riley feeney's blog

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class we completed the hand-out about Ancient Egypt. First, we reviewed key terms. Some environmental things we learned were that Cataracts are churning rapids of water and a delta is a marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the Nile River. We also learned that Ka is the eternal life force, Maat is the goddess of goodness and order, pyramids were triangular tombs for the pharaohs, a nome is like a state, a dynasty is a series of pharaohs from a single family. Pharaohs are god-kings who were thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods themselves. Hieroglyphics are an ancient form of writing in which pictures stood for certain sounds. Narmer was the strong-willed Egyptian king of Upper Egypt who united Upper and Lower Egypt. The linguist who deciphered the Rosetta Stone was named Jean Francois Champillion.

1. delta - the delta was were the nile river dispersed into many different parts Narmer - the king who brought Upper and Lower Egypt together pharaoh - Egyptian God-kings who were thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens theocracy - type of government in which rule is based on religious authority pyramid - the triangular shaped resting place of dead pharaohs mummification - the preservation of royalty by embalming and drying the corpse then wrapping it up hieroglyphic  - pictographs that were used as a form of writing papyrus - the reeds which grew in the delta that were used as paper 3. the deserts around Egypt acted a natural barrier and prevented other civilizations from trying to conquer them 4. the Egyptians viewed the pharaoh as godlike and almost as splendid and powerful as the gods in the heavens 5. the Egyptians mummified bodies because they believed they took their bodies into the afterlife and wanted to preserve them as best...

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class we reviewed for our test/quiz tomorrow. We started off with cuneiform. Cuneiform was a very early form of writing in which they used stone and clay tablets to make shapes. Then we talked about city-states, dynasties, and empires. A city-state is a form of government that rules over an area, while an empire is a government that is ruling over many nations. A dynasty is when the royalty is kept within the family and passed down through generations. We went over lots of test questions for us to study. The class also found out that Mr. Schick was once an actor and played parts in many movies. He did stunts for famous actors and auditioned for many roles. He met famous actors and even worked with Morgan Freeman. He told the class that he stopped acting because he couldn’t come back home to visit his loved ones back home.

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we found partners and got in groups of two to talk about how we would judge certain predicaments presented to a judge. In scenario 1, a man robbed a home. My partner and I agreed that he should pay a fine and serve the community. In scenario 2, a construction worker built a home which later collapsed and killed an entire family. Due to his lack of attention and care, we agreed to take his job away. In scenario 3, a slave disrespected his master. My partner and I agreed that the slave would have to do extra work for a week. Scenario 4 described how a man borrowed a boat and crashed it. We ruled that he would have to build a new boat and also pay for the costs of the one that he had crashed. The man also lied about crashing it so that is why he’d have to pay the fine

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, the class looked at power point slides on the earliest cities and before civilization. The first slide told us that 200,000 years ago the first human species emerged in southwestern Africa. 14,000 years ago, a worldwide human race existed. The earliest age is the Paleolithic Age which means old stone age and the next is the Neolithic Age which is the new stone age. The Neolithic Age was marked by advanced tool makings and beginnings of agriculture. The agricultural revolution caused populations to rise, hierarchies and the invention of the wheel and plow improved farming and increased the amounts of food. People were also polytheistic and worshipped animals and the world around them. Mesopotamia contained Sumer. The populations were very high and reached numbers as high as 40,000 citizens. Cuneiform was invented as a way of writing tings down. The concept of city-states and family dynasties.

today, I was absent from school.

I missed class today because I went to the doctors

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we read a book on the early river valley civilizations from 3500 B.C. to 450 B.C.. The class took notes on the pages they read and afterwards Mr. Schick went over the pages and everyone’s notes. I wrote down Hammurabi’s code which helps hold people responsible for their actions. The text stated that the two rivers, called the Tigris and Euphrates, flowed from the mountains, which is Turkey today, down through Syria and Iraq, and finally to the Persian Gulf. The Fertile Crescent, also known as Mesopotamia meaning “land between the rivers”, was flooded at least once a year by the two rivers it was located in between. As the flood water reduced, it left silt which was used In irrigation for farming. This resulted in large quantities of barley and wheat. Because there was a surplus of food, the civilizations and villages here were able thrive.

Today, in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we took our first test. The test was on the video “GUNS GERMS AND STEEL” by Jared Diamond and National Geographic. The test was fair and easy. I feel that I did well even though I did not study and missed a day of watching the video. I was going to try to get the notes from the day I missed from Evan Erhardt but I kept forgetting and never got them. Everybody finished the test in about thirty-five minutes and Gabe Huffman was last to finish. The first person to finish was Haley Cucina and Jillian Connolly wrote all her answers in lower case even though Mr. Schick specifically said to write them in big, upper case letters so he could tell which answer you wanted. If they were written in lower case it would be harder to tell which letter it is because of some people’s hand writing