Giada's Honors Human Geography Blog

   Today in class, we read textbook pages on Egypt and took notes. We also went over the Egypt section of the powerpoint that also included Mesopotamia information. Here are a couple of notes that are important: Around 3100 B.C. the two lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) were united under a single king or “ pharaoh ” ( Narmer , AKA Menes ) The Nile river was the major provider of life for the Egyptians and was much revered in lore and writing Pharaoh was all powerful, worshipped as a god, and intimately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe, which they called “ maat ” (personified by the goddess Maat; ideological opposite of goddess Isfet) - kinda like harmony/balance of heaven and hell in Christian faith Egyptians believed in an afterlife ( ka ), and they mummified bodies to preserve them for this post-death journey All souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and be...

   I wasn't in class today because I had to go to a basketball game. However, today was the Mesopotamia quiz day so I came into his class during 2nd mod and took my quiz the same time the SuperWesternCiv class took their quiz. I thought the quiz was easy because I looked over my notes yesterday and had a good understanding of the topics we were discussing. I think I got an A on it.

   Today in class, we went over what we need to know for tomorrow's quiz. It is on Mesopotamia and I think I can do good on it if I look over my notes. We also listened to the Mesopotamia song and it actually had some good information in it. I remember listening to it in seventh grade and I love it. After this, Mr. Schick pulled up a video of this guy talking about the difference between baseball and football. I didn't really like the video because it was kinda boring. But then, we went to the YouTube channel for the broadcasting production crew Mr. Schick is in charge of. We watched these videos from like 5 years ago, which was fun. Mr. Schick pointed out this one girl in the video and told us that she was on American Idol. So, we watched her audition on YouTube and it was really good! Anyways, we ended class with a quizlet review that Dan made for the Mesopotamia quiz tomorrow.

   Today in class, we went over some of the terms we will need to know for the quiz on Mesopotamia this Wednesday. He told us that one part will be matching the term to definition and another part will be descriptions and we have to say what it is. This is all based on our notes from the reading we took last week. Some terms we went over include cultural diffusion, ziggurat, Hammurabi's Code, city-state, etc. I took a couple extra notes in my notebook while he was talking. This is what I wrote: New Stone Age (Neolithic Era) = advanced tools Old Stone Age = Paleolithic Era Political unit = city-state Epic of Gilgamesh = story of great flood (like Noah's Arc) Silt = Soil left behind when flood water is received 282 laws in Hammurabi's Code. Laws were posted on stone plaques all around the city-state A recent military attack occurred at the Tigris  river

   Today in class, we went over another slide in the powerpoint and took notes on it. We also talked about moon stages. The Sumerians invented a calendar based on the moon and thought of the concept of hours/minutes. A waning moon gets smaller (goes from full to half to crescent to nothing). A waxing moon gets larger (goes from nothing to crescent to half to full). The cycle never stops. Mr. Schick told us about how he helps his wife work with the horses. He told us how during a full moon, its brighter than normal and he can see the poop he needs to clean up better. When he was a cab driver in college, he would pick up people and they acted extra strange on full moons. Later in class, after we went over the slide, we talked about Hammurabi's Code and his concept "an eye for an eye". We all looked up a list of laws and we found some very strange ones. These punishments would definitely not be used in todays society. It was interesting to see how different the laws in Babyl...

5.   What areas of life did Hammurabi's Code cover? Hammurabi's Code covered everything that affected the community, including family relations, business conduct, and crime. Hammurabi's Code covered principles like the principle of retaliation and the principle that government had a responsibility for what occurred in society. These set of law/codes were made by collecting a bunch of existing rules, judgements, and laws into the Code of Hammurabi. It was formed in order to help unify the diverse groups within Hammurabi's empire.

PAGE 34 OF WESTERN CIV. TEXTBOOK NUMBERS ONE AND THREE: 1.) Fertile Crescent : A desert climate that dominates the landscape between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in Southwest Asia. The regions curved shape and richness of land is why it is called the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia : Land facing the Mediterranean Sea (between Tigris and Euphrates rivers) City-state : City-states included their own government and their own ruler (like an independent country today functions) Dynasty : Series of rulers from a single family Cultural diffusion : The process in which a new idea/product spreads from one culture to another. Polytheism : The belief in more than one god (Sumerians were polytheistic) Empire : An empire   brings several people, nations, or previously independent states under the control of one ruler. Hammurabi : He created Hammurabi's code and ruled the Babylonian Empire 2.) These were the three environmental challenges to Sumerians: Unpredictable fl...