Notes on Athens:

• The city was based entirely around the acropolis
• Acropolis - acrop= high polis=city
• Xerxes - son of king or persia
• A quarter of population of Greece lives in Athens.
• At the base of acropolis is the grove of Dionysus
• Leads into theatre of Dionysus, in back of grove
• Play wrights were forced to write an a trilogy and a comedy
• Trigordeous (tragedies) and comedios (comedies)= subjects of plays, human interest
• At the top of the acropolis, sat the Temple of Athena Nike
• Built after Persian war, built because Athena was goddess of Athens and they beat the Persians
• Most important temple on the acropolis was the Parthenon
• Began being built in 480
• Was built with funds that Athenians got as a result of Persian War
• Dedicated to virgin Athena
• Pericles, prominent and influential general
• Wanted to get all city-states in Greece as one
• What to do with war funds that came in from the Persians; wanted to build a Navy
• Opens up the arts; sets up new building on acropolis
• You had to fight for your city. There was no other option.
• Athens defeat Sparta in 480 B.C. 10 miles from port to city
• Built long walls all the way from harbor to city
• Athenians are trapped in their own walls, the plague breaks out, and Pericles dies
• vandalism was seen across the city of Athens
• Alcibiades' enemies convinced everyone that it was his fault
• He gets on a boat and goes to Sparta

MAJOR GREEK HISTORIANS:

• Herodotus - wrote the 1st half of Greek History. He wrote about the Persian Wars.
• Thucydides - wrote the 2nd half of Greek History. Peloponnese Wars.
• Xenophon - wrote about the times of Socrates.
• Aristotle - known for this work of philosophy and history. Wrote one of the first encyclopedia.
• Plutarch - known for his biographies
• Pausanias - wrote the first travel guide!

• Bosphorus - the Istanbul Straight. located in Northern Turkey.
• Thessalonkia - ANCIENT MACEDONIA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Greece)
• Greeks rebuilt the Acropolis. They wanted to be in charge, they built a treasury to gain money to rebuild the acropolis. One wall was rebuilt from broken pieces from the sack of athens. IT WAS A HISTORICAL REMEMBRANCE.
• GROVE OF DIONYSUS. (see prezi on dionysus) ART AND WINE. Theater.
• theater and religion and history have very strong links.
• sack of Corinth - 146 BC Roman Theater was put into the acropolis when Roman occupied Athens. NIKE MEANS VICTORY.
• PARTHENOS means virgin. Athena Temple was the most scared temple in greece. Funds that built this Parthenon were from the Athenian League.

What is "Important"?

What is important? For an optimist, everything is important. For a pessimist, nothing is imperative. In terms of history, everything that has shaped our future withstands some sort of importance. If nothing was considered vital or crucial, the world would go to wrack and ruin as we know it. The ancient Egyptians saw the world in a perspective that gave meaning to every aspect of life and death. For the most part, the things that the Egyptians held up on a pedestal, theoretically speaking, were Pharaohs, gods and goddesses, afterlife and death, slaves, Nile River, monumental structures, mortuary cities, and a form of communication.
To begin with, a lot of city-states along the Nile River began to form under one rule; the rule of the Pharaoh. The pharaoh was a sacred being and was thought to be the incarnation of Horus in life and Osiris in death (F. Fleming & A. Lothian, 12 & 59). This concept was probably the most important because every facet of life was dictated by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh had all the supremacy. Entire cities, known as mortuary cities, were established to be a complete and separate economy dedicated to building a monumental structure most likely in the form of a pyramid to honor the Pharaoh after his death.
While still worshiping the Pharaoh, the Egyptians worshiped many gods. There religious view was polytheistic. The polytheistic system was very complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations, and some has multiple mythological roles (Wilkinson (2003) 30, 32). This polytheistic way of veneration was of great magnitude to the Egyptians because more often than not, civilizations based their society on a set of an orderly religious system. The gods and goddesses the people of Egypt worshiped were the reason they mummified their dead, had fertile land, and had strong, influential rulers.
The afterlife for Egyptians was just as significant as life. Man was regarded as a complex being that could exist both before and after death in different manifestations, known as kheperu (“The Concept of the Afterlife”). For this reason, the Egyptian people dissected their dead and preserved them as mummies. The departed bodies were embalmed so excellent, that medicine and embalmment were also important to the Egyptians. The concept of the afterlife was tied together with religion which made those two perceptions even better together. The Egyptians believed that death occurred when Ka left the physically body (Oakes (2003) 162). The Ka of a deceased person would eventually find its way into another physical being. This is commonly known as reincarnation.
Slaves were important to the entire country of Egypt because the slaves aided in the building of the pyramids for the pharaoh. Most of the slaves of Egypt were prisoners of war. Indeed, there were laborers who were not prisoners of war. They could have given the impression of being a slave. Considering their apparent permanent attachment to the land and their master, they were almost certainly a form of slave (Dunn). These workers created an entire ecosystem based on the work they dedicated there whole life to.
The Nile River was the reason all life was sustained in Egypt. Water is not necessary for life, but rather life itself (De Saint-Exupery). The Nile was the most important source of water that supplied the Egyptian people. The Nile River’s annual inundation was relatively reliable, and the floodplain and delta were extremely fertile. Egyptian agriculture was the most secure and productive in the near East (Baines). The prominent crops that the fertile soil of the Nile riverbeds could produce were cereals, emmer wheat, and barley. Other vital crops were flax and papyrus. The Nile River served as the leading supply of water; therefore its waters were praised and sacred.
Monumental Structures such as pyramids and temples were important to the Egyptians because they housed and valued Egypt’s Pharaohs. The pyramids and temples also showed evidence of mathematical and architectural importance. The Great Pyramid at Giza was aligned with amazing accuracy almost exactly to true north (Tyldesley). This shows that the Egyptians held every aspect of math and astrology of an important knowledge to possess. The intriguing fact of the pyramids is that they were not just built by slaves, but were in fact built by permanent workers. These workers dedicated their entire lives to building a pyramid or other monumental structure. Consequently, monumental structures were of high importance of the ancient Egyptian world.
Mortuary cities would be connected to monumental structures in a way that would make both of them equal importance. The cities were built because of the monumental structures. These mortuary cities were important because they were a way of life that the Egyptians could live by. The people that worked and lived in these cities were part of the Pharaoh’s mortuary cult (Warren). Complete economies were built for a purpose. This purpose was to serve the ruler, and oblige with all his requests. If he wanted a pyramid, a pyramid in his admiration was what he received. Mortuary cities were important because it gave meaning to life. They gave Egyptians work, trust, and order.
What was the Egyptians’ way of communication? Did they even care about having a way to communicate to others? Yes, they cared and writing was vital to the advancement and progression of their ancient society. The Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphics. Archaeologists suspected that hieroglyphs were nothing more than primitive picture writing. They believed that their decipherment relied on an exact translation of the imagery that they saw. These elaborate symbols were ideal for inscriptions on the walls of majestic temples and monuments (Singh). Hieroglyphics were phonetic. This means that the symbols and pictures represented individual sounds much like the English alphabet today. Hieroglyphics were used to decipher Pharaoh’s names and gods and goddesses. Those two things were important to Egyptians. Language and specific dialect, unites certain groups of people. It shows distinction between societies and civilizations. For that reason, the Egyptians thought of Hieroglyphics as a well-regarded form of writing.
Every aspect of life and death are important. It is just up to humanity to choose which of those aspects are worth honouring more than the others.

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Mask_of_Psusennes_I.jpg

Citation: Tyldesley, Joyce. "Ancient Egypt and the Modern World". 2009. BBC.co.uk 4 Feb. 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/egypt_importance_01.shtml

Singh, Simon. "The Decipherment of Hieroglyphs". 2009 BBC.co.uk. 4 Feb. 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_01.shtml

Mistifying Maryland Monuments.

There are historical monuments in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area that outsiders would find puzzling if they were to see them. These monuments include the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and the Phoenix Shot Tower. Outsiders would not understand what a tall, large white pillar is a symbol for. It is a symbol of honor for George Washington, our country's first president. The Lincoln Memorial would have no meaning unless a person knew who Abraham Lincoln was. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the US. His life ended when he was tragically assassinated. The Phoenix Shot Tower is puzzling at first glance because it seems to serve no purpose. In fact, its purpose was to create "shots" for pistols and other weapons.

Citation: "Washington DC Landmarks and Washington DC Monuments". Washington Landmarks and Monuments - World Guide to Washington. 2010. 4 Feb. 2010. http://www.washington.world-guides.com/washington_landmarks.html

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phoenix_Shot_Tower.png

Notes on Egypt:

Egypt: What is Important?

• Monumental structures.
• Writing
• Pharaohs
• Gods and goddesses
• The afterlife
• Slaves
• Nile river - flooding of the river. fertilizes the land , necessary for living.
• Sphinx, protector of the pharaoh.
• Mortuary cities
• Ankh - the symbol of eternal life.
• The Feather of MAAT. This is what the heart was weighed against
• Ka - The god who judged you when you died.

War is a form of technology, Agree!

War is a form of technology. I agree with this statement for a numerous amount of reasons. War and technology are evidently used together in some way. Technology does not make war, it only advances it. Technology is thought to make battle and warfare more complex. Threats of nuclear power are coming into play today. Nuclear power is a power that was not even imaginable in the times of Spartan warfare or Roman domination. "Technology has been the primary source of military innovation throughout history." (Roland Vol. 14) Before the twentieth century, airplanes and helicopters were not thought of to be used for war. In 2010, warfare has improved itself so much to include all of these examples. I'm anxious to see what the future has instore for improving warfare.

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castle_Romeo.jpg

Citation: Ronald, Alex. "War and technology". Foreign Policy Research Institute. 2010. http://www.fpri.org/footnotes/1402.200902.roland.wartechnology.html 2 Feb. 2010.

Human-Created Artifact: The Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China matters, because it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is the only man-made structure that can be seen from space. The Great Wall is obviously the world's longest construction. This is important to me because it shows how my human race is capable of creating wonderous structures. The most evident thing to assume is that the wall was built for military defense and war purposes. In fact, it was built to ensure peace and connectedness between the Chinese people. The Great Wall is connected to the culture, foreign policies, and economy of China. Although, it does indeed stand for some sort of power. A unbeatable strong power, that is. The Wall also matters because it is a incredible represenation of Chinese history. Surviving more than 2,000 years, The Great Wall, in a way, is the history of China. These facts make it a human-created artifact that is worth cherishing and regarding it as a structure with a purpose.



Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Great_Wall_of_China_01.jpg

Citation: "Great Wall". 2009. great-wall-of-china.com. http://www.greatwall-of-china.com/ 2 Feb. 2010.

Pixton: Pyramids

Citation: "Explore the Pyramids." 2009. National Geographic Society. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html 1 Feb. 2010.

- Shaw, Ian. "Building the Great Pyramid". 2009. BBC.co.uk. 1 Feb. 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/great_pyramid_01.shtml