Alex's Western Civilization Blog

Our cyber assignment for today is to write a reflection on the thoughts that Mr. Schick posted on his blog. The Coronavirus has completely changed everyone's current lifestyles and routines making it difficult for a lot of people to adjust to the change. It sucks but there isn't anything anyone can do about it because the situation is out of our control. The best thing that we can do is try to make the best out of the situation and also put effort into our school. Mr. Schick mentioned how students are tempted to look up an answer or ask a friend, which doesn't help you understand what you are learning. I can relate to this because sometimes some things are really hard or I don't feel like doing them so I want to give up, but that isn't helpful to me because I'm not learning anything and it'll just push me further behind. He also mentions how we should "rise to the occasion,  and actually strengthen our resolve to be good people who do excellent work....

Our cyber assignment today is to compare the  plague that hit Athens during the Peloponnesian War with COVID-19. In 430 BC while Athens was under the Spartan's siege, they were struck with a deadly plague. The plague ended up infecting 75,000 - 100,000 people over a span of three years, and about 25% of the population died. The plague was brought to Athens from a cargo ship. This is similar to the Coronavirus because like the plague in Athens, it's spreading like wildfire. There are currently over 500,000 cases in the world and there are over 20,000 deaths. The difference between the two is that Corona is a pandemic and the Athen's plague only affected Athens because they were not allowed to leave the city walls of Athens to protect themselves from the Spartans. We also have an advantage over the Athenians because we have a lot more knowledge about hygiene and a lot more advanced technology. We haven't been able to find a cure, but we have better safety precautions to...

Our cyber assignment today is to write brief biographies on Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and Darius III, and make not about their connections to each other. Phillip II or "Philip of Macedon" was the 18th king of Macedonia. During his rule, he restored internal peace to his country. By 339 BC, King Philip II had gained domination over Greece by military and diplomatic means. He laid the foundations for expansion for his son, Alexander the Great. He was assassinated in July, the assassination might have been initiated by Darius III. Alexander the Great was born in Pella which is Macedonia, Ancient Greece Kingdom. His leadership reigned from 336 - 323 BC. During his rule, he united the Greek city-states and led the Corinthian League. Alexander the Great also became the king of Persia, Babylon, and Asia, and created Macedonian colonies in those places. He died of malaria in Babylonia while considering the conquests of Carthage and Rome. Alexander defeated Darius III's...

Our cyber assignment today is to do some research on the relationship between Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus, then write about our research.  The story of their relationship begins when Alexander's father, King Phillip II, was offered a horse for a gigantic amount of money. The horse that the man presented to King Phillip II was untamed and he did not want to buy it. Alexander on the other hand really liked the horse and begged his father to get the horse and promised to tame it. Alexander ended up surprising everyone in the town by taming the horse and naming it Bucephalus. For the next two decades, Alexander was the only one who could ride Bucephalus. They went through great battles together and built Alexander's great empire. In 326 BC during Alexander's last battle, Bucephalus dies of battle wounds. Alexander ended up founding the town of Bucephala in honor of his great companion.

Our cyber assignment today is to write about our thoughts on cyber school so far, So far I think that cyber school has been a little confusing and overwhelming because it's hard sometimes to know what some of my teachers are asking me to do, so I don't really understand my assignments. It's also hard for me to organize all of my documents and making sure I'm submitting them to the right teacher. Other than those two things, I think that my teachers have been giving me reasonable amounts of work to complete each day. My teachers also have been helpful in answering my questions about their assignments, but it's still sometimes confusing. Another thing that can be confusing is that all of the teachers have different ways they want us to submit things and I'll get confused forget which way they want me to submit the assignments. I think it's a confusing thing for everyone and we are all still adjusting to online learning, so hopefully, it'll get easier as ...

Our cyber assignment for today is to write about why we think Socrates and Sophists like Protagoras started questioning traditional beliefs. I think the thing that sparked all of the questioning and philosophers in Greek was when Socrates stood up in front of the assembly on the ship home, stating his belief that the generals shouldn't be put to death for leaving behind the oversea soldiers. No one really listened to Socrates, but this was one of the first times that someone was trying to contradict/question the public's ideas/Greek tradition. Another thing that might have sparked the philosophers to question traditional beliefs was after the war when the Athenians started to lose hope in their democratic government and started questioning things. The Sophist philosophers questioned people's unexamined beliefs and ideas about justice and other traditional values. Protagoras was a famous Sophist known for questioning the Greek Gods. I think that he might've questioned ...

Our cyber assignment today is to watch part of the "Crucible of Civilization" episode 3 and analyze the video in a paragraph. The video starts with the Spartans invading Athenian property and burning all of their farmland. All of this took place outside of the city walls, so all of the Athenians stayed behind the city walls and watched to Spartans destroy their land. Pericles wanted the Athenians to stick to his plan and stay behind the walls not fighting back. A year into the war, one of the cargo ships brought a plague to Athens. The plague quickly spread like wildfire, it became so deadly that people stooped caring about religion and the law. People also stopped being good due to their mindset of "why be good if the good and bad die just as easily." The plague ended up killing over 1/3 of the Athenian population. The plague then struck Pericles. Plutarch, Pericles' biographer, wrote about the suffering he went through while he was sick. Six months later, in...