The Homeric Scriptures of The Greeks, Reading Questions

Ben Howson, World History per. 6                                                                       01/15/14


Homer's writings are Greek creation myths, do to the fact that other religions such as Judaism and Christianity believed that Gods came first, and then man, but Homer believed that man came first, then the Gods came in the form of man, man's image. Also Homer was talking all about life, and how the Gods came to be and all that. But he never even said any thing about the creation of the earth. He just skipped it, and went right into talking about the Gods.
The function of the Iliaid and the Odyssey was to give the Greeks answers about history, and to stop them from questioning many things. It made them feel very comfortable, and gave them something to lean on. It also gave the Greeks a great story to tell everyone. You could kind of call the lliad and the Odyssey the Greeks Bible.

I feel that Homer's work would still stand out from others, even they survived, and we had them today, mostly because Homer's work was really a foundation for all the Greeks, and it gave them a great story to tell others. So it was pretty much their bible, and without it they wouldn't be as great.
Homer's work was able to survive do to the fact that the story was very well told, widely spread, and many educated Greeks were able to memorize the whole story.  There were also many wrote copies of his work, that were kept in many places, and a lot of the copies were kept in places like Egypt, where the climate is very dry, and is easily preserved. That is how Homer's work was able to survive while many others did not.
The Gods played many roles in the lives of humans, but quite frankly the Gods didn't really like the humans that much, they hated them, and every day the Gods would affect the humans in some way or another, maybe by creating a flood or something of that nature. Every day the Gods were either aided or frustrated with the humans, and they weren't very nice to them either. So really the Gods were not very nice, and they were mean bullies that bullied the humans every day.

The picture above is an ancient  sculpture of Homer who wrote the llaid and the Odyssey.

Ben Howson, World History per.6                                                                   01,13,14
Thoughts and Reflections on: Greek Gifts

The Greeks were amazing people, who were very culturally rich, civilized, and sophisticated. They were really into Arts, such as theater and music. But the thing is that they never really shared any of their gifts with anyone else other than there selfs. When we think of the Greeks, we think of people who were missionaries, people who were on a mission to civilize, and improve others. But Peter Green agues, and says that they were actually very arrogant, that they thought that they were the best. He also thought that they were very condescending, meaning that they treated nonGreeks as barbarians and children, and that they were exclusive, not allowing other people to have influence on Greece, unless they were able to read and write in Greek.

Greek Gifts page 68 vocabulary

Ben Howson                                                                                                     01/10/14

Enclave- A portion of territory that is in or surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally different to the other territory.

Seleucid- A member of the Seleucid dynasty. 

Renegade- A person who deserts and betrays something, like a country. 

Idiosyncratic- A person or thing that is very peculiar or an individual.

Coinage- The creation or descovery of a new type of word or phrase.

Palatial- Some type of building that is very grand, and magnificent.

Peristyle- A collection of columns, that surround a space inside a building.

  

Globetrotting- A person who traves regularly, to many countrys around the world. They do this for pleasure.

Loci- Multiple locus.

Xenophobic- A strong disliking of people from other countrys than your own.

Iconography- A group of pictures on concerning a specific topic or subject. 

Thoughts and reflections on Greece, and Sparta and Athens

Ben Howson, world History per.6                                                             January 9, 2014

Thoughts and Reflections on: Greece, Sparta, and Athens reading.

Sparta and Athens were two city states in Greece, and the two were very different to one another. When thinking of their differences, I think of three big fundamental differences, and those differences being, government, way of living, and culture. 

Sparta was Autocratically ruled, which means that they were ruled by the military. So they had no rights, and were ruled by military, making the goverment very stricked. Athens was governed in a very different way, it was ruled by a democracy. That means that all of the citizens have full right, and equal justice. Also the goverment was payed.

The Spartains way of living, was all evolved around military. They were all warriors, and they lived in fear, and under control with stricked rules. They all surrendered their freedom to the war machine.

Again, Athens was very different, they lived in a place that was surrounded with diversity in occupation. They were honored in their talents, and in public service. They were into art, architecture, science, and many other things like math.

The Spartains culture was very barren, they were all about war, and into nothing else than war. They didn't really have much of a culture, they were very confined or limited. Athens was very rich in culture, meaning that they had many different things to do. They were very free and peaceful, and had a huge range in activities. Their culture is like a big melting pot, they were into things like plays, architecture, and music.

Like I said they are two very different places, even though they are very close together.  

The Greeks had some really great accomplishments, in the time that they rained. They were great at architecture, building statues, and were also very into their plays. Today if you go to Greece, you can still see the great architecture everywhere, even though they are ruins, they are still able to stand today. In Greece, there were many great artists, and you can still see their work in museums all around the world. But they were especially known for their statues, of kings, and many other famous peolpe who were very important in that time. The Greeks were also very into their plays, there are old amphitheaters all around Greece. We even have some of the old plays that were written around that time. Most of these things all came from Athens, becasue they were very into all of the arts, musics, and building. 

Today in America, we have many direct results of the Greek legacy. Our government is a Democracy, and we are full right citizens, with equal justice. This is a like Athens, because they also were a Democracy, and were full right citizens, with equal justice. But not just that, they were the creators of Democracy, and with out them, we would probably have a different type of government, or even no goverment at all. Our culture today is very a like what it was like in Athens. We are a big melting pot, with all different types of people. We also have a very rich culture, with many different jobs, and professions. I actually think that we are more a like to the many things that only happen in Athens, compared to what happens in Greece.  

Grisly Assyrian record of torture and death

Ben Howson world history 6                                                                    December 10, 2013

Thoughts and reflections on Grisly Assyrian Record of torture and death

Erika Bleibtreu 

The Assyrians were men who wanted to conquer much land, even the entire world if they could. They would stop at nothing to achieve this goal. They would put fear into the men that they were fighting against so that they would forever be remembered. They wanted people to fear them and quiver when they herd the word Assyrian. When they conquered the land that they wished to have, they would make the people there pay up and give the Assyrians money, food and any thing else that they wished to have, and the people would do this with ease, because they were scared of what the Assyrians might do to them if they did not do what they wished. The Assyrians would torture and kill people for punishment, and to also show the people what happens if you are to disobey the Assyrians. The Assyrians never wrote about any losses, they always wrote about victory. They would always write about all of their great victories, but never once about their losses, even if they had any or not. They would do this to again inflict fear into the people, and to make everyone think that they are unstoppable and powerful. They were very smart to do this, it made them look stronger, and it also made them feel stronger. 

 

      Picture of an ancient Assyrian carving of war.                       

Human Story 31-39

Histoy books would bother to include so much information about an obscured group of desert dwelling Nomads, well they do because for one reason, their story illastrates how their wandering peoples on the borders of the settled places such as Sumer, Egypt, ancient China, and the Indus Valley settled down. Their story illastrates this civilizating process. Another reason why, is because the religion of this group of seminomads, after they had settled down, later infuenced several billion people. That is why some history books bother to include information about a group of desert dwelling Nomads.

Moses making the pathway for all of the Hebrews to escape the Egyptian king.

Human story pages 39-47

History books do not bother to include so much information about an obscured group of desert dwelling Nomads, because we can not yet prove that this actual happened, because we do not have the enough information and proof that all of this actually happened in history. The main reason why we can not say that these events did happen in history, because the books that has all of the information in it, does not clarify enough to say that this happened. Thats why many history books do not bother to include all of this information that may or may not of happend. 

This is a picture of king Saul.