-----------
Many historians state that the ancient Greeks influenced Americans' way of life more than any other ancient civilization. I am very excited to learn about why they were so important.
-----------
But wait! We have a question!
Looking at maps on Google Earth, we examined Greek geography during class today. In addition to noticing the mountains, the rugged terrain, the surplus of islands, and the Mediterranean Sea surrounding the Aegean peninsula, several students pointed out that something appears to be missing from Greece ... a major river.
Looking at maps on Google Earth, we examined Greek geography during class today. In addition to noticing the mountains, the rugged terrain, the surplus of islands, and the Mediterranean Sea surrounding the Aegean peninsula, several students pointed out that something appears to be missing from Greece ... a major river.
What?! Didn't every ancient civilization need a major river, to provide water for the crops that were necessary to feed large groups of people so they could settle down and build cities (rather than traveling from place to place, like hunter-gatherers).
For example: the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile River in Egypt, and the Yellow River in China, were very important in each of those civilizations, right?
-----------
How did Greece became such a great civilization, without a major river? It's a fascinating question, and it's not easily answered.Fortunately, Mason provided us with one clue. During class today, she explained one of the ways that the Greeks were able to feed themselves without a major river. Mason told us that they used terrace farming, an ingenious technique of carving steps into the mountains of Greece.
The terraces had a series of ditches and channels leading from step-to-step, which could carry just the amount of rain water from the top of each mountain down to the crops that were growing on each step.
The terraces had a series of ditches and channels leading from step-to-step, which could carry just the amount of rain water from the top of each mountain down to the crops that were growing on each step.
Wow. Something tells me that the ancient Greeks were pretty smart. I am really looking forward to learning about their other innovations as well.
And a big thank you to Mason for her clear explanation to the class about terrace farming and how it works. Awesome stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment