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 There are many things that compel someone to lead others. Anyone can be a leader if they want to be. Most leaders want to make a change for the world. A leader must be motivated and truly believe in what they stand for. If a leader leads its people into success, he or she could be known as a hero. In history, there have been leaders that did not deserve the position. There were kings and queens in charge just because they were related to the ones before. In our government today, we vote for our leaders. The leaders in the United States of America want the position that they have and are willing to make the world a better place. That is what compels a leader to do something. They need to be willing to do anything it takes to make and prove a point. A leader will represent his or her followers and needs to be aware that they are held accountable for any actions that one of their followers does. Leaders are very responsible and brave. Most leaders change history. There are also leaders for sports and clubs at school. They do not exactly change history, but the team captain is the one that informs the team members. A leader can also be a deliverer. Leaders can do many things, and we need to realize how important they really are. They are not afraid of to make a point. Everyone should admire the leaders that have made a positive impact to our world.

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The Peloponnesian wars

Characters: Admes, Adonis, Pericles, Sailor, Barber and Ajax

Pericles: My declaration is that we, Athens shall become the sole ruler of the Mediterranean.

Admes: …And how do you plan to do this?

Pericles: I believe if we take out our major rival Sparta who the only other power is competing for control of the Mediterranean.

Adonis: I think that we should vote on it, it would only be fair. We can vote in two days once the word goes out.

Pericles: Yes, we shall vote in two days.

Two days later

Ajax: You shall vote will the drop of a stone into these pots.    A white stone for yes and black stone for no.

Crowd: (starts putting stones in pots)

Hours later after the count is done

Ajax: (to Pericles) we have finished the count sir.

Pericles: what are the results?

Ajax: it seems that the people support our going to war. But we have gotten a message to aid another city in the fight against one of the Spartans allies.

Pericles: Then we shall aid them but only for their help in our own battle against Sparta.

Ajax: I send word to the troops.

Months later

Sailor: (to barber) They were waiting for us, they knew we were coming. It was a massive slaughter. I’d say we lost 50,000 men either to death or capture.

Barber: oh my goodness that sounds horrible

Sailor: I know, and the worst part is we are basically defenseless now.

Barber:  do you think we should tell anyone?

Sailor: no I think people will then try to get rid of Pericles; I don’t think anyone will attack us.

Barber: Yeh it could cause riots.

Weeks later

Adonis: sir there are Persian ships blockading the harbor!

Pericles: Ahhh they took advantage of our loss in Sicily.

Adonis: what should we do we can’t get out of the city and we can get on our boats.

Pericles: there’s nothing we can do…

About a week later

Ajax :( to a crowd) I am sorry to announce that our leader, Pericles has died of the plague just like many of the other citizens in this once great city. We suggest that you stay far away from any people contracted with the disease and to keep away from the bodily wastes.

Crowd member: We should just surrender

Rest of crowd: yeah!

Ajax: yes, that seems to be the only logical option.

After telling the Spartans of their surrender

Spartan commander: We will leave on one condition.

Ajax: whatever it is we’ll do it.

Spartan commander: you must tear down your walls and burn you’re few remaining ships.

Ajax: sir that’s a very heavy price to pay...

Spartan commander: not as heavy as starving to death or dying of the plague.

Ajax: ok, ok well do it.

Narrator: the great Athens never was the ruler of the Mediterranean and it has never been as powerful as it was before the Peloponnesian wars.

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Write the script for a skit exploring the Persian Wars from the Persian point-of-view.

Captain: Here we go men; we have been training almost all of our lives. This is for Persia, this is for us, and this is for you. We have a huge advantage we outnumber them at least 3 to 1. That should make this an easy fight for you battle hardened soldiers.  Now let’s go out there and kick some Athenian ass.

Soldier 1: yeh this will be easy! We are going to kill them… literally.

Soldier 2: yeh they are a tiny little city how will they compete with the great empire of Persia.

Blackout

Soldier1: oh my goodness…. I can’t believe we lost the captain.

Soldier 2: yeah guys this is horrible… how did we lose to them. I mean seriously we had so many more people.

Soldier 3: Guys I know it feels like a big deal now but all we have to do is beat them in the long run.

Soldier 2: how do you expect to do that? The captain is dead remember?

Soldier 1: yeah how will we do it without him?

Soldier 3: we will train another soldier to be the captain and we will crush those Athenians.

Soldier 1: I’ll do it!

Soldier 2: no! I’ll do it

Soldier 3: guys I was thinking it would be me since I’m the best fighter.

Soldier 2&3: no you’re not!

blackout

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Explain how the origins of theatre in Athens are tied to both religion and politics.

The ancient theatres in Athens were an important part of the entertainment in Greece. Not only did they provide entertainment for Athenians, but they even tied in religion. Many plays that went on at the theatre usually involved gods or goddesses. The actors who would play a god or goddess were usually hung up by a crane with a harness. The type of play usually played at the theater was a tragedy or a play with a sad ending. It was believed that Dionysus assigned the author a chorus and actors for the play that he wrote. Ancient Greek theatre developed from religious festivals Greece. There is even a theatre in Athens named after Dionysus called the theatre of Dionysus.

Athenian theatres tied in politics to because some of the tragedies played by the actors involved people that were known in society, like Sophocles and Euripides. The people in Athens helped pay funds that would go towards the ancient Athenian theatres. These funds would help improve the theatre with new equipment and improve the overall structures of these theatres. So the democracy in Athens greatly helped to improve theatres all over Athens. Also, actors who performed well in the tragedies would become known to the audience. Then, the democracy could possibly look up to that person as a political leader and elect him to be a leader of the government. These are ways how politics tied in with the Ancient Greek theatres in Athens.

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Was Athens really a 'democracy'?

        

I do think that Athens was a true democracy because all of the decisions that were faced in this great city were in the hands of the people. Many tyrants began rule in Athens, but they did a bad job leading the city so to replace the tyrants a democracy was born. Many great Athenian leaders like Pericles and Clisthenes used this type of government to their advantage. He wanted the people’s beliefs and opinions to be an influence in the decisions that Athens eventually made. Clisthenes was also known as “the father of Athenian democracy.” With the implementing of a democracy, Athens was now under the rule of the people and leaders like Clisthenes depended on peoples’ choices to lead them to become a powerful city. The democracy led Athens to become the rulers of the Eastern Mediterranean world. When the new democracy was tested in the War at Marathon in 490 B.C., it held up. The different tactics and ideas from the people helped Athens defeat the Persians in a tested battle. This democracy in Athens was real and it is what the people did that helped Athens become an empire to remember. People even voted on what laws should go into effect for the city and voted on who should lead their city. Athens ran with this type of government and it worked for many decades until Athens fell later in the late fifth century. So I think Athens was a democracy and this is what the great leaders of Athens depended on to lead them in the direction of success and dominance.

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Do you think Socrates got what he deserved? Why didn't he accept exile?

No I do not think Socrates deserve his exile. The Athenians were just looking for someone to blame for the complete annihilation of the Grecian army. It is not fair to blame just one person for a whole countries failure. Athens was just mad with power and they wanted more of it. They need someone to stand up to them, and someone did. Socrates was against the war from the start that’s why he was a good person to place the blame on. He was accused of piety and corrupting youth and was brought to trial. The jury decided he was guilty and sentenced him to death. He was forced to drink a liquid containing hemlock, which is poisonous. I think Socrates was innocent because he was not curropting the youth he was educating them about different ways to look at the world. He did not deny the gods, he just had his doubts. We all have doubts, and he just decided to take action and try to find the reason for things. He meant no harm by exploring these possibilities. Over all, his exile was unnecessary, and truly he was just a smart person trying to come up with explanations for things that we understand and appreciate today.

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Why do you think so many conspiracy theories surround the pyramids and the megaliths? Give examples of a few and explain where you think they come from.

I think many conspiracy theories surround the megaliths because humans always what to know what the reason for something is. Most theories are probably just made up because people really don’t know what they r made for. The people had many possibilities of what the things were built for and how they got there and why they were built there.  There are probably less theories for the pyramids, because we know they were built for tombs of kings and queens. Yet to this day no one is sure what the megaliths were built for. Some people think they are forts or burial grounds or tombs, but still no one is sure. I believe that the megaliths were built for memories of a person or a sacred area of land. We also do not know how they got there; some think they would have to be imported from other lands because the rock is not found in the area.  We have learned a lot about the history and about these megaliths but we still don’t know a lot which is ok but eventually we should know. I think sometime in the future we will learn more about the megaliths, how they got there and what their purpose was. Once we know these things the purpose of the megaliths will be known and the puzzle will be solved.

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Our Megalith Theory

The megalith that we made has a couple of theories behind it. One theory with our megalith is a famous Olympian track runner who ran the fastest time in the history of the Olympics back then. So to honor him, our megalith was used as a burial site of this famous Olympic track runner. A Greek myth says that the Olympic runner breathes fire through the pipe at the bottom of the megalith, which makes the fire spit out of the fire pit in the middle of our megalith. The fire pit in our megalith comes from the fire of this amazing Olympic runner buried underground. Another use of our megalith is as a bonfire where people make sacrifices for good luck at the Olympics. As sacrifices, people use lambs from Greece to throw into the fire pit, which symbolize good luck for everyone participating in the Olympics.

Since our megalith is in the middle of a track, after people run in the track, they use the benches surrounding the fire pit in the megalith to rest and warm up when it is cold outside. The megalith is a perfect place to rest since it is so close to the track. Also, another myth says that the four standing stones in the megalith are curved inward for protection from outside. The myth also says that the four big stones are in a circle to model a city’s walls back in ancient times. Just like how there are walls that circle and protect the city, the standing stones go in a circle to protect the fire pit in the middle with people sitting around it. So our megalith has many theories and myths behind it, with some being very strange. But these myths are what make our megalith important and what it represents so the rest of society knows about why it is here today.

By Andrew Tran, Adam Beard, and Brian Matejevich

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"Structures, both social and physical are continually improving." agree or disagree

I believe that social and physical structures are improving all the time. There are so many types of technology used in physical and social structures. For this reason there is always something to improve on. Physical things are now built on computers which have improved physical structures significantly. Television, radio, and the internet are the main social structures. I think the physical and social structures will continue to improve in the near future. This is translated into success as our world grows and evolves. Physical structures like buildings are improving too, there are now ways to test building materials so we know what to use for the strongest and least expensive buildings. Social structures like social networking sites are making it very easy to contact people across the world. It only takes a couple of keystrokes to contact someone you haven’t seen in years. These advancements cannot occur without our advancement in technology. Technology has brought about new tests for physical structures and new ways to use social structures.  More and more people are going to collage over the internet this is a good thing because people can follow the path they want (going to a collage of their choice) without having to move and pay expensive housing and book fees. These advancements are important and I am looking forward to more advancements happening in the near future.  Without advancement we would still be living in huts and not knowing what is happening across the world.

Traditional forms of information communication such as the book and the textbook do contribute to our belief in linear history. The book and the text book help us to record the history that is taking place now and that has taken place farther back in history. Text books are never fully up to date. With the book, we can read about different events and understand the meaning of linear history. We know that one thing happens because of another, but another event can occur because of the first. We know that the people who wrote books knew that they were documenting history. For example, the Bible teaches us about the church history. In the Bible there are many events that are labeled linear history. Linear history is not just in the Bible though. There are many other books and textbooks that tech us and show us examples of this history. Today there are many books written for our entertainment, but in older times they were used more for communication. Most people who wrote books probably wrote them to be read by people in the future. We would be clueless about many things if it were not for books. We know that books and textbooks are very important to today’s everyday life, and hopefully we will document our history in order for it to be read by the living beings of the future. 

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Give several examples of monuments in Maryland / DC / PA that might be familiar to folks who live here but which would not be understood by outsiders without an explanation.

A monument in Maryland that outsiders would not understand is the Edgar Allen Poe statue. This represents a great man who was born in Boston but lived in Baltimore. He was a poet and he was born in 1809 and he died in 1849. The Baltimore Ravens mascots are named after him; Edgar, Allen, and Poe. The statue was dedicated on October 20, 1921 and was originally located in Wyman Park. Due to vandalism and neglect at the site, the statue was moved to University of Baltimore on the recommendation of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.

In 1826 Poe left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia, where he excelled in his classes while accumulating considerable debt. The miserly Allan had sent Poe to college with less than a third of the money he needed, and Poe soon took up gambling to raise money to pay his expenses. By the end of his first term Poe was so desperately poor that he burned his furniture to keep warm.

Many people do not know these facts Edgar Allen Poe. They are not very well known facts but important to his history and the understanding of his life.

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What is the oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to you? Why/how does it matter?

The most important human created artifact to me would have to be the pyramids. They are probably my favorite because they are giant monument made as burial chambers. I find this interesting but not for just what they are used for but how long it took to make them and how long it will take for them to fall apart.

My favorite pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids, huge structures built of brick or stone, some of which are among the world's largest constructions. The age of the pyramids reached its apex at Giza in 2575-2150 B.C. As of 2008, some 138 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. While most people associate pyramids with Egypt there are over 220 pyramids in Sudan.

The pyramids to around 20-50 years to build, this was about two lifetimes back then. That means that 2 or three generations worked on the pyramids. By my estimations the pyramids have corroded about 15% in the about 4500 years they have been built. I think the pyramids will be near completely gone in twenty thousand years. The fact that they last 25,000 years is incredible.

The pyramids can last for a long time and they will be a symbol of history forever.

language

Eeeh huh es fu
My name is Brian
Eeeh huh es Tikon
My name is Andrew

Eeeh-My
Huh- Name
Es- is
Fu- Brian
Tikon- Andrew

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Change is a good thing in some cases and a bad thing in others. The start of agriculture and art were very important changes. Without the beginning of agriculture there would be now farming and without farming we would still be hunter gatherers.  Some bad change includes war and epidemics like the black plague.

There was art creations as long ago as 22,000 BCE (Venus of willdorf) this is a statue of a pregnant woman, which is believed to represent fertility. A second occurrence of art dating back to about the same time, cave paintings were important also. They show us what life back then was like and how they managed to survive. This art is important to the advancement of our knowledge of history and time in the past.

The agricultural advancements help provide food for many people who don’t live in areas where they can grow their own food. This means we can populate and create cities in areas where there is not fertile land. These cities can only thrive because of the high yield of products from the fields in other areas. These are two examples of good change, but it doesn’t always happen this way, bad changes like war and disease happen too.

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Describe the importance of water in the ancient world.

In ancient times water was hard to get hold of if you didn’t live near a water source like a sea, ocean or river. The only other realistic way to collect water was from rainfall. This was a risky way to live seeing that it could just not rain for a month or so. Even if it did rain often it would have to be enough to feed the crops and hydrate the people.

We use water for a lot of things which shows that you could not make it if you were far away from a large water source. We use water to drink people should drink 8 glasses of water each day to stay healthy. We also use water to wash things: dishes, cars, clothes, ourselves as needed and to cook things in (eggs, vegetables); to use in things we cook (cakes, soup). For safety reasons we need water to put out fires. One of the most important uses is to water plants, lawns, trees, bushes. These plants give us food in a time where we haven’t killed an animal in a while. Plus what’s the ancient world without trade, trade to other civilizations was important to gain new materials. In ancient history and still to this day we use water to transport cargo and people on ships or boats.

In conclusion it would be nearly impossible to live far from a water source (sea, ocean, and river)because you need so much water to live and grow as a civilization you can’t just depend on rain.

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You accidentally discover an invention that can immediately help millions of people; but only if you act immediately. On the other hand, if you just wait three months, you can secure a patent and get rich. Which do you choose and why?

If I found an invention like this helping my fellow man would be high on my priority list; however would it be higher than making myself rich…?  I think it would depend on what kind of invention this was, if it was a medical invention like something that could cure cancer or HIV yes I would introduce it to the public. However if it was something less necessary like a book page turner, I would wait for the patent and make millions and millions of dollars. What would I do with these millions of dollars; I would use the money to finance scientists to create an invention that would be as helpful as the medical cure. Therefore which ever choice I choose it will end up in a way where I help the human raceJ. I think if I actually came across an invention like either I have stated I would take time to think about how this would help mankind and keep us prospering. Once again if it would significantly alter the path of the human race, yes I would release it. However if it was something unimportant like the page-turner I would wait for the patent and make millions of dollars, but only because it would not change the path of humans whether I released it freely or not.