World History Homework Two Answers - Student Sixteen

From Conservapedia - Reading time: 4 min

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World History Homework Two Instructor: Andy Schlafly Read the lecture. You can substitute in a question from honors into your regular assignment, if you are not in honors. 1.What do you think was the main secret to Alexander the Greats enormous success? The main secret to Alexander the Great’s enormous success was his military might. The real reason that Alexander succeeded was because he inherited the amazing military that his father had built up, which included the phalangites, a Macedonian interpretation of the hoplite. Alexander also inherited an extremely large and well trained cavalry. Alexander’s father, Philip II, had built this military up and was on the eve of an invasion of Persia when he died. This was a very good opportunity for Alexander the Great, Philip’s son, who seized control of the military and merely carried out his father’s plans to conquer Persia. Although Alexander pushed forward, he died and did not consolidate, or rule.

2. What about the Greek geography was unique and conducive to the development of democracy? Explain a bit. Greece was separated into a lot of small city states because of the natural terrain such as mountains and rivers. This made it so that the states were isolated and each could form its own form of government.

3. Explain the big advance in language mentioned in the lecture, which might have been even more significant than the invention of the wheel. The Phoenicians developed a Phonetic alphabet based on sounds. This was much more usable than the already established languages and made it much easier to communicate, and easier to describe things.

4. Pick a significant advance in knowledge by the Greeks and comment on it. The trireme was an extremely innovative battle ship that could ram an opponent and also was very versatile. It formed the core of the Greek navy and won the battle of salamis.

5. Aesop’s Fables: pick one you like best and explain why, or comment on all of them as a group.

The Eagle and the Fox

AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the undergrowth and there produced her young. Not long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The Fox on her return, discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it, along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.

I think that this is one of the most interesting of Aesop’s fables. The moral to this story is “do unto others as you should have others do unto you”, which is one of the ten commandments. Another point of interest is how shallow friendships are in Aesop’s fables. It says that the eagle and the fox had formed an intimate friendship, yet at the first chance it gets the eagle kills the fox kits.

6. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle: who impresses you most, and why? Socrates impresses me most because he was the first philosopher, preceding Plato and Aristotle, and he also trained Plato, who trained Aristotle. I like his ideas, and the fact that he also didn’t just give in to Athens. Also, if Socrates had decided not to train Plato, there would be no Aristotle.

7. Pick an ancient people other than the Greeks and briefly describe them. The Egyptians were a fascinating civilization. They had amazing architecture and built the great pyramids without the wheel-- one would need true skill to do that. Also, Egypt has survived over 3000 years, despite being conquered many times. They also developed the irrigation technique and transformed farming in ancient times. Honors Questions (answer any 3 in addition to the above questions) H1. Do you think Jesus taught in Greek? Explain. No I do not think that Jesus taught in Greek because Jesus grew up in Galilee and spoke Aramaic. He also was teaching peasants in poor towns and many peasants wouldn’t know Greek. His disciples may have taught in Greek but I doubt that Jesus did. H2. The Persian Wars. What can you say about them? I think that it is a wonderful story and a comeback victory by the Greeks. In the Battle of Marathon the Athenian Greeks could not get Sparta’s help and had to fend off 100,000 Persians by themselves. In the battle of Thermopylae only 300 Spartans and an assortment of 1200 or more other troops fended off 300,000 Persians for a short while and then although Persia invaded and ransacked Athens most of the citizens fled to an island. There the deciding battle of the Persian wars was fought, but Greece beat the Persians due to Greek triremes and their training and versatility. The reason that Persia lost was not due to numbers since at the Battle of Salamis the Persian ships outnumbered the Greek ships 4 to 1 yet because the Greek generals studied the river and figured out that the Persian navy would not be able to maneuver due to their big ships and their superior numbers. And thus the Greeks won

H3. Greek mathematics, philosophy, drama, literature and architecture. Which do you like best, and why? I would have to pick literature because it includes Greek mythology which is full of very interesting stories, and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, plus the history of Herodotus.