Blog Post #4(Was Julius Caesar a Dictator or a Reformer?

I think that Julius Caesar was a dictator because Caesar made some reforms to the Senate. Caesar wouldn't conquer such land without fighting. The reason why Caesar made reforms to the Senate was to have more people support him. He thought that he would stay in power for a longer time with support and not get overthrown by the Senate. When Caesar was the dictator of Rome for his whole life, he learned some of the basic rules for an empire and for how to be an emperor. Caesar also showed that he wanted power when the Senate decided that Pompey who became the military and political leader of the Roman Republic later on. Caesar didn't want to give up his army and not to stop ruling, even after he was warned by some people for not to cross the Rubicon River, but he did with his five thousand soldiers. After he started a civil war because of this and he didn't care about it at all. In conclusion, Caesar wanted his power.

Blog Post #2

Ancient Rome's geography was in many ways the secret of its future success so much so that even Roman writers, including Cicero, recognized how fortunate the choice had been. 

What is particularly interesting is that Rome, at odds with most other Italian cities, is built on a relatively low ground rather than on a dominating high ground. The lowest point of the city is at the Panthelon (approx 13m above sea level). The highest is Monte Mario hill (120 m asl). 

Rome was built on several Hilltops which made it much easier to defend. The river Tibers also provided a means of transportation and fresh water for the people of Rome and this is how the geography helped them.

Blog Post #1

BlogPost #1: (question #2 from the reading)
    Describe the two legends of the founding of Rome. Then explain how and when
    Rome was actually founded. Remember to include at least one image!










The two legends about how Rome began was first the traditional story where the two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded the city. As babies, the boys were abandoned near the Tiber River and then rescued by a wolf and raised a shepherd and after they decided to build a city in 753 B.C.The other reason that the historians  say that  the Latins lived in the are of Rome as early as 1000 B.C. They built huts on Rome's hills, tended herds and grew crops and that is the second idea of how Rome was found.


Historians knew little about the the first people living in Italy. They found evidence but the people from the north slipped through Italy's mountains passes between about 1500 B.C. and 1000 B.C. After because of the bad weather they settled in the hills and on the plains. 

How Rome was found that that the Etruscans ruled Rome for more than 100 years. Under the Etruscans, Rome became wealthy and powerful. However, the ruling family, called the Tarquins grew more and more cruel. Finally in 509 B.C. the Romans rebelled and that is how Rome was born. 

New UNIT!!!

UNIT 2:


ANCIENT ROME

Blog Post #6 Biased Biography on Alexander The Great

Alexander the Great was a king of Macedon, a state in northern Greece. By the age of thirty, he created one of the largest empires in ancient history. The empire stretched from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in the battle and I think that is the reason he is called Alexander the Great and I think he did deserve this title. Alexander was born in Pella in 20 or 21 July in 356 B.C and died in 10 or 11 June 323 B.C. when he was 32 years old. He was tutored by the famed philosopher Aristotle. Alexander's reign lasted 13 years. It was from 336-323 B.C. Alexander had many other titles being King of Macedon, Hegemon of the Hellenic, League, Shahanshah of Persia, Pharaoh of Egypt and Lord of Asia, but the most important one was Alexander the Great.Alexander's father was Philip II, King of Macedonia. Alexander was really great because of when his father Philip died, he had the courage two fill in his crown and build one of the greatest empires.

Bibliography
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/alexander_the_great_01.shtml
http://marius-goubert.suite101.com/the-army-of-alexander-the-great-a90146
http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/AlexandertheGreat.html

Blog Post #5 A day in the life of...

    Choose the life of a person who could have lived during the Golden Age in Athens.
    Examples: wealthy merchant, seafaring trader, military, government, slave, metic, woman,
    child, etc. Recount one day in that person’s life using many details. You can include
    dialogue and other characters. Must be believable and realistic.

A Day in The Life of A Slave

The population of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries was divided into three groups. The citizens, the metics and the slaves. Slaves were very important to the ancient Greek way of life. Slaves cleaned and cooked, worked in the fields, factories, shops, in the mines and on ships. Most slaves lives were not that different from a poor Greek citizen's life. 

One day a slave called Alfred. He was really poor and had a wife. Alfred life was really difficult. He was a field slave. He worked in the fields from sunrise to sunset and at harvest time he worked 18 hours a day, just for bringing food for him and his wife. Alfredo was lucky this day because this was the day he received clothes. Slaved only received clothes one time a year. He received two linen shirts, two pairs of trousers, one jacket, one pair of socks, one pair of shoes, an overcoat and a wool hat. He thought he was saved for the rest of the year. After that he went to find some food. He got some cornmeal salt herrings, and eight pounds of pork or fish each month. Today was not the day for the eight pound meal. Him and her wife only ate cornmeal salt herrings in their house with wooden shacks with dirt floors. Near the night the slaves stored there food somewhere safe so they were sure that they wouldn't lose it after. The day was over. Alfred saved another day in the life of a slave. 

Blog Post #4 The Spartan Way

Visitors to ancient Sparta often heard the story about the boy and the fox cub. It was a story about a Spartan boy who stole a pet fox cub and hid it under its cloak. Most visitor who heard the story thought that the boy's behavior was strange. Sparta's most famous rival was Athens and both city-states shaped the modern world. Athens was the birthplace of democracy, where all full citizens had the right to vote on city matters. Spartans kept few written records and left ruins for historians to study. Almost everything we study and know today is second hand., but we still know that Sparta dominated ancient Greece about 600 B.C. to 371 B.C. leaving and unforgettable mark on history. Almost 10 percent of Spartan men were full citizens and their job was the serves as soldiers in Sparta's army. Sparta's government and strong traditions controlled every aspect of and equal's life. While boys in Athens were given lengthy educations, Spartan boys were taught only the basics of reading and writing. The trainers gave barely enough food to live on, encouraging them to find some other food for themselves. Men became full citizens at age of 30 after that they could vote or hold public office. All Spartans ate their meals at army halls, not with their families.While the main job of Spartan man was to be soldiers, the main job of the Spartan women was to have children and they needed to make them strong for the next army. Spartan women couldn't wear jewelry, perfume or nice clothes.

A quote from the notes I read was in the page 178 of these notes was "All their times was taken up by choral dances, festivals, feasts, hunting expeditions, physical exercise, and conversations." I think that you could learn  from this quote because that after it said free times was made possibly by two groups of conquered peoples. Which were perioeci and helots.

Sean Price. "The Spartan Way." The Ancient World. Print. 

Blog Post #3

Summarize the main ideas of the article in your own words. Use MLA format and include a minimum
    of one quote from the article. 
The Olympics started very early in Ancient Greece because the Olympics were mentioned in numerous writings by Ancient Greek poets. The Olympics were held to honor Zeus, the most superior god, and the god of the heavens. The Olympics were always held at a sacred site called Olympia, and all wars and conflicts were stopped during the games, to show respect for the gods. The Olympic Village had many sporting facilities.  The first man to win an Olympic event was Coroebus. The event he won was the footrace in 776 B.C.E., In 1896, the Olympic games revived. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was the  organizer of  the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
 According to Knight Thedore "Three footraces were especially popular. The dolichos was a race of twenty-four lengths of the stadium field." This quote describes the first Olympic activity they had. Than other running activities were added and others were also included which came to this day, which we have a lot of types. (page 171,Knight Thedore. "The Ancient Olmypics." The Ancient World. Print. )

Knight Thedore. "The Ancient Olmypics." The Ancient World. Print. 

Blog Post #2 Early Greek Values

The Greek Values: Athleticism, Hospitality, Intuition, Ingenuity,Justice, Loyalty, Respect and Teamwork




a) What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?
 The most important value in the early Greeks was justice and justice was important because when someone did something bad to another the early Greeks kind of wanted to revenge and always got it by teamwork and ingenuity. Both teamwork and ingenuity is important because people got revenge by using teamwork and ingenuity which is making smart plans/ideas.


  b) In what ways are early Greeks values found in modern society?
Early Greeks values are found in modern society today easily. You can see it everywhere. People trying to earn justice anytime when they get something from the opposite. You can see teamwork in groups, projects and team sports. Today ingenuity is seen as people sometimes making plans to trick others or people think really well and be sneaky in some ways to reach and get something.

BlogPost #1: Mycenaen and Mionan Civilization

a) Briefly describe both civilizations.
b) What aspects of both civilizations would you expect to survive in later periods of Greek history?


a. The Minoan civilization came before the Mycenaean civilization. Minoan was also highly advanced and by all accounts a peaceful people who dominated the Aegean by trade rather then war. Mycenaean came later and were a very war oriented people. Both of the civilizations were in Bronze Age. The empires used bronze to make tools and stone and wood to build their palaces. 


b.-

End of Year Reflection

End-of-year reflection:
    Imagine you can transport yourself through time but your time machine
    is on the fritz. You keep jumping from time and place after only one hour.
    Describe what you see, hear, smell and feel in each time hop. First, you
    arrive in pre-historical Kenya, then skip to ancient Sumeria, followed by
    ancient Egypt and India, ending with your last jump to present-day at an
    archaeological dig.

I start my journey in pre-historical Kenya. What I see is amazing. Art every where. I'm really amazed. I travel a lot of places. It's getting really hot and I feel the sun getting hotter and hotter,burning my back. I can't wait for that one hour to pass. At last its over now I land on ancient Sumeria. This is a very important place in my trip because it includes cities, kings, mythologies, sciences, religions, writings, culture, cuneiform and contributions. As I move on, I meet the first kings. I tell them my time is getting less, and that I need to go and the king says "okay, okay justwait a bit!" I wait and than for a second I don't see anything. I open my eyes and I'm in ancient Egypt. In Egypt I make a short visit because I was there many times. I quickly pass to ancient India. A man with a big hat takes me to the Nile River with his boat we travel the way and we end up in a place that archeologist are making a dig, so we join and I discover one of the biggest things on Earth, a dinosaur fossil. I must be very lucky! Or not my time machine 

is broken. What will I do now? 

The Indus and Ganges River Valleys(National Geography)

Describe the geography of the Indus and Ganges river valleys.
The beginning of the Indus River is in the Himalayas and than flows down to the Arabian Sea. The Ganges river follows along the Himalayas and then enters into the Bay of Bengal. The reason that the rivers grow larger as they go along is because as they flow through or along the Himalayas lots of melted ice seeps into the rivers making them larger. India has two different monsoon seasons; summer and winter. The summer monsoons begin mid-June, and bing in wet, moistened air from the Indian Ocean. The winter monsoons start in October and end around May, bringing in dry air form the north-east area and spread it throughout India and its surrounding countries. The summer monsoons season has many benefits such as farmers not being able to grow their crops without it, and agriculture is a vital part of India because 70% of it relies on agriculture. But though they benefit from the rain the monsoons sometimes lead to massive and destructive flooding. .

How did geography influence the building of Mohenjo-Daro similar to modern cities?

Due to Mohenjo-Daro's geography the inhabitance of the area built their homes and city above ground level. Also they built a citadel on a hill and probably surrounded it by a wall. They didn't only build a citadel though, sewage and drainage systems ran throughout the area taken all the waste and excess water out of the city. This probably kept the most important places from flooding.

Summary of the Taj Mahal Story

The story of the Taj Mahal that most of us have known about may not be the real truth. Herein Mr. P. N. Oak presents an interesting set of proofs that show a completely different story. Contrary to what visitors are made to believe the Tajmahal is not a Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva Temple known as Tejo Mahalaya which the 5th generation Moghul emperor Shahjahan commandeered from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. The Taj Mahal, should therefore, be viewed as a temple palace and not as a tomb. That makes a vast difference.

Mapping Project Blog Post

a) How do physical features, climate and elevation relate to each other?

The phyisacal feature of the maps are really similar.3D map, climate map, and elevation map are all different maps but they look alike. In ,each we had the same places marked such as the Thar Desert, Indus and Ganges rivers and the Himalayas. In our climate map we mainly focused on what sort of weather and the temperatures that it were in different Indian areas, whereas on our 3D map and elevation map we focused on the hight of the different areas of India.

b) What conclusions can you draw?

(Think about natural resources, climate/weather, and human settlement.)

TIndia has a wide variety in natural sources. Because when you look at our map and other maps we had many different areas bordered off by different features. Also when looking our different maps i started to realize why people settled where they did, because you wouldn't want to settle in the middle of the Thar Desert but in the areas that provided a wide variety of recourses such as by a river like in areas like New 

Deli.

Hindu God: Ganesh or Ganesa Blogpost

Ganesh or Ganesa, is one of the most well known and worshipped god within the Hindu Pantheon. Ganesh is hte son of Shiva and Parati, he has an elephantine appearance with a curved trunk, large ears, and the massive pot-bellied body of a human.
Ganesh is known as the Lord of Success and destroyer of evil and obstacles, aswell as being worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom, and wealth. Along with all is purposes of worship Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu Deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and Durgoa are the other four Hindu Deities.) Hindu Deities are beleived to be forms of the god Brahman and provide one of the ways to communicate with this one divinity.

Egyptian Art Poster

Describe your artwork (who is represented, what is happening) and
    explain the significance.

This picture describes the Egyptian god Anubis in the left side which is standing. There is a tomb in the middle of the picture and he is burying  the dead.The sign on top of the tomb represents storm and thunder. I made that because it is not a good day when you bury the dead. I also drew some signs around and on the tomb which had some stuff to do with the dead and Anubis. In the bottom left corner I have my name spelled in hieroglyphics and on the top right corner there is a sun, which represents that the one being buried should be good. The significance of this picture is that Anubis is a Egyptian god and gods are important. This picture also represents the daily life of the Egyptian's.

Along the River Nile

I am passing from the River Nile with my sailing boat. The only thing I can see and pay attention is the beauty of Nile. The nature is just amazing. It smells grass and tress. I see a crocodile pop out from the sea. For a second I think it's my end. But than I see that they are just looking around. The River is really nice and the sun is on top of me. I feel my head and skin burning. I look to my right and I see a huge pyramid with a lot of servants working.I need some water. I feel the weather getting hotter and hotter every minute. At last I'm out of Nile. I hope I can go again.

Homework(Mummies)

You should:
List at least five questions that you would ask a promising location. Your questions should relate to climate, culture, religion, and other factors that you think are important. Include Images. You do not have to answer your questions.

1.Why do Egyptian mummify their dead?

2.Who were the king mummies?

3.Where are the mummies?

4.Why did Egyptians make mummies?

5.Are mummies still being mummified today?


Pictures:

New words from the Article

New Words
1.Yearn: To have a strong desire
2.Cadaver:A dead body, especially one intended for dissection.
3.Mossy:Covered with moss or something like moss
4.Bogs:An area having a wet, spongy, acidic substrate.
5.Mingled:To mix or bring together in combination


Questions
1.DEFINE the word "MUMMY"?
A body embalmed and dried and wrapped for burial. Also an Ancient Egypt person.


2.According to current scientific beliefs. What are some reasons people were intentionally mummified?

The reasons why people were intentionally mummified was because they were trying to extend human life and some bodies were frozen for the climate.

3. What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally?
Some reasons why bodies are unintentionally mummified is that the climate is very cold which is a good weather to mummify. Another good place the be mummified is places were there is snow or ice.


4. In what parts of the world have mummies been found?
Mummies were found in Egypt, China,Siberia, Italy Greenland and Mexico.


5.In what types of places( physical geography&climate) have mummies been found?
The types of physical geography that mummies have been found in includes mostly places that have good environments for preservation,for example cold places.


6. How did Ancient Egyptians preserve their dead?
Egyptians preserves their dead because they believed in the after life and in order to got there they needed there body.


7. Why do you think Ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them?
Ancient Egyptians didn't want their work done by others because they thought they should have their own jobs done.Many cultures have this belief that when you preserve a dead body you give that person peace to his soul. They also put their organs in to kind of little jars.

Assyrian Poster

This poster is about the Assyrians. Their government, empire, facts, daily life and also includes a map, timeline and a lot of pictures. Everyone in our group worked really well together and brought a lot of information.

By: Ergi,Brin,Emily and Luka L.

Unit #3 Reflection Mesopotamia

1. In 2-3 sentences for each topic, summarize what you learned about the following:
    a) The domestication of plants and animals   
    b) The transition from hunter-gatherer communities to the first civilizations
    c) Early religion and beliefs

2. Imagine someone saying to you, "Learning about the Sumerians isn't very
    important since they're long gone!" What would you tell them in order to change their mind?

3. Include at least 2 visuals in your post (photograph, drawing, map, table/chart...)

1.

A) What I learned about domestication of plants and animals is that people in the past made the plants and animals domesticated so they could eat them.I learned that they domesticated for a lot of reasons like to produce food, or valuable stuff like cotton,wool or silk, for helping them in transportation and trade. They also grew a lot of different crops.

B)Almost the whole of human history, from at least 3 million years ago, mankind has lived hunting or fishing, and gathering edible items of any kind for example;from fruit to insects.But basically hunter-gatherers,have lived by doing what comes natural. I learned that they improved a lot of things, like language,writing system and the calendar. 

C)The things I learned about religion and beliefs is that when they started to improve their religion they started practices and also started praying. They believed in god so much and were scared what would happen if they did a bad thing. They thought the god would strike and punish them.

2.If somebody told me that "Learning about the Sumerians isn't very important since they're long gone."
I would tell them to learn about this because that is how we are now in this day, how they developed since now and how they changed living,religion and also their beliefs.




PICTURES

Enheduana of Sumer

Enheduana was the worlds first author almost 4,300 years ago. She was also known as a poet.   her works weren't published as paperback.  they were slabs of clay, which was still soft, and a stylus was used to write into it.As Enheduana and her brother grew older, her father expected her brothers to be kings and be the empirere.


Questions:
1..What did books look like during the time that Enheduana was writing? How were these books written?
She wrote books but using wet clay and a object called styblus.


2. Where did Enheduana and her family live? What did her father do?
Her father was the king and they lived in city-state of Akkad.

3. What was Enheduana's job? List three of her duties. How did she lose her job?

Her job was high prisetess.and She lost her job after her nephew took the throne

4.The author says that Enheduana's poems were so popular that they were like bestsellers today. What evidence does she use to support this claim?

Telling us that people still talk about her today even though she wrote in 2300 B.c.

5. Enheduana's writings are hymns of praise, but they also tell us about the times she lived in. Describe one "current event" that Enheduana wrote about.

Enheduana wrote about about her father. She wrote that at one point in time the city-states that Sargon had taken united in revolt against and also that they tried to capture Akkad.

Catalhoyuk

Catalhoyuk is the largest and best preserved Neolithic site found to date. The meaning of Catal is fork on the Turkish language .was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC.Catalhoyuk is located overlooking wheat fields in the Konya. Konya is a city near to the captial of Turkey, Ankara. It's approximately 140 kilometers, which is equal to 87 miles. The entire settlement of Catalhoyuk was composed of domestic buildings. The site has no obvious public buildings. While some of the larger buildings contain rather ornate wall murals, the purpose of such rooms remains unclear. It also has something on top of it that helps it protect from to sun, like a shield, but the sides of it are open.Since 1993 an international team of archaeologists, led by Ian Hodder, has been carrying out new excavations and research, in order to shed more light on the people that inhabited the site.The Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk was first discovered in the late 1950s and excavated by James Mellaart between 1961 and 1965. The site rapidly became famous internationally due to the large size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintin gs and other art that was uncovered inside the houses.