Page 139 Questions

1)   Direct Democracy- A form of government used in Ancient Greece in which the citizens rule directly and not through representatives.
      Classical Art- Art with has values of harmony, order, balance, and proportion.
      Tragedy- A serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, and betrayal.
       Comedy- A play filled with slapstick situations and crude humor.
       Peloponnesian War- A war fought between Athens and Sparta.
       Philosopher- A "thinker" about logic and how the universe works.
       Socrates- A philosopher who was put to death for corrupting Athenian youth and going against the Athenian government. Socratic Method.
       Plato- One of Socrates' students.
       Aristotle- One of Plato's students.

2) I think Pericles' goal of strengthening the Athenian democracy had the most impact on the modern world, because if he hadn't continued with democracy and making it work, they would have moved to a different kind of government, and there would be no democracy anywhere in the world today. Many countries would not be the same if democracy had been forgotten about.

3) Pericles increased the number of public officials who were paid salaries, before the positions were unpaid. now everyone rich or poor could participate in the government. More people participated in the government when it was more available for everyone to join in.


5) I think they found Socrates' ideas disturbing because they were brand new ideas to them and when people don't know something that some else does they normally don't believe it. The people were told to believe what their government said so they did not believe the things that Socrates were saying and teaching them.

The Test

Hey Blog!

The Greece test was easier that I thought I was going to be. I think I did pretty good, but I just checked and I know I got the question about the percentage of mountainous land on Greece. I put 1/4 and it was supposed to be 3/4. Other than that questions I feel pretty confident about the rest of the test. I hope that it brings my grade up because right now I have an 84 and I want to bring I up before the end of the 3rd quarter. I studied using a quizlet and the power point and my notes so I made sure I had all the necessary information. I also studied during lunch which was right before western civ class. OK bye.

Moving towards democracy

Hey blog!

Here are my notes on Greece from today:

• Draco (621 BCE): Draconian- Un-necessarily harsh
• All Athenians rich or poor are equal under the law
• Death is the punishment for many crimes
• Debt slavery is OK (work as slave to repay debts)
• Solon's reforms (594 BCE)
• Outlaws debt slavery
• All Athenian citizens can speak at the assembly
• Any citizens can press charges against wrongdoers
• More reforms before 500 BCE
• Allowed all citizens to submit laws for debate at the assembly
• Created the Council of Five Hundred
• Members chosen at random, to counsel the assembly
• Leading to democracy
• Only free adult male property owners born in Athens were considered citizens
• No women, slaves, or "Foreigners"
• Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527 to 510 BCE
• His brother was murdered and caused his rule to become harsh
• Eventually he was expelled from Athens (ostracized)
• In revenge he began working with the Person king Darius I, helping them invade marathon
• With Hippias gone, Isagoras and Cleisthenes (both were aristocrats) 
• engage in a power struggle
• Isagoras had support from upperclass and Sparta
• Cleisthenes has middle class (majority)
• Isagoras wins, becomes archon eponymous
• Ostracizes Cleisthenes
• Supporters (ordinary citizens) revolt against Isagorus' tyranny
• Trap Isagoras on the acropolis for 2 days- on the 3rd day he fled and was banished
• 508 BCE
• Cleisthenes= member of the elite
• very rich
• insulated from the "hoi polloi"
• crafty politician
• tapped into talents of middle class citizens
• no women yet
• Huge step in getting regular people involved in the government
• first democracy had limits
• After several years, Athens practiced direct democracy
• The state is ruled by its citizens 
• Rule based on citizenship
• majority rule decides vote
• in agora, citizens argues, made speeches then voted with white stones (yes) or black stones (no)
• First practiced in Athens under Cleisthenes by around 500 BCE

Government in Greece

Today in class we took some notes o the types of government in Greece. Here are my notes:

• During 7th and 6th centuries BCE, aristocrats ran most of Greece
• Rich people wielded much more influence in society + help much more gov power than the middle class or the poor
• Aristocrats- members of the ruling class
• Attended symposiums, meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine, poetry, performances by dancers + acrobats and the company of hetaeras (escorts) while discussing politics
• exclusive club
• no women (except entertainment)
• no middle class
• no slaves
• sometimes aristocrats fall out of power -> set up shadow gov (tyranny)
• Aristocrats would form alliances with Hoplites (well- armed soldiers) set up alternative form of gov called a tyranny
• Tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis
• Modern: abuse of power

Pop quiz day

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Today we took a pop quiz :( I got 2 wrong. The one about Crete and about the Mycenaeans. My grade is a still an 84. I want to get it up to ad A but I don't know if I will get it up. We also took more notes on Greece. Here are the terms:

• Direct democracy- a form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives
• Classical art- values of harmony, order, balance, and proportion
• Tragedy- a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal
• Comedy- a play filled with slapstick situations and crude humor
• Peloponnesian War- A war between Athens and Sparta
• Philosophers- Thinkers about logic and the universe
• Socrates- a philosopher who was put to death for corrupting youth
• Plato- A student of Socrates
• Aristotle- One of Plato's students

Here are the notes:

• Pericles led Athens during much of its golden age
• he had popular support for 32 years
• Skillful politician, speakers and a respected general 
• he dominated the life of Athens from 461 to 429 BC
• He had 3 goals:
• Strengthen Athenian democracy
• to hold and strengthen the empire
• to glorify Athens
• he increased the number of public officials who were paid salaries
• most were unpaid before
• now poor people could serve
• Introduced direct democracy
• Athens defeated the Persians 

Ancient Greece

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Today we took more notes on Ancient Greece:

• Although fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the peninsula only 20% is arable (farmable)
• Greek diet consisted of grains, grapes, olives and fish
• lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization
• Temperatures ranged from mid 40s in winter to low 80s in the summer
• Mycenaeans:
• influence began around 2000 BCE
• located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus, protected by a 20 foot- thick wall
• kings dominated Greece from 1600-1100 BCE
• controlled trade
• 1400 BCE- Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan Culture
• *Cultural Diffusion*
• writing system, language, art, politics, literature, religion
• Around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
• Dorians moved into war-torn region
• Dominated from 1150-750 BCE
• less advanced 
• trade based economy collapsed
• writing disappeared for 400 years
• Greek oral tradition- stories passed on by word of mouth 
• Homer lived at the end of these "greek dark ages"
• composed stories (epics) of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE
• The Iliad- possibly one of the last conquest of the Mycenaeans (The Trojan War)
• The Odyssey- Odysseus attempts to return home after Trojan War, being thwarted by the angry god of the sea, Poseidon 
• The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter
• Homeric Question : homer may have been a mythical creation himself
• blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure 
• Did he exist?

Philosophy

Whats up blog!!!

Today we talked more about philosophy and about if school is a good place for learning or not. We talked about what the allegory of the cave means in real life. We looked at a picture of a pipe that Sia this is not a pipe, because it was actually a picture of a drawing of a painting of a pipe. This was philosophy because it made us think about what it meant when it said it wasn't a pipe. We had to make a conclusion about what it actually was after taking time to think about it. We also started learning more about Ancient Greece. Here are my notes from today:

• The the worlds greatest civilizations were located on water.
• Mesopotamia- Tigris/Euphrates
• Egypt- Nile
• India- Indus
• China- Huang He
• Greece- Mediterranean Sea, Ionia sea, Aegean Sea, Adriatic Sea

Culture of the mountains and the sea

be able to identify:

• Aegean Sea
• Ionian Sea
• Adriatic Sea
• Peloponnesus
• Athens
• Sparta
• Crete
• Asian Minor
• Macedonia
• many skilled sailors, shipbuilders, farmers, metalworkers, weavers, and potters
• people were loyal to small, developed, independent communities
• difficult to unite all of Greece because of terrain
• 50,949 sq miles
• Small in size HUGE in influence