End of the Year

Time, Is it really that time again? It seems as if we have only just arrived. We've done a great deal in a small time span. It seems as though I have only spent a couple of days in this class and wish I could stay another year. However, like all good things in life, I must move on from this class of fun and randomness. As Max said in his blog there are many people in this class who were annoying at times, but I tolerated them and didn't move away, I wasn't scared. OK maybe a little bit scared. I still think that this was the best class this year, and probably the best I have had ever. Now, as Max did, it is time to share my favorite quote with you: "The right man in the wrong time can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, wake up and smell the ashes."

Exam Layout

120ish question
15 on Guns Germs and Steele
10 on Ancient civilizations
10 on Ancient Egypt
35 on Greece
20 on Rome
12 on Feudalism

-GUNS GERMS AND STEEL-
Sega
14 domesticated animals
Cuneiform
Prehistory-Not written down
History-Written down
Agricultural Revolution- When people settled down and farmed
-ANCIENT HISTORY-
Tigris and Euphrates
Hammurabi's Code
-ANCIENT EGYPT-
Nile center of Egyptian life
Nile flowed south to north
Pharaohs
Pyramids were Tombs
Sphinx was guarding Pyramids
Sphinx was built 2500 BC
-GREECE-
Oligarchy was a small group of men that ruled the government
Monarchy was a king who passed his rule down his family line
Athens was into individual effort
Sparta was into working for the group
Athens held off Persia twice
but failed to defeat Sparta
-ROME-

-FEUDALISM-

West Civ Blog 5/28/13

Today in class we took a test and got results for it almost immediately, I got an A. I don't know what else to say here so yeah.

West Civ Blog 5/22/13

Today was a great day. Max and I taught the class because Mr. Schick believes that students connect better with each other rather then a teacher. We reviewed what we did yesterday such as feudalism, fiefs, vassals, lords, barons, Oh and the iron plow. We may have even referenced the iron plow more then Mr. Schick.

West Civ Blog 5/21/13

Today during class we learned about the age of Feudalism. Oh, and iron plows. The iron plow was invented around the time of Feudalism and was used by serfs and women to plow the lords and barons fields. Many variations of the plow, and some originals, are still used today by modern day farmers. However, the iron plow was the first of its kind and was made completely out of iron. Iron. IRON! Oh did I mention the Iron Plow?

West Civ Blog 5/20/13

Today in West Civ we, section 1, got our tests and quizzes back (lucky us!). I was quite surprised at the number of people who got less than 100s on the pop quiz, however, I still managed to get all of them right. That's pretty much all we could do this class because of mass and freshman retreat.

After Rome 500-700 Blog 5/17/13

Barbarians!!
-Barbarians were nomadic tribes that moved all over Europe and Northern Africa
-The Huns even came over from China
-Barbarians who assimilated into Roman culture became the "nobles"
-The Angles and Saxons dominated Britain
-Anglo-Saxons were mostly converted to Christianity
-The most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks
-But the real power came from the "mayors of the palace" who were royal officials and nobles

Meanwhile...
-The Eastern Empire changes names to Byzantium
-Justinian tried to take back the West in 527, but failed and lost a TON of men to plague and war
-Justinian succeed for a time but ended up having to retreat from a loss of men
-Byzantium goes Christian
-Leaders from Byzantium saw themselves as the Roman leaders and Heads of the Church
-Justinian built the Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") the most glorious church of all time
-Took three years to build, but it was worth it

Rome Fades Away-Blog 5/15/13

Diocletian

-Rules from 284-303

-It's cool to persecute Christians

-Rome needs a big army

-Rome needs a big government

Constantine

-Rules from 306-337

-It's cool to BE a Christian

-Converted to Christianity

-Built a new capital, Constantinople

The Struggle Of The Peasants

-Country dwellers are going bankrupt from tax collectors

-New farming system where peasants work for elite landlords

-Paying off debt for endless back breaking work in the fields

-Foreshadowing Feudalism

The Western Roman Crumbles

-Romes power is decreasing while nomadic barbarians are gaining more

-Huns migrate from China to Rome

-Franks in Gaul

-Ostrogoths in Italy

-Anglos and Saxons in Britain

-Visigoths in Spain

-Vandals controlled Carthage

End Of An Era

-500 BC the monarchy is abolished

-490 BC the twelve tables

-44 BC end of Julius C.

-27 BC Pax Romana

-The last emperor was a teenage boy installed by his father in 475

-Barbarians disposed of Romulus Augustulus without killing him

West Civ Blog 5/14/13

Today in class we took a test, not necessarily a hard test but a test that will mess with your mind. If there is one thing I took away from this class, it is that the last letter of Pax is not "peace", it is in fact "X".  After that we read about some new stuff and got ready for a class discussion tomorrow.

West Civ Blog 5/13/13

Today in class we worked on procrastinating and thinking of questions that might be on the test for tomorrow. Personally I think that us thinking of the questions is just a way for Mr. Schick to get more questions to put on the test. some of the questions that Max and I came up with (yes Max and I because when there is a chance, everything is a group project) were:

• What religion was Jesus born in to? - Judaism
• Who was Diocletian? - A Roman Emperor from 284 to 305.
• What revelation did Constantine have? - Seeing the conqure by this cross over the sun.
• Where did Constantine have his revelation? - In the battlefield

West Civ Blog 5/8/13

Today in class we took notes on the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. After taking notes we went on a treasure hunt to find out the secrets behind some facts that Mr. Schick had on his power point. After awhile of looking, Max found out that he could edit Wikipedia with an account. So it all went downhill from there. Max began to edit the pages that people in class would see such as this

-as edited by Max Butschky

So yeah that's basically how today went in the 1st section of Mr. Schick.

Christianity in the Pax Romana-West Civ Blog 5/7/13

It all begins with Jesus- Jesus was only a preacher who set himself apart from other "Messiahs"
-Jesus taught that one must strive for perfection since God was perfect
-Jesus sought out the imperfect in society
-Jesus was believed to be both man and Son of God
-He was said to be a threat against Roman Rule because he empowered normal people (Like the Gracchi)
-His followers believed that he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven
Then, it comes down to Paul of Tarsus
-Saul was a persecutor of Christians who would just beat down believers of Christ in the streets
-One day he was knocked of his horse and blinded by God
-Jesus told him what he was doing wrong and how he could fix it
-He took up the name of Paul and became a traveling preacher
-He wrote letters to cities and people that were turned into Gospel readings

West Civ Blog 5/6/13

Today in class wee took a test that was a surprise to most of the class, however I think I did pretty well on this test considering the topic we have been studying is something that I have always been interested in. I can not wait until we get into the Middle Ages because that will be my favorite subject to study.

West Civ Blog 5/3/13

Today in class we got a project to do a 500 word essay with a partner on Google Docs. My partner was Max, obviously, and we are going to rock this assignment. We already have over 100 words for one paragraph worth of info on (Drum roll please...) The Pax Romana! This is going to be a fun project I can tell because I like this subject and Max is an all-around fun person.

West Civ Class 4/30/13

Today in class we finished watching the 8 part series of videos following Tiberius (Rex) Gracchus and the fall of the Roman Republic. I personally think that Tiberius was misunderstood and he did not want absolute power, he just wanted to help out. The only reason he wanted more power is so that the senate could not stop him from helping the plebeians. The power that he got with Vetoing everything may have gone to his head a bit, but he was just trying to prove a point.

West Civ Class 4/29/13

Today in class we watched a series of you tube videos about the Gracchus brothers and the fall of the republic. Also I think that we should watch Ben Hur since we are watching movies now and Ben Hur deals with Rome.

West Civ Class 4/26/13

Well its that time of the year. The time where teachers and parents are getting on kids and students everywhere to "finish the year strong" and all the kids are fed up with work. Mr. Schick did not disappoint when his part of this as more of a pep-talk with a lot less yelling. Sometimes you just have to listen to them and work, however most kids just let everything go in the last quarter. Days are slipping through our fingers like sand in a tornado. I am trying to hold on but somethings are slipping. It seems so hard to balance all these subjects at once, especially when you don't like some of them. I intend to try and keep up with everything, and finish the year with A's.

West Civ Blog 4/24/13

Today in class we took a test/quiz on Rome. Other than some questions about their government, I'm pretty sure I got them all right. The hardest questions for me were all about the government and I do not know why this is, however I think it is because Chi Cago only briefly mentioned the government in his song.

West Civ Blog 4/23/13

So today in class we all looked at how much extra credit we got for our Rome videos and took some notes. Since I can,t use this for the Quiz/Test, which should be called a Tuest (Twe-st), I see no point in posting the notes here. So instead I shall go off topic of west civ, just like in class today, and talk about the extra credit projects. When we all presented our extra credit movies, Max and I (Hayden was in the group but he didn't do much) only had finished 1 minute of the 4 minute song so I thought "OK, I'll just present what we have and get less credit then everyone else". However that is not what happened , instead we got just as much credit as everyone else because we somehow squeezed 56 pictures into 1.30 of the song. Well some people weren't to happy with this and apparently I am know as "Maxwell's friend" to some people.

P.S. I like the word Tuest. That is all.

West Civ Blog 4/22/13

Today in class we took notes and watched the rest of the projects. Some people actually completed their project, but I was getting annoyed by the time Mr. Schick told us it was extra credit so that was good. The reason the Romans were better than the Greeks is because they took what the Greeks had and made it better.

West Civ Blog 4/17/13

Today in class Mr Schick announced that because of so many problems with technology we will no longer be graded on our "Rome" movie and it will only be extra credit. Holly, who finished hers at 12 in the morning was angered by this and forced Mr Schick to play hers to the entire class. Hearing that song again made my eardrums bleed knowledge (which is a good thing). I feel like this song really helped me studie and this test will be easy.

West Civ Blog 4/16/13

Today in class Mr. Schick was not here so Sister Marge supervised us while we worked in groups on our project which my group is 1/2 of the way done. This project is no longer fun; it is so repetitive that I can recite the first 2 parts at twice the speed. It was pretty fun at first, but then it got repetitive; and then it got annoying. Now it is getting really old and I am pretty annoyed every time I hear it. Last night I worked on it a bit, but tonight I'm going to listen to my own music and not go near that project in fear of getting the song stuck in my head again.

West Civ Blog 4/15/13

Oh My God. I have memorized the entire first two paragraphs of "Rome" while editing the movie we are making. Max, Hayden, and I have grouped up to make a movie in Movie Maker with "Rome" by Chi-Cago (Mr. Schick) in the background and since it's on my computer I decided to do some work on it like a good group member. Well I've really taken one for the team this time because I now have to blast really loud music in my ears to not hear it playing in the back of my brain. However, it is a good thing that I am memorizing it for tests and the final exam. So far I have at least 1/4 of it done.

LO-2

• Allies provided units for protection
• Allies had the same rights as citizens in Rome
• 250 BC all of Italy south of River Po was in Roman hand
• Fought with Carthage, who was similar to Rome
• Took place between 246 and 146 BC
• Carthage lost the second Punic war in 202 BC
• Rome won the third war in 146 BC 
• In 202 BC Rome had control of the whole Mediterranean
• Consuls ruled major parts of the land
• After 27 BC provinces shared benefits of Rome Order
• 200 BC ambassadors from Greek city states came to Rome for aid, Rome sent armies
• Rome ruled all of East Mediterranean 

West Civ Blog 4/12/13

Today in West Civ Mr. Schick wasn't there so our sub had us work on our comics. Here's mine and Max's comic; http://Pixton.com/ic:8b4s99yo.

West Civ Blog 4/9/13

-The Romans did not only imitate Greek culture, but also added to it
-Italy was a Mediterranean land with farming land and crops similar to Greece they had more open land and could raise more people for a bigger army.
-Tribal groups such as the Latins were the first to settle on the Italian peninsula.
-The next people to settle there were the Etruscan.
-The the Greeks came along and settled on the peninsula.
-Latins first learned there alphabet and gained knowledge of Greek cities, which was passed down to the Romans.
- Patricians are the aristocrats with the money.
-Plebeians were the common folk of Rome like farmers, workers, and rich people that were not born into a rich family.
-Romans also had slaves that worked for only Patricians.
-The Senate was made up of 300 or so old wise Patricians.
-The monarchy was abolished in 509 BC because of Tarquin the Proud who ruled like a dictator.
-Tarquin's son attacked and raped was a high up woman, and Tarquin did NOTHING about it. (The woman ended up killing herself because she lost her reputation)
-Peoples Business (res publica)- Romes Republic
-Consuls were two men from the senate who had more power then the rest.
-This was so not one person will have to much power, and they could VETO each other.
-Consuls could serve for 1 year every 10 years.
-You must have served in the senate to become a Consul.
-THE TWELVE TABLES-
-These were a set of laws for Rome that were set out for all to see.
-Before the 5th century there was no written law, before there was only spoken law that was remembered by judges who were Patricians (How Handy!).
-The Plebeians wanted a voice in the government since they did all the work in the country.

West Civ Blog 4/8/13

Today in class we took a test on Alexander the Great and The Hellenistic Era. This was a short test and was quite easy considering I didn't use my blog and feel confident that I got a 100. I don't know what else to put here so I'm going to use a space-filler.

That should do it.

Map

Notes For The Test.

Birth Place – Pella of Macedonia

Held as hostage in Thesbe

While held hostage he learned military and diplomatic education
Tried to combine cultures to make Helenistic culture

Was king of Macedon from 359 BCE

Olympia- She was a princess until Philip II conquered her father and took her as a bride. She claimed that Alexander’s the Great was the son of Zeus.

Alexander trained Bucephalus by learning that he was afraid of his shadow

In October 336 BCE Philip II of Macedon was killed in Aegea.

There was a lot of tension in Alexander’s family
The battle of the Granicus River
The Siege of Helecarnasius
The battle with the Persians at Issus

He was only 20 years old when he assumed power.

Alexander marched to India in 327 BC

In 326 B.C. his forces met the Indians

Indians fought with elephants against the foot soldiers of the Macedonian Army

He died on June 10 323 BC

West Civ Class 3/27/13

Today in class we watched some scenes from a really gory movie, "Alexander".  We saw the battle against the Persians where Alexander used a strategy where he split the Persian army by branching out then flanking the main body of the Persian army including Darius III. Alexander was really hoping to kill Darius because he set up an assassination in Alexanders father. The second scene we saw was the battle against the Indians and their elephants, in which Bucephalus dies and Alexander decides to stop his conquest. This movie was as unrealistic as history can get if you count it as history. At one point a man was swinging around two decapitated heads and actually killing people with them. Another man got clothes-lined by an elephant which could never be trained to do that, and yes I know this is just a movie but I am a very big critic and am very tired. Good Night.

West Civ Class 3/26/13

Today in class we saw the last of the Alexander the Great slideshows made by us and we saw a scene from "Alexander". We watched the scene of Alexander taming Bucephalus the ox horse by finding out that he was afraid of his shadow and turning the horse toward the sun and whispering in its ear. Something I learned from this movie was that this;

Plus This;

Somehow equals this...

West Civ Class 3/20/13

Today in class we were assigned groups in which to make a Google presentation on a section of the new chapter that we started reading. I am glad that we were able to do this in groups because I have some make up work to do and doing a whole presentation on my own would load me down even more. So we were assigned groups that we were to work with, my group is Kate, Rachel, and I, and we are doing a presentation on Alexander the Greats rise to power and how he secured and kept power for so long.

West Civ Class 3/19/13

Today in class I learned that I got a 100 on my test (woot woot) and we started chapter 6. Athens and Sparta were both weakened by each other so Macedonia could come in and just take over all of Greece. After they conquered all of Greece Macedonia went on to spread their great empire all over Asia-Minor and Europe. At this time Alexander the Great was taking control and spreading Greek culture, but ruining their heritage. In the end of this whole ordeal no one wins anyway, Greek heritage is destroyed by Macedonia, Alexander the Great dies which splits Macedonia into multiple little empires and they end up destroying each other. Even though Alexanders empire lasted until he died, was it really worth it?

West Civ Class 3/18/13

Today in class we took a very easy test that I'm pretty sure I got a 100 on and then were given an assignment to do by Mr. Schick which I will do here. The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic civilization is the period of ancient Greek history between the death of Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of ancient Rome. 

Athens lost the Peloponnesian war because they first off didn't have a big enough army and for some reason decided to go up head to head with Sparta. If Athens hadn't been so eager to be the most powerful city-state in Greece then they might have been able to gain some allies and take Sparta out. It also never helped that the Macedonians were attacking at the time. Athens only focus in a military aspect was their navy, if they had to fight on land they would lose every time especially against Sparta. In 359 BC the Macedonian king Perdiccas III died and the heir was given to his infant son Amyntas IV. The child’s uncle Phillip II assumed power. When Philip II later died Alexander the Great took over and conquered most of Asia Minor and Europe.

More Study Guide

MEN, WOMEN, GODS AND GODDESSES YOU SHOULD KNOW:  In one or two sentences, describe what is significant about the following people (or immortals):
Homer- A blind poet of Greece who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Odysseus- The hero in the Odyssey who got lost multiple times trying to find his way home.
Zeus- Father of Gods and men who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father
Athena- The patron goddess of Athens and also wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
Pisistratus- A tyrant, who ruled in Athens during the most part of the period between 561 and 527 BC.
Cleisthenes- Is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BC.
Darius (the Great)- Was king of Persia the first time they tried to attack Athens, but lost horribly.
Xerxes- Darius’s son who took power and immediately tried to take over Athens again, but got beat in the Straits of Salamis.
Pheidippides- An Athenian who at the battle of marathon ran from Athens all the way to Sparta, 150 miles, in two days.
Themistocles- An Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy.
Pericles- The most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
Aristophanes- Was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his 40 plays survive virtually complete.
Socrates- A classical Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers.
Plato- A philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens.
Aristotle- Was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
Alexander the Great- A king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece, and a military genius Born in Pella in 356 BC.

West Civ Class 3/15/13

Today in class we got our tests back and went over them but not much else so i figured this would be a good spot to post my study guide for further tests/exams.

1600-1200 BC-Mycenaean

1150-750 BC-Dark Ages

776 BC-First Olympics

750-700 BC-Iliad and Odyssey

508 BC-Cleisthenes reorganizes Athens with Democracy.

490 BC-The Battle of Marathon Athens V.S Persia

480 BC-The Battle of Salamis

480-430 BC-The Golden Age of Athens

461-429 BC-The Age of Pericles

447-432 BC-Parthenon Relief

431-404 BC-Peloponneseian War

399 BC-Trial of Socrates

336 BC-Athens Introduces Conscription

This is what I have for now more will be put up in the future.

West Civ Blog 3/12/13

Today in class we talked about how Pericles pretty much killed himself through an act of hubris. He attacked Sparta merely because he didn't like them being so close and so powerful. We also talked about how Socrates didn't care about his appearance only about his mind. I took, what I thought to be, some pretty good notes on the overall movie so i will post them here.

Pericles ruled Athens during its golden age and rebuilt the Parthenon to praise Athena.

Socrates replaced gods with reason and was the first to question them. (and was ugly)

THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING!

Pericles was stupid and attacked the Spartans OUT OF SPITE!

The plague killed 1/3rd of Athens at the time including Pericles

Athenian naval generals were thrown in jail and forced to drink hemlock for leaving men behind

Sicily asks Athens for help, Athens takes advantage and attacks Sicily, Sparta takes advantage and attacks Athens, Athens blames Socrates.

West Civ Blog 3/11/13

Today in class we watched even more of "The Greeks" and listened to Liam Neeson describe history. Today was about the time of Theater in Athens and how some plays were funny and some got stuff thrown at them. Athens favorite plays by far were tragedies. Sometimes when something was really sad the entire audience broke out in tears all at once. Homer wrote some of the most famous of these tragedies before writing was even around. The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the most famous plays/epics to come from Greece.

Fridays Class

In Fridays class Mr. Schick and about half of the class were not there because of senior retreat and the English field trip. So for a sub we had Mr. Shupe, who looked kind of like the monopoly man, and he was a great sub. Instead of sitting there and being quiet like most other subs he actually asked questions and knew the subject well.

West Civ Class 3/5/13

Well I guess I forgot to do my blog yesterday because i was to busy monitoring the weather for the 5 hours I was home. However I'm still going to post what we did in case Mr. Schick decides to give half credit anyway. So in class yesterday we watched more of The Greeks and this time covered the Persian invasion at Marathon. From where the Persians landed at Marathon to Athens was 26.3 miles which inspired the modern marathon to be 26.3 miles. However a longer distance would be run during that battle by Phidipidies  who ran 120 miles in 2 days from Athens to Sparta to ask for help which was rejected. Rumor has it that Pidipidies died on the way back and was never seen again.

West Civ 3/4/13

Today we watched more of "The Greeks" and this time Mr. Neeson went more in depth with Athens ups and downs through leadership. The First important ruler was Pisistratus who took control of Athens by bringing a tall women with him and claiming that it was Athena the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Even though he gave Athens freedom and jobs, he was still technically a tyrant and was soon overthrown by the Athenian people and replaced with Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes was an aristocrat who was told since birth that he would be a leader, and once he was a leader he freed Athens from their tyrannical past and brought the age of democracy upon them.

West Civ Blog 2/27/13

Today in West Civ we took note on the first part of a movie called, "The Greeks". During this movie both Mikenzhie and Kelly fell out of there chairs, and Kelly took hers with her. Back to the movie, which was narrated by Liam Neeson, they talked about a very general overview of Ancient Greece in the chapter that we watched. They basically explained the rise of Athens and other Greek city-states like Sparta or Argos. When they introduced Socrates Mr. Schick seemed extra excited and screamed, which caused Mikenzhie to fall out of her chair and make the rest of the class jump. Also Kate was warned of her upcoming birthday, and I am so glad my birthday is over the summer.

West Civ Blog 2/26/13

Today in West Civ we worked on a chapter 4 study guide which makes no sense considering we haven't started chapter 4 so it was harder then usual but Mr. Schick let us use the computers so I looked up a lot of the dates. I ended up finishing at least 3/4 of it by the end of class so I think its OK to forget about it till tomorrow. Overall I think I've done an OK job on it but I need to research somethings more deeply if I want to fully understand them.

West Civ Blog 2/25/13

Today in West Civ we took an open book test on chapter 3 that was surprisingly easy. I felt like I knew what I was answering, but the open book part really helped. I feel like the essay would've been easier had I had my notes instead of the text book because I didn't want to plagiarize and would feel more comfortable quoting myself. The short answers were the easiest by far because im not under the pressure of 4 or 5 set answers and its not a lot to write.

LO-1 Blog

In LO-1 Gavin Lewis talks about the earliest Europeans and how they lived their long, warlike, nomadic lives. Even though these people were hunters and gatherers they still progressed just as fast as the Sumerians in the Fertile Crescent did. By c. 3500 B.C. people in West Europe were numerous enough to construct Megalithic Structures such as Stonehenge. Megaliths are massive rough cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs. Constructing Megalithic Structures is not an easy task it would take a lot of man power and skills. I found the same link that Cameron found on how Stonehenge was built and my question is, would the earliest Europeans have thought of that technology to make a pulley system on a ramp. These early Europeans were barbarians in the sense that they kept no written records had no towns or fixed structures of government. These people traveled around with tribes made up of their families friends and people with common interests as the rest of the group. These Indo-Europeans didn't define themselves as barbarians but were instead given the name by the Greeks who called them barbaros which meant "non-Greek". They were Indo-Europeans because their ancestors had descended from the steppes of southern Russia. They migrated from the steppes into Europe which is why they are called western. Western describes that they are in the west of the Eurasian continent that Greece was part of and they were west of the Fertile Crescent. This is an outdated map of the east and west empires, but it gets the point across.

The way that we describe barbarians in modern times is people who did not live normal lives that we do but instead roamed around causing trouble and sacking villages, much like outlaw biker gangs. They're big, hairy and cause trouble just like early barbarians.

West Civ Blog 2/20/13

Today in West Civ we had the most boring class because Mr. Schick thought it would be fun to read us an outline in the most monotone voice he could. First off to start the class we sang happy birthday to Mackenzie and gave her a silly hat (OK it was stupid) that she HAD to wear all of class and could not take it off. Also the boring class was for her birthday (Thanks Mackenzie). Then we got onto talking about Sea People who threw the early Greeks into Dark Ages. I still think that the silly little "Sea People" were Vikings that survived a bit longer than others and wiped out the Greeks. The Dark Ages were a time when people didn't write anything down and all was spread by word of mouth like Homers stories of the Iliad and Odyssey.

West Civ Blog 2/13/13

Today in West Civ my computer was dead so max was kind enough to let me do work on our power-point from his laptop. We got a lot done today including the rest of LO-1 and some of LO-2. Our group isn't really productive because we argue a lot. I think that if instead of arguing we each had individual slides and trusted each other then we might be able to get this project done with an A.

West Civ Blog 2/12/13

Today in West Civ we worked on our group project that is one of the most fun yet annoying projects I have ever done. I don't like group projects normally because I either end up doing all the work or no work. However this group project mostly forces the groups to work together because if you don't then work with your group and actually do work then they might not put your name on it and you won’t get a good grade. I, of course, am going to work with my group as much as it pains me to considering I don't like people my age telling me what to do.

West Civ Blog 2/11/13

Today in West Civ we took notes on Ancient Greece and argued about how Stonehenge may have been made. I mean if people thousands of years ago made Stonehenge back the why do we not have time travel yet. We were told in class to  start a Google docs presentation with a group of 4 people so that we could work on it together even though we are not with each other. Well so far I seem to be the only one who really finds it interesting and like to make power points. I also find it weird that other people come up as "Anonymous User" and are only differentiated by colors and numbers.

West Civ Blog 2/5/13

Today in West Civ we played a stupid game that tested our skills to see if we are fit to build a pyramid in ancient times, I was not. This game was probably the stupidest game I have ever played because it was IMPOSSIBLE AND ANNOYING. The only reason that my group managed to complete it is because Max was able to somehow build the entire pyramid. My dad suggested that I write about the slaves that built the pyramids but I had to correct him in saying that there were no slaves used to build the pyramids, but instead skilled craftsmen built them for money.

West Civ Blog 1/30/13

I showed up late for West Civ today because i was getting my picture taken for Band class and we are a pretty disorganized group. When I did show up we were talking about the reading and took notes on a Prezi. The Prezi was about ancient Egypt and how they lived. All civilization in ancient Egypt were based around the Nile, which flows south to north, because of all the fertile land that was within a 1-2 mile radius of the Nile.

West Civ Blog 1/29/13

Today in West Civ Mr. Schick was not here, for academic team reasons, so we went down to Mrs. Fisher's room and began reading and taking notes on LO-3 about Egypt and the Pharaohs. The first Pharaoh was Narmer who combined upper and Lower Egypt, but the most famous Pharaoh of all was Tutankhamen. Tutankhamen better known as King Tut, ruled in the eighteenth dynasty from 1333 BC-1324 BC and his cause of death is still undetermined. There are some that suspect his half-sister/wife of murdering him so that she could take the throne. 

LO-1 Essay 1/28/13

Jared Diamond was correct in saying that some people were geographically lucky and others were not, because if the entire thought of civilization started in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia then in order for the animals and plants they used to survive they needed to stay on the same latitude. Staying on the same latitude however would leave out a lot of the world and only civilize certain places. This was what Jared Diamond said is the reason for Papua New Guinea not being as civilized as other places such as Europe or America. In Saying this Jared Diamond has proven that it’s not based on how you can adapt, because the New Guineans are some of the most adaptive people in that world, but on what is around you as you grow up.

West Civ Blog 1/23/13

Today in West Civ we re-watched the movie by John Green and took notes this time, because he talks so fast, and talked about some of the stuff that he said. We talked about how the people in the past headed for the shore because fishing was the best source of food. We also learned that Indianapolis is the largest U.S city not on a body of water. Chickens were brought up and talked about how humans are genetically engineering them to have small tiny legs and huge bodies to produce more meat therefore making more money.

West Civ Class 1/22/13

Today in West Civ we watched a video by John Green about the agricultural revolution and how it affected the rest of the world by giving it fishing, animals, and cereal grains like wheat. It also talked about how we evolved because of all the free time that people got in the fertile crescent so they could study other stuff like art or literature instead of farming or breeding. John Green tells us about how in 15,000 years we have gone from inventing the wheel to inventing the internet, airplane, and 99 cent cheeseburger.