History started when God created the world and everything in it. That is called creation. When people were deep in sin, after Adam and Eve, God said to Noah that He would send a flood, so He told Noah to build an Ark to save him and his family from the flood. After Noah left the Ark with his family, Noah’s family multiplied and then came the Tower of Babel. When God changed the languages of the people, they went into different parts of the world.
They settled in all of the seven continents of the world except Antarctica. Next came the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The patriarchs are important because out of them came the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve tribes became the Jewish nation from where Jesus came. Joseph was the son of Jacob, a patriarch. His brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, but God used it for good and eventually, he became second-in-command of all of Egypt. After Joseph died, a new ruler came to power who did not know Joseph, and he feared the growing number of the Israelites, so he made them his slaves.
There were thirty-one dynasties in Egypt. A dynasty is a succession of rulers from the same family line. The Egyptians were also fascinated with their death and the afterlife. We see this because of their interest in spirits and mummification. Moses was sent to free all the Israelites from the Egyptians. God used the Ten Plagues to convince Pharaoh that He was God and to set His people free. Sadly, the children of Israel disobeyed God several times, so they were stuck in the wilderness for forty years!
God set up judges to govern His people, but the people rebelled against the judges and God many times. They demanded a king, and God gave them what they wanted. Israel’s first king was Saul, then David, then Solomon. When Solomon’s son (Rehoboam) came to power, the kingdom split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Greece is located in Southern Europe, near the Mediterranean Sea. Mt. Olympus is located in Greece and supposedly the home of the Greek gods. Homer was a Greek poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Greek Olympics were captivating. They held the Olympics just to please their gods.
Socrates was the first philosopher in ancient Greece. A Philosopher is “someone who engages in thoughtful analysis of the world around them.” Three of Socrates’ students wrote about him. These students were Plato, Aristophanes, and Xenophon. Socrates was a great teacher, but he lacked grace in his teachings. We know a lot about math and science because of many philosophers in Greece.
The two main city-states in ancient Greece were Athens and Sparta. Life in Sparta was very cruel. They thought family loyalty was the weakness of the city, so they tried many ways to prevent family loyalty. Here is one example. When boys turned age seven, they are sent to the military to be trained as a solder and they were treated very harshly, even from a young age. There were three Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta, which Sparta eventually won. Athens was weakened by the wars so that made it easier for Alexander the Great to conquer them. Alexander was given the nickname “Alexander the Great” because he never lost a battle. He was so great in battles he conquered a gigantic part of Asia. After he died, his empire fell apart.
Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus, the first king of Rome. The Greeks influenced the shaping of Rome. Caesar Augustus was the emperor in Rome who demanded a census very close to Jesus’ birth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and was visited by shepherds and wise men. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus was rejected by the Jews as the Messiah. Jesus was crucified, buried, rose, and ascended into heaven, which led into the early church. The early church grew when the Holy Spirit started sending out apostles to preach the Gospel throughout the world. Many apostles were martyred because of their faith in Jesus. Constantine I was a Roman emperor and was the first emperor who became a believer. Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Ambrose were some of the early church fathers.
Pompeii, an ancient Roman vacation site was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pompeii lay untouched for hundreds of years until archaeologists found the site and it became an archaeological site. Roman fathers were in charge of an entire Roman family. Even though some things are unfair for the girls but fair for the boys, I really want to live there. Farms raised lots of animals and grew many plants. During the Republic, farms were small, but during the Empire, farms were very big. Rome fell because of five things: the division of the empire, lack of military cohesion, economic struggles, political rivalries and turmoil, and moral decline.
I love what I learned this year!