April 30

Etruscans
came from north-central part of Italian peninsula
metalworkers, artists, architects
2 foundation myths: Virgil's Aeneid and the story of Remus and Romolus

Greeks
had many colonies around Mediterranean Sea
Romans borrowed ideas from them

• religious beliefs
• alphabet
• much of their art
• military techniques and weaponry

Latins
settled first on banks of Tiber River
descendants of Indo-Europeans
situated trading ships - not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome
commercial port but not susceptible to attack
7 hills of Rome (Palatine)

April 21

Ninth century - Etruscans, Greeks, Latins settle into southern Italy
Indo-European tribes moved into the Italian Peninsula and some settled along the Tiber River creating the sity-state Rome
Remus and Romolus


Etruscans settled into northern Italy
Romans were influenced by Greek settlements to their south (alphabet, city-state organization)
Originally, Rome was a monarchy on the Etruscan model with a council of elders -"Senate"
C. 500 B>C., Romans overthrew monarchy and established a "Republic"
Since the Senate was populated only by patricians, plebeians fought for a vote in government
Each year the Senate elected two rulers, "consuls", who served a term of one year
As in the Greek city-states, Romans would appoint a single dictator in times of war
12 tables - listed all laws
Res publica - Latin means "people's business/affairs"
Democracy, Aristocracy, Monarchy - government "republic"
Romans saw fighting in war as a duty

April 17

Today in class we came up with an idea for our Roman project.  We might make something out of clay with this kit thing Jessica got for Christmas.  Chesca spilled her water bottle all over Jessica so she was really wet.  We are going to test the clay project first so if it doesn't work we can do something else.

April 16

Today in class we talked about our next unit.  We get to pick a project and pretty much decide what we want to do.  My group is Jessica, Chesca, and I.  We don't know what we are doing yet.

April 15

Today in class we watched a video of the Allegory of the Cave.  Mr. Schick couldn't get his laptop to load so he used someone else's.  The video was really weird.  Because it was an allegory, it stood for something else.  Mr. Schick said that the author of the allegory was Plato.  Plato was most likely portraying Socrates's death.

April 14

Today in class we went over the test.  I did not do well on it.  our class was shorter than usual because we had an assembly.  John O'Leary talked to us about his experience as a child.