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I think the most interesting thing we talked about this week would be Pompeii. It was interesting to talk about Pompeii because the event was very drastic and it was a huge change for the people were unprepared. The eruptions of Mount Vesuvius took 17 hours to finish and ended up destroying the entire city of Pompeii with its ash. I thought it was interesting that so much of the damage was just caused by hot ashes resulting from the eruption and not pure lava like a lot of people might think. I just think this topic is important because it allows us to get more information about the sort of end of the city of Pompeii and how everything went down. This doesn't have a lot of modern connection to our world today other than allowing us to study past civilizations and ways they could have been destroyed. In our modern world, we have more insight into volcanic patterns so that we are able to be more prepared and less at risk of total city wipeouts than the ancient cities.

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I think the most interesting thing we talked about this week would be the gladiators. I thought it was interesting that there were different classes/types of gladiators because it allowed them to battle more even battles which would make for better entertainment for the audience. If all the gladiators were put into the same group, there would be smaller and weaker people going against larger and stronger people and that would be less entertaining for the audience because the larger person couldn't go after the smaller person as easily, but if the larger person got to the smaller person, it would be very easy for the larger person to defeat the smaller person quickly. I don't really think this topic connects a ton to the modern world, except in cases of things such as MMA. Some professional sports have different weight classes, mostly for fighting ones because it is more entertaining when people of similar weight classes are able to fight against each other because they have more of an even chance to win. Again, if people were in different weight classes, the fights wouldn't be equal so it would be less entertaining for those watching and it wouldn't be a fair fight.

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I think the most interesting thing we talked about this week would be the Roman military and the way there were so many different levels and groups. Military things normally are pretty boring and uninteresting to me to be honest, but I thought it was interesting that there were so many aspects to the military and they managed to make it all work together. This is relevant to our modern world because we have military as well, obviously, but it is set up a lot different. To be honest, I don't really know much of anything about our military or its branches even though I come from a military family, but I'd like to become more educated on it especially since I'm becoming an adult.

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The most interesting thing we talked about this week would be the different classes of people and their jobs. I found this interesting because some parts were strange to learn about and some didn't make much sense in reference to today's world. I thought it was interesting that the Spartiates was the smallest class, but it was the only group of people that could vote. The other two classes, Perioikoi and Helots, made up around 15 times more of the population than the Spartiates, but they weren't allowed to vote. This sort of reminded me of the estate system during the middle ages with the serfs, nobles, and the clergy. This is contrastable to our modern world in America because we allow basically anyone 18 years of age or older to vote, including women, so that more of the population is represented in these votes. I think this is important because it shows us more about their system of government and how everything worked.

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10/30/2019: Ancient Greece: Art and Architecture

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10/30/2019: Ancient Greece: Art and Architecture

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The most interesting thing we talked about this week would be the different types of temple architecture. I found this interesting because, throughout Ancient Greece, these temples became much more complicated and less simplistic than one another. Doric architecture was very simple in design and it was very straightforward and plain with little decoration. Ionic architecture supplied a little more creativity by adding spirals at the tops of the columns, but they were still sort of plain. Corinthian architecture was much more intricate in design and it had a lot more decoration to it. I find the differing types of architecture interesting because it shows how different areas were able to find new ideas and grow from their more basic predecessors. I think that just being able to look at these past civilizations and seeing the way they built is interesting. This topic connects with our modern world because it shows ancient architectural techniques that have lasted throughout time and it allows us to look further into the inner workings of these societies.

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The most interesting thing we talked about this week would be Greek religion. I took mythology last year, so I already knew a lot of what we talked about, but Greek religion has always been interesting to me; I used to read all of Rick Riordan's books surrounding Greek mythology when I was younger. I think it is interesting how the underworld had different areas because I was actually unaware of how the death aspect of ancient Greece worked. I think it's cool how everyone who dies goes to the underworld, but there are different lands and rivers for each thing. I found it interesting how there were three places for people to be put after death within the underworld; the Elysian fields for the heroes, the Asphodel fields for average people, and Tartarus for the bad people. I think learning about the different religions of each group we have talked about has been my favorite part of each section so far because I have been able to learn about how different cultures function and their beliefs. This topic is still important because it is religion and there will always be something important about religion because it helps allow us to understand these past civilizations and how they functioned independently. Finding out what they believed in allows us to dwell deeper into each civilization and learn more about them. I don't have any questions I can think of right now, but I always think learning more about these religions can be interesting.

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The most interesting thing we learned about this week would be Egyptian religion and traditions. Egyptian religion and traditions were very important to the progression of Egyptian civilization. There were many important factors in Egyptian burials including brain removal, the wrapping of the body, and the opening of the mouth. These were rituals that were performed for the burials of bodies that took 70 days. The topic of religion and traditions connects to the modern world because it allows us to understand past civilizations and their traditions. Having knowledge about ancient religions allows us to understand how these ancient people lived and what their beliefs were. I think the most interesting thing regarding their traditions would be that they had the same ritual when they buried people so that they could have a good afterlife.

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The most interesting thing we learned about in this module would be Hammurabi's Code. Hammurabi's Code provided the basic foundation for the laws that we have in today's society. I thought it was interesting that 3,700 years ago we were provided with the basis for a lot of what we know today. Hammurabi's Code allowed for the unification of Mesopotamia through its vast expansions, and it also allowed everyone to know the rules. I think a lot of this relates to the modern world because this was literally the beginning of the law codes that we have today. Without Hammurabi's Code being created, the law systems that we have in place now would probably be a lot different, or even nonexistent altogether. It is hard to say how society would be today if these codes weren't created when they were. Society was expanding vastly and it was becoming difficult to contain and control people, so these laws allowed them to do so without completely crushing the weak as had previously been done. This topic is important because it created the basis for probably the biggest part of our society today. Overall, Mesopotamia launched society towards what we know today by evolving and creating new things that were previously not known, so it is a very important topic to learn about.

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The most interesting thing we learned about this week would be the various changes that occurred overall during the Neolithic Age. The Neolithic Age is known as the "dawn of civilization" because these groups of people were finally able to form permanent housing, agriculture, and were able to specialize in varying skills. During this time, we also saw formal governments begin to form and become a more important part of society. This connects to the modern world because this is where we sourced our modern government ideas from, in a way. If these early civilizations hadn't created governments, we would probably be in a very different place governmentally. This topic is important because we got our modern ideas of civilization from these early civilizations. Without the great evolution of these early societies, our modern societies wouldn't be nearly as advanced as they have become.

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The most interesting thing we learned about this week would definitely have to be Paleolithic art. I thought the fact that they made small, portable artwork was very cool to me because they were sort of like our keychains or good luck charms. I thought it was interesting because most of the artworks were either animals or women because that is what they likely idolized. I thought it was interesting that they potentially had the mindset that they could sort of "speak" things into existence by creating these different sculptures or paintings to idolize. The focus that they had on fertility and women is interesting to learn about because in today's culture, men seem to be more "idolized" and typically thought to be more important in a lot of people's eyes. I also thought the reliefs were cool because I probably wouldn't have thought of carving into flat rocks to create small and portable artworks. This topic is important because learning about different cultures' arts can help us understand their beliefs and their way of life.

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08/29/2019: Anthropology and Other Tools

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08/29/2019: Anthropology and Other Tools

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The most interesting thing we learned about this week would definitely have to be the evolution of hominids. The first hominids are thought to have emerged 3-4 million years ago, which is pretty crazy to think about. Humans have evolved so much within those 3-4 million years, so learning about how they used to interact or use tools was pretty interesting. When Homo Erectus emerged around 1.8 million years ago, they began using more complex tools and began exploring to Europe and Asia. I do believe in the "Out of Africa" model because there is DNA evidence that all humans have a common ancestry and that as Homo Sapiens Sapiens began leaving Africa, they began replacing other groups of hominids. Another thing I found interesting was that we are able to use carbon dating to find out approximately how long ago something was created. I always knew carbon dating existed, but I don't think I ever fully realized how useful it is for various studies. Possibly my favorite segment was just the very end when we talked about Cultural Relativism. I think that it is important to remember to remove our own modern judgments to be able to really learn about new cultures. Sometimes I end up forgetting to do so, and I think "Wow that's really strange," but then I remember that these people lived so long ago and in different places so to them it was totally normal. Altogether, I enjoyed these first few days of learning about the study of anthropology and hope to remember to take off my judgment cap.