I love Kelley

My birthday was today and they sang but sounded like dying animals.  I had to wear the hat and it was horrible.  The we had to define the terms, Drew and Mikenzhie and I worked together and it went well.  It surprisingly was quick for us to get done.  Kelley saved us and now the test is on Tuesday, otherwise it would have been Wednesday, and we would've have no final exam review.

David and Maxwell

I wasn't there for the beginning few minutes but when I walked in Maxwell and David taught class today, all they did was review what we learned yesterday.  Kelley and Grace enacted everything they said out...it was ugly.

Feudalism

We went over a PowerPoint created by the book people, and I can’t even count how many times we looked at a stupid iron plow.  Anyways, the Roman Empire gone, but the Byzantine Empire was still there.  Feudalism is a term used by historians to describe the governmental system and the relationships between landowners and warrior.  Warriors, also known as knights, pledged his allegiance to a lord, who would in turn give that knight land.  Fief: Property Lord would grant fief to the knight, who would then become the lord's vassal: servant (more like a star baseball player on a team).  That was called a feudal compact.  A vassal must fight for the lord when he needs it and attend his court once a month.  A vassal was required to pay homage: special honor or respect shown publicly.  Men were apprenticed to older knights before they could become a full knight themselves.  When a knight died, his fief would revert to his son, though his lord would be protector of that son if he was underage, or if it was a daughter.  A rich person could have many knights.  Barons: lords of large territories who usually paid homage to a king.  Baron’s army could outnumber that of a king, it kept a check on the king’s power.  Order: king, baron, lord, knight, regular folk.  Lords live on the manorial estate.  There are 3 estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the common people.  Peasantry farmed on large plantations known as “manors” which were owned by a lord, or lady of the nobility (or member of the clergy).  Iron plows and water-powered grinding mills helped with agricultural production, but the yield was still miniscule by today’s standards.  The three field system was used were two fields were planted on in the fall and one in the spring.  One field was left to reconstitute its fertility—then they were rotated.  The lady of the house ran household operations, oversaw servants, entertain guest and ran the manor when the husband was away.  The men oversaw the fields.    Most peasants were serfs: they were bound to the land and to the lords for labor service a few days each week.  Servants would feed birds.  Most medieval towns and villages were surrounded by fortified walls because it was dangerous.  Their use was to keep people in and keep people out.  Suburbs: people who lived outside of the walls.  Towns were dominated by a main church and a central marketplace.  All of their churches were super dark because there were no windows.  Guilds: unions.  Townspeople were free, but there was still a hierarchy: Merchants at the top, then skilled craftsmen and artisans, then unskilled laborers and apprentices.  Merchants, craftsmen and artisans formed their own groups call guilds which regulated their trade and protected its members.  Craftsmen were classified as masters, journeymen, and apprentices.  Once became a master after spending years learning as an apprentice, working as a paid journeyman for a number of years, and completing his “masterpiece”.  I didn’t get everything but that’s it.  Oh, then Mr. Schick threw my eraser out the window.

Test Returned

We got our test back today and lots of us did really badly.  I got a 68% but with the 4 points added to it I technically didn't fail.  I did do really well on the essays though.  Front page was ugly.  We did the worst out of all our sections on the test but on the quiz we did the best, if I recall correctly.  We got yelled at again for our lack of focus and how we talk too much.

We had a pop quiz at first; after 20 minutes of talking.  Then I went to the potty so I missed some of the PowerPoint.  Anyway, the most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks.  Roman Empire in the east especially became know as the Holy Roman Empire. Assimilated meant like a swap.  Byzantium was the city that became Eastantinople.  It was hard to decipher between a Christian leader and a government leader.  Hagia Sophia means Holy Wisdom.  It was the most glorious church of its time and is still standing.  Been build three times.  Almost 200 feet tall at the highest height.  In Istanbul/Turkey.

Rome Fades Away

Roman Republican Empire.  Diocletian rule from 284-303.  Cool to persecute Christians.  Constantine ruled from 306-337.  It's cool to be a Christian.  Peasants were most people, very few rich folk.  The rich ones put the peasants to work and paid their taxes, but it was kind 'of like slavery.  Peasants were barely paid anything.  Rome's power was decreasing and it was divided into more of two sections.  Eastern side was thriving and the western side was poor.  They wanted to divide it because they weren't as well off as the east.  Last emperor was a teenage boy in 475 by his father.  The Franks were Germanic tribes and were active in spreading Christianity.  They devoured most of Gaul.  Franks was a term also used for western Europeans; they were the rulers of most western Europe.  Came over in the 3rd century BC.

BAD

We took the test today and he said yesterday that he never puts dates on there.  Also that he was going to have a column of Constantine and Diocletian and we would have to put them in the right spots.  Not at all.  I did SO bad, I can tell already.  The essays weren't bad at all though.  Hopefully that will bring it up for me.  On the front page, I can tell I failed it already.  He made a lot of face while reading them. Uh oh.  Then we just talked

What was the Christian's name who was tortured by the Romans for supposedly lighting fires?  Peter (The Romans didn't even know who lit the fire--never did)
Which man in power was in charge of the last major Christian persecutions?  Diocletian
What did the whole army do after Constantine saw the sign from God?  Painted a cross on their shields
What is an edict?  Official law or prosecution
What was the result of Constantine having all religions treated equally?  They grew and spread into millions
What religion was Constantine's mother?  Christian
How large was the army increased by when Diocletian came in power? 400,000
What god did the Christians have to give sacrifice to after the fires?  Jupiter
Where did Constantine see the sign from God? Milvian Bridge
How long did it take for emperors to loose their power?  Two and a half years
How many government officials were there under Diocletian's rule? 20,000
Who did Christianity appeal to?  The poor and disenfranchised
What did the edict of Milan do? Who declared it?  Constantine and it declared Christians as a Roman religion.

Grace and Kelley Teaching

Diocletian persecutions was last major persecutions in Rome.  Commanded churches to be raised off the ground.  The first edict persecution was on January.  Burned Christians had no rights.  Romans though
November 20, 303 third execution. Earlier in January of 303 was the second.  304 4 edict.  Constantine ended prosecutions by his father.  No matter what religion you were you were treated equally.  Promoted Christianity.  He had a vision of the cross above the sun saying "conquer by this this".  This is what made him convert.  Constantine's mother was a christian.  He prayed to God because the Roman gods were letting him down.  The army painted a cross on their shields.  Kelley and Grace did a good job, but Mr. Schick took over halfway through class.  A man named Peter was striped, whipped until he bled, salt and vinegar was poured in his wounds and then was slowly boiled over a fire.  Edict: official law or proclamation.

Rome's Struggles

Pax Roman 27-180.  3rd century AD there were many diseases and it spread quickly.  Emperors start to loose hold on power, and there was too many poor people.  Diocletian reformed Rome, increased army to 400,00 people.  That is 1/3 bigger than during Augustus' time.  He recruited people from the barbarians.  New government had 20,000 people.  10x bigger than when Augustus was in power.  300 AD: 60 million people in the Roman empire.  Several million of them were Christians.  Christians used to be a weird little cult.  Diocletian ruled from 284-305.  At first he left the Christians alone but then he persecuted them like crazy.  Constantine ruled as emperor from 306-337.  A large fire broke out in his palace destroying lots of things except for a Christian church, so they blamed it on the Christians.  Diocletian made Christians give sacrifice to Jupiter, those who didn't were to be tortured.  Constantine changed the Roman empire by his conversion to Christianity.  Constantine made Christianity officially a Roman religion.

Review of Test

We went over the test.  Then we talked about Christianity in the Pax Romana.  Christianity used to be really small and people though of it as a cult.  It began with Jesus.  Almost all of what is written about Jesus is in the gospels.  Gospel means good news.  Stories were told and retold, then written down.  Jesus said that you must strive for perfection because God is perfect.  He sought out the imperfect and tried to help them.  He made friends with prostitutes and those people.  It was believed he was both man and son of God, but that is what all of the pharaohs and kings also said.  They didn't like Jesus for the same reason the didn't like Tiberius Gracchus: Jesus was trying to empower the poor and common people.  Jesus was a threat.  Bible is the only historical we have of Jesus.  Paul killed Christians by giving them to the Romans so they could use them as entertainment (put them in with the lions).  Paul had a vision of Jesus on the third day he was feeling whacky.  Predestination: God chose who was to be saved and who was to be damned.

Christianity

After we turning in the essay and took the test I had no clue about we read.  Read about Christianity and religion and Jesus.  Gospel writers did most of their writing from either spoken words or earlier documents.  Jesus did most of his teaching around the year 70 AD.  Gospel writers wrote about him later.

Working on Essays

We worked on our essays in class today.  Savannah, my partner, and I got through the introductory paragraph and I think it's going to be really good.  We have to hand it to him first thing in the morning as soon as we walk in the door.  That's all we did all class (that and trying to ignore the others).

PowerPoint

We talked about the PowerPoint Mr. Schick made and explained in class today.  We talked a bunch about the other brother.  Gaius, Tiberius' brother was also killed as well as 3,000 of their supporters.  Proletarians were people who were practically dirt.  They had no value or voice.  Profiteers were people who bought farms and profited from it.  Julius Caesar was very cocky and confident.  He went across the river and there is a saying to it but I can't exactly remember what it is.  Also in order to not be able to point the finger at any one person for the murder of Julius Caesar they passed the knife around and all wiped their hands on his blood.  Literally, "blood on your hands".

Finished the Moive

We finished the movie today and he died in the end.  We had a discussion at the end about whether or not Titinius was really doing what he did for the people or that he got carried away with the power he had gained.  We all thought that it was truly for the people but then we got to thinking.  The beginning was all for the people but the end was just him wanting more.  Then we had a discussion about the North Koreans.  Their life sounds horrible.  They aren't even allowed to leave the country!  Most all of them have no computers and the ones who do are only allowed on 1 site.  And on top of everything that one site is governed by the government.  Anyway, North Korea and South Korea are technically still one country because they haven't broken the treaty but North Korea basically said we're not following any of the rules we signed for in the paper.  Also, there were these people who went in to film the doctor, but they were really interviewing people.  They made a movie about it and thankfully none got killed.  The people there were practically blind and the doctor took out this little eye slip thing and they could see again.  Instead of thanking the doctor they basically bowed to the leader and said thank you.  How rude.

Movie

We watched a movie today about the Gracchus brother, Titinius and how he came into power.  In the movie the senate is basically evil except for like one person.  Titinius is running for the consul and he gets it!  His one friend, forget his name, but he took lots of people's land, as well as many other rich people.  Titinius made a treaty/agreement with the Spaniards, otherwise they would have all died.  The people love him but Titinius has a lot of powerful enemies.  We're going to keep watching this because we all like it and it works for us.

Review Test

All we did all day was review the test we took the other day.  It took the whole class to go over everything.

Quest-Tizz

We took the test today so we ended up using the last 25 minutes to do homework or whatever.

We watched the rest of the clip about chariot riders.  The first Punic war Romans won the battle over Cicily. Carthage keeps the rest of their empire.  The loyalty and perseverance of Romans helped them to stay afloat.  Carthaginian armies were being paid, not because of their country.  Eventually, Rome provoked a third in in 136 BC. Carthage was captured!! Rome won!  202 BC. Rome had control of the western mediterranean.

Hannibal was a Carthaginian who attacked Rome from the North, not from the West.  They don't have defense on that side so he's starting to win.  Also came with elephants, but they lost so many people on the trip but never won fully.  Carthage-1, Rome-2.  Rome just went after Carthage, the city and destroyed every adult male or enslaved them.  This was the most ruthless Rome had ever been. And 1/3 of the people in Rome were slaves.  Rich were getting richer.  While the men are off fighting the women are left to take care of everything else.  Women couldn't keep up with money, craps and everything.  Rich would come in and buy it from them for a "good price" (maybe).  A latifundia is when the rich put all of the land together they bought and make a big farm building thing and put to work the people who they bought it from.  Men come back to find their land is not theirs anymore.  Decided to move to Rome for more opportunity.  Streets of Rome were teething the streets.  The government started to give people a little food so they don't revolt.  Also entertained them with the gladiators.  Built the Circus Maximus, it could hold 100,000 people.  Gladiator fought to the death, they were either criminals, animals, or christians.  Circus means circle.  The brothers Gracchus tried to reform the government by telling the rich to give some of the land back to soldiers who fought for them.  Rich said no.  Rich killed a Gracchus brother with a chair and threw him into the Tiber River.  Then we started to watch a movie how they reinacted riding the chariots.

All My Hard Work for Nothing

So, I finished my movie last night and we came into class and turns out he canceled it.  I showed ours anyway and it was phenomenal!  After that we just switched gears and took notes on what he explain about the song.  There were 3 Punic wars, about who Rome or Carthage wanted Cicily.  They battle for it and the first war and Rome wins.  It took him a while to try and find a map he liked.  He never really found was he liked a lot but oh well.  Hannibal was a 28 year old man who was brilliant.

More Movie

All we did in class was work on the movie with our groups.  Mr. Schick wasn't there though so we had a sub.

Movie Maker

So it took us a while to get started this morning because everyone's internet wasn't working.  When it got back up we worked on making a video with pictures and everything for the rap.  My group is Drew and Savannah and so far its been going well.  Hopefully it get a 100%!

Pixton and LO2

So we worked in partners for the comic and Savannah and I paired up.  Our comic is pretty funny the link is:  http://www.pixton.com/comic/jcfpglr9

LO2:
Romans were definitely military people and their first battle was against the Etruscans.  Rome was known for their superior army, they also created lots of allies.  By 250 B.C. Rome had conquered all of Italy south of the River Po.  Rome provoked multiple wars with other countries, by 202 B.C. Rome had control of all the Western Mediterranean.  Carthage in Sicily, Spain and Africa became the first Roman provinces.  Except they did not enjoy this because they were treated more as conquered lands and controlled by Rome, they also had to pay tribute to them.

Rap

Mr. Schick did a rap today.  Oh. My. God.  It was interesting, we all filmed it and Martha helped him. Here's the video:

Senate had 300 people in it, among them were two consuls/people who had more power and were basically in charge of everything.  There were two people because they had veto power over the other.  So the other could completely stop him. Consuls serve for one year but not anymore.  They could run for consul in 10 years though.  This happened after 509 BC.  Patricians used the law to push plebeians around.  The Twelve Laws (450 BC.).  Before these the patricians were the only ones who knew the laws.

Review

Romans loved the way Greeks did things.  Warfare and government is what they improved upon.  Italy was basically exactly like Greek but could have more people and raise more food because they didn't have as many mountains.  Latins were the first to show up in Italy.  Major groups: Latins, Etruscans and Greeks.  Romans got their gods and alphabet from the Greeks.  Tarquin the proud was a monarch, he was the last king of Rome.  He ruled liked a tyrant; harsh, threw favors to his family, etc.  Peoples business is what they referred their government to.  Res publica-republic. 530-509 was Tarquin's rule.

Rome

The rise of Rome began as a continuation of Greece in the western area.  The Romans imitated the Greeks and the added to it and improved upon it.  Rome became a Greek-style city-state in around 500 BC.  The Republic--their government was more effective than any in Greece.  Romans were more effective in conquering foreign lands and they were also more generous to their enemies. In five centuries Rome became the center of an empire that stretched from Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean.  Augustus Caesar managed to turn military rule into a workable system of government.  Rome was and empire that held so much power for so long.

Italy and Its People

Tribes moved to Italy and they soon became stronger because they could control the waters.  Around 750 BC the settlements joined to form a single city-state--Rome.  The Etruscan's arrived in Italy sometime in the 9th century BC.  The combined cultures of the Greeks and also were under the rule of kings.  In the 7th century BC. the conquered Latium and ruled Rome itself.  But that didn't last too long.  Colonies that they planted in southern Italy began to spread northward almost to the borders of Latium.  These people gave word the the Latins about the alphabet.

Roman Republic

The Romans had kings that were advised by the senate (which meant old man).  He would choose these members from among the patricians (men with fathers).  When a king died a successor was chosen by the senate from among its own members.  Senate and the patricians basically dominated the city-state.  Around 500 BC.  Rome overthrew its Etruscand rulers and the monarchy was abolished.  This new government that arose was a mix of Greek's-style and oligarchy.

Patricians and Plebeians

The patricians were the aristocrats and the plebeians were everyone who didn't belong to the patricians.  The  Senate is a government assembly appointed by the king and under the Republic by the consuls; two senators who led the government and military for one two-year terms.  Plebeians started to become wealthy and powerful.  450 BC.: laws of Rome were set down in writing.

"Mixed" Government

The assemblies alongside the old one--a counterweight seemed to be working better than ever.  It is mixed because of its combination of oligarchic and democratic features.  It was widely admired in ancient times and continues to influence government systems today. A plebeian could run for senate but they had to have a patron-- rich person to help campaign for them.

Republican Values

The Mixed government was not just a government to them but a way of life.  Romans judged themselves according to these values, which thereby influenced their behavior and achievements. 

City and the Gods

Rome had a special relationship with three deities.  Some Roman values were common to all ancient city-states, but the gods and goddesses were interpreted differently through the city-states.  Minerva, the goddess of skill and wisdom. Juno/Hera was Zeus' fertility goddess.

Citizens and the Community

Shared values, including the belief that it was the right and duty of the men to fight in wars and share the government.  Took for granted that women had no rights.  Women needed guardians for all legal transactions.  

Community and the Family

Unlike Sparta, a man first belonged to his family and a clan.  They were held together by family fathers--they held great power in the household.  Motherhood was also revered in Rome.  A married woman bore the title of matron.  If a man was raped or committed it they may kill themselves because of the shame.  Women were expected to help make sure that men had the qualities to keep the Republic strong.

Bucephalus Dies

India: Alexander invaded India in 327 BC, and sadly during this battle, his horse Bucephalus died.  Wah ): The Indians fought with elephants, and they still lost.  Alexander was begged by the General, General Coenus to back off and let the men return home because they conquered just about everything.  He finally agreed and they returned home, but lost many soldiers due to loss of heat, thirst and just natural causes, or in battle.  On their way home they took the Hydaspes and Indus River and battled against those who lived on the river as well.  In Malli he was injured.  Death:  He died on either the 10th or 11th of June in 323 BC.  His death is still a mystery and there are many theories, but all just theories.  His body was laid in a gold sarcophagus but was later replaced by glass so they could make coins out of it.  Treatment:  His empire was the largest of it's time.  After his death it remained under Macedonia for the next 200-300 years.  He believed and instigated intermarrying.  He wanted his people to mix with the others.  Alex wanted to combine cultures to see the outcome.  At first people didn't believe his death was real.  Alex passed Perdicus his signet ring.  When he died he was not specific as to whom he wanted to rule, so they fought to see who was most powerful.  The possession of the ring basically meant all the power.  Alex IV was born and he and Phillip II both were murdered.  In 321 Perdicus was assassinated.  Macedonia collapsed after 40 years of War.  Education, government and art were all based on the classic Greeks.

Watched Movie

All we did in class was watch the movie about Alexander the Great.  We didn't get to finish but we watched the parts about when Bucephalus dies in the battle against the Indians.  We saw some other battle scenes and also the part where is men tried to change his mind and go home.

Presenting

We presented our PowerPoint Friday and only got through a couple.  We basically talked about how Olympius  Alexander's mother had her husbands wife killed as well as her child.  This was to make sure Alexander would become king.  Then we talked a little about Bucephalus was tamed by him when no one else could.  Also, Alexander was taught by Aristotle.  And he and his mother ran away when Phillip tried to kill him.  When he came back to take control he had the man who killed his father assassinated.  Olympius also claimed Alexander was the son of Zeus. Darius was who they fought against the Persians.  Died at the age of 32, and he was poisoned.  Think one of his wine pourers did it to him.  Just a theory though.  encouraged people to mix.  Hellenistic: combined culture.

Presentations

We got in partners or groups of 3 to do a presentation for Alex the Great. Lucy and I are partners and we got the one about his war life and all of his accomplishments in that general area. The thing is worth 50 points so maybe it can boost my grade up.

Make up Test

I had to take my make-up test today, so I took most of the class to do that.  When I came in we talked about Alexande the Great and how he conquered so much of the land, but everyone had doubts about them.  He started rule at the age of like 20, and died around 34 I believe.  Some say it could have been caused from alcohol poisoning.  He also tortured and killed the people who were planning on rebelling against him.

Chaper 5

Hellenistic: Relating to Greek history, language, and culture from the death of Alexander the Great

 



Sparta dropped out of fighting and Athens created alliances with other city states.  The other city states that formed the alliances agreed to contributing money for the construction of triremes.  The Persians accepted their defeat in 445 BC because of a Greek city-state--Anatolia being freed, also around the time the city-states paying trubute to Athens got a little annoyed being ruled by and oligarchy.  They appealed to the Spartans to put a check on Athens, they finally agreed.  This therefore led to war.  This war was from 431-404 BC, and Pericles led Athens.  Athens and nearby city-state Piraeus formed a single stronghold.  Athens tried to block off any supplies from the sea but that would eventually fall.  Spartans won! WHOO!  The Athenians baisically gave in to the Spartans and were ruled by their oligarchy.  But they could not prevent Athens from going back to their democracy and independence.  Greek civilization flourished, Plato and Aristotle followed after the Peloponnesian War.  Power was rising in the noth of Grece,called Macedonia, this would soon stop the alliances of city-states.  Athens should not have gone up against Sparta because they were not as strong as they were previously, they needed to regain their strength, rather than rushing into it.  Also they should have thought through their plans.

No Class for Me

I wasn't in class today because I wasn't feeling super well.

Death of Socky

Socrates trial was held in the Athen's market.  He was super stubborn and when he was on his trial, he didn't apologize for his "crimes", instead he told them that they should be thanking him.  Actually, buying him dinners for the rest of his life.  He was the only one in Athens who callenged their way of life.  When he had a short amount of time to speak, he basically said that Athens was a big stupid lazy horse and he was a horsefly trying to get them moving.  If he apologized he would have been aquitted because everyone really liked him.  When he was in jail the gaurds didn't want him to die either, so Socrates' friends asked them to just turn away.  They did.  When they told him, "Let's leave!", he said that he was going to stay here and take the punnishment.  He had  multiple chances to leave, but he denied both.  He drank the hemlock and died.  In the end of class we talked about gay people.

Socy

Socrates had a big head, big eyes, wierd nose and just odd porportions in all.  Greeks soon realized that the gods weren't actual humans but objects and people put reason to all the earth's things.  They also calculated moon size, and the height of the pyramids.  (Thalies did all that).  Socrates loved the city and talked to anyone and everyone.  "Unexamined life is not worth living"-Socrates most famous quote.  We also talked about how Pericles got stupid and wanted to attack Sparta--bad idea.  They lost, partly due to the fact that the plague hit them, he became a hubris, and Spartans are just better.  The plague wiped out about 1/3 of Athens, including Pericles.  It took him 6 months to die, and he did so in the fall of 429 BC.  People tried to gain power after this but it just became chaos.  Also, when Athens destroyed Sicily and came home the generals were executed, not worshiped.  This is because they didn't bother collecting the men in the water, dead or alive.  Once they lost to Sparta they had to blame it on someone so they blamed Socrates.  He was arrested for corrupting youngins and undermining their religion.  Athens never had a good leader after Pericles, and Socrates tried to stop the generals from being executed.  Thusidius wrote all about the plague becuase he survived it.  The Palapalesian war caused Sparta to become an even greater threat to Athens.

Talk

We talked about the movie today,  not watched it. We covered what we missed and then, watched it.  Darius' son Xerxes was the next leader of Persia.  There was another war between Persia and Athens, except this time they fought on ships, and Persia came with say 600,000 men.  Some scholars say 2 million, but who knows?  Again they won, but this time they won by a trick.  An Athenian acted as a traitor to his home people, and told the Persians if they go in now they will be able to defeat them easily, only if you spare me.  Well, they went in and surrounded them, and killed them while the last few ran home.  They were trapped in the straits of Salamis.  Oh, also, everybody evacuated Athens and so when Persians saw this they burned and wrecked the entire place.  And before the war they found silver, so they got rich and Themistocles built 200 more triremes.  Thank heavens he did too.  After the War, Themistocles was ostracized because the people thought he might try and gain power.  This is a little contradictory/ironic because he was an amazing leader and he saved them all.  After this he went to other places including Persia basically asking help me and I will help you formulate really great war plans.  They killed him.  Delin was a big organization basically that combined city-states.  The Parthenon was worth approximately 1 billion dollars to build.  The pole things are 40 feet tall and get smaller at the top to perceive it to be taller.  Aspasia was a prostitute who was really smart and nice!  People took her to a really nice dinner and then slept with her.  Paracles left his wife for her and she probably helped him write a lot of his speeches.  Everyone looked down upon this.  Any ways the play Oedipus was where the dude was told by the fates he was going to kill his father and sleep with his mother and be a horrible leader.  He didn't believe this but he accidentally did both.  When he realized he killed his father he was greatly saddened and depressed, and when he realized he slept with his mother he gauged out his eyes so he would see the faces of everyone.  You cannot escape the fates.  Achilles was invulnerable because they dipped him in this special river, but missed his ankles, because that is what they held him up by.  He ended up dying by a poison arrow to the ankles.  Hubris=peopple in power who think they can get away with anything.

Not here

I wasn't there Friday because I was on a field trip to D.C.

More Movie

We watched more of the movie and so a guy named Pheidippides ran 140 miles in two days to get to Sparta to ask them to help them defeat Persia.  Sadly, when he got there though, they said no, we don't want to we're on a holiday.  Persia was a huge empire that had loads more of people and therefore means a larger army.  Even though Athens was outnumbered 2- in the war they still won because it was also just ordinary people who were fighting, and they had their hearts in the fight, Persians didn't.  In one day Athenians killed 6000 Persians.  In the end Athens won the war!!! Whooo!!  The Persian Empire stretched from India to Turkey and they were known to have the greatest power.  The reason the Persians attacked Athens was because they were gaining power and became a threat.  Darius was known as the great king of Persia.  Except he was a tyrant.  People who walked near him or talked to him had to cover their mouths because no one dared to "infect" the air around him.  The Greeks believed in more freedom than the Persians did (more about obedience).  Which is kinda odd because Greeks had slaves and Persians didn't.  Also, a marathon is called this because the trek from Athens to Marathon was 26.2 miles.  Themistocles seemed to be the only one who realized Persia might come back even more strong and their hearts and minds would be in it this time, he was also one of histories great leaders.  That's all.

Movie

All we did was watch more of the movie. Here are some notes on it:

• Pisistratus reduced taxes and gave loans to people
• Olives are valuable and helpful, everyone seemed to want Athenian oil
• Romans were on the western side
• Eastern Mediterranean was a great trade area
• Vase= 1st artistic legacy, people soon really got into their pottery and decorated immensely
• Pottery was made in the same place that prostitutes worked, the makers were the lowest of the low
• 527 BC: Pisistratus died and was buried in the Athenian graveyard, his son Hippias took over
• 514 BC: Hippias' brother was murdered so he killed the killers and tortured one of their wives
• Hippias soon became evil so Cleisthenes took over and was one of the most powerful men in
  Athens
• Olympics-776 BC, way before Cleisthenes
• Arete: Olympics
• Running, wrestling, boxing and Chariot riding were popular in Olympics
• Ordinary people came to compete in Olympics
• Isagoris tried to take over from Cleisthenes so he went to the Spartans; he was friends with a ruler because they shared a wife.  So the Spartans gave him their best armies to take control
• He became a strict tyrant and ostracized Cleisthenes
• People started to realize their rights were being taken away and so they revolted
• FIRST TIME PEOPLE REBELLED AGAINST THEIR LEADER
• On the third day, Isagoris gave up and was removed from his leadership position (508 BC.)
• Brought Cleisthenes back and that is when they started to form democracy

The Greeks

We had to get our notebooks out and pencils, and had to take notes on a video about the Greeks.  Firstly though, Mikenzhie and Kelley both fell out of their seats.  Well, Mikenzhie did, Kelley and the desk fell over.  I was hilarious.  Anyway the video was narrated by Liam Neeson, and oh my lord, I absolutely LOVE his voice, it's the best one in the world.  Sadly there was this annoying feminine guy who spoke like and idiot.  Socrates was really ugly, and he was known for it too.  In 508 BC pandemonium was erupted and there was a man named Cleisthenes.  He basically was raised to be and aristocrat, which means you are wealthy, and highly respected and powerful.  Although he was supposedly an aristocrat he felt all peoples should be in charge of their own destiny.  3/4 of Greece is covered in mountains, that is why they traveled a lot by ships.  Greece was so big that they had to break it down into city-states and so city-states had their own tradition, culture and background.  Also the place Spartan men liked most were the barracks.  These were military homes where they basically grew up in.  Also, they didn't mind to die as much because it was not comparison to the food they ate.  Lastly, their cloaks were died blood red to represent they blood of their enemies.

We worked on this all day:

Test Day

Mr. Fendryk was out sub today.  All we did was take the test and thankfully we were allowed to use our books.  I feel I got a 90 or higher, definitely not a 100%.  I finished almost exactly when the bell rang. I sat down and then I had to leave.

Review

It's an open book test Monday!! Whoo!!  Anyway, we just reviewed for the test and we went over the governments and Sparta and Athens.  We kind of got side-tracked and talked a lot about gun control and prisons.  Besides that it was just talk about the outline and test below.

Boring

All we did was look at the outline for the test.  I only took notes on a couple things, such as: the early languages evolved into Latin and Greek.  Also that the Dark Ages were from 1150-750 BC.  I figured that I would just go over the outline since it is all on his blog.  So I'm deciding put it here:

Chapter 3 Outline

 

I. The European Barbarians (LO1)
        A. The Earliest Europeans
                    1. by 4000BC, farming and village life had spread throughout the continent
                 2. by 3500BC, increased population and wealth led to complex religious structures
                               
        B. The Barbarian Way of Life
                    1. common way  of life as result of migrations of Indo-European nomads (c.2500BC onward) from the steppes that bordered Europe on the east
                    2. languages
                                a. ancestor languages of Greek and Latin
                    3. elites of warriors
                    4. farming and village life
                    5. In this way, Europe came to be inhabited by peoples who spoke mostly Indo-European languages; who were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, and warfare; and who were fairly well organized on the local level, but had no cities, written records, or fixed structures of government
                    6. c.2000BC-1000AD these barbarians came into contact with civilization
                    7. the first such European barbarian people to make contact with civilization were the Greeks - their civilization, the first to emerge in Europe, was the first to definitively be labeled “Western”

II. The Aegean Encounter (LO2)
        A. Minoan Civilization
                    1. c.2200BC a distinct civilization known as Minoan arose on the Aegean island of Crete
                    2. Minoans drew wealth from control of the seas and trade with eastern Mediterranean lands, especially Egypt
        B. The Arrival of the Greeks: Mycenaean Civilization
                    1. when the Greeks made their way to the Aegean, they seem to have been a European barbarian people much like any other
                    2. eventually they came under the influence of nearby Crete
                    3. by c.1600BC Greek chieftains had established settlements along the mainland’s southern shore and on some islands
                    4. Mycenaean Greeks
                    5. struggles between Mycenaeans and Minoans for control of the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean lasted until c.1400BC, with the destruction of Minoan towns, perhaps as a result of Mycenaean conquest
                               
        C. The “Dark Ages”
                    1. Mycenaean civilization lasted until shortly after 1200BC due to the conquest of the Sea Peoples
                    2. c.1150 BC Myceneae was sacked and all settlements deserted - in addition, the population dropped, and writing fell out of use
                    3. this led to the eclipse of civilization for almost 400 years, known as the Dark Ages (1150 - 750 BC)
                    4. but the Greeks themselves survived and even expanded their territory
                               
        D. The Renewal of Greek Civilization
                    1. c.800 BC the Aegean region recovered
                    2. population expansion led to founding of colonies, c.800-600 BC
                    3. the Greeks joined the Phoenicians as the leading commercial and seafaring nation of the Mediterranean
                    4. a common religion
                    5. new developments
                                a. use of iron tools and weapons
                                b. coined money
                                c. borrowing of Phoenician shipbuilding and warfare techniques
                                d. writing and the alphabet formed the Greek language

III. Citizens and Communities: The Greek City-States (LO3)
        A. City-States and Citizens
                    1. notion of citizenship seems to have originated partly in geography
                    2. hoplites: Greek infantrymen equipped with bronze helmets and armor, round shields, long spears, and short swords
                    3. city-state, citizens, tradition, and myth

        B. Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, Democracy
                    1. in the earliest times, communities were ruled by kings
                    2. monarchy then gave way to new forms of government that distributed power more widely among male citizens
                                a. oligarchy:  a minority of citizens dominated the government, and the                                                      power of the majority was limited in various ways
                    3. but other city-states gave more power to the majority (particularly those that developed into large commercial centers)
                                a. in these city-states the common people were too numerous and active to ignore,                                 
                                b. in these cities, social conflicts sometimes led to the emergence of tyranny (rule by a dictator)
                                c. but tyranny was often only a passing phase on the way to democracy (all government decisions were made by the majority of male citizens)
                    4. although Greek city-states had many features in common, each was individual in character

        C. Sparta: The Military Ideal
                    1. Spartans were descendants of Greeks who had conquered part of the Southern mainland: Laconia
                    2. by 800BC they were a minority of landholders ruling over a majority of helots (noncitizens forced to work for landholders)
                    3. Messenian helots, however, frequently rebelled
                                a. this forced Spartans to accept a governmental system that put them under almost total domination by a few among themselves
                    4. by 500BC, policy decisions had been taken over by a council of elders
                    5. thus the Spartan government was a leading example of oligarchy
                    6. Spartan male life was dedicated entirely to the service of the state
                    7. the relative freedom of Spartan women aroused both admiration and disapproval among other Greeks
                    8. to protect this way of life, Spartans tried to seal off their city-state from outside influences

        D. Athens: Freedom and Power
                    1. c.800BC many old-established communities in the Attica peninsula merged to form a single city-state that was known by the name of the most important community: Athens
                    2. over the next 300 years, Athens grew to become the wealthiest and one of the most powerful city-states, largely as a result of overseas trade
                                a. produced and exported wine and oil
                                b. workshops produced weapons, pottery, and articles of silver, lead, and marble
                                c. these were trade overseas for metal, timber, and grain
                    3. with a rising population and greater wealth came social and political conflicts
                                a. usually between aristocrats and increasingly numerous dēmos
                                b. in conflicts with the aristocracy, the dēmos could generally find aristocrats to lead them whom they respected and who wanted their support
                    4. as a result, Athens passed through several stages of political growth, beginning with monarchy and including both oligarchy and tyranny
                                a. eventually political power was extended to all adult male citizens, with aristocrats becoming leaders instead of rulers
                    5. The Persian Wars
                                a. in the sixth century BC, the Persians had conquered a realm that stretched from the border of India to the Nile and the Aegean
                                b. now the empire was within striking distance of the Greeks, and Persia conquered the Greek city-states in western Asia Minor
                                c. when Athens aided a rebellion by these city-states, Persian king Darius sought to extend his empire into mainland Greece, c.494BC
                                d. the Persians lost the decisive battle of Marathon in 490BC
                                e. then in 480BC, the Athenian navy crushed the Persians at Salamis, and the Spartans faced the Persians on land at Thermopylae and then at Platea
                    6. when final peace was made with Persia in 445 BC, Athens was the controlling power of the Aegean Sea
                    7. after Persia’s defeat, Athenian democracy entered a “Golden Age”
                    8. the workings of democracy
                                a. a Council of Five Hundred and roughly one thousand public officials were chosen annually by lot
                                b. chief military officers, the Ten Generals, were chosen each year by vote of the male citizens
                                   c. adult male citizens were a minority of the population of Athens
                                            i. the rest of the population was composed of adult female citizens, adult noncitizens, and children
                                            ii. adult male citizens probably made up no more than one-fifth of the total adult population
                                            iii. the remaining four-fifths had no say in government
                    9. men and women in  Athens
                                a. women were highly visible in religious affairs
                                b. not much is known of women’s life lower down the social scale or outside the city
                    10. slaves
                                a. were a diverse group; not all of them lived lives of total subjection and powerlessness
                                b. most slaves were non-Greeks, or the descendants of non-Greeks
                   

LO1; LO2; LO3

3500 BC: Megalithic structures were constructed
2500 BC: IE nomads; steppes migrated to Europe
2200 BC: Minoan Civilization took root
1600 BC: Greek chieftains established settlements
1400 BC: Rivalry ended with destruction of Minoans (mystery); "sea people" destroyed the Minoans

Stonehedge

• most famous megalithic structure
• used as a calendar and religious

Barbarian way of Life

• put all belongings with dead
• war-like people
• women could go to war for care or encouragement
• Barbarians came in contact with everyone; learned what they saw from everyone else (very beneficial)

Geography of Greece

• 3/4 mountainous
• Ionian sea is to the west and Aegean Sea is to the east (trade, food, sailing, etc.)
• poor natural resources
• hard to unite Greeks because they were so spread out
• Crete was to the south
• Peloponnesian Peninsula (Sparta)

Tribes

• groups of people
• connected by culture, tradition and common interest
• you could leave a tribe

-Mediterranean (middle of Earth)

-Acropolis is the hill, not the Parthenon structure on of it

-Main wealth came from farming

-had lots of timber and metals

-Minoans civilization arose in Crete in 2200 BC (wealth came from surrounding seas, most trading was with Egypt)

-Mycenaean civilization arose about the same as Minoan; crashed same time

-Big Rivalry

Buried rulers in huge, stone-lined underground chambers

Dark Ages

• started with crisis downfall of Hittites
• no one knows what happened
• Greeks survived the Dark Ages
• There are no written records

Renewal of Greek

• grew in 800 BC so much that they ran out of their supply
• Olympics-stopped for thousands of years
• started to adapt and migrate and learn from civilizations before themtribal communication develped into city-states
• fortresses and temples are extremely important

Greek City-States

• small and more like a county than anything

Hoplite: men-at-arms

-Greeks 1st city states developed same time Assyrians were reaching for power west from Mesopotamia

-the army's solider's were citizens who could afford it

-soldiers were treated better than they are now-a-days

Government

• Sparta was an Oligarchy
• Social conflicts could lead to emergency of a tyranny
• common people too big and active to ignore
• Greeks gave more voice to the people
• Triremes
• women have a lot more rights in Sparta than other placesb

Review Test

We reviewed the test today and I got about 5 wrong or so, and on the essay I got 19/20.  While doing so we got yelled at kinda harshly.  After that we worked on our PowerPoint and didn't get really far.  Julia and I are doing the one that's government officials.  We didn't actually have time to write on it but we did read the section.  Homework is to finish the PowerPoint by Monday's class.

LO2

Mr. Schick wasn't here today, our sub was the librarian.  We just worked on some more of the PowerPoint.  We got a good amount of it done, but it was difficult to do since two of them didn't have computers to work on.

Power Point

All we did in class was work on our PowerPoint and I didn't have to do too much because in my off mods I completed two slides.  The thing I mainly did was look for pictures to put on it and help Julia out with her slide.  I also switched the design so it is prettier.  Max, David and Hayden still had to do their slides.

Missed Half the Class

I didn't take many notes today in class because I had to see Mr. Ireton (All is well).  We went over chapter 3 that we all read over the weekend.  We took notes from the screen and what I got was: the Greeks were from 2200-400 BC.  An Acropolis is basically a structure at the top of a hill.  Some important dates are that in 3500 BC Megalithic structures were basically found and formed.  An example of a Megalithic structure are the stonehenge.  We talked for a long time and had a lot of theories ranging from Carving them out of a mountain to aliens to Mammoths lifting them, yet no one theory though of by any body in the whole world has yet to makes sense.  We just can't figure it out.  So I guess it will just be one of those things that we never know.  In 2500 BC the Indo-Europeans migrated, and in 2200 the Greeks arrived in South East Europe.  That's all the notes I got today, I was going to borrow Savannah's note book but I completely forgot.  When I did get back we're working in groups on a powerpoint about the Greeks.

Greeks

Barbarian:  A member of a community or tribe not belonging to one of the great civilizations.

Megalithic: Denoting prehistoric cultures characterized by the erection of megalithic monuments

Tribe: A social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious

Indo-European: Ancestors of Greeks and Latins

The Greeks were one of the earliest civilizations.  The are greatly known for their accomplishments, structures and life styles.  Greeks were one of the very first barbarians, soon they started to migrate more towards the southeastern area of Europe.  This was around the time 2000 BC.  The Greeks were wealthy, held a high status and were independent.  Most of the structures that they built, are still standing today (even though they had gone through so much bad weather and others trying to destroy/ruin them).  These megalithic structures were starting to be built around the year 3500 BC.  The Greek's classic civilization emerged close to the year 800 BC.  When a solider died he would be laid next to his wife and his items such as horse chariot and other items would be buried with them.  I think that's stupid to kill a horse for that reason though.  Smaller tribes started to answer to a larger city.  From what the Greeks accomplished, they helped shape the future and their ways gave others a foundation also. 

More Egypt

Slaves were in charge of helping out the wealthy, and they raised wheat, barley, lentil and onions.  The artisans made lots of stuff, from kitchen-ware to battle attire.  People bartered things, and soon it turned into coins representing things.  The Egyptians soon became really curious about they body.  They knew what the lungs and heart were, as well as their function.  But they didn't know much about the head/brain much at all.  They just thought it took place in the chest area.  Pharaohs were the leaders politically and religiously.  Hatshepsut was the first woman pharaoh and Cleopatra VII was the last (woman and pharaoh in general).  The temples used to be all shiny and pretty.  The temple of Amon is still the worlds largest religious building.  The Egyptians also built sailboats!  Paypyrus was paper back then that they made out of the Nile's supplies.  Gods and Goddesses in their time controlled their lives and were half human, half animal.  There are over 2000 of them!  Maat means harmony, basically the same thing as Nirvana.  Good to know: Woman could divorce her husband, and she could inherit land and money.  Something nasty to know: Pharaohs would sometimes marry their sisters.  Hieroglyphs and Hieratic were types of writing, hieroglyphs was more drawing, and hieratic was more actual letters.  We watched a mummification process thing and it was very interesting.  It took them about 40 days to dry out the body with salt.

Pyramid

There was a Pyramid website game thing that we did in class today.  It was pretty dificult and I could not seem to get it.  My partner though, Alex finally at the end managed to get it.  It was so agravating!  I never completed it though, I don't care though, it just made me angry.  He explained to us that whoever got first, got a 100%, second 90%, 3rd 80%, and everyone else got a 70%.  Makenzie and Sydney got first, someone else got second and Julia and Drew got third.  Then, he announced that whoever got finished in class after second place received an 80%.  We did! 

Oh My Goshes

We did so badly on the test compared to the other sections.  The one was 80, the other was 75 or something like that, and ours was a 52 I believe!  Holy cow, I mean I got an 80, but still.  Kelley though, was the only one to get a 100%! You go Kelley.  Anyways, we got through some of this Prezi.  It was about Egypt.  Egyptian life is centered all around the Nile River, and the satellite picture we looked at showed greens stuff, and that was where people had settled along the Nile.  It was crazy looking.  Water was used for bathing, drinking, irrigation, and transportation.  Also, Every June the Nile floods, and so in October everything is super fertile, the soil in that stage is called silt.  They got smarter so when it flooded they would create pathways for the water to flow so it wouldn't destroy all their crops.  That was a technological breakthrough, and is one of the ways to manage a river.  Mentioned was the Great Sphinx of Giza/Pyramids, I had no clue that they were all shiny and pretty when they were first completed.  This Pharaoh wanted to get in and no one, still to this day has found the secret rock on the outside of the Pyramid that opens a hidden pathway.  (That sounds SO cool).  So the Pharaoh guy ordered to have a hole bashed into the side so he could look for his stupid treasure.  Anyways this idiot never found his treasure.  In fact there are many, many pathways and tunnels inside that lead to chambers of dead important people.  Plus, everything is dark.  Although, people have found little notes on the sides, hidden in the corners how the people built it wrote about how amazing it is.  Speaking of which, I was always told that the Pyramids were built by slaves, but instead it was built by people who wanted to build it.  It was basically community service.  It took a long time to build, roughly 27 years, from the years 2555-2532 BC.  The oldest monumental statue in the world, and it has a lion with a human head, sadly though, some dummies shot the nose off.  We managed to get down at the end of class the order of people back then.  It was: Pharaoh; Government Officials-Nobles, Priest; Soldiers; Scribes; Merchants; Artisans; Farmers; (and last but not least) Slaves and Servants.

LO-3

So we went into the wrong classroom today.  But Martha told us to switch.  Anyway we started reading the section and taking notes.  We read about the Steppes-cast semiarid grasslands or plains.  All present day languages derived from the Indo-European people.  The only thing that separated the Indo-Europeans from South West Asia was the horse.  The Indo-European people revolved around the horse.  In 3800 BC, the horse was for meet and its hide.  3500 BC, it was used to harness with the wheel, and was worked, and then in 1200 BC it was bred to be better and stronger.  This is when the Steppe people would learn to ride it.  The longest lasting Indo-Europeans were living in the Hitties.  This place was prosperous because its abundance of copper, silver and gold.  Sadly though, it was lacking in tin.  Around 1600 BC the kings dominated most of Anatolia.  The area was split into two lands.  Also, the Nile is about 4,000 miles long.  Thankfully, finally some place gives us recognition, women were highly looked upon! WHOO! The Pharoah had many wives, and they were all wealthy.  Also, the Egyptians were highly concerned about the after-life because they would be eaten by a monster if they didn't pass the test.

Maps and Stuff

So we were looking at Tigris and the Euphrates from way-back-when and where they were on the maps today.  It's mainly Iraq, Syria and Turkey.  Apparently the bloodiest war in the world currently, is going on the Syria.  They leader is trying to keep his place as leader.  Sumer is in between the Tigris and Euphrates river.  Another thing that increased the population is irrigation techniques.  When we were talking about lots of people and how they were becoming more civilized, I picture around 10,000, at MOST.  Instead though, there was about 40,000 people.  We briefly talked about Cuneiform which was the earliest writing ever, it took us many many years to figure out what it meant in today's world.  The places were divided into city-states.  Also, with better food storage, comes better professions.  City-states is when rules and guidelines started coming into play.   The gods that they worshiped were not people, but forces, like the sun or rivers.  Also the Sumerians were the first one to create the time: 1 hour = 60 minutes, 1 minute = 60 seconds.  Also they figured out the patterns with the moon cycles and basically created months.  There is a temple on top of a "mountain" of Earth called the Ziggurat.  Lastly we talked about the "Epic of Gilgamesh" it was the great flood that occurred and covered the whole Earth.   This is basically the flood with Noah in the bible.  They sort of copied them (something like that).  Mr. Schick said that scientist believe that there was never a time when the whole Earth was covered in water.  Oh well.  Somewhere in between all of that an announcement was made saying that we would be leaving school 2 hours early.  Best news I got.

So Cold

It was really cold so I got my sweatshirt.  Because of that I missed a little bit of the PowerPoint.  From the little we went over, we talked a bunch about what is the largest city not by any water.  The city turned out to be Indianapolis.  No one guessed it, I believe someone even shouted Salt Lake City.  Also, the population not only went up because of the time people had but because there was less infant mortality.  For a community to feed everybody, the environment would have to be completely changed.  Surplus' help everybody in so many ways.  We did go through the movie some more.  Farming is super hard, and the video said that is why people enslaved others.  The life of herders apparently getting the "short end of the stick".  Apparently, people now are digging oil and making it into fertilizer.  Someone also said that agriculture was an accident.

Origins and Ages of Humans

We took notes on a PowerPoint that was shown today, and from the notes I took and seeing how many slides we looked at, there wasn't a whole lot of information that was taken down.  (Or information I gathered because I went to the bathroom).  200,000 years ago was when the first people evolved (estimation).  14,000 years ago was the human race.  I don't really understand the difference between the two.  Neolithic is new and the "Pae" is older.  When the Neolithic Revolution started, there became hierarchies, and sadly, the status of women lowered.  People had more time to do things in a community, so they started to thing about Gods, and the populations rose.  We did watch a video today that have John Green in it.  Never heard of him until today, but he's a smart guy, wrote several books.  He figured out that to buy a 99 cent double cheeseburger, all you have to do is work 11 minutes on minimum wage to make that kind of money.  Also when the nomads were around, fishing was popular because they didn't eat you and there was also a lot of them.  Mr. Schick feels Jared Diamond left out the part how people tended to be near water.  Also the bones and teeth of people way back when, were healthier and stronger than those nowadays.  We had to stop because of the bell after that.

Was Jared Diamond Correct?

The theory Jared Diamond has is that a country's progress was shaped from the beginning by geographical luck.  Was he on track with this?  I would say yes, and so does our Western Civilizations book.  The books says that every country, city, village, etc. all started out in the Paleolithic Age, basically hunters and gatherers.  The people had to go from place to place searching for food and a safe enough place to stay for the time being.  They then developed more into the Neolithic Age where they instead started to settle in one place and not move around as much.  It's not like the people settled in a desert with no resources around, they would probably find places that were resourceful and plentiful.  This is an example of Jared Diamond's theory, geographical luck.  The textbook said how when they settled down the families and individuals were given social statuses and value within the home.  Also, discoveries are made in which large building were once standing.  Too big to be a house, with the layout of a temple.  Polytheism was able to be practiced to protect the community and watch over the people.  This shows how certain civilizations were more advanced than others.  Basically, when people stopped running around and being unsure of what or where their next meal was coming from or where they would sleep, a social ladder came into play.  Because they women were the ones to have children they had to stay in and around the house for the majority of all their time.  This left the men to have more of a say in what the community as a whole would like.  This has also carried over into today's world in certain ways.  The Fertile Crescent was what Jared Diamond spoke lots about, and it was also on about the same latitude, because they shared similar climate, and the same crops were able to grow there.  In the book, Mesopotamia and Egypt were very prosperous, this is led to believing that Jared Diamond was correct and because these cities were all in the same latitude, they were given a head start from the rest of the world.