Geography of Rome

Italy is a peninsula shaped like a high-heeled boot and it also has two small islands. Italy is mostly surrounded by seas - the Ionian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Adriatic Sea. Italy is 41% mountain (The Apennines), 12% hill and 12% flat. The climate is Mediterranean. Rome was actually settled by the Latins. It had a mild climate and good farmland. They built 7 cities on hills so they could be defended. City was close to their trade routes and the Mediterranean Sea which is next to the Tiber which aided trade and provided protection, as well as help in conquering new territories and developed good trade routs. The Apennines and Alps protected Rome, while Italy’s large plains made farming easier than in Greece.

Describe the two legends of the founding of Rome?

One of the famous legends of ancient Rome is that a wolf  gave milk to two twins and then there is another version on who found Romulus and Remus. The other version is that there was a shepherd and then he found them in his land and he went and took them to his wife who had just lost a newborn child. The two twins decided to found a new city. They decided to found it near where they were to palatine hill and ruled Rome.
The other one is about Aeneas. The most popular legend is the one of Aeneas who was a hero fighting with  the Greeks in Trojan wars. He got the girl that another men liked so they fought. Aeneas married the daughter of king Latinus. The  father of the wife of Aeneas was protective of her own daughter.

The archaeologists say that Rome was founded in 750 B.C.E they say that the exact date that Rome was founded was 21 April 753 B.C.E.

Biography of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great conquered a lot of countries and cities and he was one of the most famous leaders of all times. He  ruled for 13 years. He conquered Libya,Babylonia,Parthia,Macedonia,Egypt, and what made him so great was that he was young, strong and ambitious.
He was a brilliant general and spent his whole life marching from battle to battle. He also had good persuading skills and he managed to get all those people into the battle with him. He could control more than one city at a time and he adjusted easily to cultures. He appreciated culture and learned about it when he was a kid. Later in life, he was also spreading the Greek culture among his empire.
He learned from his father's experience, who also taught him battle skills and how to rule. Aristotle taught him the wisdom of life and Alexander combined what he learned from those two great people and out of this he made his own great personality.
I think that he deserves to be called Great because he ruled for 13 years only and died at the age of 33 but he managed to achieve so much in that short period of time.

Daily life of a ancient Greek slave

Slaves were very important in ancient Greek life. Slaves cleaned, cooked and worked in fields, mines, factories and ships. They lived in a poor part of the city with the poor people. There were some things that ancient Greek slaves could not do - go to school, enter politics or use their own name. They were given a name by the citizens who owned them.

People could become slaves in many ways. For example, some were captured in battle and became slaves; some were the children of the slaves. Some children were sold into slavery by poor families, whereas some children were kidnapped.

It is believed that in Ancient Greece there were as many slaves as citizens. A lot of people had from 10-20 slaves working for them. The life as a mine worker or a ship crew was hard and dangerous. If the slaves were in the house, they could be treated pretty good it depending on what they would work on. They were almost treated as part of a family. They were even allowed to take part in family rituals.

Summary of article 2

The Spartan Way

Men’s daily life

Sparta was so successful because their people did not want luxury - they were trained to become warriors since they were 7 years old. One Spartan mother said once to her son "whit your shield on it ". They had a brutal training in the day and they just knew the basics in the school. They had to show they were mature enough and endure difficult situations. Sparta had a really strong army and they conquered Messenia, which gave Sparta a bigger area to control and Sparta became increasingly concerned with military training. For more than 200 years Sparta was the most powerful city-state in ancient Greece.

Their bringing up was strict from the very beginning. If the babies looked sick they would leave them in the mountain to die. The kids were whipped for making the slightest mistake in training. While Athens boys were learning about school and life, Spartan boys were out in the battle. Spartan boys were only taught the basics of reading and writing.

Woman power

Unlike other ancient women, Spartan women were vary free to have power over a lot of things - they could own a public office or have their own property. Spartan women were more free then Athens women. For instance, in Athens girls and married woman needed to be at the house working in the house and they rarely went outside. They went outside on special occasions such as religious festivals and funerals. Spartan women could not were jewellary or perfume or nice clothes, but they could own a house hold and run their own business. Spartan men were only allowed to be soldiers, and could not run their bossiness like women.

The end of Sparta

Sparta and Athens were bitter enemies. Athens was conquered in the Peloponnesian and lost the war in the year 404 B.C. But Sparta’s dominance lasted until 371 B.C., when it was crushed by Thebes.

Bibliography on article 2

Price, Sean. "The Spartan way." The ancienworld. 2010. 

summry of article

This article talks about the Greek Olympics, why they were so famous and it also

provides the legends about them. The Olympics began in ancient Greece and were held in

honor of the gods, especially Zeus, the king of the gods.

The first records about the Olympics date back very early in Greek history and occur in

some of the writings of the earliest anonymous Greek poets. The earliest written record of

the Olympic festival concerns man named Coroebus. Coroebus apparently won a footrace

of about 200 yards (180 meters) at the Olympic festival 776 B.C.E and was rewarded

whit a wreath of olive branch.

However, the Olympic site dates back several centuries before this race. The games

were held at a sacred site in a valley in western Greece at the place called Olympia. The

Olympic Games brought together people from throughout the Greek world.

What is also interesting is that Olympic festivals were limited only to male Greek

citizens. Foreigners, women and slaves on the other hand were barred from the

competition. It wasn’t before the 128th Olympics that women were allowed to compete.