Blog Day Seven: Absent

Today I was absent from class 1/31/20.

Blog Day Six: Absent

Today I was absent from class 1/30/20.

Blog Day Five: Mesopotamia Quiz

Today in class we had our Mesopotamia quiz. I got a 95 which I am proud of. I knew there were a few questions I was not going to get correct. After the quiz we started reading and taking notes on Egypt. A few vocab words that I wrote about were as following. A delta is a broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of slit at the mouth of a river. Narmer is a king who created a crown that rules Upper and Lower Egypt. A pharaoh is an Egyptian god- king. Theocracy is a type of government based on religious authority. A pyramid is a resting place after death and an immense structure. Mummification is the embalming and drying of a corpse to keep it from rotting. Hieroglyphics is a flexible writing system meaning "sacred carving." Papyrus is a writing surface made from the dried papyrus plant.

Blog Day Four: Review for Mesopotamia Quiz

Today in class we reviewed for our 75 point quiz we have on Wednesday. I took a few notes just to be sure I get a good grade on this quiz. I wrote down that the definition of a city- state is a political unit that operates like an independent nation. Also that the Fertile Crescent has good land that allows farming and civilization grew from that ability. Inside the Fertile Crescent is Mesopotamia and that is the land in between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The downside to living there is that there is no natural barriers, limited natural resources, and unpredictable flooding and long periods of time without no rain. Speaking of floods, The Epic of Gilgamesh was a story told at that time about a great flood that wiped out everything in Mesopotamia. Another fun fact is that the fertile mud that gets washed away during a flood is called slit. We also watched a very fun video about Mesopotamia. It was a very funny video and it definitely helped to watch to recap what Mesopotamia is. I hope to study my notes to be ready for this quiz on Wednesday. 

Blog Day Three: Mesopotamia and Hammurabi's Code

Today in class we finished taking notes about Mesopotamia. Some notes that I took that I found interesting was that The great Ziggurat of Ur is still in existence. It is a very old building and that fact that people made that by hand so many years ago and it's still standing is just amazing to me. Another fact as that in 2350 B.C. Sumer was conquered by the Akkadians. A while after that the Hittites conquered all their neighbors, and even threatening one of the biggest civilization, Egypt. As a class we also looked up Hammurabi's Code. One of the laws that I shared was that if a child hits his father, his hand shall be cut off. This law shows that there is a major point of respecting your elders in their society. I think it is a little extreme to cut off the kids hand but I guess it was acceptable in their time.

Blog Day Two: From Prehistory to Civilization

Today in class we finished reading the section in our textbook about City- States in Mesopotamia. At least I did, since I am a slow reader and note taker. While I was taking reading and taking notes, Mr. Schick and the class were doing housekeeping and fixing their blogs if needed. After everyone finished reading we started to takes notes from a PowerPoint. The PowerPoint was titled From Prehistory to Civilization. This is indeed a very long span of time that we get to learned about. Some notes that I took were that the earliest prehistoric age was the Paleolithic Age. the next age was the Neolithic Age which is marked by the making of advanced tools. Another thing that I found interesting was that the very first form of writing discovered was called cuneiform. The first ever epic discovered as called the Epic of Gilgamesh. It told about a great flood and how the world came to be. Today was a good second day of Western Civ and I'm looking forward to class tomorrow.

Blog Day One: First Day of Western Civ

Today was our first class of Western Civilization. I am very thankful that my class is filled with good people and that it is the smaller class of only 13 people. During class mr. Schick told us that the course is going to be half book work and half lecturing. I am looking forward to this method of learning. We did have an assignment to complete on our blog so here it is.
1. For each term, list their significance.
Fertile Crescent- It is a curved shape of land that lies in a desert and its rich soil provides the best farming in all of Southeast Asia.
Mesopotamia- Is a plain in the fertile crescent, The greek meaning for the word is 'land between rivers."
City-State- It functions like its own country, formed by city and the land surrounding it.
Dynasty- Series of rulers from a single family.
Cultural Diffusion- when a new idea or product spreads from one culture to another.
Polytheism- belief in more than one god.
Empire- brings together peoples, nations, or previously independent states under one ruler's control.
Hammurabi- reigned from 1792- 1750 B.C. and has a set of laws named after him.
3. What were three environmental challenges to Sumerians?
     1. Unpredictable flooding, and then little to no rain for months, causing desert conditions.
     2. No natural land barriers, the Sumerians village was defenseless.
     3. Limited natural resources, building materials and necessities were scare.

Today was a good class and I am looking forward to this semester of Western Civ.