Caesar v.s Augustus

      Who was a better and more important ruler, Caesar or Augustus? I believe that Augustus was a better leader than Caesar because of the accomplishments he had and the ideas and morals he carried. Augustus was born in Rome on September 23rd, 63 B.C. He was born Gaius Octavius,  yet when Julius Caesar who was his great uncle died and he became heir to the throne because in his will Caesar had adopted them. He changed his name to Augustus in 27 B.C. at the same time he became Rome's first emperor. Augustus decided that instead of naming himself to be a dictator, he would create the principate, which was a kind of monarchy where one emperor held control for life. Through his life Augustus had quite a few accomplishments, though expanding the empire of Rome, and reorganizing all aspects such and the military and the government, Augustus was able to provide a new era of prosperity. This era of prosperity turned out to be 200 years of Pax Romana (Roman Peace) which went on until A.D 180. Augustus also set out to make an empire that was strong AND safe.. He created an army of over 150,000 men that was permanent. In addition to this there was the Praetorian Guard, which was a force of 90,000 men which were all guarding the empire. Through Augustus' reign they conquered Spain, Gaul, and what is now present day Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. He took Rome and rebuilt it adding palaces, fountains and public buildings, the arts also flourished during this period. Augustus also had a kind streak, he fed the poor, he also reformed the legal system so that there were new rules for non-citizens. Augustus also created the proconsul or someone who governed each one of Rome's provinces, these replaced politicians. Augustus died in A.D 14 after ruling for 40 years. His influences on Rome though were not forgotten, and he was worshipped as if he was a god. 

Was Caesar a Reformer or a Dictator?

      There is a lengthy debate about the question wether Julius Caesar was a dictator or a reformer. Historians argue over this point, both sides with valid arguments. Yet I believe that Julius Caesar was a reformer. I believe this because of multiple reasons, such as:
Caesar gained the loyalty and support of his soldiers by having leadership skills and strategy.
He treated the people that he defeated well, and on some occasions he even included them inside the government.
Caesar ended the corruption within the society of nobles.
We know that Caesar brought a sense of order and peace to Rome.
Cities that had been destroyed by the republic, Caesar rebuilt.
He took Rome and strengthened and expanded it
Found jobs for the poor
Granted citizenship to people outside of Rome, from other cities and states.
Through all these improvements and achievement, I believe Julius Caesar bettered Rome. He had ambition to some this might have been taken as a sign of greed, yet it was a drive to better a republic. 

.Geography and Climate of Italian Peninsula

          Italy is a long, narrow peninsula what is in a distinctive shape; that of resembling a high-heeled boot with it's heel towards Greece and it's toe as if it was "kicking" Sicily. Across the very top of this peninsula, are the Alps, these are the mountains which makes Italy cut off from the other European lands. This is not the only mountain range though, there are the Apennines which run on the east of the peninsula from north to south.
In some ways the Italian peninsula has similarities to Greece yet the Apennines mountain range is not as rugged.
Since Italy's mountains can be crossed more easily the result is the peninsula not being divided into many small, separate communities such as Greece. Also the farmland was better for Italy since there was flat land, and could support crops. With the farming, the population of Italy could be more. The climate of Italy was quite mild and throughout the peninsula there is mostly what is called a Mediterranean climate, yet where the mountainous regions are located the climate tends to be quite a bit cooler. The climate and the rich soil which is good for crops is what most probably attracted the first people to come to settle within Italy. These newcomers settled upon the hills and the plains. Within these people were Latins who would then develop Rome. Rome was developed on the Latium plain which is located in central Italy. This is around 24 kilometers up the Tiber River starting from the Mediterranean Sea. This was good for the Romans because it allowed them a close source of water plus a simple enough way to the rest of the world located within the Mediterranean. Yet this was all far so that Rome would not have to deal with the dangers of raids from pirates. This was substantial enough protection but Rome was also created on seven hills which were steep, so they would protect against any enemy attackers. Due to the fact that you could also cross the Tiber River quite easily, Rome became a place in which people who traveled north and south  within western Italy and merchants upon the west Mediterranean sea could stop. 

Blogpost #1: Legends of Rome

Describe the two legends of the founding of Rome. Then explain how and when
    Rome was actually founded. Remember to include at least one image!


The first legend was of was of twin brothers Remus and Romulus abandoned near Tiber River rescued by a wolf, but then raised by a sheep hearder, they then went on to build and create Rome in 753 B.C. Remus would constantly tease Romulus over a wall he was creating. Eventually anger bubbled inside of Romulus and he murdered his brother and he became then king of Rome naming it after himself.

The second legend can be traced back to to an epic by a famous Roman poet named Virgil. The epic is the Aeneid and is about the Trojan hero Aeneas. After the Greeks had captured Troy he sailed with a band of followers across the Mediterranean. After their extensive journey, they landed in Tiber. Then through marrying the local king's daughter he united the Trojans and Latins, which were the local people and he then became the "father" of Rome.


The actually theory historians believe in is that Latins lived in the area Rome was to be as early as 1000 B.C but in around 800 B.C to 700 B.C they banded together for protection, thus founding Rome.

Alexander "the Great?"

       The young King of Macedon was named Alexander "the Great" for valid reasons. He is a great historical figure and was a great ruler and conquer. It is true the Alexander III of Macedon was great but what actions built him up to achieve this title? First, some background on Alexander the Great, he was born Pella, which at the time was capital of Macedonia during the year 356 B.C in July. Alexander was the child of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias, his wife. An interesting fact is that Alexander's tutor was Aristole. When Philip II died in 336 B.C Alexander inherited the kingdom and throne, but to assure that this would be the case, he had all his potential threats to his title killed. This made sure that no one would challenge his leadership, meaning he kept a straight path for success. Extending an kingdom from Macedonia to India is not an easy task, it took great displays of military strategy. These strategies were so impressive that they influenced today's lessons in military. This is definitely a way Alexander the Great influenced modern day. A real great action that Alexander the Great would do was that he would actually be on the front lines during his battles, something that many rulers of that time did not actually do! Along with fighting along with his soldiers we paid them all for their service and supplied best equipment for them to use. He also led Macedonia is the journey to defeat Persia and was successful, but before his conquer he took over Egypt, which hated the Persians but was under their rule.  Age 33, 323 B.C is when this legend died of a fever, Alexander's life ended but it was not in vain because he had accomplished so much in his shorter life than many did in their long ones. I believe Alexander the Great was great because of the big influence he had in ancient Greece, and further. He took cultures and spread them around taking other cultures and shifting them around. He accomplished this so young showing us that age is also just a number.

Want To Know It. "Why was Alexander the Great so 'Great'?" Want to Know it. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 

     2011. <http://wanttoknowit.com/why-was-alexander-the-great-so-great/>. 

BBC Writers. "Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C)." BBC - History. BBC, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. 

     <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/alexander_the_great.shtml>. 

A Day in the Life: Ancient Greece

Talia’s feet padded on the smooth marble as she moved down the hallway. Thud, thud, thud went the rhythmic sound as she took each step. She could not be caught, if one of the slaves, or even worse her mother, found her she would be sent right back to the living room to sew or to the kitchen to attempt to create something palatable. Yet today was different, today she needed to get outside, so Talia set her sights on the heavy wood door and the end of the hall and continued on her way. When she got to then end she took a small breath and sighed with relief and with great strain not to make a single peep she slid behind the door like a shadow. Then like taunt rubber band being sprung, she was of, she ran weaving though the olive. It belonged to her father, a respected citizen it Athens, and along with the respect of her father there came the expectations of his family. These expectations were ones that Talia disagreed strongly with. Of course she would never voice these thoughts, but if society thought that at her mere 12 years of age she would want to already spend all her time sewing and cooking and then in a few years get married? Then society was wrong. The fire in her chest had been ignited, along with the dull ache of her legs, but Talia pushed through. As girl if she wanted to do something that only men were allowed to do she had to be better than the best. Finally though, she could go no more, the fire had become a full blown inferno and engulfed her body and Talia slumped down next to a big Sycamore that had grown up, as if it had been trying to reach Mt.Olympus to talk to the gods. She looked at the sun, trying to deduce the time and thinking back to what her father had told her, but was it East or West? North or South? She shook her head, erasing over, unimportant thoughts from her head. She needed all her focus on one thing today, one very important thing. The Olympic Games were a great celebration and everyone enjoyed them… well, everyone who could go. Anger bubbled inside of Talia, right near the pit of her stomach, she knew it was bothersome, but it was true, being a girl she couldn’t watch or, god forbid, compete in the Games. Yet she knew what she wanted and she had to come up with a plan. She got up to quickly from her sitting position and felt a brief moment of dizziness, taking a step back to regain her balance and then sprinting off again, back to the house. When she was back in the house, the sun had flooded into the whole foyer. Stealthily, on the tips of her toes, she snuck into her father’s room. It was a grand room, with a monumental bed in the center, draped with soft linens. Yet Talia was interested in something different, the closet. Inside she found all her father’s clothes, from fine cotton to her father’s night clothes. Talia grabbed a long, white tunic, and draped a stark, brown cloak. She then slipped on a pair of his rugged sandals and was off. She then went to the kitchen, moving quickly and swiftly, she found a boar, fresh from the market. It’s head was lolled to one side and it was hanging of a hook, and Talia made a face of disgust. She felt around and found it’s scruff, then started lopping of huge hunks of it. Taking the hunk of hair, she moved over to some clay pots, inside she found tough little pellets of mastic. She popped these in her mouth and chewed on them until they were sticky. Using the sticky mastic Talia made and almost, fake beard ensemble as a disguise. Satisfied with her work, she walked to the door. Talia silently stepped out of her house and turned onto the street, it was deserted. Of course, Talia thought, all the men must be at the celebrations and the women are at home, cooking, sewing, and what not.  So she quickened her pace and hurried down the dusty road. Talia heard the Games before she saw them, they must just only be starting she thought excitedly, but as she drew closer her heart started to beat fast. She had known what the punishment was prior to her plan, but it only started to sink in now. She could be killed, executed, for simply watching the games. So what? The thought shot up fiercely into her brain. She loved this as much as any man, and if she couldn’t do what she loved, she wouldn’t do anything at all. Talia mustered up all her strength and simply walked into the arena. The sound was deafening from the start, the roar of the spectators, like a thousand horns trumpeting. She scanned the rows for and empty seat and found one that was isolated in the back, perfect. The runners were lining up, some jogging in place, bouncing on their feet getting ready to go and the sound. At there it was, and they were of, and she watched them. Their limbs were glistening in the afternoon sun and droplets of sweat forming here and there.  Then as Talia caught a runner’s eye, she could see it on his face. It was the feeling, the feeling she knew oh to well. It was as if you were flying, as if it could cure anything in the world, as if you were free. She shared that feeling with him and him with her, an unexplainable bond. A tear, a single tear slid down her sun burnt cheek and dropped upon the open palm of her hand. She felt her heart soar along with the runner, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a man pointing and shouting, she had been found out. She looked up to the sky, and saw a bird swooping and dipping, chasing the sunlight. As hands clasped around her, yanking off her disguise and chaining her up, she smiled.

The Spartan Way

 Spartan Life
Similar to the ancient Greeks in Athens, the Spartans held certain traits or qualities that they thought there people should encompass; strength, deceit of an enemy, and a fearlessness of death. Maybe it was believing in these traits that made Sparta the most powerful city-state for over 200 years, but it was also because of Sparta's ruthless and all powerful army. Yet what was the reason for such a powerful army? The main reason for Sparta's need for an strong army was it's neighbor Messenia, and there relationship. When Sparta conquered Messenia, they gained control over vast amounts of fertile land, they then
proceeded to take half of all food grown by the people of this land. Logically, the people of Messenia were not happy about this treatment, so they rebelled. This sparked decades of conflict between the two city-states. This pushed Sparta to create a strong and "indestructible" army. Along with conflict between Messenia, Sparta also had a famous feud with another rival, Athens. With it's tough army to thanks Sparta dominated ancient Greece 600 B.C-371 B.C. Lycurgus, a great lawgiver, created Spartan laws that made it the all powerful city-state we know about today.
 Growing up in Sparta
Out of the men in Sparta, 10% were what were called equals, there job was only that but to serve as soldiers to the army. Through an equals life, every bit of it was controlled by the government or traditions such as, when the baby was born a city elder would inspect it and if there was signs that he was sickly, they would leave them to die on a mountainside. Another example, at age seven, military training began for boys and they were taken from there families. The Spartan military training was ruthless, a trainee was taught to listen and obey any order given and to put up with quietly or endure pain. Trainees were also not supposed to mak even the slightest mistake or show any sign whatsoever of suffering. "The boys also steal whatever provisions they can, there by learning how to pounce skillfully upon those who are asleep or keeping guard carelessly, but a boy is beaten and goes hungry if he is caught." There were other tough rules that the Spartan's had, such as luxury was looked down upon and the food actually tasted bad on purpose! A visitor who once came to Sparta once said, "After eating Spartan food, he understood why they are so willing to die in battle." Since the main job of a man in the Spartan culture was to be a soldier, the women had the task of having children. The women of Sparta had to be equally athletic as men, yet there were fewer restrictions for them then for the men. The men of Sparta, even though it was a though one, only had one job, to be a soldier. Since the city-state of Sparta was not constantly fighting in war, the Spartan men had a lot of free time, "Except when they were [fighting battles]" one historian wrote "all there time was taken up by choral dances, festivals, feasts, hunting expeditions, physical exercise, and conversation."
The end of the Spartans
 Loyal and powerful army and soldiers are what created the great city-state and it is said that "opposing armies crumbled at the very sight of Spartan soldiers marching toward them" yet this was because all the people knew that Spartan soldiers were expected to fight till death. Athens was conquered by Sparta in a war called the Peloponnesian war which lasted from 431-404 B.C. Athens, being conquered, lost the war and never managed to get back to the zenith it was at before. Yet good things do not last for to long, because than in 371 B.C, the end of Sparta's leadership of Ancient Greece came when it was dominated by Thebes.

The Ancient Olympics from The Olympic Games by Theodore Knight

Poster for first modern Olympic Games

The Olympics games originated in Ancient Greece and were originally made as a honor to the gods. They were held at sacred places such as in Olympia located in western Greece.  These games brought together all the people in Greece and united them as one. Winning was the ultimate honor. Even though these games were practiced before, the first official Olympic Games that took place were at an Olympic festival during the year 776 B.C. A man named Coroebus won a 200 yard, which is 180 meter, run. The victory of this man, sparked the official start of the Olympic games.  There were originally there were rules, to compete in the Olympic games you had to be a male Greek citizen, if you were a foreigner, slaves and women were not allowed to participate in competition. Even if women attempted to be a spectator they could be put to death. So women were so desperate to see the games, they even disguised themselves as men to get in!
   "One story tells how the mother of a young runner named Pisidorus did just that. When the young man's father died while training him, the mother took over the training and then attended the race disguised as a man. When Pisidorus won the race, the mother's cries of joy were so loud she was discovered. She was not put to death, however. To this day, no one knows why."
Yet by the 128th game women were finally allowed to participate and watch the games.  All competitors had to swear under an oath that they had been training for these games ten months prior to the actual games. Yet the Olympics were mostly for the wealthy, since they had to be able to provide for travel and, if they won, a lavish banquet for all. There were at the beginning, only few games that could be played at the Olympic games, but as the years progressed there were a variety of different things added. Things such as footraces, chariot races, wrestling, boxing, pancratium and tathlon. The Roman Empire conquered the the Greek Empire around the time 100 B.C, the Greek way of life and their games changed, the Romans turned them into something brutal, and the Olympics simply lost the whole idea of celebrating patriotism and religion." The Games themselves became brutal forms of entertainment." Some people started to complain about the simple prize of an olive branch for winning them games and money started to become involved. This sparked bribery and cheating in the games. The Olympics games had continued through well over 12 hundred years but it ended and then did not start until 15 hundred years after and was revived again by Baron Pierre and the first Olympic games in the modern world were held in Athens, Greece during the year 1896.

Knight, Theodore. The Ancient World. New York City: n.p., 2010. Print. Article:
     The Olympic Games 

Values in Ancient Greece

   What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?
      In early Greek culture there were 8 main values:
Athleticism
Hospitality
Justice
Teamwork
Ingenuity
Respect
Loyalty
Intuition
      When reading the Odyssey the most frequently appearing value was Ingenuity, it came up a lot through all the excerpts because a lot of plotting was done by the main characters. Yet Intuition was one that came up the least, it was only prevalent in the story of Odysseus and Circe. These values were important because they were what encompassed a good human, a lot like the IB learner profile we have now. A person who displayed all of these traits would be praised about becoming all you can become. They were also important because they became the foundation of Greek society, so that there was a goal for each person. This goal was each one of these values.

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

      Everyday in society there are things, that as a person you are expected to be, depending of you ethnic background and beliefs and where you live, these things or expectations are different. Some the Greek values though, can be seen in everyday life. One big one is Athleticism, we see it everyday around us whether it's in ads, or maybe a game on T.V or even in school. The Olympics, a series of sports games that started with the Greeks, even still continue on today. Being athletic is just as important today as it was for the Ancient Greek during their time. Other traits such as teamwork, respect and ingenuity, these are all values you can find in learning facilities. The reason for this is that these values often can be a part of a good student. Other values such as hospitality, justice and loyalty, these are traits that really are part of our mind set. Most people are raised learning most of these, and maybe that is how the Greek culture influenced todays modern world. The reason is that since I was little, things such as justice is right, be a hospitable host, or loyalty to your friends is important have been taught to me through medias such as television, books or even my family. These values surround us through everyday life, just as Ancient Greeks had stories from epics such as Odysseus and Circe, we have fairytales such Beauty and the Beast, which teaches us a Greek value, to be hospitable. The values have seeped into our everyday life, so that we also believe that a majority of these values should be goals to reach. 

Mycenaens and Minoans

Describe each civilization:

Water pipes at Minoan Palace

Minoans

The Minoan culture started on Crete, an island between mainland Greece and the Asia Minor, around 3000 B.C.E. Being first developed on an island the Minoans were masters of the sea, and from the art we can see that their culture included fishing, farming and arts. Also being people of the sea they were able to establish distant trading locations such as Spain, Egypt and the Asia Minor. They were a very peaceful culture, they had equal rights for both men and women, so that both gender could do the same things and the lack of protection within fortresses or war equipment also within their art there were no depictions of battle. During free time Minoans would do all sorts of things from dancing, music, singing or bull-leaping. Linear A was the early form of writing for the Minoans, and it was written in a linear fashion, and made up of pictographs. This language has yet to be deciphered. Minoans also amazed archaeologists with their complex water management systems; there was even evidence of flushing toilets in some Minoan bathrooms. The reason the Minoans were so important in the ancient Greek culture, was the influence they had on the Mycenaen Civilization.

Mycenaean Sword

Mycenaenas

Mycenaeans were established around 2700 B.C.E, in contrast to the fun and peace loving Minoans, Mycenaeans revolved a lot around battle, a majority of their myths are about Greek heroes and a lot of famous battles we hear of come from this culture. Another difference between this culture and the Minoans is that they had a style of writing named, Linear B, and unlike Linear A from the Minoans it was been translated and is the earliest known form of Greek. It was made up of a simple mixture of symbols and characters. There developed economy of agriculture was based on grains, grapes and olives, all the locally grown produce. Unlike the Minoans they weren’t expert sea farers but still did trade by sea with Egypt and Asia Minor, most of the Mycenaean energy was devoted to military and war. They took pride in their decorated uniforms, helmets, chariots and all the weapons. Also horses, as they were used as modes of transport during war. This is what the Mycenaeans thrived mostly in, often their palaces were surrounded by wall 23 feet thick and 60 feet high!  Unlike the Minoans the “lower people” or “non-royalty” were not allowed inside palaces, and did not have as many rights, if many, as the Minoan people. Even though we know this information there were not many object left behind that showed us that the Mycenaeans had festivals for religious reasons or musical performances.

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

From the Minoan culture I expect the complex drainage system to continue on through later periods because there is also evidence that the Mycenaens had a more sophisticated water management system, meaning that they would have obtained this knowledge through the Minoans and that this was already beginning to spread. From the Mycaneans, being so revolved around war, I think their achievements in this area would survive, such as architectural aspects from their fortresses, or ways they crafted their weapons, or tactics used in war depicted by a painting.  

End of Year Reflection

ZAP!

The ground of the time machine shuddered underneath my feet, and a wooshing sound was heard all around me. Suddenly, I felt dizzy, the time machine was spinning! Around and around I went till I felt my stomach rising into my throat, and I was about feel sick when... BAM! Smoke started to rise from the floor, and I coughed and couldn't breathe. I groped around in the grey clouds for a latch to the door. My hand clasped around a metal bar, and I tugged downwards, CLANK! The door fell out and strong, blinding light poured into the machine reflecting off the steel walls. I crawled out of the machine, coughing and spluttering onto the hot, dry cracked ground. The landscape was dry, and arid and the air was hot and heavy. I couldn't breathe, the grass was dry and sparse in areas. A few animals roamed around, the sun being so hot and beating down onto my head I lay down onto the rocky land and fell asleep. Something was sniffing my head, I opened my eyes and a half human/ape creature is peering over me. As I start to sit up the ape like creatures eye widen and it stands up, grunts and runs away. As I watch the creature run away I feel a tingle running down my spine, and suddenly I feel myself spinning, again the same feeling of nausea . Suddenly, I was in a different place, but it wasn't the same pleasant feeling, I knew something was wrong with my time machine! I was in a small town, I touched a wall, it was clayish, almost like mud. The houses were stacked, one on top of each other. Children were running through the streets laughing, while people walked over roofs. Yet I knew it wouldn't last long, I had to get back to my present day! I sat down and leaned against the mud-brick wall. A smell wafted down the small narrow street, following the smell I walked down the road into a small house. A woman was laying something out on a small mud table. On the table a cake was on the table, the lady looked up at me and a smile broke out on her wrinkled face. She beckoned me towards the table, and I slowly and cautiously walked towards her. I sat down, and took the smell of it all in, I was about to dig in when the lady made a short sound and shook her finger. She pointed to a small hole in the ground with water. She motioned for me to go towards the hole, and inside was cloth. She wanted me to help her wash before I ate. She handed me a small stone, and bent down to start. Following her lead I bent down as well, and we washed till my hands were sore and red. Finally, the woman got up and we went and sat down on the table and was about to dig in when I felt a tingling down my spine. Again the world started spinning, but this time less time was taken. I fond myself on a slow rocking boat, just as I was about to get up something hit me hard on the back. "Get to work slave!" a booming voice said, I looked up and saw a man, towering above me. He threw a wet cloth at me and whipped me upon the back. I looked around about 10 other men were rubbing the deck of the boat. As I scrubbed I looked upon my surrounding, on the banks palm trees and reeds swayed in the wind and of into the distance I saw tall, triangular structures. I smelt the smell of sweat, mixed in with the smell of water as I scrubbed away at that deck. So much washing to be done, I thought to myself as my hands became raw and red for the second time that day. Yet again, there was a tingling at the base of my spine and was thrown from my kneeling on the boat into a calm, peaceful place. I looked around and saw a few Buddhists monks sitting cross legged quietly, there hands on there knees. I decided to twist myself into the same position. As I sat quietly in the open room, I felt the soft wind blow in and rustle a chime in the distance, and the music floated softly into my ear. I felt peaceful and calm, as if at peace with the world. I relaxed and let the chime echo within me. When I awoke from this "trance" there was no one around me, but the again. The tingling in my spine tarted, yet this time I felt myself falling, and falling, down and down into nothingness until I finally hit the ground. "Wake up! C'mon wake up!" someone was shaking me. I drowsily stirred and opened my eyes to see a friendly human face peering down at me. "Where am I?" I asked. "What do you mean where are you? You are at the site of a archaeological dig, where else would you be?" "But?" "You just fell asleep for a while, must be this darned sun, anyways while you were dozing we made a discovery, it looks like some sort of ancient time machine was found!"

Taj Mahal

Almost everyone has heard of the Taj Mahal located in India, and if you have every been luck enough to see it, you will know it is a beautiful creation. Yet what is more interest8ing, is that the Taj Mahal was built on a love story, which is truly touching.

<--- Red Fort of Agra

A long time ago, around 1520, the Mughal family ruled the land of India. They built and created beautiful gardens and palaces. During this empire, in 1592, a prince named Khurram was born. Being a prince we has taught by the best scholars and was a gifted hunter. As time went by, the young boy grew older was starting to think about love but never really had the chance to meet women. Yet one day while at the Meena Bazar, which the ladies of the palaces attended as shopkeeprs and only a few men were allowed to go, he met someone special. Khurram was with friends when he saw, what was to him, the most beautiful girl in the world. After talking to his friends he discovered her name was Arjumand, and she was the daughter of the prime minister. Eventually, Khurram summoned up the courage to talk to Arujmand. After talking to the prince Arjumand, also realized that she was as well in love. And after Khurram said that they must be together again, their fate was sealed. Khurram knew his father would never except him marrying a girl that was not of royal blood, but after seeing the passion in Khurram's eyes and consulting with royal astrologers, who said the love was written in the stars, he agreed. Khurram was overjoyed! Since according to religion, a husband and wife could not see each other before the wedding, so to keep in touch they wrote poetry back and forth to each other. After forever waiting, the day of the wedding arrives, and it is was a magnificent wedding. After the wedding, to celebrate, a royal banquet was held and during this banquet Emperor Jahangir, the father of Khurram, saw Arjumand dancing and found her so graceful that he decided to honor her and give her a new name, Mumtaz Mahal, Jewel of the Palace. Everybody in the kingdom adored Mumtaz Mahal. Her husband brought her expensive gifts, years passed and they had many children together. Eventually, Prince Khurram became a skilled commander of his father's army, but this meant travelling to battles. Since the two, Khurram and his wife, were inseparable they went everywhere together. When Prince Khurram returned home from a battle, he was renamed Shah Jahan "King of the World". Sadly, in 1627, Shah Jahan's father fell ill and died. Now Shah Jahan was the new ruler, and expanding and with Mumtaz Mahal by his side, they ruled kindly, wisely and were loved. Shah Jahan was conquering and expanding territory, but resistance was coming and just when he was set out to conquer Mumtaz Mahal announced she was pregnant. Even though she was told not to, Mumtaz Mahal insisted on travelling with Shah Jahan. During the battle, the child was born but soon after Mumtaz Mahal fell ill, and one night, told Shah Jahan she was dying. Her dying wish was so that the whole world would know of their love. For days when they returned, Shah Jahan was inconsolable. He would not eat, nor would he sleep. Days and nights went by and Shah Jahan only thought about the wish of the dying queen. What could he do? An idea came to him at night, he would build a tomb and garden as beautiful as Paradise, it would be one of the most magnificent sights in the world. That is exactly what he did, he built a stunning tomb on the banks of the river in Agra. It took years and year of painstaking work the timb was finally complete, it was then called the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan planned to build a tomb for himself on the opposite side in black, so that there hearts could be together as one. Yet a few years later, he fell ill, and one of his sons (Aurangzeb) took advantage of this and locked him the Red Fort of Agra. Eight years until the day he died, he stayed in the fort, and realized that his black tomb would never be built. Yet looking out a small window and onto his magnificent creation he knew even if the fate of the Mughal was unknown, he was certain that their love would never be forgotten.

Mapping Project: India

These are our maps.
For this project we had to create three maps of India; climate, elevation and a 3D physical features/elevation map. Look at all three of the maps,

1. How do physical features, climate and elevation relate to each other?

They are all related in different ways, elevation is related to the climate because the higher a place is it will effect the climate of a place. The physical features will obviously have effect on the climate and elevation of an area, if it is a mountainous area is will have a high elevation, if it was a rain-forest the climate will be tropical. They are all inter connecting, because one of the can cause another to change.

2. What conclusions can you draw?

The climate, elevation and physical features have an influence on where humans settle. The main thing about all these things that human look for is practicality, things like, are there resources nearby, how can certain features be beneficial and is it safe. Things like climate influence where we settle because we do not want to settle is a sweltering hot place where water is scarce yet neither do we want to settle in a extremely cold place where food is hard to farm. We look at elevation and factor things in such as, is this terrain of the side of a mountain where is will be hard to grow crops and build a house. Also physical features, physical features can mean resources if they are the beneficial kind. Things such as river give water to humans who settle there, where as people who settle in a desert, the physical features arent as beneficial.

LORD GANESH

Lord Ganesh, or Lord Ganesha is the elephant headed god. Ganesh rose to being the lord of all things that exist by triumphing over his brother, Kartikay, in a contest. The contest was a race around the whole universe, yet Ganesh did not race like his brother, he simply walked around his mother and father, Shiva and Parvati, as the center of the universe.

There are many different stories of how Lord Ganesh came to have an elephant head. One story goes that Ganesh was created by Parvati in the absence of Shiva, when Shiva returned and asked to see Parvati, Ganesh refused. Infuriated Shiva cut off his head, but later on brought life back to Ganesh and gave him a head, but the only one at the time was an elephants head. There are many other stories such as these that tell about Ganesh and his elephants head. Ganesh is the son and daughter of Parvati and Shiva, Ganesh is also one of the five prime Hindu deities ( Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga are the other four) Ganesh's head symbolizes the soul and his body symbolizes the earthly existence of human beings. The head of ganesh has wisdom and the trunk symbolizes Om, a sacred mantra.

Ganesh rides a rat that symbolizes the dominated demon of vanity and impertinence. Ganesh has many hands, in these hands he holds many objects these include a conch that makes the sound of Akash, a Laddu that symbolizes Sattva, a snake means control over poison and passion (reference to Shiva), hatchet cuts away desires, Mudra gives fearlessness, and the broken tusk is the object with which Ganesh wrote the Mahabaratha. There are 32 forms of Ganesh, the changes are usually minor, for example one form of Ganesh he is sitting on a lion rather than a rat.

People worship Ganesh beacause he symbolizes many great things such as, Lord of success, destroyer of evil and obstacles, education, knowledge, wisdom, and wealth.

Lost City of Mohenjo-Daro

Mohenjo-Daro: The Lost City

Well-planned features tell us that Mohenjo-Daro was a well planned civilization. They were skilled and made there city clearly thinking about benefits for the people. It was located in modern day Pakistan around the third millennium B.C, but who inhabited this city we don't know. As Gregory Possehl, an Indus expert, says, "It's pretty faceless" There is no clue to the religion, language, or people in the city of Mohenjo-Daro, neither is there evidence of a certain government or ruling system. If there was no evidence of a ruler, it was most likely that the city was governed as a city-state. Mohenjo-Daro, from evidence was a very "neat" and organized city. Pottery, copper, and stone tools were mainly used and seals and weight say that there was a system of trade that might have been tightly contained. Artifacts such as ivory, lapis, gold beads, etc. were found, suggesting wealth and trade in the city. Adding to the theory of cleanliness, wells were found throughout the city and every house included a bathing area and drainage system

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Mahenjo-Daro is a city built on mounds, and in it's prime, it spread out over 250 acres, or 100 hectares. On the tallest mound, there was the Great Bath and a large building. According to historians, the people of the city actually built the houses and other buildings around the mounds as they organically grew. The city was visited for the first time in 1911, but then excavated several times over a period between 1920s-1931.

A celebrated find by Archaeologists was that of a nude, bronze statuette of a women, which was named the dancing girl, and was discovered in 1926. Other statues are of seated, male figures that are decorated. they are called Priest Kings even though there is no evidence whatsoever of the statues being of priests. This might be some kind of evidence of a ruler in the city of Mohenjo-Daro. Yet all these sculptures were found broken, maybe some showing dislike towards the certain people portrayed in the figurine?

Just like other great civilizations (Atlantis?) the fate of the Indus civilization is unknown? WHat ended them? It is thought that the river changed course, effecting the agriculture and the trade routes for the city. Still, historians are puzzled a river changing course couldn't cause the Indus civilization to collapse and effect the culture around it?

Roach, John. "Lost City of Mohenjo Daro -- National Geographic." Science and Space Facts, Science and Space, Human Body, Health, Earth, Human Disease - National Geographic. Natural Geographic. Web. 17 May 2011. .

Ancient Egypt Unit Reflection

In this unit we studied Ancient Egypt, we looked at the geography and a little bit of the culture.

In the IB learner profile there are 10 profiles these include:

1. Caring
2. Balanced
3. Open-Minded
4. Reflective
5. Principled
6. Communicator
7. Risk-Taker
8. Thinkers
9. Inquirers
10. Knowledgeable

In this unit we did not use all the learner profiles, or cover them all but we did use a few of them in our work.

1. Open-Minded- I think through the unit we had to be open-minded because there were rituals, traditions and certain things that ancient Egyptians did where we had to stop and think "Yes, this might be strange but it was part of their culture." We couldn't just label things as "stupid" or "dumb" right away we had to think about it from a different point-of-view.
2. Knowledgeable - Through this unit we also had to be knowledgeable about the different things that we learn. Even though this profile is kind of obvious it was very important. Being knowledgeable means that you can take information in and then remember it using it for other tasks that require knowledge about the subject. One time in the unit that presented our knowledge on ancient Egypt, was playing the Jeopardy game.
3. Inquirers - I think through this unit we had to be inquirers because as the last project of Ancient Egypt we had to pick something about Egypt and then create a presentation about it. To learn about the topic that we picked we had to be interested about it and have the want to find out more about the topic.

In IB we also have the Approaches to learning categories these include:

1. Organizational

2. Collaborative

3. Communication

4. Information Literacy

5. Reflection

6. Problem Solving and Thinking Skills

Through this unit I think that the approaches that we have covered include:

1. Organizational – Through this unit we had to be organized, this is because we had quite a few small projects going on. We had to organize time so that we could be efficient and get our work done while making it good quality. We also got a lot of papers that we had to keep organized so that when we needed something specific we would have it with us.

2. Collaborative – We only had one project where we needed to collaborate but it was a project that we didn’t really have that long of a period to work on, even though it was quite simple, we had to work on the project together quickly and well.

How did the physical environment affect the development of civilizations?

In every civilization the surroundings of the physical environment effect the development because physical environment can either kill a civilization or build it up. An example is a civilization that would start in the desert compared to one that starts near a lush, green river the civilization near the river is definitely going to develop much faster and become so much better than the civilization that starts in the desert. This is because the civilization near the river has so many more advantages and “gifts” than the desert has. A river can provide food for people, irrigation, land that is fertile for farming and much more. The physical environment can affect the civilization because it either gives the civilization more and builds it up or it take away, causing things like droughts, or famine.