Alexander the Great

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

"The Romans had a reason to visit the tomb of Alexander the Macedonian, who’s middle name was Megas, or Great. If he barely received in his twelve years between his twentieth years and before his death in the 33rd year (335-323) the most of the known world, Rome would hardly have nowhere to expand. "
(Alexandar Ciric, winner and god)

Alexander of Macedonia, called the Great, was the inspiration for many rulers throughout history. Many stories and legends about him are written. He was born on 356th BC. His father was King Philip Macedonian, and his mother was the princess of Epirus Olympics. When he was 19 years old, his father died and he inherited the throne. He was a brilliant military leader and his state was greater than any state which previously existed. Greece and Persia became his countries, but then he and his soldiers visited India. He came back because his soldiers refused to go further; this was because they believed that they arrived in the end of the world. Alexander died young, in his 33rd year, the 323rd BC.

Many think he is called the way he is (Alexander the Great) because he won a lot in battles like the Battle of Issus, Granicus, Hydaspes, and many more. However, his government fell apart when he died. But, he is also great for other things. He helped people and culture of his time become closer and more familiar to each other. He established new towns and changed their form of government and thus helped the country prosper and be enriched. Thanks to Alexander, people from Europe have arrived in areas where they previously haven’t been to, and they got a chance to meet new plants and animal species. In all these ways Alexander's conquests changed the history and influence what was happening later. That is why Alexander is Great, even though his large state quickly disappeared.

My story of an Ancient Athenian Woman

               A day in the Life of an Ancient Athenian Woman.

"I'm so happy! I'm very delighted that I have to do the chores and the cleaning around the house! This is a miracle!" Mera seemed quite excited to start off her new life as a 14 year old woman in the early morning. "When is it going to happen? When am I getting married!?" Not only was she excited to be cleaning the house, but she was also getting married. That is, to a very rich and brave man. This means that she would be living in a huge household, where she can bring in her large dowry, which would then be managed by her future husband, eventhough he never owned it, and had to return it in its entirety in case they would divorce, but this is unlikely for Mera because she is a great civilized young women ready to do anything told.
"Come downstairs, Mera, someone is waiting for you!" Mera was so pleased she was about to faint. She rushed downstars and saw her future husband- He was very short and bald, and ugly. "But pappa, why do you choose him? I know much better men than him!" Mera complained. "I'm sorry, Mera. But I had to make this decision because I know he would make a great husband and my son-in-law, and he is also very rich!" Mera didn't seem to look like she loves him, but loving was not very important in Athenian marriages. The important thing is that marriages were based on the prospect of a good relationship for the future. Mera was sure that love and respect between them were going to develop as time went by, she hoped and hoped. "Hello there, my name is Karl, are you my bride?" "Yes I am." Mera replied in an awefuly quiet voice. About half an hour later, they finally got married and settled in their house.

Both of them were observing, until Karl called for Mera. "Mera! Where are you, my wife!?" "I'm coming, my husband!" Mera replied to Karl's urgent call. "I must go sail and hunt some animals for food! After that I will go trade some of our belongings with other people!" Karl had alarmed her. "Good, my husband." Mera replied. "I will see you at the end of the day." Karl rushed out the door leaving Mera along at home. "This is great! Now I get to run the house!" Mera thought. She sent one of her slaves in the house to the market to buy some food, because she wasn't allowed to get out of the house. The slave bought milk bread, rye bread, wheaten bread, and brown bread. She also asked him to take some farmhouse bread from their garden full of crops. That was enough bread for three meals today.

In the meantime, when Mera had nothing to do after her work of cleaning and sewing, she decided to go upstairs and make herself a new shirt- she was indeed running out of clothes. Her new shirt was made out of wool and linen. She thought that it would be nice to have a bright green shirt, so she decided to dye it out of a plant. When she was satisfied with her new shirt, she moved on to making her hair look good. Firstly, Mera took her long hair and braided it, and then put it on top of her head using headbands called  cecryphalaes. She used waxes and lotions in order for her hair to smell good and pleasant.

A couple of hours later, Karl had arrived home. He had started a fire outside in order to bake the meet he had hunted in the forest. Of course, he invited some visitors in the house so that he wouldn't eat all by himself. When Karl finished baking the meat, he went to the hallway (andron) with his visitors and Mera went to eat in the living room (aule) by herself. When they had finished eating, the visitors left and the two couples went to bed and fell asleep peacefully.

The Spartan Way

"One visitor remarked that after eating the Spartan's food, he understood why they were so willing to die in the battle."
What did you think about when you first read this, lets say, quote? You can immediately imagine how they lived way back then, how they were treated, and especially how they ate. It doesn't seem very delightful according to the quote, right?

This article is about the way Spartans lived, their education, the way women lived, and of course how Sparta came to a decline.
Sparta was the most powerful city-state in ancient Greece for more than 200 years! This is because the warriors trained a billion times more than we do today for certain sports, and they were much more successful than any other city-state because they usually won in battles and wars. Spata was a secretive place run by olygarchy of rich families.The families in Sparta were very, very brave, they had strength, and they were fearlessness of death. This is what made them accomplish their goal. A perfect example of this would be the story of the boy and the fox cub. This indicates how the boy had lied that he didn't steal the fox cub, even if it meant he was going to die if they found out the truth.

The Spartan men had little time to spend on education and learning, unlike Athens who were aming to become scholars. It was certainly much more difficult for warriors to live because they didn't get to eat with their families; instead, they ate in the hallways with other warriors. And what's worse is that they had to walk barefoot instead of wearing shoes like we do today. Warriors spend almost all their time practicing for battles in gyms and other big places. However, Spartan men did lots of things during their free time. All their time was taken by choral, dances, festivals, feasts, hunting expeditions, physical excersize, and conversation. They had neighbors and slaves who were two groups of conquere people. Their free time was basically possible by those two groups.

The women, however, lived differently from the men. While the main job for men was to become soldiers, the main job for women was to have children. They say that only wealthy and stable women could give birth to strong babies. They were more free than other women in acient Greece. However, they did have to stay in homes, unless they had to go to special occasions of festivals. They couldn't wear jewlery, nice clothes, perfrume of any of that "overreactive fancy" stuff (That's how I call it).

After years and years, Sparta crashed Athens and became the leader of ancient Greece, while even later Thebes took over Sparta, which was kind of sad, if you had noticed how hard they worked and how much effort they put into everything.
By the time the Romans took over, Sparta had become a tourist attraction, where visitors came to see the site and the buildings and everything else.

All in all, Sparta was a very powerful city-state, one to remember for ages.

"Price, Sean. "The Spartan Way." The Spartan Way. Junior Scholastic, 2010. 174-79. Print"

The Ancient Olympics

                                                      

                                   The Ancient Olympics

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”
Knight, Theodore. The Ancient Olympics. The Ancient Olympics. Vol. 2010. New York.

My first thought when I took a look at this quote was that people don't need to win in everything and be perfect, the important thing is that they take part in it; because sometimes people may lose and then feel depressed while they have no idea how much more improtant it is to take part in something. The second part of a quote is just the same but in different words with a different example.


The article that I was assigned to read was fairly interesting. It talks about the Ancient Olympics, and how it developed over time until it was finally gone and destroyed by the Ancient Romans.


The Olympics was placed on a very sacred site- in a valley in western Greece at a place called Olympia (you can immediately guess it from the actually word: Olimpic).
Corobeus, the first to win a race in Olympia in 776 BC, was rewarded with a wreath of olive branches. Isn't that cool? Corobeous is very famous because he was the first runner starting at the Ancient Olympics.
Competitions at Olympus were very strict/serious- only wealthy people could take part in it. They had to swear that they had been training for 10 months otherwise they wouldn't be able to participate. They were also strict because women were barred not only as competitors but also as spectators, and if they didn't follow this rule, they could die. For example, one story tells how a mother of a young runner named Pisidorus was teaching him how to run and win when his father died. When he won, she was so happy, that she was screaming very loudly. So, of course, she got noticed by others. At this moment, I was thinking of how they would kill her, but when I found out that she has not been killed, I was surprised. Nobody knows why she had not been killed. Anyway, as time passed by later, the rules changed and women were allowed to compete and watch games as well.


As years proggresed even more, Olympic events increased more and more, but we still don't know when each event happens. Some of the events in the Olympics include Boxing, Pancratium, Wrestling, Running,  Pentathlon, Chariot races, Pancratium (a brutal sport), biting, kicking, gouging, and strangling. In the penthalam, people got injured quite a lot because contestants threw discus and javelin at. Records indicate that wrestling, boxing, and pancratium competitors had a lot of impatient and enthusiastic crowds. This is why they were most dangerous.


1. Wrestling: Wrestling back then was just like today, including three successful throws to win a match. Biting and genital holds were illegal though.

2. Boxing: Unlike today's boxing, there were no rounds and no rules against hitting an opponent on the ground. They fought until a man was knocked down, or when one man gives up.

3. Pancratium: This was a comnination of boxing and wrestling, because they were allowed to punch, but not too seriously like for examples using your nails to scratch, or hitting the opponenet's eyes or stomach was illegal.



Finally, when the Olympics came to a decline by the Romans in 100 B.C, Roman culture and belief replaced the Greek way of life. This is how it ended.

Greek Values

In the begginning, I thought that all of the Greek values that we studied are very important. When I first looked at them in my notebook, I was thinking of our school values, and I thought that they were exactly the same. But then again, they had different names, but almost same meanings.

What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?

The most important Greek values are Hospitality, Respect, Justice (fairness), Loyalty, Intuition, Ingenuity (which appeared to be on 4 excerpts out of 8), Teamwork, and Athletitism. The most important Greek values FROM the excerpts ware Ingenuity, Teamwork, and Athletitism.

• Ingenuity means skill or cleverness. This means that Oddyssey was extremely clever in each excert, he found his way to accomplish his goal, which was returning to Penelope. For example, in "Odysseus and the Cyclops," he killed the cyclops with his men, by shooting a branch into his big eye. After this, they headed back to the boat.

• Teamwork means working in team to survive and succeed. One example of how Odysseus and his men showed teamwork was in the excert "Odysseus and the Sirens." Stories tell that the sirens attract men each time they sing. Once the men get close to them, the sirens kill them. Odysseus wanted to hear the sirens sing so much, that he decided to make a plan with his team mates. He asked them to tie him strongly to a spot, so he wouldn't be able to get close to the sirens. This shows teamwork.

• Athletitism, means having the strength to do anything, because you have a sturdy and well proportioned body. Some examples of athletitism would be in the excert "The Archery Contest." When Odysseus arives from his 'long journey' he comes back to his home and finds out that there is an Arhcery contest. The suitors forced Penelope to marry the man that can string Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow from it. Nobody could do this, so when Odysseus had arrived, he did it, and of course, he succeeded. This is where he became king. Athletitism in this excert was used when the men used bow and arrow.

In what ways are early Greeks values found in modern society?

There are a lot of examples of how Greek values are used in modern society today. And some values are even very similar to todays values.
 For instance, Ingenuity is used in schools and jobs. In schools, you have to be extremely clever and find your way through in tests, essays and projects. This goes to jobs as well. Another example of ingenuity in modern society would be while playing a fun game. You're supposed to reach your goal and win. You have to be skillfull in order do this task.
Athletitism today is used all over the world. For example, sports. Everybody trains something, right? Volleyball, basketball, swimming, soccer, hockey etc... are all part of athletitism. Washing your clothes, running to the bathroom, writing intentionally fast, throwing a ball into someone's face, are also some examples of athletitism, because you use your strong muscles to cooperate with other things.
Teamwork is very important in modern society. It applies to everything that I mentioned above. ou can't succeed in a lot of things without teamwork. For example, working in a team sport allows you to pass a ball to your team mate, and win. Working with a partner to finish up a project also requires working in a team. However, a different kind of teamwork also exists. For example, if you want somebody to help you complete a task, you gather up and they help you.
Teamwork is the most common value we have today. However, athletitism and ingenuity don't really seem right if you were to use them today. However, in my oppinion, the meaning of those words are similar to today's.


So as you can see, the Greek values existed a VERY long time ago and still exists today. People use these values in many different ways- and every different way makes a difference in the world.