Why do people record history?

People record history for many varying reasons. Some for future references, or so that it can be remembered and learned from later. Some may record smaller, more personal pieces of history for later entertainment or memories. Also, decisions one made yesterday can help them make their next decisions. Pretty much no one sees history, or anything for that matter, the same way. One object can be photographed in an infinite number of ways. Each angle opens up a new part and view of an object. The angle is not the only thing that affects how one sees an object though. Where the object is for example, affects how one sees it, just like the environment affects ones decisions, and then later, history. When one is photographing an object, they can look at it from the right, left, top, bottom, and every direction in between. Even from all of these different angles, a person's past experiences or encounters with this object can affect what they think of this object. As you can see, there is an unending list of factors that affect one's view of anything, so there is no possible way that anyone can see something the same way as the person next to them.

The picture shows a good example of something that people view differently. Each small turn of the globe unveils a different area or side of the world. Each person from each different country may view their country as the most important. In this example, the form matters too. When it is in the form of a map, a certain area is perceived to be in the middle.

Sources used:

Krev, George. "Why Do Different People Perceive the Same Things Differently? -." Associated Content - associatedcontent.com. 03 Aug. 2009. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1956712/why_do_different_people_perceive_the.html>.

Photograph from:

Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 16 Sept. 2007. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globe.svg>.

Greece Notes

• Modern day Turkey was once called Anatolia
• Athens lies right on the bay
• Sparta: There is a lot of information about it in Google earth, just click on it
• The oldest epic written in the English language was the Iliad
• Achilles was the Greek hero of Troy
• The Trojan war broke out because: There was a wedding planned and everyone in all of Greece was invited except one. She sends out a golden apple to the wedding that says "to the fairest." all of the goddesses want it, and one man has to decide which one is the fairest. Pairs is the judge. She bribes him by saying that she will give him any woman as his bride if he choses her. The woman he choses, Helen, is the most beautiful woman in the world, and she is married, so he captures her, and her husband and others come after Paris. Achilles is killed, and it is left to Odesius to come up with a plot. They hide in a horse and left it as a gift to the Gods, and the Trojans took it into their city. The Trojans came out and sprung a surprise attack. They opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army and then set the entire city on fire.

I found a video about Athenian and Spartan women, and how they were treated.

Athenian "Democracy"?

I believe that Athens was a democracy. It may not be the same type of democracy as ours, or even any other democracies in the world, but it was a democracy. Even though the base definition of democracy is clear, there are many different ways that it can be interpreted, and many different variations of it. Although Athens had a somewhat biased democracy, it was a democracy none the less. Most of the time, only the rich men that were citizens of Athens could vote or participate in government. Some may say that this was not a good representation of "the people." Even though this is true, this still is a government that is ruled or governed by more than one person, thus, making it "the people." When one thinks of the people, they may see an entire civilization that needs to be represented. By more of a technical definition, "the people" may just include two or three people. Also, today the United Stated has representatives to vote for groups of people, and when one thinks about this, this is also not a very good representation of all of the people. So. As you can see, Athens is classified as a democracy because at least a portion of the people were represented, and the civilization was trying to be run in a way that was best for all citizens.

Sites used:

Cartledge, Paul. "Critics and Critiques of Athenian Democracy." BBC - Homepage. BBC, 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekcritics_01.shtml>.

Photograph from:

Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 31 Mar. 2008. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Agora_of_Athens_4.jpg>.

The Olympic Games

The Olympic games today are very different from the rituals performed in ancient Olympia and even from the old games that were played. At first, the games started in Olympia in 776 b. c. and they were rituals performed to honor Zeus. This was even before they became athletic games; they solely consisted of rituals and offerings honoring Zeus, but this later changed. It became more of a physical competition, which, while it still was in honor of Zeus, the city-states were competing to see who was the strongest. Along with this, it was a way to get the men fit for battle.

The games began with only one event, which was a race. This games later grew to add in a few more different types of races. Even after this, events including boxing, wrestling, the pentathlon, and horse and chariot races were added. This does not, however, come even close to he Olympic games that we celebrate today.

Today we have an enormous variety of sports included in our Olympics, and we do not compete in horse and chariot races anymore. Also, the games today are mainly for competition and entertainment; not to honor any Gods. Another difference in the games today is that both men and women are allowed to compete. This was not so in the ancient times when the games began. As you can see, times have changed a lot since 776 b. c., and not only because of the Olympic games. These games, however, are a fun tradition that has been passed on for a very long time. They will hopefully continue on into the future, adapting with the current culture as they did for us.

Source used:

Instone, Stephen. "The Olympics: Ancient versus Modern." Ow.ly - Shorten urls, share files and track visits - Owly. BBC, 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. .

Photograph from:

Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. .

Pharaohs- Extra credit pixton

Baines, John. "Ancient History in depth: The Story of the Nile." BBC - Homepage. 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Feb. 2010. .

Tyldesly, Joyce. "Ancient History in depth: Ancient Egypt and the Modern World." BBC - Homepage. 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Feb. 2010. .

Extra Credit Links!

Ancient Egypt was a very culturally interesting place. They spoke three different languages; Arabic, Coptic, and Egyptian. They were ruled by pharaohs whom they honored greatly. One of the most know pharaohs was King Tutankhamen. When the pharaohs died, large pyramids were built as burial tombs for the pharaoh and his family. The pharaoh would go through a process called mummification, in which his organs are removed and he is wrapped up into a mummy, and then placed in his casket. The Great Pyramids at Giza are some of the oldest and largest pyramids ever. There is a large sphinx that appears to be guarding the great pyramids, but know one knows for sure why it was there. In legends there was a story that he had a riddle and would not let anyone pass by without getting his riddle correct. On the more physical side, the Nile river is a major river in Africa that flows north. Also, ancient Egyptians have a very unique and interesting way of art also. For example, in sculptures, there are never any spaces in between the legs. If there is then you know that the sculpture is fake. Egyptians are polytheistic, because they believe in more than one God. Monotheism, on the other hand, is the belief in one God. The Egyptians got into a war with the Persians, and then Alexander the Great came along. They loved him, because he also hated the Persians. Egypt also had a writing system, hieroglyphics, which consisted of many pictures. The pictures did not stand for words, but sounds. Overall, Egypt was a very interesting, and yet complex, place.

What is Important?

What is important? When pondering this question, there are many different things that need to be taken into account. First of all, the definition is necessary. Many people go around saying that every little thing is important to them, but is that really true? Perhaps they do not know what it means to be important. The answer to this question also depends on the circumstances in which it is asked; for example, which person it is asked to or what culture they may live in. Making it equally difficult, importance is never a consistent idea; it changes with the growth of the world and people’s minds and values. Although we may never understand why something is important to someone else and not to us, we can at least know for sure what the definition is.

Each person asked to define “important” could probably give a different answer. The dictionary definition from Merriam Webster is: “Marked by or indicative of significant worth or consequence : valuable in content or relationship” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/important). Even dictionary definitions can vary, because Encarta Dictionary’s definition is simply “having value or significance.” Dictionaries, however, do not have any personality. It cannot show what may be important to a certain person or important in popular culture today. An old Chinese proverb says “a person needs a face, a tree needs bark” (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinese_proverbs). This means that reputation is very important. As you can see, each source views it differently, and this is because of outside sources affecting their opinion.

As obviously shown above, each person views or defines importance differently. Many factors affect this, like culture, for example. Culture is the traditions and beliefs of a person or group of people. What one believes is post likely very important to them, and so therefore affected by culture. Also, ones culture or religion can affect their personal values or morals, which in turn affects what they classify as important. A person’s personality influences what is important to them. People that are rich tend to be more materialistic. Their most important things could include their phone or laptop. For people that are not as wealthy and do not have very many possessions, however, may be more concerned with family. As I stated above, many others do not know what is important to them or they may not have ever thought about it. People that do know what is important to them sometimes people put the wrong things first in their priority list, and big events in their life can serve as a wakeup call (http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/important-things-in-life/). Many of today’s teenagers seem to think that reputation, money, and friends are important. Friends are a good thing to put on your high priority list, but reputation or money may not be everyone’s first choice. There are things, like reputation and money, that are hard to tell whether they are important or not. They sure are nice to have, but want and importance are very hard to tell the difference between. Morrie Schwartz says:The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in” (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/like/the-most-important-thing-in-life-is-to-learn-how/411224/). Thomas Jefferson thought some other things were more important: “Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society” (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/important.html). These people obviously thought differently. Although when asked to name off something that is important to you and it seems simple, when one gets to thinking about it they may find that “important” is a rather abstract topic.

Everyone has something that is important to them; and not just individuals. Civilizations or countries as a whole have things important to them also. In ancient Egypt, pyramid building was an extremely difficult task and had to be so carefully planned out that it was hard to believe it could have ever been that important. I mean, after building that enormous structure, who would ever want to do it again? But pyramids were always built to honor their Pharaohs, because it was something that was important to the Egyptians. Specific things are important to specific countries, even today. Take Haiti, for example. They just underwent a huge tragedy which devastated their entire nation. Survival and rebuilding has been very important to them since that, and even before. Many countries came together to help these people, because we understand that this is really what is important, helping out neighbors and friends in need. Poorer countries like Haiti have a different set of values than rich, thriving countries like the United States. Most of the time, the United States focuses on making money and becoming one of the richest countries in the world, while in Haiti, this may be a dream, but their first thought is trying to stay alive. Views change all over the world; I don’t believe that even two people on the Earth have the exact same “important” beliefs or belongings.

Important is a very dependent term. What it is relies purely on the circumstances, which is why this question is brought about: Is anything at all actually important? This could be a whole other view on things. Nothing is really important, because we all are born and will all go back to our maker someday, some sooner than others. Some people may think this is true, and also that we just need to live life to the fullest. Period. Nothing is more important than anything else. We have a short time to live, so make every little thing be important, no matter how small or crazy it may seem. Dictionaries say that something important is something that is significant or has a significant value; is that not an entire human life? Each human life is a very important element of the world, and we should never doubt nor underestimate that. One human death is a tragedy, but when more than a hundred people die, each death is forgotten and it becomes a statistic, and that is not how it should be. We need to realize that through this one term, every human is linked, and every human feels it is important to be loved.

Websites used:

Clemens, Peter. "Important Things in Life." Motivation and Self Improvement | PickTheBrain. 25 Oct. 2007. Web. 06 Feb. 2010. .

"Chinese proverbs." Wikiquote. Wikipedia. Web. 06 Feb. 2010. .

"Quotes like the-most-important-thing-in-life-is-to-learn-how." Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 05 Feb. 2010. .

"Important Quotes." Famous Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote. Web. 06 Feb. 2010. .

Images from:

Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 27 Dec. 2004. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. .

Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. .