may be the reason why somedays it takes a longer time for me to finish all of my work. Sometimes it's hard for me to focus on my work because my bird tweets really loudly, my dog will come over and start licking me, and my siblings all annoy me. Anyways, that's all for today.

Socrates and Protagoras

I think that the reason Socrates and Protagoras started questioning the government at this time was because they had just lost their leader to a plague and who led them into a battle the they didn't win. After they just lost the war in the worst way possible people started to question if the gods were even helping them. Protagoras questioned the existence of traditional Greek gods. He probably thought that if the gods were actually real then they would help protect Athens, when instead they let it become a wasteland. Socrates encouraged Greeks to think about their moral character. I think that he did this because of the war and plague that just hit Athens. Athens kind of turned into a crime ridden city because the Athenians thought that the good and bad both can get this disease so they might, so they might as well be bad. If they listen to Socrates and helped each other out instead of stealing from each other, then maybe less citizens of Athens would have died. I think that the war, plague, and new people trying to take over Athens were the events that caused philosophers like Socrates and Protagoras to question traditional Greek beliefs. That's all for today.

Athen's Plan

Pericles decided to evacuate everyone from the countryside and come into the city walls to protect themselves from the Spartan Army. He decided to use his powerful navy to fight against the Spartans. When one of the ships came back it brought a terrible plague with it. Since everyone in Athens was confined in the walls in Athens, the plague spread really easily to everyone.  The symptoms were really awful as well. People were having explosive diarrhea, vomiting, seizures, and other gross things. It smelled really bad in Athens and it looked bad from the outside. People who thought they didn't have anything to live for went outside and drowned themselves in the sewer drain things. 1/3 of the Athenian population died. Eventually, Pericles got it too. He lived a miserable life for about six months before he died. After he died, everything changed really quickly. A bunch of people were trying to gain power by saying they'll do whatever the people want them to. Supporters of Pericles and other people began to see that Pericles was the only one keeping everyone from Turing into criminals. Now that he died, Athens is going downhill. That's all for today.

Democracy and Greece's Golden Age

Pericles was crafty politician, an inspirational speaker, and a revered general. He was the leader of Athens for a long time. The time he ruled was called the Age of Pericles. He had three major goals in his lifetime. The first goal was to strengthen Athenian democracy. The second goal was to hold and strengthen the empire. The third goal was to glorify Athens. A direct democracy is run directly through the citizens of that state, in this case a city-state. There are no voted representatives. The Delian League was formed after the defeat of the Persians by Pericles. So, it was led by Athens and was a group of a bunch of different Greek city-states. It made a lot of money and helped the Athenian navy be so powerful. The Delian League was part of Pericles' empire. Pericles took most of the money from the Delian League and put it into Athens without the other members knowing. That's all for today.

last day for two weeks...

Today I missed half of the class because I was getting my Microsoft Teams thing working. Now we are going to cyber days. I'm not sure how well this is going to work out. I hope most teachers don't have the video call things that force us to go on it at that certain time. I feel like it will be hard for me to transition from normal school days to online school. The only good things to come from this are that we no longer have to wear our uniform and we hopefully aren't going to get hours of work and tests. I took pictures of all of the textbook pages that you told us to, so I'm ready. Anyways, that's all for today.

CORONA

Today in class we spent the whole time talking about Corona Virus. We learned the proper way to wash our hands and different ways to stay healthy. I think that the Corona Virus isn't really that much to worry about. I get that it's been hurting people but I don't think that it's that much to worry about at the moment. My parents were just listening to Governor Hogan and he said that all public schools were going to be cancelled for two weeks. I'm guessing that that means John Carroll will be closed as well. I don't really want to have cyber days because I don't think I'll be able to wake up every morning and want to do school work while at my house, but I get why we're doing it, so we don't have extra school days added on to our school year. I'm also kind of mad that my track meets and practices will be cancelled. I was training really hard this season and was ready to do more hurdles. Anyways, that's all for today.

Show/Movie continued...

Today in class we continued watching the show we watched yesterday. Pisistratus died in 527 BC and this son Hippias took over. We already learned about Hippias. He was as good as a tyrant leader can be until his brother died and he turned into a psychopath on a path of revenge. Cleisthenes VS Hippias happened. Cleisthenes took over. The Olympics started in 776 BC. Everyone could enter and anyone could win. Cleithenes VS Isagoras. We already learned you this as well. Cleisthenes won in the end and was asked to come back from exile and create a new government. The agora was created along with the black and white stones used for voting ~ first step towards democracy. Anyone could be a "hero." The Persian Empire begins to rise and sees Athens as a threat. The ordered Persian army people to invade Greece immediately. That's all for today.

The Greeks : Crucible of Civilization

Today in class we watched some of the first episode of The Greeks : Crucible of Civilization. Cleisthenes was born in 570 BC and he was an aristocrat. Herodutus was the first Greek historian. An acropolis was the giant stone thing in the middle of Athens. Life expectancy in Athen was 15 years old. Healots were the slave class in Sparta. Heroic ideal is what must Greeks lived by. It meant that everyone is destined for greatness. Pisistratus was a tyrant who ruled Athens. He gained favor from the middle class by lowering taxes and providing free loans. That's all for today.

Aristotle and a POP QUIZ

Today in class we learned about Aristotle and we had a pop quiz. I got two wrong on the pop quiz so I'm pretty sure that means I got an 80%. I thought you said that we didn't have to memorize who all of the gods were and what they stood for. Aristotle was a student of Plato at the Academy. He helped foster the ida of Athens as an intellectual destination. His school- the Lyceum - focused on cooperative research ~ building on the knowledge gathered from all over the world. He had a dream of having the sum of mankind's knowledge easily accessed in one location. He wrote on a large number of topics. He tutored Alexander the Great. That's all for today.

Philosophers

Today in class we talked about philosophers from Greece. The first philosopher was Socrates. He looked to science and logic for explanations on how the world works. His Socratic Method fostered critical thinking. He was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death by hemlock poison. The second philosopher we looked at was Plato. He was a student and follower of Socrates. He wrote Socrates' teachings and descried his trial in Apology. The Republic was Socrates' discussion of justice and the ideal state. It was one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written. It contains the Allegory of the Cave. We have one more philosopher to look at, Aristotle. Thats's all for today.

Athens VS Sparta

Today in class we talked about Athens and Sparta. Spartans were warlike people. They were known for their thought, ruthless infantry (soldiers who fought on land). Spartan boys trained from the time they were 7. Athenians had a great infantry too but nothing could compare to their navy. Their most effective weapon was the trireme. The trireme was a technological marvel, the fastest ship in the world, rowed by up to 170 men on 3 levels, could be used as a battering ram, and were agile and fast. The Phalanx was a 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. Then we talked about the Persian War and the strengths and weakness of the Greek and the Persian armies. That's all for today.

Gods and Goddesses in Greece

Today we went over our test and looked at slide on the gods and goddesses. The only question I got wrong was the one about modern day Turkey. I got a 98 on the test and am so proud of it. I studied all night for that test and it worked out. The main god is Zeus. He is everything powerful to the Greeks. The unique thing about the Greek god is their interaction between humans. I think that most of the Greek gods are from Hercules. That is where I've heard of these gods before. Anyways, that's all for today!