Everyone is Gone

Today we took our test and it's wasn't that bad. Everyone was like freaking out over it but it didn't turn out too bad. I think I got 3 or 2 wrong on the test but that will even out to not even be a bad grade. I feel bad because everyone left the room after the test. I left the room for about 3 minutes but I came back because there was no point in being out of class. I'm really tired and the musical is this weekend but I've made it through our two weeks of tech. I'm glad I don't have to stay at school for so long anymore.  I wish my class was still like how we were at the beginning of the year but I try to be respectful and pay attention so I hope that is noticed and appreciated.

Not In Class

I wasn't in class today because I was performing Pippin for the school and for middle schoolers to watch. It went well but middle schoolers are rude.

Back to Greece, but first a life update

**start at the second paragraph to bypass my life update**

 Hello everyone. Today I felt dead. When I woke up I started crying because I am exhausted and I simply did not want to come to the John Carroll School. But, here I am. The school day wasn't terrible but I also have to stay until 9:00 tonight so that statement might be altered soon. Anyway, I wasn't in the best mood this morning but I guess it could've been a worse day. I have to go to the orthodontist to get new retainers because my current retainers fly out of my mouth but I really don't want to go at all. I think I'm going to get a smoothie and a salad after school though so that's good. I don't think anyone read this part but thanks for tuning in.

Here are my notes:

Gods/Goddesses

• What is unique about the Greeks' relationship with their gods is the interaction with humans
• Poseidon (god of the sea) interfered with Odysseus trying to return home
• Aphrodite (goddess of love) had lovers of both men and gods
• Dionysous (god of wine) was the son of Zeus (god) and Semele (human princess)

Spartans 

• Greeks were war-like: especially Spartans
• Spartans were known for their tough, ruthless infantry: soldiers who fought on land

Athens

• Athens had a great infantry, too, but nothing could compare with their navy 
• their most effective weapon was the Trireme
• Trireme- fastest ship in the world (at the time), tech marvel, 170 men on three levels, battering ram, agile, fast

The Phalanx

• close-rank defense grouping of warriors
• armed with long spears and interlocking spears
• the soldiers would advance slowly the enemy until they broke through their ranks

Persian Army 

• Persia had way more land than Greece and early had unlimited resources

Greeks Army

• iron weapons meant ordinary citizens could afford to arm themselves
• foot soldiers (hoplites) trained from an early age
• armed with shields, spears, and swords
• phalanx
• home-field advantage
• motivated to preserve democracy

More Project Stuff

Today we worked on planning out our project. Our group grew from 3 to 5 people today because of the addition of Miel and Olivia. I think that the end of project evaluations will be kind of interesting, and that's all I will say about that for now if you get what I mean. I think that our project will go really well it's just going be really difficult to work on during tech week for Pippin but I guess I'll just have to figure it out. I can tell that I'm going to start getting stressed out about this project and if people aren't doing their part I'm going to get mad. Hopefully, no one makes me mad but we'll see. Stay tuned to see if I spontaneously combust.

A New Project

Today we found out that we have a project relating to Ancient Greece. My group is Gia, Leigh, Olivia, and I. We are working on making our project about the women of Ancient Greece. We were researching makeup that the women wore back then and we accidentally almost put hazardous materials on our face. But we're not going to. We're focused on hair, makeup, cooking, and sewing. I think it will be a fun project to work on. I'm excited to work on this.

A Substitute Teacher and A Video

Today Mr.Schick wasn't there so we had a sub. We watched a video about Cleisthenes and Ancient Athenian life. We had a question paper to follow along with the video. I was very thankful that the sheet went in order with the video because it was an hour long and it would have been very difficult to keep up with if the questions were out of order. I answered all of them, but some of my answers could have been a bit more detailed. Due to the need to constantly pay attention to the video, my answers were shorter so that I could keep up if something came next. A lot of the video consisted of things we had already talked about in class, but some of it was new information. I didn't know about the importance of pottery until I watched the video. In ancient Athenian life, potters had no importance, but know ancient potter can sell for millions of others. The potter's main goal was simply to outdo other potters. Some of them would write little jokes and stabs at other potters on the bottom of their vases. 

Notes 3/12/19

Today was a really long day and I'm very tired. Western Civ was good and we took notes and nothing too crazy happened but I have a bunch of rehearsals this week so I would really just like to sleep. Here are my notes: 

Hippias (r. 527-510 BC).

• Before his brother's death (murdered), he had fit in the older meaning of a tyrant.
• After, Hippias had turned into a tyrant best described by the modern definition of the word.
• He was eventually ostracized from Athens (a thing that, at the time, was worse than death).
• Seeking revenge, he began to work with the Persian king Darius I, helping the Persians invade Marathon (to the eastern coast of Athens).
• With Hippias gone, Isagoras and Cleisthenes (both aristocrats) were engaged in a power struggle.
• Isagoras had support from some fellow aristocrats and from Sparta.
• Cleisthenes, on the other hand, had the support of the majority of Athenians.

• Isagoras became the archon eponymous (self-proclaimed leader) and a tyrant.
• After he became the leader, he decided to ostracize Cleisthenes.
• Cleisthenes' supporters rebelled against the government under Isagoras for the first time in the history of the world.
• Isagoras was trapped in the agora for two days and then had fled on the third day and was banished.
• Cleisthenes was definitely a member of the elite.
• He was very rich and insulated from the "hoi polloi"-average people, such as middle and low-class citizens.
• But, he was a crafty politician who saw the value of tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energy of non-aristocrats (middle-class citizens).
• He didn't see the value of women, though.

More Notes

Today's class was pretty uneventful, but I took some notes so here they are.

During the seventh and sixth centuries, aristocrats ran the government in most of Greece

• Back then, as right now, rich people wielded much influence in society, and held much government power, than middle to poor classes.
• Aristocrats: members of the ruling class.
• Aristocrats attended symposiums--meetings where elite men enjoyed wine and poetry, performances by dancers and acrobats, and the company of hetaeras (courtesans) while discussing politics.
• Politics was an exclusive club.
• There were no women (except for the "entertainment"),
• Also no middle class,
• Nor slaves.
• Sometimes, certain aristocrats were excluded due to wrong connections or falling out of favor.
• If on the outside, sometimes aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites--well-armed soldiers--and set up alternative forms of government called tyranny.
• Tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis.
• The modern meaning of a tyrant is an abusive or oppressive ruler.
• The Greek meaning is someone who simply seized power (usually with hoplite help).

Class 3/8/19 and Notes

Today wasn't the best for our class. A lot of people were talking and being distracting, which caused the rest of the people to be distracted, causing Mr.Schick to get mad. But, I took some good notes from the PowerPoint today, so here they are.

• Warring City-states 
• Polis- fundamental political unit, made up of a city-state and the surrounding countryside. 
• Monarchy- rule by a single person 
• Aristocracy- rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families. 
• Oligarchy- wealthy groups, dissatisfied with the aristocratic rule, who seized power.
• Tyrant- powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support.
• Transforming Government
• During the 7th and 6th centuries BC, aristocrats ran most of Greece. 
• Money=Power
• Aristocracy
• Aristocrats- members of the ruling class
• They attended symposiums, meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry, performances by dancers and acrobats, and the company of courtesans while discussing politics.
• Politics- an exclusive club 
• No women 
• No middle class
• No slaves 
• No aristocrats who did not have the right connections or well out of favor
• Tyrants Seize Control
• sometimes aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites (well-armed soldiers), and set up an alternative form of government called tyranny.

Wednesday Greece Notes

Today we took some more notes about Greece both from the PowerPoint and from the textbook, so here they are. Enjoy! 

• Life in Greece

• Fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the Greek peninsula.

• Of it, only 20% is arable (farmable) land.

• The Greek diet consisted of grapes, grains, olives, and fish.

• The lack of resources in Greece is likely what led Greeks to start colonizing.

• The temperature ranged from the mid-'40s during the Winter and low 80's during the Summer.

• Led to people being out all the time (creating the Olympics and later, the birth of democracy).

• Mycenaeans began influencing the world around them in 2,000 BC.

• Mycenae was located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus protected by a 20-foot thick wall.

• Kings dominated Greece from 1,600 BC to 1,100 BC.

• They controlled the trade in the region.

• Around 1,400 BC, Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed the Minoan culture.

• e.g. writing system, language, art, politics, literature, and religion.
• Trojan War

• The Greeks have fought in many wars over time.

• The Trojan War was fought at around 1,200 BC.

• Until the nineteenth century, most historians had thought that, like many other parts of Greek history, the Trojan War was a myth.

• That is because gods and goddesses were involved in the war.

• Goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera were given the "apple of discord" and even though they were all good friends, they argued plenty.

• Paris judged Aphrodite as the fairest.

• Aphrodite then made Helen (who was married) fall in love with Paris, who took her back to Troy.
• The "Sea People"

• Around 1,200 BC, mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace.

• Then, the Dorians moved into the war-torn region, dominating from 1,150 to 750 BC.

• They were far less advanced,

• The trade-based economy had collapsed, and

• Writing disappeared during the 400-year period.

• So, oral tradition started to emerge.

Greece is The Word

Today we took notes off of the new PowerPoint for the first half class and then for the second half we took more individual notes from the textbook again. Here are some of my notes from today:

The world's greatest civilizations were all located by rivers. The Greeks, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians were the ones we learned about but there were several more. Greece was mainly a mountainous peninsula. It was split into mini civilizations called city-states. It was difficult to unite the city-states due to the terrain and their loyalty to each other. A person would think of themselves solely as a Spartan before they would think of their fellow sisters and brothers in other city-states.

-The Dorians moved into the war-torn countryside
-They may have been distant relatives of the Bronze Age Greeks
-Legend states that the greatest storyteller was a blind man named Homer
-Some believe he composed his epics celebrating heroic deeds
-Iliad was one of his greatest poems (it was about the Trojan war)
-Greeks developed myths and traditional stories about their gods
-They attributed human qualities such as love, hate, war, and wisdom to their gods and goddesses

Egypt Test and Starting Greece

Today we took our Egypt test and I got a 74/75 which is what I also got on our last test. We started taking notes about Greece. Here are some of the notes I took from the : 

Athens and democracy (a new form of government where citizens exercised power)

Alexander the Great spread Greek culture throughout much of Asia. Greek, Egyptian, and Asian cultures blended to create a Hellenistic culture

Athens assumed control of a defense league and later became an empire. Later, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire and beyond to create a vast new empire of his own

• 2000 B.C.- Minoan civilization prospers on Crete
• 1780 B.C.- Hammurabi issues code of laws
• 1500 B.C.- Mycenean culture thrives on Greek mainland
• 1472 B.C.- Hatshepsut, woman pharaoh begins her reign
• 1200 B.C.- Trojan war takes place
• 1027 B.C.- Zhou dynasty begins in China
• 850 B.C.- Assyrians expand their empire
• 750 B.C.- Greek City-States flourish
• 500 B.C.- Zapotec of Mexico build Monte Alban
• 479 B.C.- Greece triumphs in Persian wars
• 334 B.C.- Alexander starts to build his empire
• 321 B.C.- Chandragupta founds Mauryan empire in India

In ancient times, Greece was split into many different regions

By 3000 B.C. the Minoans became a dominant force in the Mediterranean living on the island of Crete

2,000 islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas made up Greece

The region's geography directly shaped its culture and traditions

Access to seas and bodies of water made it easy for trade, getting resources, and made way for more skilled workers in the industries related to water

Rugged mountains covered 75% of Greece

The mountain chains ran from northwest to southeast along the Balkan Peninsula

The division of lands because of mountains influenced political life