First Day of Class

Today was our first day of Western Civ. I keep wanting to type Human Geo. But, it's pretty much the same class, plus and minus a few people. We actually have TEXTBOOKS now and I am not a fan of them but hey. Today was really pretty much like the first day of Human Geo- we made our blogs, talked about the course, and did the assigned homework. Also me and Lauren ate carrots today too. I guess this is a continuing thing?

Anyways,  for homework we had to read some pages in the textbook and write notes about them. Here are the notes I got:

Cultures of the Mountains and the Sea 

Geography Shapes Greek Life 

•  Ancient Greece consisted mainly of a mountainous peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea 
• also included around 2,000 islands 
• The sea shaped greek civilization
• they “did not live on a land but around a sea” 
• sea travel connected them with other societies, which was good because they lacked many natural resources 
• rugged mountains covered ancient Greece 
• the greeks had little, independent communities within the valleys and mountains 
• uneven land made road transportation difficult 
• land wasn’t good for water or farmland, causing a smaller population 
• Greece has a varied climate , temperatures averaging 48 degrees fahrenheit in winter and 80 in summer 
• men spent much of their time outside or in public gatherings 

Mycenaean Civilization

• some of the people that settled on the Greek mainland in 2000 BC were known as Mycenaeans , which came from their leading city Mycenae 
• the city was located in southern Greece, surrounded by a protective wall more than 20 feet thick , the kings of this city dominated Greece for a while 
• Mycenaeans came into contact with Minoan civilization 
• caused them to see the value of seaborne trade , to adapt the Minoan writing system, religious practice, art, politics, and literature 
• during the 1200s BC they fought with Troy (Trojan War) 
• this lead to many legends and stories such as the Trojan Horse 

Greek Culture Declines Under the Dorians 

• not long after the Trojan War, Mycenaean civilization collapsed 
• a new group called the Dorians moved in 
• spoke Greek dialect , far less advanced then the previous group, economy collapsed and trade stopped 
• greeks appeared to have lost the art of writing during this age , little is known about this time period though 
• Greeks learned of history through spoken word 
• according to tradition the greatest story teller was a man named Homer 
• some believed he made epics (narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds) , one was called the Iliad, influenced by the Trojan War 
• this epic showed the concept of arete- means virtue and excellence
• greeks developed a set of myths , or traditional stories, about their gods 
• Theogony by Hesiod and more of Homer’s work are the source of much of greek mythology 
• greeks tried to understand mysteries of nature and humanity, and things like the seasons through these myths 
• greeks attributed human qualities to their gods 
• one of the gods, Athena, was thought of the guardian of all cities