Alexander the Great!

    Alexander the Great was in my mind a powerful, and truly great military leader. He had been taught about cultural elements from his professor Aristotle, who his father had hired. Though Alexander got his pining for power and need for it from his mother Olympia. He got courage, strength and skill in battle from his father.
Even though Alexander only ruled for 13 years (until he was 33) he still managed to accomplish a ton in those few years. As a start Alexander  began by turning Macedonia into a great military power when it started out to be a large city-state with little power.
At age 20 Alexander started ruling after his fathers murder in 336 B.C. Like I said he had great ditermination for building up his power, he murdered anyone who apposed him at the beginning of his rule including his baby step brother! Nearly all of the lands that Alexander conquered her named Alexandria, talk about being full of yourself.
Like i said before he was taught the importance of culture from a young age, Alexander the Great kept some of the peoples religious routines and language so that the people didn't feel the need to rebel. At one point Alexander the Great dressed in Persian uniforms to create peace.Also the areas that he took over he left a governor to help rule rather than taking complete power of all of them.
Over all I think that Alexander the great a was though slightly greedy about power, he still was a great leader who ran what he had control over well.

The Golden Age: A day in the life of an Athenian

The Golden Age in Ancient Greece was a time after the Persian wars when they were rebuilding they're city and extending trading routes, roads, and many more. The Greeks and historians call this the Golden Age.
I work as a Great Military Navel Officer. The Golden days have servered me well, we have conqueror many nations and city-states but today we are sailing home to celebrate our victory! Its early morning and i can here the men already at work rowing toward our home, Athens. We are still several weeks away and we can't even see its on the horizon yet but that does not down our hopes. The day is dull we have not seen anything but the vast blue sea, once we get closer to shore im sure that we will see other ships and hopefully no attacks but we could easily beat them with our flourishing navy.
By the end of the day my arms are soar from working on the deck and rowing i collapse into my hammock and fall asleep quickly as the boat rocks back and forth its a calm night. 3 weeks until we return i thought as a drifted to sleep dreaming of home.

The Spartan Way

Sparta was one of the most most feared fighting forces ever! Sparta had a most deadly rival and that was the Athens. The rivalry was so strong that they have legacies that are still shaping the modern world.

The reason that Athens and Sparta were such brutal enemies was because of how different they're city-states cultures were. Athens was where democracy started, meaning that citizens of all classes could vote on city matters. They had a rich area with great artists and educated people who brought about and built some foundations of the western world. Whereas Sparta valued they're war value more than anything. They're government was run by a few rich families as an oligarchy, they kept very few records, and were incredibly secretive.

From 600 BC to 371BC Sparta dominated Ancient Greece. During this time as well as time before their domination if you were a Spartan man when you reached age 18 it was required that you would become a soldier (it was illegal for a man to have any other occupation.) If a baby was born it had to be inspected, and if it didn't look healthy enough then it would be put to death! If you had passed the inspection and you were a boy then at 7 years old you would be taken away and have to live in the barracks with other boys your age and be trained to be soldiers.

Being miserable and uncomfortable, not having luxuries was very important to the Spartans. People say that they purposely made their food bad tasting! Something that i found very interesting was that both boy and girls were trained to be physically strong and fit, but for two very different reasons. Here is what the section says "While the main job of Spartan men was to be soldiers, the main job of Spartan woman was to have children. Spartans believed that physically fit woman had strong babies.

Sparta remained a strong city-state until Thebes crushed they're army and they never recovered. So along with its army its power faded away. Once the Romans took over during 146 BC Spartan had become quite a popular tourist attractions they went to watch "the little boys who could be whipped without showing pain." frankly i think it cruel but impressive i can't believe that someone would travel to see that.

The Olympics!

Archaeologists don't know exactly when the Olympics began they do however estimate it to have started around 776 B.C.E. The Olympics first started as a festival to honor the god Zeus. At first only male Greeks were allowed to participate; if you were a woman, foreigner, or slave you could forget it! Something that i find interesting is that for several centuries woman were not only barred from competing but they weren't even allowed to watch! However, some woman still tried to by disguising themselves as men, this of course was very risky because if you were discovered you would be put to death.


During the first decades after the games began the only sporting events were footraces soon however more sports were added such as chariot races, wrestling, boxing, and pancratium were some of the earliest forms of Olympic sports.
During the Games five days of continuous parades, feasts, and religious rituals were held. The Olympics was also a great place to negotiate treaties because many important people from many areas of Greece were there to watch.
During 100 B.C.E. the Roman Empire conquered Greece and took over the games. War and trade were more important the religious rituals so eventually the Olympics lost all its sacred value. As this text describes it "Contestants had once competed to honor the god and win their blessings; now they wanted to win for themselves. They began to demand prizes and money for competing. With money rather than spiritual rewards at stake, cheating and bribery increased among the athletes and officials. The games themselves became a brutal from of entertainment." I think that its horrible how in only a couple centuries a great and happy festival created to honor gods had turned into a brutal meaningless event. By A.D. 426 Theodosius II ordered the Olympic stadium to be torn down. For the next 15 hundred years there was no Olympics!
During 1863 - 1937 Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin began to try and reincorporate the Olympic games. Ever since the Olympic games have been going on in different countries every four years starting in Athens, Greece in 1896. The only time they have been cancelled is during World War I and World War II.

Bibliography:

Knight, Theodore. "The Ancient Olympics ." The Ancient World . 1st edition ed.
2010. Print.

Minoan and Mycenean Civilizations

A) Describe Both Civilizations

Minoan: The Minoan civilization developed in 3,000 B.C.E. They had a maritime culture fueled by many agricultural elements such as fishing, farming, local arts, and trade. As you may have guessing seeing as the lived on the island of Crete all they're trade was over water making them over time master seafarers, they set up trading routes with Spain, Egypt, and Asia Minor.
What was unusual about about this culture was it was egalitarian (men and woman had equal rights). Therefore both men and woman did all recreational activities such as singing, dancing, storytelling, and sports. The sports including boxing, bull leaping, etc... Opposite of the Mycenaean the Minoans were peace-loving people who were not involved in many battles.


Mycenaean: The Mycenaean Civilization settled in 2700 B.C.E. Unlike the Minoans they were involved in many battles, they told stories about great battles and unbeatable heroes. In fact many of today's Greek Myths come from the Mycenaean civilization. They had a good agricultural society farming grains, olives, and grapes mainly. Most men worked together to create a strong navy, archaeologists have found decorated uniforms, helmets, chariots, and advanced weapons in some tombs. They used horses as vehicles of war rather than transportation and farming.
The Mycenaean society was run as a hierarchical one with kings and military officers on top and enslaved war prisoners as the lowest of the low. Though there were some most artifacts depicted war scenes rather than religious or musical performances.


b) What aspects of both civilizations would you expect to survive in later periods of Greek history?

Well i know that even today some of the myths are still passed around in books and movies. Using horses and chariots for war, painting elements of daily life are still used today or up until the 20th century. The way they made clay pots and they're ceramics are still used as decorative art, having a polytheistic religion is still not uncommon, also using things like gold, bronze and beads to create jewelry and tools is definitely still in use.

Greek Values

a) What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?
Athletisism
Hospitality
Intuition
Inginuity
Justice
Loyalty
Respect
Teamwork
They were considered important because they were forged in the time of hero's and everybody looked up to the hero's how magnificent and heroic they were, so eventually they became the foundation of Greek society.

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

Today at ISB many of the Greek priniciples fit into the MYP principles such as communicative, knowledgeable, and many others . Also in our everyday lives we are communicative and knowledgble (sometimes) as we go about things in our work as well as social life.