Continuing with egypt

Today in western cove we continued to learn about ancient egypt.  We started by discussing their geography because that may have been the most important part of their civilization.. they were based around the Nile River and the fertile silt that it brought down.  In ancient  Egypt the people loved at most 1 mile from the river.  This is because that is where the fertility of the soil abruptly ended, and it was desolate desert.  Egypt was split into  Two parts, the southern portion was called up peer Egypt because it was at a higher elevation than the northern part called lower Egypt.  Upper Egypt only included the land directly around the Nile, but lower Egypt included the fertile delta at the outlet of the north flowing river.  These two kingdoms were unified under one all powerful god king in 3150 bc

The Test and egypt.

Today we took the quiz that we spent the last two days preparing for.  I knew the information well and because of that, I got 100% on the quiz.  We also started to read about the Egyptians who lived on the banks of the Nile, using the rich silt that was brought down every July by the regular flooding to farm their wheat and barley.  Although this flooding of the Nile was far more regular than the flooding of the tigeris and Euphrates there were still struggles with the river regarding the amount that it flooded.  If it didn't flood enough there would not be enough silt brought down then there would not be enough to farm with, and thousands of people would starve.  If the river flooded too much then it would destroy houses and the granaries that stored the grain to be planted in October of that year.

Reviewing for tomorrows quiz

Today in western civ we continued to prepare for the quiz tomorrow by watching the Mr. Nickey video, the EUphrates river.  I have seen this video before when we studied ancient civilizations in middle school.  though this video is a little goofy, it is useful to study and get stuck in your head so that you can remember it for the test.  I will continue to go over the PowerPoint and study tonight so that I can be ready for the quiz tomorrow.  I think that I should do fairly well on this test so that I can start the semester off with an A.  I hope that my grades in western civ will end up being as good as the a that I kept in human geo.  I will continue to study and do well in my social studies class in order to keep my grade up.

Preparing for the test

We spent class today preparing for the quiz that we will take on Wednesday.  We went over questions that will be part of the quiz.  two new questions were added in the time that we were in class.  these questions were, How did people learn about Hammurabi's codes?, It was posted on stone tablets all around the kingdom, and What is the soil that was left behind after a flood? Silt.  Another question that We had that I was unsure of was what was the name of the new era set aside by the beginning of farming, the answer was the neolithic era or the new stone age.  then the era before this where farming was not used to have a surplus of food was the period called the paleolithic era.  This evening I will continue to study for the test by going over the notes I took from the book and PowerPoint, and the PowerPoint itself.  Overall except for a few questions I feel like I will do well on this test.

Ziggurats and Hammurabi's code

Today in western civ we continued to study Mesopotamia.  We first took a look at the Ziggurats which qualified as the advanced technology.  These massive structures offered a place of worship as well as a massive place to offer sacrifices.  then we began to look at Hammurabi's code and some of the wild laws that were part of the code.  This code was made by King Hammurabi of Babylon who was not only a king but an accomplished military leader. these codes covered all aspects of life, including marriage and divorce, and all of the punishments for rich and poor, and men and women.   Also, Sumer was taken over by the Akkadians in 2350bc. Overall the laws that were made by Hammurabi were very interesting to go over with how specific some of them are, and it makes a person wonder how many times did all of these things that are written as if... then happened.

Hammurabi's code

The code was made up of 282 specific laws and codes that came together to cover all aspects of life in Sumeria.  these aspects include family relations, crime, and business conduct.  These laws were also applicable to men, women, rich, and poor.  Also, the Sumerians learned to do the math that helped them in architecture, and time with the   60 min hour, ect.  the Sumerians were also polytheistic and constructed large ziggurats to be used as places of worship.

Western Civ intro and the land of the two rivers

Fertile Cresent - The crescent-shaped fertile land that is facing the Mediterranian sea where the fist main civilization began, often called the cradle of civilization.
Mesopotamia- from Greek, meaning "the land between two rivers" refers to the fertile crescent and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which flood and bring the fertile mud to the crescent.
City-state- The city and all of the land surrounding it which came together to make the city-state allowing it to make large surplusses of grain and allow the state to grow.
Cultural Diffusion- The movent of ideas from one area to another that allowed places to gain new technologies and Ideas.
Polytheism - the belief in many gods, typically had one assigned to each force of nature.
empire - instead of all the small city-states, they are all united into one central empire together under one ruler
Hammurabi - A lawmaker from ancient Sumeriathat came up with Hammurabi's code where an eye for an eye originated.

3 environmental threats that the Sumerians face were the fact of unexpected floods that could come at any time, and then periods of little to no rain.  there was also the fact that their villages had little to no protection from outside forces.  Also, they have very little natural resources and few building supplies.