DomBalzano

today we took notes on the video about philosophy. we heard questions that could not be answered such as is there anything in the world other than matter and energy? All of the questions made me think really hard and some of them just didn't make sense to me.

today we took notes on the power point about socrates, plato, and Aristotle. soon we will start our project on something to do with Greece. the project can be on Greek buildings, their government or their diet.    not exactly, but he did dream of having the sum of mankind’s knowledge easily accessed in one location he wrote extensively on such topics as… logic -- physics -- biology  ethics -- politics -- rhetoric motion -- theatre -- poetry metaphysics -- psychology -- dreams… and on and on... he also tutored Alexander the Great

today in class we took notes on pages 134 - 141 in the textbook while people finished up their tests. i learned about some of the Greek philosophers.   Socrates  looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked. the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking. Plato was a student and follower of Socrates he wrote out Socrates’ teachings, and described his trial in Apology Republic was Socrates’ discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written. Aristotle was a student of Plato he helped foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination his school - the Lyceum - focused on cooperative research - building on knowledge gathered from all over the world. 

today we had a test which I hope I did somewhat decent on. I realized after the test I mixed up the Adriatic sea and the Aegean sea. then we took notes on the Peloponnesian war. which was between Athens and Sparta. during the war, a plague swept through Athens killing 1/3 of their population.

today in class we went over the slides with info retaining to our upcoming test on Friday. we went over some leaders like solon and Cleisthenes. we reviewed the effect of the mountains that cover 75% of Greece. this geography has a big impact on their culture. they aren't able to grow all their food so they do a lot of trading with other places. 

today we got our group essay. my group got a 77% because our pictures didn't print on the paper even though they were there. once we fixed this it brought our grade up 2%, this amount brought my grade from a C to a B. now I'm not going to get in trouble for having a C. we found out we are having a test on Friday along with 2 tests in other classes.

today in class we took notes on the Persian war, we learned about the Phalanx formation, a  close-rank, dense grouping of warriors armed with long spears and interlocking shields, soldiers would advance slowly toward the enemy until they broke through their ranks. Greece was nowhere near as big as the Persian empire. the Persian empire had nearly unlimited men and resources.

today we took notes in the textbook on Athens and Sparta, and how they went to war against each other as well as Greece against Persia in the Persian war that took place in 546 B.C. 300 of the Spartans managed to hold off 7000 Persians for 3 days until The Persians found a route around them. all 300 of the Spartans ended up being killed in battle.

in class, we took notes on the Greek Gods and Goddesses. Poseidon (god of the sea) interfered with Odysseus trying to return home, Aphrodite (goddess of love) had lovers of both gods and men,  Dionysus (god of wine) was the son of Zeus (a god) and of Semele (a human princess). Zeus - ruler of heaven and earth; father of Athena; god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice. Had a temper and was known to hurl thunderbolts.  

Cleisthenes came to power in 508 BCE when he overthrew Isagoras. The way he ruled began the change from an aristocratic government to a Democracy. He created The council of five Hundred, A group of Athenian Citizens chosen at random. A citizen of Athens had to be an adult male property owner who was born in Athens. If you were born anywhere else in greece, you are a women, or if you are a slave you can not be considered a citizen. Cleisthenes was very rich, a part of the elite members of Athens. He saw the value of tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energies of the non-aristocrats.