1. What was the importance of The Pyramids in ancient Egypt?

The inhabitants of ancient Egypt believed in an afterlife. For that reason,the tombs of the kings
were even more important that their palaces. In the Old Kingdom, Kings and queens sent the
peasants to build great tombs called Pyramids which were the resting place after death for
themselves.

Royal and the elite Egyptian´s bodies were preserved by mummification that involves
embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. Then attendants placed the
mummy in a coffin inside a tomb and filled it with their most valuable belongings such as
clothing, food, cosmetics and jewelry. Furthermore, many Egyptians put scrolls with hymns ,
prayers and magic spells intended to guide the soul in the afterlife. That is to say, that Egyptian
mummified bodies in order to the soul could return to it later.

Thus, as Egyptian were able to carry out the process of mummification, they also were able to
develop writing through hieroglyphics written in stone and later in papyrus. They also created
social institutions such as granaries, bakeries and the first hospitals. In addition, Egyptian
developed the use of the calendar, paying taxes and social strategies like the slavery as
condition of salvation.

All in all, the Pyramids reflected that Egyptian civilization had developed the economic strength
and technological means to support massive public works projects, as well as the leadership
and government organization to carry them out.

2. Contrast Sparta and Athens

Sparta and Athens were two city-states very different in many aspects:

As regards to Athens, there were four forms of government. In one of them a king ruled in a
government called a monarchy. Other form was the aristocracy, a government ruled by a small
group of noble,landowning families. These very rich families often gained political power after
serving in a king’s military cavalry. A third new class of government was wealthy merchants and
artisans emerged in some cities forming an oligarchy. Finally, other form of government was the
tyranny.These rulers called tyrants were looked as leaders who would work for the interests of the
ordinary people. Athenian reformers little by little moved toward democracy. In Athens, citizens
participated directly in political decision.

Furthermore a man called Draco developed a legal code based on the idea that all Athenians, rich
and poor, were equal under the law.

Later, Solon outlawed debt slavery,stating that no citizen should own another citizen.

Finally, Cleisthenes created the Council of Five Hundred. This body proposed laws and counseled
the assembly.

On the contrary, instead of a democracy, Sparta built a military state. The ancient Greeks believed
that strong healthy citizens helped strengthen the city-state. Two kings ruled over Sparta’s military
forces. The Spartan social order consisted of several groups. One of them were citizens descended
from the original inhabitants of the region (ruling families who owned the land). A second group,
worked in commerce and industry, and the helots, at the bottom of Spartan society who worked in
the fields or as house servants.
In Sparta all forms of individual expression were discouraged. As a result, Spartans did not value
the arts, literature, or other artistic and intellectual pursuits like in Athens. Spartans valued duty,
strength, and discipline over freedom, individuality, beauty, and learning.

Other characteristic of Athenians was that citizenship was restricted to a small

number of people. Only free adult male property owners born in Athens were
considered citizens. Women, slaves, and foreigners were excluded from citizenship
and had few rights. Athenian girls were educated at home by their mothers and
other female members of the household. They learned about child-rearing,
weaving cloth, preparing meals, managing the household, and other skills that
helped them become good wives and mothers.

Instead, Spartan girls received some of military training, and they also ran,
wrestled, and played sports. They were taught to put service to Sparta above
everything.Women even had their own sports festival in ancient Greece. One of
them was a foot race for unmarried women.

In the case of Spartan men should to serve in the army until the age of 60, for this
reason, when they were little boys left home at age of 7 and moved into army
barracks, where they stayed until they reached the age of 30. They spent their
days marching, exercising, and fighting.

While in Athens, schooling began around the age of seven and largely prepared
boys to be good citizens. They studied reading, grammar, poetry, history,
mathematics, and music in order to be able to debate issues in the assembly. In
addition boys also received training in logic and public speaking.

3. Explain 2 reasons for the Persian Wars

The two main causes of the Persian wars consists on the one hand, in the
desire of the Persian Empire to expansionism.

They wanted to conquer territories in the Anatolian peninsula until arriving at

Ionia, devastating entire populations and imposing its ideology and political
domination.

And on the other hand, the conquest of new territories generated the Persian
empire an increase in wealth and control over trade, which increased its
political, economic and military power.

The Ionian territory was closely linked to Greece. Persian expansionism

continued into Thrace and Macedonia and they were approaching mainland
Greece. At that time, a far-reaching rebellion broke out in Ionia against Persian
rule. The Ionian rebels asked the Greek polis for help to fight against the
Persians and the cities of Athens and Eretria fought alongside them. However
they failed and the Persians razed the Ionian cities and nearly destroyed
Miletus. Later, the Persians wanted to attack Athens for having helped the
Ionians. And so the first war began.

4. Explain the terms: Hellenic and Hellenism in 150 words

Hellenism is called a historical stage marked by the death of Alexander the

Great. This is the heritage of the culture of classical Greece. The Greeks were
able to preserve the Greek spirit, both in the arts and in the sciences among the
educated and aristocratic people. The rest of the population of the kingdoms
located in Egypt and Asia did not participate in Hellenism and continued their
customs, language and religion. Athens, Sparta and Thebes, reached the
decline and were replaced by Alexandria, Pergamum and Antioch, whose
urbanism and construction had nothing to do with the previous ones. In all of
them Greek was spoken in its variant called koine, which meant "common" .
That is to say, the common language of that time.It is considered a transitional
period between the decline of the classical Greek era and the rise of Roman
power.

The hellenic world, was a period (from 477 to 431 B.C.)in which Athens
experienced a growth in intellectual and artistic learning. This period is often
called the Golden Age of Athens. During this golden age, drama,
sculpture,poetry, philosophy, architecture, and science all reached new heights.
The artistic and literary legacies of the time continue to inspire and instruct
people around the world.

PIRAMIDES

Los habitantes del antiguo Egipto creían en una vida futura. Por ello,
las tumbas de los reyes eran aún más importantes que sus palacios.
En el Reino Antiguo, los reyes y reinas enviaban a los campesinos a
construir grandes tumbas llamadas pirámides, que eran su lugar de
descanso después de la muerte. Los cuerpos reales y de la élite
egipcia fueron preservados mediante momificación, que implica
embalsamar y secar el cadáver para evitar que se pudra. Luego, los
asistentes colocaron la momia en un ataúd dentro de una tumba y lo
llenaron con sus pertenencias más valiosas, como ropa, comida,
cosméticos y joyas. Además, muchos egipcios pusieron pergaminos
 con himnos, oraciones y hechizos mágicos destinados a guiar el alma
en el más allá. Es decir, que los cuerpos momificados egipcios para
que el alma pudiera volver a él más tarde. Así, así como los egipcios
pudieron llevar a cabo el proceso de momificación, también pudieron
desarrollar la escritura a través de jeroglíficos escritos en piedra y
posteriormente en papiro. También crearon instituciones sociales
como graneros, panaderías y los primeros hospitales. Además, los
egipcios desarrollaron el uso del calendario, el pago de impuestos y
estrategias sociales como la esclavitud como condición de salvación.
En definitiva, las Pirámides reflejaban que la civilización egipcia había
desarrollado la fuerza económica y los medios tecnológicos para
apoyar proyectos masivos de obras públicas, así como el liderazgo y
la organización gubernamental para llevarlos a cabo.

La religión del Antiguo Egipto era politeísta, es decir, los egipcios creían en varios
dioses. Creían también en la vida después de la muerte y, por lo tanto, conservar
el cuerpo y las pertenencias para la otra vida era una preocupación.

Pero solo los faraones y algunos sacerdotes tenían condiciones económicas de

crear sistemas de preservación del cuerpo, a través del proceso de momificación.

Función
La pirámide tenía la función de albergar y proteger el cuerpo del faraón
momificado y sus pertenencias (joyas, objetos personales y otros bienes
materiales) de los saqueadores de tumbas.
 Por lo tanto, estas construcciones tenían que ser muy resistentes, protegidas y de
difícil acceso.

Los ingenieros, que debían guardar los secretos de construcción de las pirámides,
planeaban trampas y accesos falsos dentro de las construcciones.

Todo estaba pensado para que el cuerpo momificado del faraón y sus
pertenencias no tuvieran acceso.

Construcción de las pirámides

Las pirámides fueron construidas en una época en que los faraones ejercían
máximo poder político, social y económico en el Antiguo Egipto.

Cuanto mayor es la pirámide, mayor es su poder y gloria. Por eso, los faraones se
preocupaban por la magnitud de estas construcciones.

Con mano de obra esclava, muchas veces, se construían con bloques de

piedras que llegaban a pesar hasta dos toneladas.

Tardaban muchas veces más de 20 años en terminarse. De esta forma, aún en

vida, el faraón comenzaba a planificar y ejecutar la construcción de la pirámide.

La matemática fue muy empleada en la construcción de las pirámides. Los

conocedores de esta ciencia y arquitectos planeaban las construcciones para
obtener la máxima perfección posible.

Las piedras eran cortadas y encajadas de forma perfecta. Sus cuatro lados eran
diseñados y construidos de forma simétrica, factores que explican su preservación
hasta los días actuales.

Al encontrar las pirámides, muchas de ellas intactas, los arqueólogos se

encontraron con muchas informaciones del antiguo Egipto.

Estas tienen inscripciones jeroglíficas, contando la vida del faraón u oraciones

para que los dioses supieran de los hechos realizados por el gobernante.

Las pirámides de Egipto son construcciones antiguas que han

perdurado a lo largo del tiempo. Concebidas para la eternidad, son un
testimonio vivo de la mentalidad religiosa y el poderoso imperio que las
erigió, sosteniéndose durante más de 3000 años1. Veamos su función y
significado:
1. Tumbas para los faraones: El propósito principal de las pirámides era
servir como tumbas para los faraones y otros miembros de la realeza. Se
creía que los faraones eran divinos y que, tras su muerte, ascendían al
cielo para convertirse en dioses2.
2. Retener el alma y la esencia: Se creía que las pirámides retendrían el
alma y la esencia del faraón que ordenase su construcción. Así, cuando
llegara el día de su muerte y posterior resurrección, podría formar parte
de la divinidad de los dioses egipcios, transfigurado en forma de estrella

Los antiguos egipcios creían que sus faraones eran auténticos dioses. Al
dejar el plano mortal, ellos debían encontrar el camino hacia el más allá.
Para ello serían necesarias dos cosas en este mundo: en primer lugar,
preservar el cuerpo de la corrupción física, razón por la cual practicaban
la momificación. En segundo lugar, crear condiciones para guiarlos en su
camino ascendente.

Así, esa sería la función última de las pirámides: auténticos aparatos

o motores astro-espirituales que ayudarían al difunto a convertirse en
una estrella eterna del firmamento.