Intro to Greece

Today in class we started a presentation on Greece. The World's greatest civilizations are all location on water, usually rivers. Mesopotamia has the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Egypt has the Nile River, India has the Indus River, and China has the Human He Chang River. Greece is a mountainous peninsula surrounded by bodies of water. We have to know where the following places are located : Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Peloponnesus Sea, Athens, Sparta, Crete, Asia Minor, and Macedonia. Greece had many skilled sailors and shipbuilders and also farmers, metalworkers, and potters. They had limited natural resources so they relied on trade. It was difficult to unite Greece because of its terrain. So they deleted small, independent communities (city-states) that they were loyal to. There was some farming land. It was called arable land, which is land suitable for farming. Greek let consists of grains, grapes, olives, and fish. The lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization. Temperatures are usually nice year-round, but it can get hot in the Summer, That's all for today.

The Allegory of The Cave

Today in class we read the Allegory of The Cave. I think that the allegory to modern life was that change is scary for some people. The actual story was about these prisoners that were shackled in a cave. Their hands, feet, and heads were shackled so they couldn't move. They were sitting behind a wall that that was really tall and forced to face towards another wall for the rest of their lives. There was a campfire type thing on the other side of the wall (behind them) so all they saw were the shadows from that fire. Other people who weren't chained up would walk on the pathway, which was behind them, carrying tall artifacts. The wall covered up the people carrying the artifacts, but the prisoners could see the statues' shadows and hear echoed voices. They thought that these shadows were the undead. One day, one of the prisoners was dragged out of the cave and into the light. He couldn't see at first because his eyes were so accustomed to the dark. Eventually, he was able to look around and see the world and even look at the sun. He was too afraid of the change in his lifestyle that he went back to the cave where all of the prisoners were still there. They decided to kill the person who tried to save one of them because they didn't want to change. They thought that whoever did this ruined the one prisoner's life because it will take a long time for his eyes to get readjusted to the darkness. The prisoners don't want this to happen again that's why they decide to kill their "savior." They were afraid to change.

Greece Questions

1.
- The Mycenaean people settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 BC and most of their culture is from the Minoan people.
- The Trojan War was a ten year war between the Mycenaeans and Troy.
- The Dorian people spoke a dialect of Greek and may have been distant relatives of the Bronze Age Greeks.
- Homer was a blind man who composed epic poems.
- An epic was a narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds.
- A myth was a traditional story about their gods.

3. The Greeks lacked natural resources so they relied on the sea to trade.

4. Mycenaeans adapted the Minoan writing system to the greek language and decorated vases with Minoan designs. Minoan culture formed the core of Greek religious practice, art, politics, and literature.

5. The epics were important because instead of writing stories down they were told by speaking because writing had seemed to disappear in the Dorian period.

Quiz AND GREECE

Today in class, we took a quiz on Egypt. I thought it was kind of easy. I got an A on it. I got a 70/75. It brought my B up to an A which I'm happy about. I used Karlee's lucky pencil and that may have also helped me. After we finished the quiz, we started reading and taking notes on Greece. I learned that the government and authority in Greece was a democracy where the citizens decide on rules. I also read about the geography of Greece. Greece didn't have very good farm land but it was built around the seas. The seaways helped the Greek people move to other parts of Greece and helped with trade. Greece doesn't have a lot of natural resources so they relied heavily on trade. I didn't find reading everything in the textbook yet. I still have about 1 and a half pages left. That's all for today.

TEST TOMORROW

Today in class we reviewed material for our test tomorrow. Here are some questions that could be on the test tomorrow. What is the stuff that the Egyptians wrote on? Papyrus. What direction did the Nile flow? South to North - Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt. How long is the Nile? 4100 miles. Who united Upper and Lower Egypt? Narmer/Menes. What is a pharaoh? Egyptian god-king. What is a delta? broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river. What are Egypt's natural barriers? Deserts. What is theocracy? Rule based on religious authority. What are pyramids for? tombs. Why did they mummify bodies? to preserve them for the afterlife. What is "ka"? The continuation of life/afterlife. Who translated the Rosetta Stone? Jean François Champollion. What is "maat"? harmony and peace. That's all for today.

EGYPT!!!

Today in class we waited for Nick to make up the Mesopotamia quiz. As we waited we could meditate, read over the chapter again, or continue our notes. After Nick finishes the quiz, we are probably going to go over all of the notes that we took on Egypt. Some things in Egypt that I like is that they all follow one ruler and they don't question him at all. They have faith in the Pharaoh that he will do everything right and nothing wrong. I think it makes their civilization calmer than society today. However, I wouldn't want to live in that way because I like being able to think what I want to think and say what I want to say with no punishments. I hope whatever civilization we learn about next will be more interesting than Egypt. I mean Egypt is great and all but I want to learn about a civilization that is REALLY interesting. That's all for today.

Catch Up Day

Today in class was a catch up day. There were some people out last week and they worked on reading and taking notes on the Egypt chapter. I had already done that so I started on this blog. Egypt has its similarities with Mesopotamia but also some major differences. I think the biggest difference is that in Mesopotamia they saw the king as god-like but in Egypt they saw their king (Pharaoh) as a literal god. I'm excited that we got to do whatever we wanted today because my dad was supposed to send me a picture of my new bird before he got it. He had called the other day and they said they only had one new white parakeet and we wanted the white one not a green or blue one. We were looking for them all week but the ones at all of the pet stores were old but Petsmart said they were putting new ones in on Monday so here we are. I'm so excited to go home and see him after school! Egypt believed in an afterlife called "ka" that would either take you to a paradise or into the jaws of a monster. I think Egypt is a very interesting place. It has so many weird beliefs and things about it that make it cool to learn about. That's all for today.