Claire's Western Civ Blog

Dear 50-year-old self,             As I’m writing this, it is Tuesday June 2 nd , 2020 and I am 15 years old. I turn 16 this year, and it’s crazy to think about how much I’ve been through and witnessed these past years. This year has been filled with so much sadness and suffering and it’s hard to wrap my head around what is happening all around me. Last summer, the summer before freshmen year, one of the best summers I’ve had in a while is when everything completely changed. It is the last week of school and I will officially be through with my first year of high school, it feels like just yesterday I was in 8 th  grade, sitting at my desk thinking, wow, I’m going to be in high school next year. This year has definitely been one that I will never forget. 2020 is halfway over and it isn’t exactly going how I hoped. On March 11 th , COVID-19 (Corona Virus) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Everything escalated quickly from there. On March 13 th , we were le

- Julius Caesar's grandnephew/ adopted son Octavian takes over at age 18 - has his own triumvirate (2nd one) - MarkAntony: experienced general - Lepidus: powerful politician - forces Lepidus to retire - becomes rivals with Mark Antony - Mark Antony became partners with Cleopatra of Egypt (militarily, personally, politically, economically) - Octavian defeated them at the battle of Actium - Octavian became unchallenged ruler of Rome (on his own) - given honorable name "Augustus" meaning "Exalted One" - Also given the title "imperator" which is a supreme military commander - Rome is now an empire not a Republic - ruled as an emperor for 40 years from 27 BC to AD 14 - began stable era of peace and prosperity known as Pax Romana(Roman Peace) - Pax Romana was 207 years long from 27 BC to AD 180 Accomplishments: - expanded Roman Empire further into Africa - set up civil service to run government and empire - built network of roads - collect

On June 2nd my class will be taking the Ancient Rome test from 8:00- 8:55am. Slides 32-42 - Juvenal (a poet) says Rome "anxiously hopes for two things: bread an circuses" - bread being free grain and circus being entertainment to keep them distracted and quiet about the thought go revolting - Tiberius Gracchus realized that courting the plebeians might benefit (he was unsuccessful) - military lead an army to conquer land and give them(plebeians) a share of it - soldiers were loyal to the military leader not Rome or the republic - Julius Caesar from 100-44 BCE) was highly successful and conquered a big territory of Gaul - He had a good relationship with the common folks and made many friends like Pompey(general who conquered Syria and Palestine) and Crassus (the richest man in Rome and in history) - Those three people formed the First Triumvirate meaning "rule of three men" - Caesar served as consul for one year and appointed himself governor of gaul - P

For the essay portion of the Ancient Rome test, I am going to do, Analyze the factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Republic.

Main idea:  The creation of the Roman Empire transformed Roman government, society, economy, and culture. Why It Matters Now:  The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model of political organization and control. Terms and Names: civil war- conflict between groups within the same country Julius Caesar- a military leader who joined forces with Crassus, a wealthy Roman, and Pompey, a popular general triumvirate- a group of three leaders Augustus- The name Octavian accepted  when he became the ruler of Rome meaning, "exalted one" Pax Romana- The period of peace and prosperity manning "Roman peace" - problems from Romes increasing wealth and boundaries led to a shakeup in the government and a new political system - gap in social classes, the rich and poor kept growing wider - the slaves captured in wars were forced to work for rich land owners on their farms. - smaller landowners and farmers had to sell their land to the wealthy people because t

The Punic Wars were 3 wars fight between Rome and Carthage that took place from 264- 146 BCE. Rome won the first Punic War, it took place from 264- 241 BCE and was a naval battle, they were fighting for control of Sicily. Rome also won the second Punic War. this war was fought from 218- 201 BCE. Hannibal, who was the general of Carthage hand goal to take down Rome by crossing Spain and the Alps on elephants and attacking them from the North but ends up not defeating them. The final Punic War was fought from 149- 146 BCE and Rome's goal was to completely get rid of Carthage as a threat. Carthage was attacked and burned for 17 days, destroying everything completely. The remaining people in Carthage, 50,000 people, were sold into slavery and Rome took over all of Carthage's territories. The slaves were taken to Italy and with so many slaves in Italy by the second century BCE worked on farms of the rich, small farmers and other people who were in debt lost their land and jobs. The

We had to look through slides 9-22 on the study guide for Ancient Rome. Slides 9-12 was the first section to look at and it talks about Tarquin and his family and how he was a tyrant, making it terrible for the citizens to live under his rule. He was a bad leader and him and his family later were expelled from Rome and the citizens ended up not wanting to be ruled by kings anymore. Slides 13-22, it focuses on Roman government and compares our government (US) with theirs. It compares the 3 branches, which both Rome and the US have, and the different legal codes, the US being the bill of rights and Romes being the twelve tables. The slides also talk about the differences of the patricians and plebeians and how different their says in the government were.

- The Etruscans settled in Ancient Rome from the north-central part of peninsula - they were metal workers artists architects - Greeks also settled here (had colonies along Mediterranean) - Roman borrowed Greek ideas (religious beliefs, alphabet, art, military techniques, weapons) - The first people to settle in Rome were the Latins - they were descendants of Indo- Europeans - The Latins settled on the banks of the Tiber river for better trade(commercial port, not for attacks/war) was built on 7 hills - streams flowed into the Tiber river - the Forum was a marshy area located between palatine and Capitoline Hills - Tarquin the Proud's grandfather built the largest ancient drain channeling water into the tiber called the Cloaca Maxima - Lucius Tarquinias Superbus was the seventh and final king of Rome - also known as Tarquin the proud or sometimes Tarquin the Arrogant - He was a true tyrant

I'll just start by saying, it was actually a good song, it had so much information about Rome and it seems like it was so hard to put together each line, having it rhyme and flow together. I feel like most songs that teachers make for students always use songs like these, and this one was actually kind of informing while also laughable. It was definitely funny and wasn't expecting it to be so long but it is a very clever way of helping us to remember about Ancient Rome.

The Twelve Tables were basically a set written laws set in place on 12 bronze tablets. This was a new way and approach to how laws were made and passed and ended up becoming the basis for Roman law. Ten officials would with each law down on one of the bronze tablets, and then hung them up in forum for the citizens to see. This was a very big deal for the plebeians because the whole idea of this was so that citizens were all treated equally and all of the free citizens had the right to be protected by the law.

This is a Pantheon, it was a former Roman temple which is now used as a Catholic Church. The Pantheon is known as one of the most preserved pieces of architecture in Ancient Rome. It was built in 113-125 AD and when it was built, the structure of the temple was seen as unique, but then later became a standard and more popular structure.

In Ancient Rome there were two different groups of people who resembled different social classes in Rome. Patricians and Plebeians were very different and patricians always held more power over Rome. Patricians were of the more wealthy people and landowners who held most of the power over Ancient Rome. Plebeians on the other hand were more of the middle to lower class of people who were farmer, artisans or merchants, most of Rome's population was made up of Plebeians. Patricians relied on their social class to give them more power and believed that because of their ancestors, they should hold more power in law making. The Plebeians didn't have as much power, and were the ones who took place in the voting for tribunes, which protected their rights against anything made unfair by the patricians.

republic- a form of gov. in which power rests with citizens who have the right to vote for their leaders patrician- the wealthy landowners who held the most power plebeians- the common farmers, artisans, merchants that made up most of the population tribunes- protected the rights of the plebeians from unfair acts of patrician officials consuls- the 2 officials that, like kings, commanded the army and directed the gov. (term was only one year) senate- the aristocratic branch of Rome's gov. that had both legislative and administrative functions in the Republic dictator- a leader who has absolute power to make laws and common the army legions- units where Roman soldiers were organized in that were made up of 5,000 heavily armed foot soldiers Punic Wars- 3 different wars fought by Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C. to 146 B.C. Hannibal- a brilliant military strategist who wanted to avenge Carthage's defeat

Question: Explain the similarities and differences of Ancient Greek Theater, and our version of theater now. In the first paragraph I would explain how Greek Theater was then, the type of dramas were performed, and information about where the plays were put on. In the second paragraph, I would explain the types plays and dramas that  are put on now, where they are performed, and information about plays put on now. Finally, I the third paragraph, I would explain how both greek theater then is similar to theater now.

1. What is the name of Alexander the Great's horse?  Bucephalus 2. What were the 2 types of drams performed in Greek theaters?   tragedy and comedy 3. ________ was a student of Plato at the Academy. Aristotle 4. Who was the person who wrote Apology, which wrote out Socrates teachings and described his trial? Plato 5. the _______ was a close-rank, dense group of warriors, armed with long spears and interlocking shields. Phalanx

1)       How did Plato define  The Forms ? Plato defined The Forms  as the ideal of concepts around us. 2)       Who are the three groups in Plato’s ideal society? The three groups in plato's ideal society were the producers, rulers, and the military. 3)       What were Plato’s thoughts on women? Plato believed that women should be able to rule as well as men in his city. Even though he said this, he didn't completely show that this was what he thought. he made remarks like saying the women were children and called their wombs live-animals, showing the inconstancy in what he said. 4)       What was the Noble Lie that Plato proposed? Plato's Noble Lie that he proposed was that we are all born with gold, silver, or a mixture of brass and iron.

Helios, god of the sun in the sky Anthus, god of birds that can fly Poseidon, god who rules over the sea Aphrodite, goddess of the love that we see Then we have Ares, the god of war and Zeus, the god who makes the sky roar The goddess of wisdom, Athena and even the God of the underworld all make up the major and minor gods and goddesses of ancient greek mythology.

The Ancient Theater of Epidaurus is located in the Greek city of Epidaurus and is dedicated to the Ancient Greek god of medicine. It was constructed by the end of the 4th century by Polykleitos and it was praised for its beauty. The theater is known for its great acoustics and for being one of the greatest Greek theaters.  The Temple of Artemis was a temple dedicated to an ancient form of the goddess Artemis, and is also known as the Temple of Diana. The temple was rebuilt twice due to flooding and was destroyed by 401 AD, with only parts of it still remaining.

1. Describe the kinds of dramas that were performed in the theaters of Ancient Greece. The Ancient Greeks were very serious when it came to plays. There were 3 genres, comedy, satyr, and tragedy. 2.   Describe the similarities between an Ancient Greek production and a film you have seen recently.        3. Image of a theater from Ancient Greece. #  F   Form the pictures I looked at of theaters in Ancient Greece, they all seem so big and can fit so many people. Its definitely so much different then what we are used to now.

I think we can all agree that cyber school is taking a lot out of us and we are being challenged I na way that none of us are used to. It hard to go from sitting at a desk in a class room with 20 other kids, asking questions, talking to a teacher about problems, to being at home having to learn online and without the face to face help. I agree that the workload right now is a lot more than expected and even for teachers, this workload of providing ALL of the information to students has increased swell. And on top of that, teachers still have to figure out ways to answer questions throughs screens and give quizzes and tests. While we are doing this online learning, I do think that it seems 'easier' to maybe cheat on a quiz or plagiarize, and some students have definitely been using that to their advantage. Being in a situation like this does seem to be affecting and changing the ways of some people. I have been slacking off a little at some points throughs the past few weeks, bu

The Plague of Athens happened during the second year of the Peloponnesian War, in 430 BC. This plague was said to have come into Athens from Piraeus, which was The main city's port and source of food and supplies. So many people died because of this plague, and so many people have died and are still dying from this new virus today, COVID-19, or the Corona Virus. About 75,000 to 100,000 people were killed form the plague of Athens, and so far about 22,165 people, worldwide, have died from the COVID-19 virus. While these numbers aren't the same, the numbers are still rapidly rising and is said to peak very soon. When the plague in Athens became started raising alarm, Athens society was forced to enforce stricter laws and regulations for the people, since the people were starting to adhere to the rules. The way Athens responded to its peoples lack of adherence for the laws, is very similar to the way the government officials are responding to the COVID-19 virus. In the US, our gov

Today we had to do some research Alexander the Great and his horse, Bucephalus. The horse was given to King Philip, Alexander's father, for 13 talents, which translates to about $182,000 now. Bucephalus was Alexander's favorite horse and served him in many battles. Bucephalus was said to be untamable, which is why King Philip gave him away In the first place. It was only until Alexander came along that he was able to tam the horse and have him eventually be one of the most famous horses. The bond that Alexander and Bucephalus had was inseparable and only Alexander could ride him into battles conquering all of these different places. At the end of Bucephalus' life, Alexander named one of his conquered city's after him. This great relationship with Alexander's horse lead him through so many victories and got him through so many journeys.

Today is Friday, March 20th, our 5th day of cyber school. When we first found about cyber school, I had no idea what to expect of it, and most teachers didn't either. On Monday, we had our first day of online school. it wasn't as bad I had thought, but further into the week, it got a little harder. The first 2 days, it wasn't really anything new, more just picking up where we left off the previous week. By Wednesday, gears shifted and we had to learn new things. It is harder to do online school when it comes to learning new things in classes like Math or a language. I have started to figure out ways that I learn best in these times as well. Doing cyber school has pros and cons. A pro that I have seen throughout the week is that I can do my work at my own pace and make sure that I understand what I am doing, without worrying about the teacher maybe teaching it too fast. One con to this is that there is no face to face conversations or questions. Yes you can chat with a teach

Explain why you think Socrates, and Sophists like Protagoras, would start questioning traditional beliefs at this particular point in history? In Athens a this time, many bad and negative things were happening through the cities like sickness and Pericles being being killed. Since it seemed like so many bad things were going to keep happening, it gave people more chances to question or just really examine their own beliefs. All of the chaos makes people feel out of control, using them really wonder about how they have been living their lives. Its kind of what is happening. In our world today, with government conflict all of the time and now with the corona virus. It all caused chaos and with people keeping to  themselves I these times, it allows them to almost overthink and question their beliefs just like in these Athenian times.

  Pericles was a wise man who led Athens through most of the golden age. Pericles was a popular leader, a skillful politician, an inspiring speaker, and was very well respected by his people. from 461 to 429 B.C. Pericles dominated over Athens with three goals. His first goal was to strengthen the Athenian democracy. The second was to hold and strengthen the empire, and the third was to glorify Athens. The Athenian government was soon introduced to direct democracy. A direct democracy is a form of government where citizens rule directly instead of through voting for representatives. The Delian League, which is also called the Athenian League was basically a partnership or alliance of the Greek city-states freeing them from the Persian Rule while also defending them from possible attacks from Persia.

Today we talked about the corona virus for all of class. As of now, all Maryland public schools are shut down until March 27th, and we are out until then as well. Mr. Schick had a LOT of information to tell us in class today just educating us about the virus and what he has been keeping up with from scientists and specialists. Apparently, the virus spread will probably go down towards the summer months, since it won't be able to survive in the heat. I am hoping that is correct because I am really looking forward to the summer and getting to go to the beach and the pool and places like that. We are starting cyber school soon and I down know what to think of it. All of this just doesn't seem real and now that everything is finally happening, it is hard to believe that it is actually happening.

We took a pop quiz today. I am very angry because I was not at all prepared and ended up getting like a 70 which isn't terrible because that's only 3 wrong, but whatever. Right now mr. Schick is playing some video and it is very loud, (I thought I would share). But anyway, I am very tired today so the pop quiz did NOT go my way. We also reviewed what we went over yesterday about gods and goddesses and the Persian wars. We will probably have another test on the next part of Greece soon, so based on the pop quiz, I will definitely be studying a little more.

We talked about Socrates and Plato today, but we focused more on Socrates. In the beginning of the year, we learned about Socrates and how he was this great philosopher who created the Socrates method. His method was centered around people thinking for them selves and asking/ answering questions that support these thoughts that they created. He was put to death by poison hemlock after being found guilty of 2 different crimes involving his teaching methods. even though he was found guilty, and even after he confessed to the crimes, he still had people who voted him innocent, showing how they were loyal to him and agreed and liked his teaching methods. Socrates was this great figure in greek history and I do agree with his teaching methods and they definitely relate to some of our world today.

Today we got our quizzes back that was on part 1 of Ancient Greece. The quiz wasn't that hard, I got a 78 which isn't very good but I am going to try and get a way better grade on our next test so my grade won't fall all the ay down to a c. We had to wait for someone to take the quiz before we got ours back and it was taking so long and I was very bored because we were supposed to be gong over rate powerpoint but I finished that. It was also the last class of the day so I was just eager to leave. We went over the tests and I corrected the ones that I got wrong and I was so mad because I got all of the seas mixed up even that is what I studied ALOT. Getting those right wouldve made my quiz grade a B so i'm very mad that I got them wrong.

We took the test on part one of Ancient Greece. I studied for this test with a quilt and I think the I did fairly well for the amount that I studied. All of the questions were similar to the pop quiz which I also did pretty well on. The only question I did not know was what Is my own opinion on the answer to the Homeric Question. I completely forgot what the Homeric question said so I definitely should've studied that a little more. Overall,  think I did pretty well and I'm hoping for an A so my grade bumps up to an A.

Today we started and went over the pop quiz that we had last week. We also found out that we have a test on Thursday on the first part of Greece. Ive liked learning about Greece, there are many cool stories and it is just an interesting place to learn about because of all of the history. We went over the powerpoint today and we spent a while talking about this podcast that Mr. Schick was listening to in the car today. It was basically about hip all of these super wealthy companies and businesses haven't really cared about the environment and all of the climate change utill it comes down to losing they're money or their business. it shows how much people only care about all of the money they have and how these wealthy people are what are going to change the environment, but necessarily for the reason nof that they care about it.

 Today we went through more of the powerpoint on Greece. We talked a lot about the size of Greece again and things like Alexander The Great and how he conquered places all the way to India, diffusing parts of their culture to all these new places. (cultural diffusion). We had class last today, and I had tryouts after school so during class my mind was all over the place, but I was still paying attention during most of it. By the end, we talked about The Oddessey, which Mr. Schick also brought out the book, and told us a story and then read some of it to us. It seems like an interesting book.

In class today, we talked a lot about philosophy and this painting of a pipe with the words, in French, "This is not a pipe." I didn't really understand what it meant or why in the world we were looking at that picture or what it meant for most of the class. We talked about how it relates to the Allegory of the cave and how things, like the painting can be perceived differently, like how the "not a pipe" was a painting of a picot of a pipe. You could keep going on and on about how it's a picture of painting of a pipe or a picture of a picture, so on. After we talked for like more than half the class on that, we got into the powerpoint on Greece. I actually am really liking this class, and this seems to be something that I good at, I like learning about  different places like Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece.

In class we watched a video about Plato's Allegory of the Cave. This is very interesting to learn about and its cool to see how it actually has a deeper meaning then the story actually tells. It talks about how people have perspectives of certain things in life or just life in general, the aren't 100% real or agent as good as they may seem. We get these perspectives from thing like social media or photographs and stories. The allegory of the cave describes how these people in chained up I na cave and that's how they thought life was. They saw shadows of animals and other things, but since they didn't know anything else outside of the cave, when someone finally got out into the real world, it was al so different. The video really cleared up what the story was about more than what we read earlier in the week and it really makes you stop and think about he real meaning and how much the story relates to our lives right now. My blog was saved as a draft so I just publish

1. Define. Mycenaean- This is what some of the people who settled on mainland Greece in 200 B.C. were called. Trojan war- The Trojan war was fought around 1200 B.C. when an army led by Mycenaean kings attacked the city of Troy in Anatolia. Dorian- These were Greek speaking people who migrated to mainland Greece after the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization. Homer-  epic- a long poem celebrating the deeds of legendary or traditional heroes. myth- a traditional story about ancestors or heroes, told to explain the natural world or the customs and beliefs of a society. 3. Since the sea was so near, it became easy to trade across it and since Greece lacked some resources like metals, they got it from other places through this trade route. 4. The Mycenaeans adapted the writing of the Minoans into their own language. 5. the epics were important to the Greeks during the Dorian period because since they did not have a writing system yet, in order to gain knowledge, they neede

We took a quiz today and im not sure how I feel about it, it wasn't terribly hard but I know I definitely got some wrong. Other than the quiz, we read chapter 5 about Classical Greece and took notes. Apparently we are working with Greece for a long time. I definitely could've studies a little bit more then I did for this quiz considering I didn't know some of the answers to the questions, but we will see what I got and lets hope I can follow up the last quiz and get a really good grade so my grade in the class can stay at an A.

We have a quiz tomorrow on Egypt and I am gonna make sure. study agin so I can get an A. We reviewed in class and went over what things were like a delta and Upper and lower Egypt. We also watched a video of mummification and it was about how they mummify a dead body and how their bones and skin are still in tact after thousands of years. I thought this was very cool because the process looks so interesting and the fact that the body is still somewhat in tact after so long.

We had a pop quiz today. I wasn't I class on Friday so I didn't get to take any notes on Egypt but to be honest the quiz wasn't that hard, I only got one wrong so that's not too bad but I'm bummed because that brigs the quiz grade down to a B. We are reviewing tomorrow in class for a quiz on Egypt on Thursday, which I hope I will do ok on like did on Mesopotamia. As of now, I have an A in this class which I am very proud of and I hope I keep it up all semester.

I was not in class today because I was sick.

Today we finished reading and taking notes on Egypt. Yesterdays quiz wasn't that bad and Mr. Schick is grading them now so I really want to know what I got on it. I am so tired and out of it again today and so many people are out sick and I really hope I am not getting sick. Its dress down day so I am comfortable which is good and we get donuts in advisory so im just waiting for that. So far, what were learning in  Western Civ I remember from middle school and so I already have some prior knowledge, which I hope will lead on to a great second semester.

We took a test today on Mesopotamia and it wasn't that hard. It was only 20 questions, and to be honest that chapter wasn't hard to understand. Im not sure if I got one of he questions right but we will see I guess. We also started reading about the Egyptians today, which remember learning about in 7th grade, so I feel like this chapter won't be hard either. The reading focused on the Nile river for a lot of it, and I remember so much about Egypt and the Nile river. Taking notes while reading really isn't my favorite thing to do but i'm gonna have to get through it and get better at it since that is what school is going to always be like.

Today was our second western civ class and we started class by finishing the reading from Tuesday so we could go through more notes on the powerpoint. To be honest, I don't hate taking notes, but it is definitely NOT my favorite thing to do, especially when you have to take them as your reading. I have made a goal to actually do EVERY blog this semester since last semester for Human Geo, my grade could've been better if I would've just done all of my blogs. I really am going to try and do my blogs and make sure I study hard for tests because I want to get at least a B for this class this semester.

What were the 3 environmental challenges to Sumerians? 1. unpredictable flooding combined with a period of little to no rain caused the land to at some points be nearly a desert 2. with no natural barriers for protection, a Sumerian village was nearly defenseless 3. the natural resources of Sumer were limited. Building materials and other necessary materials were scarce