Geography of Greece:
Mountainous peninsula
- mountains cover 3/4
approximately 1400 islands in aegan and ionian seas
location shaped its culture
skilled sailors
poor natural resources
difficult to unite the ancient greeks because of terrain; developed small, independent communities
20% of land suitable for farming
fertile valleys cover 1/4 peninsula
because of geography the greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olives
lack of resources most likely led to greek colonization
temperatures range from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer

Mycenaeans
began around 2000 BC
mycenae locations is on rocky ridge and protected by 20 ft thick wall
mycenae kings dominated greece from 1600 - 1200 BC
- controlled trade in region
1400 BC mycenaeans invaded crete and absorbed minoan culture and language

culture in decline
around 1200 BC sea people began to invade mycenae and burnt palace after palace
dorians moved into war torn region
- far less advanced
- economy collapsed
- writing disappeared for 400 years

homer and myths
stories were passed by wird of mouth
homer lived at end of dark ages
recorded stories of trojan war in iliad and odyssey (750 - 700)
- trojan war was probably one of the last conquests of mycenaeans
- odyssey was 12 110 of dactylic hexameter

- "Classical" Greek civilization - 800 BC
- New ideas: art forms, types of government
- Citizen participation in government
- City states traded and colonized along northern coast lands of the Mediterranean

Earliest Europeans:
- 4000 BC: farming and village life spread throughout the continent
- Building out of large stone - megalithic
- Evidence of plow

Barbarian Way of Life:
- Movement of people
- Different languages starting to be spoken
- Soldiers and charioteers were buried with their goods, in hope to be comrades and ride along with the gods
- Wives were buried next to husbands, so that she, also, could fulfill her duties in the afterlife
- Women went to war with men so that they could heal their wounds, feed them, and also make sure that the man would not coward and run off
- Some women even battled with the men
- Main business in life was farming
- Tribes formed
- Root word for barbarian - barbaros "non greek"
- By AD 1000, most European barbarians came into contact with civilization

Minoan Civilization:
- 2200 BC - Minoan arose from Aegean island of Crete
- Trade controlled by rulers
- Business records written in script
- From evidence of elegant jewelry and other objects, we can ell they were a wealthy, loving society
- Women played prominent roles
- Activities resembling modern day bull-fighting

Arrival of Greeks: Mycenaean Civilization:
- Found to be European barbarians
- Came under influence of Crete
- First site to be excavated in modern times
- Warlike people
- Leading warriors rode into war on horse drawn chariots
- Protection from massive walls
- Buried rulers in elegant underground chambers

Cyber Day 2:

Short Answer A.)
3 Technological inventions/innovations are...
1.) Paper/papyrus. This allowed Egyptians to keep track and record things
2.) Makeup. This allowed pharaohs to be dolled up and look nice. To this day, almost all females still use this invention, and most are very thankful
3.) Farming plows. This made farming very easy and efficient because you could attach a strong animal and it will plow for you

Short Answer B.)
The pyramids in ancient Egypt were useful for many things. One thing it was useful for was hiding the pharaohs body. They made the inside of pyramids very tricky so no one could break in and take the pharaohs treasure. Another thing the pyramids were good for was praying. Egyptians found that they could go to the pyramids to pray to the gods. Also, the pyramids were good for the pharaohs because, when the pharaohs needed the pyramids built, they could give the building work to all the peasants.

West Civ. Cyber Day 1:

Essay 1.)
      The Social Hierarchy in Ancient Egypt was not very different from other early civilizations. It went (from top to bottom) Pharaoh, priests and nobles, traders artisans and scribes, farmers and herders, and unskilled workers. This shows that religion is at the top, which is similar to many places in the early world. The pharaohs wore stained white clothes, as well as the rich, nobles, and scribes. This showed their ranking.

Essay 2.)
      The Nile river was very important to early Egypt. The Nile was basically a source of life for them. This river provided food, fertilization to grow crops, water, bathing, and much more. Almost all of life's essentials were along or in the Nile. The Nile was also a way of transportation. With this transportation, you could buy and sell goods, or maybe just a way to get from place to place.

Today in west civ we watched a youtube video about mummification. they talked about the process and the importance of mummification. in ancient egypt, only pharaohs were mummified. when they were mummified, they took the bodies, poured salt on them and took out organs, let it sit there for about 40 days, then covered the body in layers of rezin and cloth. when they are finished, they write symbols on the top of the mummy. the symbols show signs of afterlife. egyptians mummified the bodies because they thought that the body should be preserved for afterlife.

Land of pharaohs: egypt

Nile and the "two lands"

- upper egypr was a 500 mile strip of fertile land along the nile; lower egypt was wide land of nile delta, emptying into meditteranean sea

- nile was major providere of life for egyptians and much revered in lore and writing

- C. 3100 BC, two lands were united under single king or "pharaoh"

Government by God King

- Pharaoh all powerful, worshipped as gods and intimately connected to other major egyptian gods and godesses

- egyptians relied on harmony and balance off universe, which was "maat"

- pharaohs had multiple wives, often their sisters, and routes to financial and social success were through palace

- women could inherit money, land, divorce husband, though only a tiny few ever wielded real political power

West Civ class today was hype. We didn't do anything because we got out at 10 and it was 9:35 when class started. The snow is really bad, that's why we're getting out early. while we were talking about the snow, Mr. Schick proposed the idea of everyone going to school in the snow. He said this would be good because then we could stay at night, and have class from 8pm to 2:40 am. This would be a good and bad idea because we would gain back the snow days, then we wouldn't have to makeup days in the summer. This would be bad because then we would all have to sleep at school, which is terrible because then I would get a terrible beauty slumber. My brother Arri Stakias is going off because hes so happy about the snow me and Arri are going to build a snowman. This snowman will not be an ordinary snowman. this snowman will be legendary. That's all for today. Pope out.