Brysen Western Civ Blog

Today in Western Civ we got handed a paper that Mr Schick himself did not complete and did not have any answers to provide for us, so we had absolutely no idea what we were doing then towards the end we went over the worksheet and found some answers but not all of them and some of the ones we didn't have was number 11 on the back relating to some British guy that found something but Mr Schick said it wasn't relevant to know that because it is "probably sitting in some British museum instead of an Egyptian museum where it belongs." The answers we did get was the front page cause it was just definitions and one of the words was Ka which means "eternal life". That was our interesting Western Civ class thank you.

Pg. 41 1, 3, 4, 5 1. delta- Delta is significant because its where the soil is best for farming goods    Narmer- The king who unified lower and upper Egypt.     Theocracy- Pharaohs were thought to be almost splendid  and powerful as the gods of the heavens.     pyramid- The resting place after Kings died of the Old Kingdom.     mummification- Royal people and elite people would get mummified so their bodies didn't decay.     hieroglyphics- Writings were key to the growth of Egypt civilization.     papyrus- Made papyrus to write important things on that could tell us what life was like back then.     3. The invaders were unable to infiltrate due to desert conditions which became the security for the Egyptians. 4. Egyptians view the Pharaoh as "God" 5. They believe in life after death, also they believe their king rule after death.

Today in Western Civ, we went over the test in Mesopotamia and took notes on it. Some notes we took to review the test; -cuneiform; earliest form of writing -fertile crescent- Euphrates and Tigris river flooded and left really good soil from farming and water. made up of modern day Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey - city-state; government set up to rule a particular city and surrounding areas - dynasty; rulers are family - cultural diffusion- spreading of cultures beliefs, ideas, and practices -irrigation; control water to people -polytheism- belief in multiple Gods -monarchy- government where one king rules -Ziggurat- place of worship- also a city hall -Silt- rich soil from flooding - Gilgamesh- King the epic story told about a big flood - Paleolithic (old age) hunters and gathers - neolithic (New Stone Age)- new tools- beginning of agriculture

Today in Western Civ we got out our blue Hammurabis Code papers and wrote down the code part of the question, after that we went in our textbook and took notes on pages 35-43 on Pyramids on the Nile. Some notes I took were; -the main idea was science and technology; mathematical knowledge and engineering skills -Egyptians built big monuments to honor dead rulers - many monuments built by the Egyptians stand as a testament to their ancient civilization -Egypt was united into a single kingdom that had unity, cultural continuity for 3,000 years Thats all the notes I got today because we ended up talking about sports and badminton for a while and then class was over cause we had a two hour delay

Today in Western Civ we talked about some of Hammurabi's codes, and did an assignment on the codes and what we would do in that scenario, for example; "A man who is accused of robbing a home stands before you, he is found guilty, what is his punishment? Syd and I said that he should pay for what he stole, and go to jail for a few months. We went over the rest of the scenarios and debated which one would be fair or good for that case. All we did in class was get yelled at for the first 15 mins cause no one would be quiet then worked together with people to do the " How would you handle Hammurabis code?", went over that, and saw who's was different and how different away the punishment was from someone else's punishment.

Today in Western Civ we went over more of the powerpoint in class and took more notes, some of the notes we took today included; - the worlds first surviving story was the "Epic of Gilgamesh" which told the story of the great flood and how the world was created - Sumerians created the concept of time like we use today - organized calendar based on the moon cycles - Ziggurat- Sumerian temple were religious practices were held and government things as well Civ in Mesopotamia -wandering nomads- herds of animals all over the place- south of Sumer in Arabia -2350- Sumer was conquered by Akkadians; Gods took place of previous ones - Babylon- King Hammurabi created a set of laws called "Hammurabis Code" At the end of class we went over the set of laws he set and talked about them how some of them were unfair or just crazy laws.

Today in Western Civ, we went over notes on Mesopotamia, but before that Mr. Schick yelled at me for not sitting in the right seat, but the notes we took were from the powerpoint and some of them included; - pre historic to civilization - before civilization was the prehistoric era- ages of human beings -200,000 years ago humans emerged as a species -14,000 years ago humans went worldwide and existed - first- prehistoric age- Paleolithic age (old Stone Age) - Neolithic age (new Stone Age)- advanced tool making - beginnings of agriculture -humans were migratory groups which hunted, fished, and gathered plants for food - Prehistoric era- the agricultural revolution -Neolithic revolution- shift from hun/gather to proper homes -population increasing because of a surplus in foods- feeds young children and so forth...

Today in Western Civ we took more notes from the book from pages 29-31 and some of the notes we took were; -2500 B.C. the pursan gulf was larger than it was today -Tigris and Euphrates have joined together and filled it in - to provide water Sumerians dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to fields -for defense, they built city walls -sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted tools - the main idea on pg 29, is it is the earliest civilization in Asia arose in Mesopotamia and organized into city-states -pg 30 Sumerians created city-states- advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and improved technology - 3000 B.C. - built number of cities - fields by barley and wheat - early governments were controlled by temple priests

Today in Western Civ we got our test back, and Im not as happy with my grade as I wish I did. I got a 87% could've been better but its fine. We went over the test and took more notes in class again, some notes I put down was twenty-five hundred B.C. the Persian gulf was larger than it was today- the tigris and Euphrates river have joined together and filled in the shallow area. Also Sumerians provided water by digging irrigation ditches that carried river water to fields,  for defense they built city walls. Sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted goods. We also started the class by everyone leaving to get jackets and now were ending it with uh this.

Today in western civ we took notes on Early River Valley Civilizations (3500 B.C.- 450 B.C.). Some notes we took in class was the time line on pg 26, - city states form in Sumer, Mesopotamia (3000 B.C.) - Egypts old kingdom develops (2500 B.C.) - Hammurabi develops code of laws- holds people responsible for their actions (1792 B.C.) - Inaus Valley civilization declines (1750 B.C.) -Zhou dynasty forms in China (1027 B.C.) main ideas were; interaction with environment, power and authority (controlled by priests, military leaders, and/or kings) , science and technology. - early civilizations developed bronze tools, the wheel, the sail, the plow, writing, and math- spread through trade, wars, and the movement of people.

Today in Western Civ we took a test on guns, germs, and steel video, and I think it was pretty fair probably did pretty well but got a few wrong. The 14 domesticated animals I got like 10 but couldn't think of the others. The test was pretty cool though, just had highlighted key points in the video on the test, wish it was shorter but I think I did fairly well and it was pretty good.

Today in Western Civ we went over notes in class for our test on the Gun, Germs, and Steel video. We went over that Jared Diamond is a birdwatcher, biologist, professor, and does not take pictures of nature as a profession. We went over that a large population, advanced technology, and a well organized work force are all criteria of an advanced ancient civilization, we also went over the 14 domesticated animals. And lastly at the end of class we had a discussion about snow and how we should get out 3 hours early because of it, and how hard it was actually snowing.