Human Geography

Today in western civilization class we took a big test. The test wasn't that difficult yet I still got a c on it. In the class, the test was mostly about Hellenistic Culture in Ancient Greece and so on and so forth. The test was about 33 questions and I got a good amount of them right, I think because I studied. After the test he immediately graded them and passed them back out to the class. I was one of the last ones to finish so I got my test back later then everyone else.

Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria  Hellenistic Culture- blend of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Indian cultures. Trade + Culturally diverse  Alexander became the foremost of commerce and culture/civilization Alexandria's Attractions Alexander's coffin Pharos (lighthouse) Library which had 500,000 papyrus scrolls Science and Technology  Astronomy- Aristarchus- found out that the sun is at least 300 times bigger than the Earth, Earth and other planets revolved around the Sun Ptolemy- Disagrees with Aristarchus, says that Earth is in the center of the universe, this is taught for the next 14 centuries. Eratosthenes- Estimated the real size of the Earth, says it is round.  Mathematics and Physics Euclid- wrote the book on Geometry(Elements) Archimedes- estimated the value of pi, explained law of the lever  The Archimedes screw- could raise water from ground  Philosophy and Art  Epicureanism founded the school of though and Stoici

Today in western civilization class we learned about Alexander the great. Alexanders empire now stands over some of the most popular and influential cities and countries in the world. The Peloponnesian war was fought between Sparta and Athens. Macedonia was a monarchy, not a democracy, yet still consisted of Greek people. Alexanders father Philip II was a 23 year old ruthless leader and politician. He wanted to expand his empire into Greece and Persia. He organized the first ever phalanx formation. Philip built the Macedonian power. The Macedonians looked down on the Greeks.

1. Hellenistic- The term "Hellenistic" was significant to the Greeks because this was the word that was used to describe the culture the Greeks shared. This culture was a blend of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian influences. Alexandria- The Egyptian city of Alexandria was the foremost center of commerce and Hellenistic civilization in the whole world. Alexandria occupied a strategic site on the western edge of the Nile delta. This meant that Trade ships from all around the Mediterranean would dock in their very spacious harbor. This provided Alexandria with a plentiful amount of resources and goods and services, allowing them to thrive in commerce, enabling them to grow and prosper at a frequent rate. Euclid- Euclid was a highly regarded mathematician who taught in the thriving civilization of Alexandria. Euclid is best known for his book "Elements" that contains 465 carefully presented geometry propositions and truths. Euclid's incredible work is still

Today in Western Civilization class with Mr. Schick we started off by grading presentations that people still had to present. The first person to go talked about democracy. He did an incredible job explaining his facts and details, knowing what he was talking about and now having to look through note cards or anything to answer peoples questions. He talked about how the United States could never successfully form a full democracy due to the fact that it is impossible for 390 million people to be able to vote on laws within a two week span of time. The other group presentation was about the trireme. The trireme was a battle boat that was used as a battering ram against other rivaling naval units.

Today in western civilization class with Mr. Schick my group: Myself, Mert, Rafay, and Logan presented our project. In our project we  printed out pictures of The Parthenon, Poseidon, The Odyssey, and Trojan Horse. Then, we taped toothpicks behind the pictures and stuck them to there designated location. We also got four soldiers which we cut the guns and binoculars off of because they didn’t have them back then and colored two soldiers blue for Athens, and two soldiers red for Sparta. We hot glued them to the map so they wouldn’t move. We also made paper boats and hot glued them to the map. The map was already hard enough to do, so we just made the boats and put it on the water in the map. We made a key with Spartan (red) and Athenian (blue) wins. Black resembles a tie, which was in the Battle of 300 Champions. This took a lot of work and and a lot of research to pull this off.

Today in Western Civilization class with Mr. Schick we ate food that was usually eaten in the Ancient Greek times! The food was very good. The first dish that they handed out was a triangular shaped piece of dough that was eaten by the ancient greeks. It tasted good but it was fairly dry in my opinion. The second piece of food that they handed out to everyone was another triangular piece shaped piece  of food, but it had a hard, crispy outside. On the inside it was full of spinach, it was delightful. The last thing that they served was desert. The desert was a nice and smooth piece of some kind of cake with roasted almonds on the top. All in all I would say that it was a pretty good class, just don't let the school board know about it though

Today in Western Civilization we worked on our group project. I took notes about the spartans and how they went into the military as young as the age of 7.  The children would be removed from their parents’ homes and began the “agoge.” The agoge was a state-sponsored training regimen that was designed to mold these young boys into skilled warriors and moral citizens. The agoge was designed in a way that would make these young boys resistant to hardships such as unbearable cold weather, hunger, and an excruciating amount of pain. Unlike the Athenian army, Spartans were more strict for the army. A Spartan man, on average, would complete the main phase of the agoge around age 21.