WEDNESDAY - September 29, 2010

  

   Well hello there!  Today we did some crazy stuff.  Well, just one crazy thing... we started off class with a traditional Greek circle dance called "Zorba's Dance."  It was fun and a little crazy :o)  You can watch this dance by clicking here. 

   Next, we reviewed democracy & oligarchy by making some analogies with real-life countries like Cuba and North Korea.  We discussed how the people in these Communist countries actually get to vote, but they are only allowed to choose Communist Party members and the same president is always on the ballot, without competition.  So, are these more similar to democracies or oligarchies???  Hmmmm...

   After that, we answered the following questions:

     1)  How did we end up getting Greek language and the idea of democracy here?
     2)  What was the Delian League and why was it created?
     3)  Who was Pericles and what did he do for the city of Athens?

   To do this, Mr. Kameika told a story about Sparta, the Persians, Persian King Xerxes, the 300, the Delian League, and more... please read the story below!   If you watched the movie 300, this will sound familiar.

    So, in the 300 movie, the Spartans pushed the Persians and their King, Xerxes, out of Greece.  Xerxes was very angry and ashamed about this, but he returned to Persia, anyway.  While in Persia, King Xerxes had a son, named Darius.  Darius grew up listening to his father's stories about trying to conquer the Greeks but not being able to.  So, naturally, when Darius grew up, he decided to finish the job that his father so wanted to do... conquer Greece. 

   So far, does this sound familiar to you?  Do you remember President Bush invading Iraq to get Saddam Hussein??  Remember that his father, the 1st President Bush tried to get Saddam, but couldn't?! 

   When Darius returned to Greece, the Spartans chose not to fight him.  So, Athens and the other city-states had to come together to defend themselves.  They met at a small island called Delos and formed a "union" called the Delian League.  This meant that they would help each other fight Darius and the Persians.  However, Delos was too close to the border with Persia, so the leader of Athens, a man named Pericles, convinced the Greeks to move the Delian League to Athens.  Here, Pericles controlled the Delian League and helped fight off the Persians..... BUT, Pericles was pretty slick, and he stole money from the Delian League to make Athens the most beautiful city of the time.  This eventually made Athens the most important city in the region.... thus, spreading Greek ideas of democracy, language, education, and other things outside of Athens.