The Riddle of the Sphinx

It was said that Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx) to Thebes in Greece where she asks all passersby the most famous riddle in history:

“Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?”

She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer.

Oedipus solved the riddle.

Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she devoured herself. Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a "liminal" or threshold figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian gods.

So, what is the answer?

If you know, post it in the Comments below.

class presentations on ancient Egypt

Pretty good presentations today. We will continue with ancient Egypt next week. Take the notes you took in class today and transfer them to your blog. There is no other homework. Just enjoy your weekend!

finishing up

A lot of work has gone into your mini-projects on Ancient Egypt, including another class session today. Tonight is your final opportunity to add written or visual material before you present these projects to the class tomorrow. As I said in class, these projects will constitute our own online chapter on Egypt, so make your contribution to this unit thorough and informative. Worth 50 points.

put some muscle into your blog

Today in class we talked about how to beef up our blogs through the use of photos, links and embedded videos. (These are the elements that allow our blogs to transcend simple "words on a page.")

Then we broke into small groups to work on individual features of ancient Egypt. Each group is to highlight one feature (pyramids, geography, religion, daily life, slavery, etc.) and post their results. This blog posting should not merely be written words, but should include the elements we worked on in class.

Only one person needs to actually post the project; they should also include the names of everybody who worked in their group. Other members of the group should also post to their blogs, but they just need to tell me who is in their group and what the group's project is about.

pardon the interruption

We interrupt our study of ancient Greece to go back to ancient Egypt.

As I explained in class today, we are going to backtrack, chronologically speaking, to study the pyramids and the temples, the pharaohs and the slaves, the Nile and the desert.

And the mudbricks. Especially the mudbricks. Mudbricks were a way of life in Egypt 5000 years ago, and they can still be used today, as in this story.

Tonight, do a little independent research on ancient Egypt. Pick one aspect of Egypt (the geography, daily life, hieroglyphics, mummification, etc.), and post a couple hundred words. Feel free to include images, maps, photos, or any other visual aids to our learning. List the link where you did your research.

M, M & D

Today is was Section 03's turn to research the Mycenaeans, the Minoans, and the Dorians. We even picked up a new, useful website.

Also, tomorrow we will proceed in a slightly different direction. Details to follow in tomorrow's class.

Mycenaeans, Minoans, and Dorians

For homework, complete the work we began in class: pick one of the groups who played a prominent role in ancient Greece (the Mycenaeans, the Minoans, or the Dorians), and find a good website you can use to research these people. Then use that site to write a short (at least 150-200 words) paper describing the group of your choice. Include a link to the site you used, and post it and the paper to your blog.

Have a great weekend!

Note-Taking 101

Those fantastic notes you took in class today? Transfer them into your blog tonight!

Don't forget: the notes you put in your blog today will be the notes you study from for any future tests. So do a good job!

Welcome to the 2nd semester...

Here is a recap of the assignment we discussed in class today. Simply put, tell me what you would like to see in this Western Civ class. You may suggest class activities, techniques used by some of your favorite teachers, possible field trips, your favorite period of history from Classical Greece to the Renaissance, movies that we could screen in class, great websites that will help us in our research, etc. Post your suggestions and great ideas to your blog.

We're all on this road together - we may as well enjoy the trip!

Let the Games Begin!

This is the first of many blogs I will be posting as we begin our course in Western Civilization. I look forward to meeting those of you new to my class, and I welcome back all the old-timers from Human Geography.