¨On your marks, get set, GO!¨ Ancient Greece invented sporting competitions as a way honoring their gods (22). The most notable of these were the Games of Olympia. These games, known as the Ancient Olympics, honored Zeus. Today, the Olympic Games are important to athletes and spectators all over the world! There is so much more to Ancient Greece than sports and Greek Gods! Follow me as we explore this ancient culture!
Areta (er-a-tay) is excellence. People of ancient Greece wanted to achieve areta to please the gods.
Schema Connection: For example, if you went above and beyond a homework assignment and got the highest grade you could, you would be doing areta.
Polis is similar to a Mesopotamian city-state. A polis is an independent city with the land surrounding it. For example, the polis Sparta is in between two mountainsides and there are no other poleis around. That means that Sparta had a lot of land for food and farming.
Schema Connection: In the Greek simulation that I participated in, the hills around my polis helped my group because they provided protection from the enemy.
Colony is a group of people that are far away from home but live together with the same political, economic, and cultural ties with their previous city. A colony is similar to the tribes from the prehistory unit. The only difference is that the tribes in the prehistory unit didn't live with political and economic ties from last place they lived in. They only lived with cultural ties.
Citizen is a member of a certain civilization. People living in Ancient Greece were most likely Greek citizens.
Schema Connection: If you were born in the U.S., you are a citizen of the United States. I am a citizen of the United States. A citizen has the right to vote and enjoy other privileges. For example, a person from the U.S. has the right to vote in elections. However, a person from Japan who is not a U.S. citizen cannot vote until they go through the process of becoming a citizen of the U.S. You have to legally be born in the place you want to be a citizen. If you are not born in a certain country and want to be a citizen you must take classes and pass a test.
Helots are people who were members of a lower class. This class was a a little better than slaves. Helots were a part of the unfree men slot in the social stratification. Helots were like slaves except they had a few more rights. They were owned by the state. It would be sad if someone came up to you and said you are not a slave but you are apart of the unfree men. If you were a man or a really rich person in the Sparta polis you would get a little bit of land with your own helot. I would hate to be a helot because every year kings have a day when helots could be killed without punishment. The kings would do this because they wanted to prevent a helot uprising.
Hoplite is a heavily armed foot soldier. The hoplite was armed with swords, spears, and shields. These foot soldiers were sometimes vulnerable to new war tactics that were created by other poleis. This was because the hoplites relied too much on their old tactics. Sparta had a full-time hoplite army and they were paid with resources that were taken from captured territory. Payment could be food or valuables. The Spartans had enough food to feed the whole hoplite army because they lived at the tip of a plain. The Spartans were set with their army!
Agora is like a town square. It has a jail, an assembly hall, a palace, and law courts.
Schema Connection: I have been to Trail Dust Town and they have a agora because there is a jail, courts and restaurants. Another example of a agora is in the Hunger Games. They have a jail, a court, and a peacekeeper house that is like a palace. There were many agoras in the ancient times. Now there aren't that many. An agora could also be used as a meeting place because there were also shopping markets.
Fable is a story with animals that have human traits such as talking, reasoning, and writing. A fable also has a moral to the story. For example, in the fable of the Billy Goat's Gruff the moral is don't be greedy. Most fables are made up.
Trireme is an old battleship created way before the motor was created. The trireme had a spot for 3 rows of giant oars on each side. This boat also had a sail for extra speed. I would like to ride on this boat because I want to see how fast this boat goes. I see why the Spartans were scared of Athens Navy because of these ships. These ships were also used as troop transports to attack. The trireme was not the best battleship because if there was not a downdraft, 18 people would then have to row a 5000 lb (approximately) boat. In my opinion, that would be very strenuous work unless the rowers were ultimate body lifters!
Oration is a formal declaration or speech. The art of performing a public oration was first developed by the Ancient Greeks. Ancient Greeks used oration to rally their troops, inform and entertain.
Schema Connection: For example, The Declaration of Independence was a formal declaration from the United States to Great Britain. It was telling Great Britain that the 13 colonies were free from the British and would not pay tax to them anymore. In the Greek simulation for Mr. Grobe's class we had to perform an oration. We could earn up to 500 points to put our polis in the lead by giving a speech.
Now let's explore:
Physical Geography
Universals of Culture
Government Types
Economic Types
Areta (er-a-tay) is excellence. People of ancient Greece wanted to achieve areta to please the gods.
Schema Connection: For example, if you went above and beyond a homework assignment and got the highest grade you could, you would be doing areta.
Polis is similar to a Mesopotamian city-state. A polis is an independent city with the land surrounding it. For example, the polis Sparta is in between two mountainsides and there are no other poleis around. That means that Sparta had a lot of land for food and farming.
Schema Connection: In the Greek simulation that I participated in, the hills around my polis helped my group because they provided protection from the enemy.
Colony is a group of people that are far away from home but live together with the same political, economic, and cultural ties with their previous city. A colony is similar to the tribes from the prehistory unit. The only difference is that the tribes in the prehistory unit didn't live with political and economic ties from last place they lived in. They only lived with cultural ties.
Citizen is a member of a certain civilization. People living in Ancient Greece were most likely Greek citizens.
Schema Connection: If you were born in the U.S., you are a citizen of the United States. I am a citizen of the United States. A citizen has the right to vote and enjoy other privileges. For example, a person from the U.S. has the right to vote in elections. However, a person from Japan who is not a U.S. citizen cannot vote until they go through the process of becoming a citizen of the U.S. You have to legally be born in the place you want to be a citizen. If you are not born in a certain country and want to be a citizen you must take classes and pass a test.
Helots are people who were members of a lower class. This class was a a little better than slaves. Helots were a part of the unfree men slot in the social stratification. Helots were like slaves except they had a few more rights. They were owned by the state. It would be sad if someone came up to you and said you are not a slave but you are apart of the unfree men. If you were a man or a really rich person in the Sparta polis you would get a little bit of land with your own helot. I would hate to be a helot because every year kings have a day when helots could be killed without punishment. The kings would do this because they wanted to prevent a helot uprising.
Hoplite is a heavily armed foot soldier. The hoplite was armed with swords, spears, and shields. These foot soldiers were sometimes vulnerable to new war tactics that were created by other poleis. This was because the hoplites relied too much on their old tactics. Sparta had a full-time hoplite army and they were paid with resources that were taken from captured territory. Payment could be food or valuables. The Spartans had enough food to feed the whole hoplite army because they lived at the tip of a plain. The Spartans were set with their army!
Agora is like a town square. It has a jail, an assembly hall, a palace, and law courts.
Schema Connection: I have been to Trail Dust Town and they have a agora because there is a jail, courts and restaurants. Another example of a agora is in the Hunger Games. They have a jail, a court, and a peacekeeper house that is like a palace. There were many agoras in the ancient times. Now there aren't that many. An agora could also be used as a meeting place because there were also shopping markets.
Fable is a story with animals that have human traits such as talking, reasoning, and writing. A fable also has a moral to the story. For example, in the fable of the Billy Goat's Gruff the moral is don't be greedy. Most fables are made up.
Trireme is an old battleship created way before the motor was created. The trireme had a spot for 3 rows of giant oars on each side. This boat also had a sail for extra speed. I would like to ride on this boat because I want to see how fast this boat goes. I see why the Spartans were scared of Athens Navy because of these ships. These ships were also used as troop transports to attack. The trireme was not the best battleship because if there was not a downdraft, 18 people would then have to row a 5000 lb (approximately) boat. In my opinion, that would be very strenuous work unless the rowers were ultimate body lifters!
Oration is a formal declaration or speech. The art of performing a public oration was first developed by the Ancient Greeks. Ancient Greeks used oration to rally their troops, inform and entertain.
Schema Connection: For example, The Declaration of Independence was a formal declaration from the United States to Great Britain. It was telling Great Britain that the 13 colonies were free from the British and would not pay tax to them anymore. In the Greek simulation for Mr. Grobe's class we had to perform an oration. We could earn up to 500 points to put our polis in the lead by giving a speech.
Now let's explore:
Physical Geography
Universals of Culture
Government Types
Economic Types