riley feeney's blog

Today in Mr. Schick’s Western Civilization class, we took the test on the ancient civilization of Greece. it was fairly easy and it didn’t take me long to finish at all. I hadn’t studied until right before the test because I had gotten a 100% on my previous two tests for Mr. Schick. I looked up the map of ancient Greece on google before the test and thought that part of the test was very easy. The multiple-choice section was easy as well since I had previously written many, if not all, of the test questions in my notes from the power point we looked at for three days. There were no questions on the Greek mythology and nothing on Zeus or his daughter or their involvement and interaction in human lives. There were no questions on the Athenians’ trireme or the Phalanx. After the test, everybody wrote their blogs to finish up class

today I was absent from class

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we finished the power point on the ancient civilization of Greece. we reviewed the political terms such as: oligarchy, tyranny, monarchy, polis, and aristocracy. We learned which pieces of information were answers to test questions. Some notable test questions are: the political terms, symposiums, draconian, Greek definition of tyrant, the first citizen revolt, Zeus, the agora, the Spartans’ infantry, the Athenians’ navy and their trireme, and the phalanx. We went over Greek gods and goddesses as well as the story of Isagoras and Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes was a very rich member of the elite who saw the value of tapping into the talents of the non-elites (middle class). In 508 BC, Cleisthenes’ supporters and other Athenian citizens revolted against Isagoras, who ostracized Cleisthenes. We learned that the gods and goddesses had any interactions with humans and had relationships with them as well as fighting wars with them

      Today in mr. Schick's western civilization class, we went over our projects with our partners. I discussed my ancient greek food project with my partner jack. we are making pancakes with honey and sesame seeds. the ingredients are,  1 cup flour,  1 cup water, 2 tbsp honey,  Olive Oil,  1 tbsp sesame seeds. we are making a power point about how we made the the pancakes that would include pictures of us making it and other facts about Ancient Greek food. jack and I both hope to get an A on this project and hope that mr. Schick and our classmates enjoy the food and power point and give us a good grade

1.      It takes Odysseus 10 years to return home form the trojan war 2.      2 weeks 3.      Around the 12 th century BC 4.      8 th century BC 5.      A long narrative poem; on a serious subject; written in a grand or elevated style; centered on a larger-than-life hero 6.      Penelope 7.      Telemachus 8.      Gets the cyclops drunk, blinds him with a flaming spear, then escapes by hiding under the sheep, and tells the cyclops his name is “noman” 9.      Yes, because he was extraordinarily smart and wise 10.    And so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, her white arms round him pressed as though forever

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we continued going over the power point on ancient Greece. We continued learning about the Greek political systems and how the government worked. The class found out that the aristocrats ran Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries BC and that an aristocrat is a part of the ruling class. The symposiums were meetings where elite men would enjoy wine and poetry and performances by dancers and acrobats. There were no women, middle class, or slaves involved in politics, meaning they had no voice. The Greek definition for tyrant is one who simply seized power. The tyrant would use hoplites, well-armed soldiers, to overthrow the current ruling government. The modern mean of tyrant is different and is a ruler who is oppressive or abusive to his citizens. We learned about Draco and Solon’s reform. The word draconian means to be unnecessarily harsh with laws.

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we looked at more of the power point and finished reading through the textbook pages we read two classes ago. We finished learning about Homer and asked the “Homeric question” which is if Homer was an amazingly intelligent person or if he was a mythical creation himself. We also learned that The Odyssey and The Iliad were dactylic hexameters which are rhythmic stories with 6 syllables on each line. Homer was a blind wandering minstrel. We learned that a polis is a fundamental political unit which is comprised of the city and its surrounding area, a monarchy is rule by a single person (king), aristocracy is rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families, oligarchy is a wealthy group who are dissatisfied with the aristocratic rule, who seized power with military help, and a tyrant who a powerful individual who seized control by gaining support of the common people

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we continued the power point on the ancient civilization of Greece. We learned that around 1200 BC, mysterious “sea people” began to invade Mycenaea and burnt multiple palaces. The Dorians moved into the burnt down city and dominated from 1150 BC to 750 BC. The Dorians were far less advanced than the Mycenaeans which led to them completely abandoning reading and writing for 400 years. This time period was called the Greek “dark ages” and nobody knows what happened then. A blind man named Homer told verbal stories of the Trojan war from 750 BC to 700 BC. These stories (epics) were called The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Iliad is possibly one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans in the Trojan War and The Odyssey is a story about how Odysseus attempts to return home after the Trojan War and involves him being thwarted by the angry god of the sea, Poseidon.

Today in Mr. Schick’s western civilization class, we looked at a power point on the ancient civilization ancient Greece. The timeline states that in 2000 BC, the Minoan civilization prospered on the island of Crete, in 1500 BC the Mycenaean culture thrived on Greek mainland, in 1200 BC the Trojan War took place, in 750 BC the Greek city-states flourished, in 479 BC Greece triumphed in the Persian Wars, in 334 BC Alexander the Great began to build his empire. In ancient times, Greece was a collection of lands in which Greek-speaking people lived. The terrain of the mainland consisted of mostly mountains and jutted out into the Mediterranean Sea as a peninsula. Three-fourths of the Greek mainland was covered in mountains, while one-fourth was tiny but fertile valleys. There are about 2000 islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas. Because of the lack of fertile farmland, ancient Greece could never support large population sizes and only ever had about 1 million people living there.