Book Report Grece

Collateral Reading Book Report
Enchantment of the World Greece
By R. Conrad Stein
Pages in the book: 127
Pages read: 127

World History
Mr. Fain
First Quarter
Prepared by Grecia Guardado
October 29, 2009
Period 6

1) History
One History event that occurred in my book was the war with Persia. All started when King Darius of Persia wanted to add Greece to his empire. The Atheniansand the Persian army met at the plain of marathon. The Athenians were outnumbered. A historian, Herodotus, who lived by that time, claimed the battle cost Darius 6,400 soldiers while the Greeks lost only 192 men. After a long battle, the Greek commander sent his runner, Pheidippides, to Athens to carry the news. When Pheidippides draw up the city, gasped out the words, “Rejoice, we conquer”. Today,they celebrated marathon race, the crowning event of the modern Olympic Games, the length of Pheidippides’ run from marathon to Athens. Ten years after, the son of Darius, marched toward Athens with a powerful army, that included three hundred Spartans. The Spartans gave the Athenians time to evacuate the city. When he entered Athens, he destroyed the temples and buildings on top of Athens’ sacredthe hill, the Acropolis. He also killed the few Athenians who remained in the city. Nevertheless, the Athenian navy still commanded the seas, and while Spartans ended with Athens, a gigantic battle started near Athens. The Athenians ships were faster; soon they smashed into the Persians. With the Athenians in the sea, the Spartans were forced to withdraw. The victory over the Persians was theancient Greeks’ finest hour.

Another event that occurred in my book was when the Ottoman rule Greece. The Ottoman Empire was centered in what today is the nation of Turkey, and Constantinople served as its capital. The Ottoman Turks were Muslims.
Although, they allowed Christian religious freedom. The Turks encouraged the Greeks to become Muslims, but most Greeks remained Christians. SomeGreeks cities were self-government, but Ottoman imposed heavy taxes on their religion. Every non-Muslim person must pay a yearly ‘’head task’’. So, you could stay alive the next year. Also, they had cruel taxes imposed to young boys. One son of every Greek family had to turn over the Turks to be trained as a soldier. During the Ottoman period, hunger and hopelessness shrouded Greece. The OttomanEmpire used Greece as a battleground. The Turks ruled Greece for four hundred years. The situation in Greece was so bad that if, people could find the money emigrated to foreign shores. Even, famous artist like Domenikos Theotokopoulos leave the country. He studied in Italy and painted in Spain. He was know everywhere by “El Greco”. His landscape of the Spanish town of Toledo is one of history’sfamous paintings. He died in 1614. After a period of sleep that lasted 2,200 years, the Greeks began to breathe.

2)Geography . The book that I read was set in Greece that it’s in the Europecontinent. Greece mainland bulges into the Mediterranean like a wedge. Greece’s land area covers 50,944 squares miles. The country mainland it’s divided into three sections: northern Greece, central Greece, and the Peloponnesus. Northern Greece is made of the regions of Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus. Central Greece includes the region called Thessaly and the large island of Eupnoea. In Thessaly are 3Great Plains where wheat is grown and stock pastured. The Peloponnesus is a landmass that only a narrow land bridge, or isthmus, connects it to the mainland. The Ionian Sea spreads to the west and the Aegean washes Greece’s eastern shores. The territory includes 437 islands. Mountains cover four-fifths of Greece. The tallest mountain is snow-covered Mount Olympus.
In addition, the islands in...