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leisure time to spend on education and entertainment.

Bankers and accountants needed to understand arithmetic

knowledge of foreign currencies and languages

Reading was essential for anyone who needed to understand a contract.

reading for pleasure, learning to play musical instruments, and studying a variety of topics unrelated to their businesses.

Many Italian coastal cities became centers for trade and commerce, and for the wealth and education that ensued.

the Medici family, made their wealth as business people

Perhaps the Medieval church wanted to convey a terrifying impression of hell and enforce that there was safety and sanctity inside the church. The devil would be a most inappropriate, and totally unorthodox, image to allow on a church - fantastic gargoyles, would, however have a similar, terrifying psychological effect.

Gothic architecture is characterized by stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, tall spires, the Gothic arch or pointed arch and Gothic Gargoyles. Gothic Architecture is the term used to describe the style of architecture which were used between 1200 AD to 1500 AD.

The geographical features of ancient Greece contributed to its advantage and disadvantage.

Greece is a strategic location for empire building because it served as the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe

climate, the mountains and the seas

temperate, making it comfortable to the people to be outside of their homes almost every year. This allowed them to engage in outdoor life within their city-states. They were able to interact with each other which enabled them to organize outdoor activities such as athletic competitions, public gatherings, entertainment and art shows, and meetings, which facilitate to the development of a rich and distinct Greek culture.

mountains

Almost 70 to 80 percent of Greece is covered and dominated with mountains

advantage of the mountains is that they contributed to the preservation of the purity of Greek culture.

were secluded to their area resulting to rare interactions with other cultures.

served as a natural barrier which acted like walls separating different communities.

hindered communication among communities and slowed down the introduction of new ideas and technology.

unified system of government

polis or the city-state

democratic government works better in smaller states

protection and security to the inhabitants.

disadvantage of this geographical feature is that only few lands were dedicated to farming

isadvantage is the the rocky lands and poor soil which are not suitable for the domestication of plants.

olives and grapes

domesticated sheeps and cattles as an alternative to farming

Having been surrounded by three major bodies of water served as an advantage because it allowed early Greeks to travel and trade

Greece to major trade routes allowed the prosperity in maritime commerce (

became fishers, sailors and merchants

excelled in ship buildings and voyaging because of their knowledge about seas around them

Greeks to depend heavily on trade

could not grow through trading

olive oil, wine, wool and pottery with grains and other natural resources, which had a limited supply during that time

trade encouraged cultural diffusion

Hellenistic culture

The Black Death did set the stage for more modern medicine and spurred changes in public health and hospital management. Frustrated with Black Death diagnoses that revolved around astrology and superstition, educators began placing greater emphasis on clinical medicine, based on physical science.

generally suffered a communal crisis of faith.

They had turned to the church for an answer to the plague, and the church had been able to offer no help.

celebrate being alive.

The danse macabre, or dance of death, is an allegorical concept that was expressed in drama, poetry, music and visual art.

The range of figures shown is meant to show that death will come for everyone, and the various activities depicted are a reminder that death could always be right around the corner.

However, there is no denying that Alexander changed the world.

When he finally came home, his dad got him a job in the royal court in nearby Macedonia as a tutor to the young prince Alexander.

They taught him the art of war. Artistotle taught him to admire and respect the Greek culture. Artistotle was only Alexander's tutor for 3 years, but he had an enormous affect on the young prince, so much so that Alexander soon convinced himself that his father, King Phillip II of Macedonia, was not his real father at all.

Alexander was 19 years old, his father (King Phillip II) was assassinated. Alexander took over as king of Macedonia in 336 BC. Alexander quickly pulled together all of Macedonia under his leadership.

Alexander turned his attention to the massive Persian Empire.

By the time Alexander was 25 years old, against incredible odds, and in only six years, Alexander had become not only the king of Macedonia, but also the leader of the Greeks, overlord of Asia Minor, pharaoh of Egypt, and the great king of Persia.

Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents, and covered around two million square miles. The entire area from Greece in the west, north to the Danube, and south into Egypt, and as far to the east as the Indian Punjab, was linked together in a vast international network of trade and commerce. This network was united by a common Greek language and culture."

As a scholar, Alexander felt it was his mission to spread the Greek culture.

schools everywhere he went to teach Greek philosophy and the Greek language.

Alexander adopted many of the customs of the local people he conquered, blending their culture with the Greek culture.

established hospitals, built fortified cities, and created the largest library in the ancient world at Alexandria.

but he never lost a battle.

The Nile is divided into sections by cataracts.  A cataract is a rocky area that creates a waterfall or rapids.  There are six cataracts in the Nile river.

 As the water level lowered, it would leave behind rich fertile soil for farmers

Fresh water, irrigation, fertile soil--this is why people called it the "gift" of the Nile.

Around 6000 BCE the climate began to change, which might explain why many humans changed from hunting and gathering to farming.  Before civilization, early humans came to the Nile River to hunt, fish, and gather food, but gradually as people learned to farm and domesticate animals (about 7000 BCE and 5500 BCE), and therefore live in permanent settlements, areas around the Nile became more crowded.

The change from nomadic hunter-gatherers to civilized living followed the same pattern as other places around the world: farming provided extra food, which allowed the division of labor, which allows the development of government and religion and creates social classes. 

Historians call them Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt

We know so much about the Egyptians because there are so many written resources and because their culture lasted so long with few interruptions

Another reason we know so much about Egypt is because they made their architecture out of stone, which has lasted for the most part. 

Religion was a the center of Egyptian life.  Egyptians believed in many Gods, so they were polytheistic.

Later Egyptians would call their kings “pharaoh”.  Egyptian people believed the pharaoh was a living God, so the Egyptians developed a theocracy, or a government ruled by religious leaders.  This is important to understanding why Egyptian people were so willing to give their grain to the Pharaoh and build him or her incredible temples—they thought the Pharaoh was a living God that would be with them forever in eternity.

The most well-known ritual was mummification.  Egyptians believed in life after death, and they wanted the body to look life-like.  Anyone could be mummified if they had enough money

Egyptians were a very advanced civilization due to their inventions and technology.  Egyptians developed a writing system called hieroglyphs that combined pictures and symbols.  Eventually, they created an alphabet from their symbols.  In 1822 CE a European explorer found what is called the Rossetta Stone (left picture)--a stone with the same message written in 3 different languages, which finally allowed historians to translate ancient hieroglyphs. Egyptians developed a 365-day calendar and used a number system based on 10. Egyptians figured out amazing ways to cut stone to use in their temples and obelisks.  An obelisk is a tall narrow monument that becomes more narrow as it goes up.  They created a writing material similar to paper called papyrus from reeds found in the Nile.  Egyptians were excellent ship builders and excelled at mathematics.  They used fractions, decimals, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and basic ideas of geometry.  Egyptian art and architecture is famous and has been reused and copied by many other civilization including Greece, Rome, and even the United States

Egyptian life depended on what social class you were a part of.

At the top of society was the Pharaoh.  Below the Pharaoh was the royal court (Pharaoh's family), high priests, government officials, and scribes and nobles (rich land owners).  Below them were doctors and engineers, craftsman, and then farmers and unskilled workers at the bottom.  Egyptians did use some slaves, but slavery is hardly mentioned in their writings.

Bread was the main food source, but they would have eaten meat during festivals. 

Egypt's history is divided into six different time periods

creating Egypt's first dynasty.  He defeated some enemies and united Upper and Lower Egypt into one civilization.

One of the first major Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom was Djoser.  His temple was one of the first pyramids Egyptians tried to build.  It was a "step pyramid" and it started the tradition of building pyramids as a burial ground for Pharaohs. Although the term "Pharaoh" wasn't used until much later, we will keep using it to refer to Egyptian kings.   

Hatshepsut was a women Pharaoh.  Her tomb is an amazingly long ramp leading to a temple that has been cut out of a mountain.  Pharaoh Akhenaten tried to start a new religious tradition of worshipping only one God.  Worshipping one God is called monotheism.  This did not sit well with the polytheistic population that has honored many gods for thousands of years.  After Akhenaten's death his monuments were destroyed and his name was removed from the list of kings. Years later he was often referred to as, "the enemy". Akhenaten's son would also become famous, thousands of years later when his tomb was found perfectly preserved. His name was Pharaoh Tutankhamen--he is known and King Tut. He became Pharaoh at age 9 or 10 and ruled for only 9 years.