Marisa Ziegler

    Today in class we took our first pop quiz. The quiz asked about things like Greece's geography, ancient civilizations and their rivers, and a question about leaders of Greece. I got a 90 on the quiz because I was confused about the Adriatic and Ionian sea. The marks on the map were off and confused me. We discussed some other class things, and went over about 2 slides. We talked about how 508 BC was the first time in history people revolted against their ruler. Cleisthenes set up a democracy by allowing middle class citizens to contribute to the government. He allowed them to use their talents, intelligence, and energies. Cleisthenes was a member of the elite group, and was very rich. He was isolated from the middle class. Although Cleithenes brought new people into the government, the people who could participate was still limited. Only citizens of Athens, who were men, land-owners, and born in Athens could participate. This was only 1/5 of the population. After several years,

    Today in class we talked more on Greece's politics. We learned about Draco, who ruled in 621 BCE. Under Draco, it was said that all Athenians are equal under the law, death is a punishment for many crimes, and that debt slavery is okay. In 594 BCE, Solon cam around and reformed the policies. He outlawed debt slavery, established the fact that all Athenian citizens could speak at the assembly, and that any citizen could press charges against wrongdoing. These rules led to Cleisthenes. He reformed even more around 500 BCE. He allowed citizens to submit laws for debate at the assembly, he created the Council of Five Hundred Members who were chosen at random to counsel the assembly, he established the idea of an Athenian citizen being an adult male from Athens who owns property, and that women, slaves and foreigners could not be citizens. Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527-510 BC. He was a very harsh leader, and was expelled from Athens. He later went to work with the Persian

    Today in class we talked about city- states and their governments. We learned new definitions of words like polis, monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and tyrants. A polis is a fundamental political unit, made up of a city and the surrounding countryside. A monarchy is rule by a single person. Aristocracy is rule by a small group of nobles, or rich people. An oligarchy is wealthy groups that are dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, and seize power with military help. Tyrants are powerful individuals who seized control by appealing to the common people for support. We also learned the word "coup", which means taking over. During the 6th and 7th centuries, aristocrats ruled Greece. This was because rich people had more influence in society and politics. In Aristocracy, they attended symposiums where the elite men would meet and enjoy wine, poetry, and entertainment by women. Only the best of the food was eaten here. They discussed politics. During this time, no women, middle

    Today in class we talked more about Homer and his impact with his stories The Iliad and The Odyssey . The Iliad describes events in the Trojan war. The Odyssey displays a man named Odysseus and his attempt to return home after the Trojan War. Poseidon, god of the sea, becomes jealous of Odysseus' greatness and throws many storms and obstacles at Odysseus. The story takes the audience through Odysseus' adventures, which takes him about 10 years to get through. We also talked about the "Homeric Question", which basically questions Homer's existence. Homer was a blind old man who wandered from place to place telling the 2 epics he had memorized. This was during a time where stories were passed on by word. Homer could have not ever existed, and the stories he supposably composed could have been a combination of generations of storytelling. Also, in class today, we listened to a part of The Odyssey where Odysseus comes into contact with the cyclops. The story wa

    Today in class we talked more on the Mycenaeans, the Trojan War, and the Dorians. The Mycenaeans lived on Mycenae which was located on Peloponnesus. It was a rocky ridge surrounded by a 20 foot brick wall. The Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600- 1100 BCE. They controlled trade. In 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed the Minoan culture. The Trojan War happened around 1200 BCE. Many historians thought it was fictional and just a part of the Greek mythology. In 1200 BC, the Dorians invaded Greece and burnt palace after palace. The Dorians dominated from 1150- 750 BCE. The Dorians were far less advanced and caused the trade-based economy to collapse. During this time, their were no writing documents for 400 years. Homer, a storyteller lived at the end of these so called "Dark Ages", and composed epics of the Trojan War. He wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey. 

    Today in class we finished taking notes on the pages in the textbook and went through the Greece PowerPoint again. We talked about the significance of the geography on Greece’s culture. Greece is a mountainous peninsula. The mountains cover about three- quarters of Greece. There are about 2000 islands located in the Ionian and Aegean Sea. Greek culture was built on the closeness of the sea and the aspects of mountainous land. The Greeks became skilled sailors and shipbuilders, but also were farmers, metal workers, weavers and potters. There were very little natural resources, so they depended on trade for many of their resources. Due to the mountains, Greece had difficulty uniting. The terrain caused many city-states to development, and the people were loyal to their independent communities. Many city-states often fought such as Sparta and Athens. Also, in my notebook, I created my own map of Greece to help me identify the geographic features on the test when it comes around I had

    Today in class we talked more about Greece. We talked about how many of the successful civilizations were located near rivers. For example, Mesopotamia was located by the Tigris and Euphrates river and was looking in the Fertile Crescent. Egypt was by the Nile river, India was by the Indus River, and China was by the Huang He river. Greece has a significant location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean sea is located in the middle of the earth. Greece’s topography consist of mountainous craggy land. Greece is also close to other places for trade. Bodies of water that surround Greece include the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Create is a mountain located to the south and south east of Greece. Sparta was located on Peloponnesus and Athens was located near Aegean sea. We also learned that we will need to know some geographic feature nearby Greece on the test.

    Today in class we started Western Civ and received new students in our class. The other students set up their blogs and learned the ways of our class. Our classwork was to read pages in our ancient history textbooks on classical Greece. I learned many new things about Greece. First off the roots of the Greek culture are based on interactions with Mycenaean, Minoan, and Dorian cultures. Greece was not always united. Minoans created a civilization on Crete. Greece's geography is a mountainous peninsula located in the Mediterranean sea. There’s 2000 Islands and its geography shaped it’s culture and tradition. The sea allowed parts of Greece to be linked and gave transportation routes. Greeks learn to become skilled sailors and the coastline was close. The land provided rugged mountains which covered 3/4 of Greece. The mountains divided the land which influence politics. Small independent community is developed and transportation was difficult. The land was not suitable f

    Today in class we took our World Leaders Test. I feel pretty good about it, except for a couple questions. One of the questions was: What leader reigned from 2000-2008, then won the 2012 election? I had guessed Emmanuel Macron, but I know that is not right. He is fairly new to the presidency. The other question I struggled with was: What leader succeeded a leader who resigned? I said Moon Jae-in, and I think that is right because the leader before him was corrupt and impeached. He succeeded them, therefore succeeding a resignee. The rest of the questions I feel pretty good about, especially the leaders to countries questions. I made flashcards to study them and knew them very well for the test. We didn't have to know the type of government for the test, so I was pretty happy about that since they are all pretty similar. This was our last test of the semester, and I feel pretty good about it and I'm hoping it will keep my grade the same.

    Today in class we talked more about the world leaders and discussed the rest of the countries. We talked about France, Japan, Italy, Syria, Canada, Israel, United States, Kenya, South Korea, and North Korea. Japan's leader is Shinzo Abe and he leads a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Japan has both a prime minister and emperor, but the prime minister has all the power. Shinzo Abe's father and grandfather were both politicians. Italy is a parliamentary republic and is lead by President Sergio Mattarella. Mattarella has only been on the job for 2 years, his brother was killed in the mafia, and his father was a politician as well. Syria is a presidential republic and is lead by Bashar al- Assad. He was a doctor in the army, his older brother was killed in a car accident, Bashar was the next heir. Bashar is also continuing to attempt to destroy a rebellion by bombing his own country and people. He has become very similar to a tyrant. Canada is a parliamentary democracy an

    Today in class we discussed some additional information on the leaders we explored in our slide presentation. We learned new background information on the leaders like Enrique Pena Nieto, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, and Theresa May. Enrique Pena Nieto had a weird story because while he was in a marriage, he had an affair and had another family with a different woman. He has bad approval ratings, with them being a solid 28%. Xi Jinping's daughter went to Harvard and majored in Psychology. She hid her identity and only 10 people in the entire school knew who she was the daughter of. Narendra Modi was a member of a low class, and worked his way up to being the Prime Minister. Vladimir Putin was a part of the KGB, and had a law degree. Angela Merkel was voted the "Most Powerful Woman in the World" 11 years out of the past 13. The two she was not, Hilary Clinton had been seen as more powerful. Theresa May is in charge of the Consecutive Party,

    Today in class we went over the political geography slides again and reviewed examples of each. I learned that a State is not necessarily an actual state. It can be a country because of the aspects it suggests. Countries have borders, a government, a good economy, transportation and the other attributes. We started a project today where we have to take multiple countries and find their leader, location, type of government and the name of the leader. For example, the United States, the type of government is a constitution- based federal republic and the leaders name is President Donald Trump. We have to do countries like Italy, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Israel, etc. The project is due Friday, which is the 5th. The project is worth a total of 90 points, so I'm hoping to get a good grade since its almost as much as a test grade. There are many countries, and we have to remember a lot of them for our test.

    Today in class we talked about political geography and different aspects of it. The world is organized in 3 ways: Country, nation and state. A country is an identifiable land area. A nation is a population with a common culture. A state is a population under a single government. Nations are a group of people, larger than a single tribe, and they share a common language, religion, culture, and historical experience. An example of a nation is the U.S. The United States is a population that share a similar language (English) and historical experiences like 9/11, Boston Tea Party, etc. An independent state has a territory with recognized boundaries. For example, a boundary for some states are rivers. Once a river is crossed, you are in another state. Also. people live in the state on an ongoing basis. Antartica is not a state because it does not have a permanent population. States also have transportation systems like planes, buses, trains, etc. They also have an organized economy, sov