Vanessa+W.

Ciao. I'm in 4th period AP World History. Welcome to my page!

**__ Primary Source: __** __ The Sistine Chapel __
The Sistine Chapel, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City, began to be constructed in 1473 under the instruction of Pope Sixtus VI during the Renaissance. To this day, it is the site of the Papal conclave (the place of the process where a new pope is selected). It is most widely known for the elaborate frescoes that were painted by a team of famed Renaissance painters. The //Life of Moses// and the //Life of Christ// were painted by Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Cosimo Roselli, and are two of the Chapel's most famous frescoes and were completed in 1482 and lie on the ceiling of the Chapel. //The Last Judgment,// painted by Michelangelo, is another well-known masterpiece and was completed between 1535 and 1541. The art in the Sistine Chapel served to change the course of Western art.

The Sistine Chapel itself was built in the exact dimensions of the Temple of Solomon as given in the Old Testament and is rectangular in shape. Six tall windows decorate the sides and the top is roofed with a flattened barrel vault. The building, though built primarily for Papal purposes, was considered a personal monument to the Della Rovere family (the Pope's family) since Pope Sixtus VI oversaw its actual construction and commissioned many of the excess ornaments. Since its construction, the chapel has been cleaned and restored many times. A prime example of the many artistic feats accomplished during the time of the Renaissance, the Sistine Chapel remains one of the greatest religious monuments in history. Michelangelo, an already famed Italian painter, rose to more prominence with his creation of two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art and his style inspired major movements in art after the time of the Renaissance.

Sources: http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Storia.html http://www.wga.hu/tours/sistina/

__**School of Athens**: Hypatia__
Hypatia of Alexandria (350-415 CE) was an Alexandrian philosopher in Egypt who became the first well-documented woman in mathematics. She taught philosophy and astronomy at the Platonist school in Alexandria and is best known for preserving many early mathematical theories. For example, she revised //The Conics of Apollonius//, an important book concerning geometric theories that was primarily difficult to understand. However, she was murdered for her conflicting views and her death marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life. I find her particularly inspiring that she went against the grain and became one of the first woman philosophers.

Since Hypatia was essentially an important Greek intellectual philosopher, she was connected to the Renaissance simply for her relation to the Greeks, as the Renaissance borrowed heavily from Greek literature and ideals. For her uniqueness in being one of the first women to make history, Hypatia was included in the School of Athens. Leonardo Da Vinci should have been included in the School of Athens because he was an influential thinker and a great artist. Some believe he is as Plato. In otherwords, Plato's figure has Leonardo's face. -SW

__**Primary Source**: Machu Picchu__
Machu Picchu was a 15th century Incan site located in Cuzco in modern day Peru. It is located 2430 m above sea level and has an area of 5.019 square miles. Also known as "The Lost Cities" for its mysterious ruins, Machu Picchu was not discovered until 1911. Archaeologists estimate that as many as 1200 people may have lived at Machu Picchu, though the place was most likely a retreat for Incan rulers.

The structures of Marchu Picchu were arranged into three different areas: agricultural, urban, and religious. Each structure in each area was built according to its surroundings. The agricultural terracing and aqueducts matched the surroundings areas and slopes, farmers and teachers occupied the lower buildings, and important religious areas were located at the crest of the hill so that they overlooked the lush Urubamba Valley. Machu Picchu also contained intricate road systems, irrigation canals, and is recognized for its historic and cultural values around the world. However, to this day, many of Machu Picchu's mysteries (such as its role in Incan society) remain unsolved due to its unexplained abandonment in the 15th century. = =

=**Unit 1**=

__**Class Starter:** Hagia Sophia__
The Hagia Sophia, meaning "Holy Wisdom" was constructed in Constantinople, which is in the modern day city of Istanbul, Turkey. It was first dedicated in 360 by Emperor Constantius, who was the son of the city's founder, Emperor Constantine. It was originally called Megale Ekklesia (meaning "Great Church") around 430 BCE and served as Constantinople's cathedral. However, 26 years after its first construction, riots destroyed the Megale Ekklesia. A reconstruction of the church was conducted in 415 BCE by Emperor Theodosius II, although it was burned down during the Nika revolt of 532, of which caused mass destruction and death throughout the city. Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the final reconstruction of the church and the Hagia Sophia was re-inaugurated on December 27, 537 BCE.

The Hagia Sophia contains a vast, central basilica composed of a system of vaults and semi-domes. The central dome has a diameter of over 31 meters and a height of 48.5 meters. The central dome is often referred to as "the dome of heaven" and rests on four main arches, which in turn rest on a series of semi domes, which rest on even smaller semi-domes. Though the support that the Hagia Sophia is based on seems supportive, the first dome collapsed in 558 BCE and was rebuilt in 562 BCE at an even greater height. Throughout the years, earthquakes and other earthly disasters have racked the building, with the main structure being the only survivor in many of the catastrophes.

The interior of the Hagia Sophia was very elaborate and decorative. The walls were paneled with colored marbles and were inlayed with ornamented stone. Decorative marble columns were taken from other ancient building and were reused inside the Hagia Sophia to support the interior. The upper part of the Hagia Sophia was also decorated in gold with a cross in a medallion at the summit, though after the Iconoclasm, new mosaics were added, which still have survived to this day.

The Hagia Sophia was eventually converted into a mosque named Ayasofya Camii in 453 after Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople. During this period, minarets (tall slender towers that are used to call Muslims to prayer) were built around the preimeter of the building, Christian mosaics were covered with whitewash, and buttresses were added for structural support. The Hagia Sophia remained a mosque until the fall of the Ottoman Empire and was then secularized by the Turkish government in 1934, converted into a museum where mosaics that had been covered were restored.

Sources: [] [] []

//Historical Setting// The Parthenon was constructed in 447 B.C.E. and is‍ the visual reconstruction of the efflorescence of Athenian imperial power and influence,‍ untouched by the effects of the Peloponnesian War. At the time of its construction, Greece had signed a peace treaty with Persia in 449 B.C.E. (two years before the construction of the Parthenon) and Athens was the head of the Grecian defense league and was the imperial leader of Greece. The Parthenon was built with the use of the Delian league trust funds and expressed the confidence of the Athenians in their new imperialism. Pericles, a prominent Greek politician, oversaw the construction of the Parthenon. However, in 480 B.C.E. the Persians ransacked the Parthenon and other temples on the Athenian acropolis, rebuilding them with the inscription, "[the Athenians'] debt of gratitude to heaven for the defeat of Mede."
 * Primary Source:** The Parthenon



//Architecture// The Parthenon is composed of a rectangular floor plan with a series of low steps on each side. A multitude of Doric columns exist on each side and each entrance has an additional six columns.



The Parthenon's architectural style was mostly in the Doric or Ionic order, the types most easily characterized by the metope. The metopes of the Parthenon were representative of the Greeks' perception of the forces of order and justice and criminal chaos. The west side of the Parthenon depicted the Greeks' battle against the Amazons, the south depicted the battle between centaurs and lapiths, the east side depicted the battle between the giants and the gods, and the north side depicted the conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans. A frieze ran around the top of the Parthenon and was around 3 x 5 ft in dimension. The frieze depicted many pictures; on the north, west, and southern side, the frieze depicted elements crucial to the various ritualistic functions such as horsemen and musicians. On the eastern side of the Parthenon, the frieze depicts a child handing an older cloth to an elderly man who has gods on one side and two girls on the other. Many of the scenes depicted in the Parthenon are widely debated.

There were two rooms in the interior: the //naos,// which held the statue of Athena, and the //opisthodomos//, or treasury. The Parthenon was built to replace previously existing temples dedicated to Athena on the Athenian acropolis.

http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/parthenon.html http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/athens-parthenon
 * Sources:**

I didn't know that the Persians had gone into Athens, I thought that they had never reached that far, so, it's interesting to see that they did damage, because, Alexander the Great (who was technically Greek) destroyed Persepolis. ~Mojan Farid