Thanks for your responses so far! I hope we can talk about some of these at our next meeting.

Those of you who haven’t responded yet, what are you curious about when it comes to history? Is there anything about studying history that makes you wary or concerned?

• How does Sparta make possible a class of men dedicated solely to the craft of war?

Sparta is able to maintain a warrior society by leaving the rest of their non warfare work to their slave class the helots. The Spartan men can focus on solely warfare due to the work of farming being done by helots. In Ancient Greece there was no professional soldiers in other polis due to the soldiers also having to be farmers with their attention divided between maintaining those two fields, the battlefield and the farm field. The Spartans did not have this limitation due to the Helots, the Spartans could focus only on the aspects of war making them more trained than all other armies in Greece.

The first part of Clouds is very interesting as we are introduced to Strepsiades, an old farmer who has gotten into terrible debt due to his son's Pheidippides addiction to buying horses. Strepsiades comes out very avoidant yet determined to clear this debt because instead of trying to pay it off, he tries to find the easy way out of it through whichever means. With this, we see Strepsiades try to enroll his son into one of Socrates' "classes" to see if he can help both parties figure out how to pay off the debt. In this instance, you can infer that the author, Aristophanes, is trying to convey the serious problem of avoidance, which could've been a common issue within Athens. Instead of facing your problems head first, people avoid them by involving themselves in more problems. This is seen in Clouds as Strepsiades tries to avoid paying off the debt by using his son to learn rhetorical questioning through Socrates. This is where the play jumped out to me as this interpretation of Socrates is completely different from how the famed Greek philosopher is described. In this play, we get a version of Socrates who comes off as a fraud and uses rhetorical questioning to persuade someone to avoid the issue at hand. This can be seen on page 60 of the play, as Socrates dismisses the idea of the Gods by questioning Strepsiades’ beliefs about Zeus and implying that he isn't all that powerful. Being this is a comedic play, it's clear that Aristophanes' portrayal of Socrates is laughable. However, this makes me wonder how people reacted to this revelation of Socrates, did some people agree or disagree, or was this all inspired by the fact that Socrates was put on trial for spreading impiety and "corrupting the youth”?

The reading I chose this week was Aristotle: The politics on slavery. I chose this reading because although there is a lot to say when talking about slavery related to the Civil Rights era, it’s interesting how slavery was used in Greek timelines as I’ve never heard of this before. What gets in the way about understanding Greek history is how it can be analyzed differently and debated depending on the timeline. What strikes me most about the Greeks is the conception of life that was happening. Greeks influenced us by being referenced to many different things that connect. I would like to find out more about if slavery that happened in Ancient Greece would connect to slavery in the South many years later as Greek slavery is a very interesting law that was discovered.

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1- I picked The Death of Patroclos because the title grabbed my attention. When I started reading it, I realized the passage was interesting and had many characters like Achilles and his mother, the goddess of water even though the reading did not say much about her. I was curious to know more about the death of Patroclos. It was a very complex time to live under the oppressors. 

2- When I was reading. I thought about The Archaic Age Tyrants. There were so many battles for the Olympic Games. Cylon of Athens tried to coup the city of games but failed 632 times. It was interesting to know more about the foundation of these important games that are still popular today. 

3- The author in the reading showed how society lived and how they needed to fight for their rights. People died under the ruler’s power because they needed to do everything, they ordered them.  

4- I believe the document tells us that society in the past worked hard and did not have choices but fought for their freedom.  Society had so many difficulties. Besides their lands being stolen there were other issues like health, housing, and schooling to live a decent life.

5- Yes, this document seems to support our other readings. In the readings, we see hard times, fights to settle down the control and power, of properties and people.   Many people died to make things right for the future folks to have better lucky days. 6- I would like to know how they settle down the fight for the city of the games and also know more about Achilles and his goddess mother.  

History has always been a fascinating subject tome and I have always adored nearly every aspect of history from modern to ancient. What makes history so interesting to me is that history never ceases to teach new things about the past; there is so much that we find but yet we know so little about the way people interacted with the world around them back then, every day is a new possibility to learn about history in any context, from writing, to art, to politics.

What prevents history from being completely understood is not just the endless amount lost artifacts but our own personal biases when it comes to articulating a reason for any historical discovery. To be a good historian is not just disconnect from modern day perspectives but to put yourself into the shoes of the people we study about. With ancient history it's nigh impossible to fully grasp the social aspect of ancient society and people; how they thought or believed through a modern lens and even harder to find an any evidence of their perspective. nearly everything we know about history is based on assumption.

The Greeks play a special part in history as one could argue that Greek civilization has left the most important mark for all of history; primarily through their politics. Greek politics have been the foundation to nearly every aspect of modern democracy. Even part of their language still exist to day in many spoken, modern dialects.

I am most excited to learn more about the longterm effects of Greek Warfare and their impacts to the rest of Hellas; I feel like many of us have base level understanding from the many wars and conquest the Greeks have done but I feel as if I know very little on the why of such glamorized history.

When looking into history or historical contexts, I believe the first thing one must do to understand history fully is to be open-minded. One must be open-minded because human history, as a whole, is very complex and lengthy with some parts of the stories constantly being lost throughout time. No one can ever predict whether these stories are true, told through lies, or if they were even meant to be told; but each part of the story is still significant when one tries to understand ancient history. I think that what interests me about history the most, is the inability to fully understand it because as research, time, and data continue to grow throughout the centuries so does our misunderstanding of true history. When looking into ancient history, one must understand that we haven't grabbed the whole scope and can continue to look into it. However, the things that get in the way are that some parts of history are either hidden, stolen, or as I mentioned, lost throughout time. When talking about the Greeks, I believe their history is extremely important as they were one of the first communities to have city-states, beautiful architecture, and the most influential aspects of democracy. Of course, we had societies before their time but the vast amount of stories, folklore, myth, and cultural influences they left behind is what has guided our society to how it is now. When I first learned about the Greeks I gravitated more to their mythologies and how these myths explained how their society was formed and placed. However, I have yet to fully understand their viewpoints on philosophy, laws, and other information that is tied to their history. In the end, I hope to learn more about their cultures while also indulging more in their mythologies and traditions.

My interest in history began at a young age. It was intriguing to me to learn about the past; from major events that occurred, to fashion, and even music. It’s fascinating to study how societies have evolved over the years. Understanding history does have its challenges. As stated in our class discussion, there are no facts in history. Some obstacles that make understanding history a challenge are cultural and language differences, ideas may get lost in translation, biased perspectives/ interpretations, and incomplete / limited data/ resources. Something that I find important about the Greeks is that they were about bettering themselves and their community. I believe their system of government, philosophies, art, and even athletics have influenced us today. While I’m interested in learning all about ancient Greece, something I have always been particularly interested in is Greek mythology.

What interests me most about history is the way it preserves and shows us how things were in the past, it explains why and how certain things that we use every day were created, such as the language we speak, how we transport ourselves, etc., because each of those things has a history. What sometimes makes it difficult to learn about the past is that the evidence usually found is not well preserved and only lets us see one part of history and the other part we have to hypothesize about. The most important thing about the Greeks is their philosophy since it helps us to have critical and logical reasoning. I would like to study all of your history in general, such as your beliefs, way of life, etc.

• It is fascinating to learn about the ancient history. It reflect in what we are today and how society behaved in the past and today. When I think about ancient history many things come to my mind with many questions. How the people really looked like, the dress they used to wear, the experiment they did in terms of discovering how to make tools, music instrument, the combination of color to paint their arts, how they had the knowledge to build their homes and so on. Of course it is more curiosity to know more about the past history and the way they live.
• When I think about understanding ancient history, I think about government, the places they used to live, and how they discovered all the metal to do their coins, and objects. It is so interesting to understand how they started to write their stories on the tablets and how they learned so many good things that we are using today in a much modern way. How they survived with so many bad diseases that killed many. We have all the medicines and doctors, and still there are so many bad diseases that medicine do not cured yet. Thinking about covid-19 that killed more than 3 millions worldwide, all that make me to reflect on the past. Understanding ancient history makes me to understand the world we are living today. The society and its culture. If the past did not happen maybe we would not have much to say about our existence.
• Greeks influences us because they were ahead of time with so many intelligent people that were focus in learn new skills to build something. The frustration they maybe have, but they did not give up. Today we are in so much advance time in technology, cars, airplanes, ships, just to mention a few. Yes, I think Greek has a great influence on us. Lets say when we go to the movie theater, stadium, and look up the columns the sculptures. All the good things Greek had done in the past so well that I would say. Indeed, they influenced us.
• I do not know much about Greek or the past. I am curious about the next class, and what I will learn about the Greek history. I also would like to learn more about the Greek mythology it is interesting.

What interests me about History is sometimes what most find to be mundane. When we think of History we think of major events like wars, revolutions or discoveries, most people's minds don't drift towards what was it like to get up in the morning or go and get food during x such date. When we think about war we think of battles or the generals, I become interested in what was the medical ward like during WW1, how were injuries treated and what was the recovery chances. So when I think and learn about a period like Ancient Greece I want to be able to envision what was daily life like, not always what the famous and historical figures did. The problem with studying Ancient History is most of it comes to us through scraps and fragments but that's what makes it so fascinating. What strikes me as a significant contribution Ancient Greece has made to shaping the Modern World was philosophy, the ability to put into words complex thought, with the spreading and discussion of ideas is a social technology and we today associate that with Ancient Greece.

Discoveries and findings interest me about history. Whether it's dinosaur fossils or a ship wreck from WW1 etc. these things have always fascinated me. My curiosity about the artifact is what leads me to want to know more about its history; the story it has to tell. Some of the things that get in my way of understanding history has been, at times, the timeline of where the event took presence, geography, not really understanding the impact of an event that took place and also at times there not being enough resources about the topic such as a language no longer spoken. Besides my love of mediterranean food, I do not have any specifics as to what strikes me most important about Greeks but instead do want to learn more about how they have influenced us at such scale. Takeaways I would like from this course would be who were the biggest influencers then and what impact did they have in society at the time, what were the practices of daily living, what effect did coins/money have on its people, what religions were practiced etc. Overall, I'm interested in learning the history of Greek and its people. 

What interest me about history is the major past events that happened. I like to learn about why those events happened, who was present during the event, what impact did it have, and how they shaped the people involved after the event has subsided. What gets in the way of understanding history is the fact that every source is different so there isn't really a definite answer to certain questions because it all depends on the source. Another thing that gets in the way of understanding history is the way people in the past think differently to the people in the present. Somethings may seem like an obvious choice to us but in the past the way they thought was different. What strikes me as most important about the Greeks is there form of entertainment and writing as it has transcended time and is still inspiring people today. One thing I would like to find out more about is their connections to their gods and the myths and stories of their time.

What interests me about history is the different factors and obstacles people had to overcome in order for society and evolution to progress. The amount of culture and skills that were learned and used to adapt to life during certain periods is extremely fascinating considering the fact that life today is so much more different. It's hard to comprehend how humans lived before our time but interesting because you're given an opportunity to put yourself in their shoes while you learn their history. Although there are saved pieces from different time periods, we will never actually know if all of these things that we are learning about really happened. That kind of ties into things getting in the way of understanding history because we cannot relate or understand right away that life today wasn't anywhere near how life was even 100 years ago let alone 2000 years. Some people find It hard to get into history because they feel as though since it's in the past it doesn't matter but also since it happened so long ago they find it hard to find connection.

Some things that I find important about Greeks and their influence is the culture and the way they prioritized their culture. Not letting it die and be forgotten but rather living through it and sharing it with the world. I would like to find out more about their ways of communication through theater and science.

What interests me about history, is being able to learn the origin of those who existed before our time and to lead and understand how different the way of life was compared to current society. History’s beauty is although it’s not all composed of all facts but also assumptions of what possibly existed before our time. What fascinates me about history is learning the origin of what we currently still use or incorporate in our current society.

What can get in the way of understanding ancient history is the lack of evidence to provide proof of said facts that were written from people of the time period. Physical evidence always provides proof of what is being said or mentioned to be deemed as true. Without physical evidence sometimes may become a conflict of believing what is real and what may be false especially pertaining to ancient history.

What strikes me most important about the Greeks, is their consistency to keep creating and influencing not only their society in their time but the future generations as well. Their impact has continue to influence our current society where most of their contributions is used all over the world today. What I would liked to find out more about is to know more in-depth of how and what made them decide to create so many of the contributions that we use today.

When it comes to history, for me it's not just one story, it's several stories that make up a strong argument for any particular subject. So what interests me most is putting together several resources to create an unbiased opinion on the people of any specific country and era. With ancient history, primary sources with unbiased opinions are hard to come by, making studying history difficult. The Greeks were great at record keeping so a lot of their history remained intact, however, that cannot be said for many other places that weren't too big on documentation and were destroyed by foreign powers like the Incas and Aztecs. When it comes to history, due to the location of Greece, the Greeks were in the center of where the world met. The Greeks were influenced by many and returned the favor to many others. The fact that our government, philosophies, some math, and foods are part of our current culture as well as the Greeks is why I believe this course would be interesting and fulfilling. Personally, I'd like to learn more about the Greek influence and all of the things we credit them for.

• What interests you about history? 

what I find most interesting about history is that it is different from math and science in the sense that there is not an absolute right or wrong answer for many of the questions we ask in history , its very open to interpretation.

• What kinds of things get in the way of understanding history—particularly ancient history?

One of the things that get in the way of understanding history are the lack of evidence that we have when attempting to get to the bottom of questions we ask . Also , because history is open interpretation in many cases , sources are usually secondary providing intentionally or non intentionally bias accounts.

• What strikes you as most important about the Greeks and how they influence us?

What strikes me as most important about the Greeks is there Theater art , Specifically Drama and comedy which continue to influence theatre and cinema around the world to this day . Essentially they set the blueprint for using art and theatre to depict the human struggle within their civilization

• What would you like to find out more about? 

I Would like to find out more about Differences between Spartan culture and Athenian Culture as they were the two most notorious city states within Ancient Greece

I enjoy learning about the past. I find the past fascinating because today's people can only imagine what life could be like in the past. Films of today can do their very best to capture what life was like during certain periods but since we haven't lived during those times and our knowledge of the period is limited the rest is up to interpretation. I find interest in learning how events of the past are responsible for the events going on today. It is thanks to history that we know how to deal with pandemics and epidemics when they occur cause there will theirs no stopping them. Once-in-a-century pandemic and epidemic. However, when it comes to understanding the bitterness and brutality makes it hard to consume and digest. Especially when it comes to racial history be it America or globally racial history is an abomination. Ancient history I find to be the most fascinating because you are dealing with a culture and people who one can believe never existed. I particularly enjoyed the history of ancient Egypt because of the pharaohs and how the people of ancient Egypt carried themselves. Plus, it's one African country where outsiders seek to be separate from African history because of their achievements and what they were able to build. To this day historians and architects cannot piece together how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids that still exist today. The constructions of the pyramids still interest historians to this day. Ancient Greek history I also find fascinating because of the ancient societies of Sparta and Athens. In addition to the Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. The earliest forms of democracy can be found in ancient Greek history. Their history explains why certain democracies of today find themselves in situations associated with democratic government. I also enjoy Greek mythology due to how comedic it is and how they make the deities out to be more like undisciplined humans vs. divine entities. I would like to know whose idea was that.

I approach understanding history with an open-mind. I do this in order to make room for the vast amount of possibilities that I may not have thought of. What interests me about history is that it's a broad topic. Inside of history includes multiple aspects such as art, literature, precedent inventions, and past wars. The kinds of things that get in the way of understanding ancient history is the fact that these events happened so long ago it is difficult to obtain the same perspective that the people of ancient times had. What is important about the Greeks and how they influence us is that their achievements can be seen as priceless. The New Testament of the bible is written in Greek. This book is being read daily. What I would like to find out more about is how to have a deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the immortals and the mortals, specifically humans.

What interests me about history is the fact that we have access to the lives and experiences of other people throughout time. It is very interesting to learn about the ways in which other people lived, the jobs they had, what they believed in. It is also interesting to see how the events of the past influenced or impacted society today.

The reason we don't fully understand history is because we don't have all the information. Documents were destroyed, events weren't written down or preserved and even if they were written down we can't fully know the truth as the information was heavily biased.

The thing that strikes me as most important about the Greeks are their scientific and mathematic breakthroughs, most of which we still reference today. Men like Archimedes, Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Ptolemy were very influential figures in the realm of math, science and language. The ancient Greeks were also known for their philosophy and forward thinking.

Throughout this class I would simply like to find out more about ancient Greece in all aspects. The people who lived during this time, the influential figures that shaped the history of ancient Greece, the battles that took place, the development of their culture and the advancements of their technology. I'm simply curious about the history of ancient Greece as a whole.

History interests me because is the one thing it can be change or undone. All past Historical events have shaped and helped evolve the human race. I also believe that the only way Society can learn and become better is by learning from the past. As Maya Angelou would say "You can't know where you're going, until you know where you've been".

Things that get in the way of understanding history particularly in ancient history are finding credible sources. Everyone has their own perspectives and tend to tell the story how they understand it or that best suits them. There's always a reason behind someone telling a story and that's why people should always believe what they want to believe.

One thing that strikes me about the Greeks is that most of the world was influenced by them. From the Greeks we had the first ideas of what is government and also democracy. The Greeks were also Always trying to innovate a become better as a society.

I would like to find out more about the Greeks mythology and what they believe to be their Gods. I've always found interesting how they see their gods as heroes and how they were so different from each other.

The main driving forces for survival, the creation and preservation of the cultural heritage of the collective are themes

that I find both interesting and fascinating about history. Early civilizations, but Greeks in particular, hold special interest. I see a culture that despite living in a rugged environment and full of internal and external conflicts, developed ideas that remain relevant till this day. Not only did they gift the world with the highest forms of art (comedy, poetry, and many forms of storytelling) but also some of the greatest political and military leaders of the ages, from king Leonidas of Sparta to Alexander the Great of Macedonia.

One of the things I find get on the way of historical study and analysis, is the biased interpretation that range from the romanticized to the demonized, which keeps the debate alive and well. However, as a future historian, is a reality I cannot escape.

I would like to learn more about their political and legal systems. How did they solve conflict in their everyday lives? How was their social structure? These are themes I look forward to exploring.

The subjects that interest me in history are war and the day-to-day lives of civilians. These are interesting because learning about advancing war technology and tactics is very cool. My main trouble in history is that I'm not confident in recalling certain historical events while talking about them, I end up second-guessing myself a lot. I would say the biggest Greek influence is the Government structure and way of thinking. I would be intersted in learning more about how the Greeks fought in war.

The dynamics of power, the shaping of cultures, the response to adversities and the downfall of societies from bad ideas or mishaps is what fascinates me about history.

The Greeks in particular can be challenging to undersatnd fully pre 8th century specifically due to a lack of writing things down to trace an actual lineage. The lack of ancient artificats found is another issue. So, some of the early Greek foundations are mysterious and there is a lack of completeness to it. Yes, as in any type of history the historal accounts can be skwered and biased but, Greece's lack of early written down history is challenging.

My fascination with the Greeks is threefold. Yes, I admit they do influcence our governmental bodies, theories and philosphies. They have made a major contribution to the World we know today. That is not what fascinates me. My fascinations for Greece are:

1. What was it about the Greeks that help make the Rome what it was?
2. Alexander The Great is the greatest warlord that ever lived. How did that happen? What made him what he was? Why were the Romans able to use the rise of Julius Caesar to establish a major long lasting Empire? While Alexander was not abel to do the same?
3. How did the Greeks with relatively little in terms of land and armies and essentially not very centralized make the most out of relatively little in terms of World stage impact?