Nora's Western Civ Blog

I was not in class today because I have the flu.

Today in class we continued to read and take notes on our own about the pyramids on the Nile. I found and noted some new information today about the environmental challenges that the Egyptians faced and some more things about their culture. Here are the environmental challenges: When the floodwaters from the Nile were lower than usual the amount of fresh silt and water for crops reduced which caused thousands of people to starve. When the floodwaters from the Nile were higher than usual unwanted water came in and destroyed houses, granaries, and farmers seeds. The desserts on the sides on the Nile were natural barriers, but they forced the Egyptians to live on a small portion of land away from other cultures. From what I have read the Egyptians seem to be an interested people group with many amazing monuments but they also had major challenges.

Today in class we took our quiz on Mesopotamia and I think that I did pretty well on it. Then, after we took our quiz, you assigned us to read and take notes from the book about pyramids on the Nile.  The main idea for this chapter is science and technology and that the Egyptians used that to build magnificent monuments still standing today. Some terms that I learned from the reading were delta: a broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mount of the river Narmer: the king who united Upper & Lower Egypt   pharaoh: Egyptian god-kings  theocracy: rule is based on religious authority pyramid: immense structure made by Egyptians mummification: embalming and drying a corpse to prevent it from decaying  hieroglyphics: a flexible writing system made in Egypt papyrus: a writing surface made out of reeds The reading today was very interesting and I am interested to learn more about pyramids in Egypt

Today in class we spent time to review for the quiz that we have on Wednesday. We went over definitions for a city-state, silt, Hammurabi, Mesopotamia, Fertile Crescent, etc. We also reviewed all of the notes that we took off of the powerpoint that you made and the notes from what we read out of the book. We also listened to the song about Mesopotamia which was very interesting. We don't have this class tomorrow so I will have to spend time at home to study. I feel sort of prepared but I think that I need to study some more to get a good grade.

Today in class we continued taking notes from the PowerPoint. We talked about the civilization in Mesopotamia. We learned that there are still nomads wandering and driving herds of domesticated animals. We also learned that Sumer was conquered by the Akkadians in 2350 BC. Hammurabi was known for the Code of Hammurabi which included many laws some of which we talked about in class. Then we took notes on the expansion of Mesopotamia civilization. We learned about the Indo-Europeans and how they were people from the grasslands of the Russian steppe. They were warlike people and had lucrative trade in metals and also conquered all of their neighbors.

Today in class we finished our reading assignment and then started taking notes on your PowerPoint. The PowerPoint was about the transition from prehistory to civilization. We started by talking about the origins of human beings and how a species emerged in central Africa and how a worldwide human race existed. And then we talked about the prehistoric age called the Paleolithic Age and then the Neolithic Age which was the beginnings of agriculture. We also learned about the agricultural revolution and how there was a switch from hunting and gathering to more permanent settlements. We also learned some about Mesopotamia and how it was home of one of the earliest cities. We learned that it occupied the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates and the population was around 40,000 people.

1. Fertile Crescent: The Fertile Crescent is an arc of land that provided some of the best farming in Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia:  Mesopotamia in Greek means "the land between rivers." City-state: A city-state functions as an independent country with their own government and rulers. Dynasty: A dynasty is a series of rulers from a single family. Cultural diffusion: This is a process in which a new idea/product spreads from one culture to another. Polytheism: This is the belief in more than one god. Empire: An empire brings together several peoples, nations, or previously independent states under the control of one ruler. Hammurabi: He was a ruler of the Babylonian Empire that created the Code of Hammurabi. 3. The three environmental challenges to the Sumerians was that there was unpredictable flooding combined with times of little or no rain, there were no natural barriers which made the Sumerian village defenseless, and natural resources were limited.