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The Greek Olympics started in 776 B.C. It happened at the foot of Mount Olympia. The Greeks thought the Greek gods lived on Mount Olympia, so they wanted to honor the Greek gods by doing the Olympics at the foot of Mount Olympia. It included foot racing, chariot racing, horse racing, javelin throwing, discus throwing, wrestling, boxing, and pentathlon.

Javelin and Discus throwing test the competitors for war. A javelin is a huge spear and a discus is a big round rock. Chariot racing is when the owner of a horse and chariot race against others, and horse racing is when the owner of a horse hires someone to ride his horse and win the competition for him.

The winners of the Olympics get a laurel wreath and a hero’s welcome when they return home.

The Olympics ended in 395 A. D. because Emperor Theodosius proclaimed that the Olympics must end. Mount Olympia was struck by an earthquake and the track got really messed up, so the Olympics had to stop.

The Olympics lasted 1,171 years and happened every four years. Now that’s a long time! I would have loved to be in the Ancient Greek Olympics; wouldn’t you?

The Odyssey was written by Homer, a bard or a Greet poet of the 8th-9th centuries B.C. The Odyssey is about Odysseus’ (a hero of the Trojan War) return home. He faced many dangers, and because of these dangers, it took him ten years to return home.

First, on the voyage home, the wind blew him on an island, where people eat locust. When they eat it, they forget everything, so he left quickly. Then, the wind blew him on an island again. The island was full of Cyclopes, so he left quickly again. They landed on an island but left. Then the next island they came to was full of cannibals and destroyed all the ships except the one Odysseus commanded. and they left. Then he came to another island and saw a marble palace. It was the home of a witch, but she turned good and he stayed on her island for a year before he left. After he left, he knew they were getting near sirens (sea monsters with the body of a bird and the head of a woman), so he gave each of his crewmen earplugs and he was tied to the main mast. The earplugs are so that the crewmen could not hear the beautiful songs the sirens sing, and they got past unhurt. Then they came to an island with a monster with six heads and drowned six of the crewmen, but the rest got back safely. Then, when they landed on an island, their provisions began to fail, so they stole and cooked some fat cattle. All of a sudden, the skin and meat came to life and began killing them, so the rest left quickly.

When they were at sea, the ship broke into pieces, and all the men drowned except Odysseus. He hung to a log of the broken ship and washed up on an island shore. Someone lived on the island. It was calypso. She led him to a forest where he chopped down trees, build a raft, and set off for home. At sea, he was caught in another storm which broke his raft and hung to a log for two days and nights. Eventually, he washed up on another island, was found by the princess, was taken to the king, and a boat was made ready for him so he could go home. When they got to his island, he was asleep, so they let him sleep and left. When he awoke, he went to his house clothed as a beggar where his wife was waiting for him. He lived happily until his death. Isn’t that an awesome ten-year adventure?

God sent prophets to Judah to warn them of the destruction that was going to happen if they didn’t repent of their sin. Judah was sent the prophets Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jerimiah, and Ezekiel. None of the kings heeded the warnings of the prophets except the most wicked king. When he was in captivity, he repented of his sins. Then God freed him from captivity and he went back to Judah, tore down all the idols, and restored the worship of God.

Destruction did come because the Judeans didn’t repent of their sins. The Babylonians came, conquered Judah, deported some of the Judeans, and set up a puppet king, Jedekiah. Because Jedekiah refused to send tribute to Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon), he raided Judah and took everyone in the city captive, but he was eventually conquered by the Persians. The Persians liked the Judeans, so they let them go to rebuild Judah and the temple of God after spending 70 years in captivity.

During their captivity, the Judeans finally repented. If only they had repented earlier, they would not have been captured and their city wouldn’t have been destroyed. I learned from this lesson that I should always obey God, even when things are hard.

The first king of Judah was Rehoboam, who was the son of Solomon. He was king over the twelve tribes of Israel until they separated and ten tribes remained faithful to Israel and the other two tribes of Israel became known as Judah. He was a bad king because he set idols on high places and worshiped them. He was succeeded by his son, Abijah. Abija tried to reunite the tribes of Judah and Israel but was unsuccessful. He was a bad king because he followed the ways of his father. He was succeeded by his son Asa. Asa was a good king because he brought back the worship of God. He was succeeded by his son Jehoram. Jehoram was a bad king because he married a daughter of a king of Israel. His wife led him back to the worship of idols. He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah. Ahaziah reigned a short time before he was killed and his mother became queen. Her grandson, Joash, succeeded her. Joash started out as a good king, but when someone died, he brought back idol worship to Juday. He was succeeded by his son Amaziah. Amaziah was a good king for a short time, but then he also set up idols in Judah. He was succeeded by his son Uzziah. Uzziah was a good king because he did many great things for the kingdom of Judah, but he died because of leprosy for doing a horrible sin and was succeeded by his son Jothan. He was a good king because he was a faithful godly king, but his people worshiped idols. He was succeeded by his son Ahaz. Ahaz was a bad king because he erected many idols and committed many sins. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a great king because he was quick to clean out the temple, tear down the idols, restore the worship of God, and many more great things. He was succeeded by his son Manasseh. Manasseh was a bad king because he brought back the worship of idols, but before he died he repented of his sin, returned to Judah from captivity, and removed all the idols from Judah. He was succeeded by his son Amon. Amon was a bad king because he continued to worship idols. He did not repent and was succeeded by his son Josiah. Josiah is the last king of Judah and made repairs to the temple. While people were doing this, the book of the Law was rediscovered. Josiah had someone read it to him. Josiah found out it was God’s law and told his people to worship God and follow him. He died in battle and the people of Juday mourned for him many days, but they continued to worship God. Was that amazing?

God led Samuel to a new king after Saul’s sins. God led Samuel to a house where he would find a new king. The person He led him to was David, son of Jesse. He was just a shepherd boy, and he played the harp. When King Saul was troubled, he asked David to play the harp for him. Saul asked David to do this many times. This gave David the opportunity to find out how Saul responded to his people.

One day, the three oldest sons of Jesse went to help Saul fight the Philistines. 40 days past and the three sons had not come back, so Jesse told David to check on them and while he is there to give them food. So, David went to the camp and do you know what he saw? He saw a giant! Its name was Goliath. He told the entire camp that they an Israelite to fight and the Israelites won they would be their servants, but if Goliath won, the Israelites would be their servants. So, David told the king he was going to fight Goliath. Then he traveled to a stream, picked up five smooth stones, and trampled to the place where he would fight Goliath. After he got there, Goliath said, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” David answered, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, whom you have defied… For the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.” Then, he got one of the stones he had, put it in his sling, swung it, and threw it at Goliath. It hit and sunk into his forehead. Then, he ran up to Goliath, drew his sword from his sheath, and cut Goliath’s head off! The Philistines were afraid so they ran away, but the soldiers ran after them and won. Isn’t David’s life extraordinary?

When Samuel wasn’t born yet, his mother kept praying for a baby in the temple. She also said to God, “I will dedicate him to you if you give me a son.” She probably kept doing this for months. Then one day, she had a son and named him Samuel. His mother took him to the temple when he was weaned to dedicate him to the Lord. She also gave him to Eli, the temple’s priest to take care of him. He served in the temple for years. Then, one night, God called to him. Samuel thought it was Eli and goes to his room and says, “You called me so here I am!” Then Eli says, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” This happened three times, then Eli knew God was calling him. So he said to Eli, “When you hear someone call you, say, ‘Speak Lord, for your servant hears.'” So Samuel goes to bed and God calls him again. Then Samuel said, “Speak Lord, for your servant hears.” Then God told Samuel, “I am going to do something the land of Israel has never seen before.”

God does fulfill this prophecy and makes Israel lose a battle. Ark of the Covenant also has been stolen. After this, Eli died. The Ark was bringing diseases among the people who stole it, so they gave it back to the Israelites. By this time, Samuel was now a judge.

The Israelites wanted a king, so God told Samuel to anoint a man named Saul. Saul does three sins which made him not a king anymore. These sins were offering a burnt sacrifice even though he wasn’t a priest, made a foolish oath, and not destroying all the Amorites as he was commanded. Samuel found out that Saul had spared the Amorite king and the best of the animals. After Samuel got to Saul, Saul said, “The best animals I spared are to be used for burnt sacrifices.” Then Samuel said, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” You will not be king anymore and your son will not take your place as king.”

After Samuel anoints someone else (who is David) to be king, but Saul is still king so after that he died. Isn’t that sad?

In the Bible, there were a lot of people sho proceded against God’s will. God judged Egypt for not letting his people go. He judged the land by sending ten plagues. There were lice, frogs, flies, and so much more. Egypt was judged when they rebelled against God’s will.

Israel also plummeted into wickedness. They complained about the food God had given them, so God sent poisonous snakes to the Israelites and a lot of Israelites died. God saved them by telling Moses to make a bronze snake and anyone who looked at it would live. Sadly, God had to judge the Israelites this way.

God judged Balaam in a scary way. God told him not to go somewhere, but he floundered. So God sent an angel to block the road. His donkey saw it, but Balaam didn’t. He tried to get his donkey back on the road. Suddenly, the donkey started talking. Then God opened his eyes and he saw the angel. Balaam started worshiping it. Balaam said, “I will go back if you want me to.” Then, the angel said, “I would have killed you but spared the donkey if he hadn’t stopped, but go on.” Isn’t that a scary judgment?

God used judgments like ten plagues, snakes, and killing people to punish them for careening against His will. God also judged several different people in multiple ways. Some may happen in your life.

This year has been the craziest year of my life. Two months ago, we were in slavery when a guy named Moses, who used to be an Egyptian prince, told us that he was going to free us from Egypt. We didn’t think he could, because Pharoh would never let us go. The next day, Moses did wonderful signs to try to make Pharoh let us go.

First, we didn’t have any water because Moses turned all the water in the land of Egypt to blood, but Pharoh would not let us go. Then, we had to deal with frogs, but Pharoh would still not let us go. Then, we had to deal with lice, but Pharoh would still not let us go. Thank the Lord the plagues 4-10 did not harm us. Only plagues 1-3 harmed us. The 4th plague was flies, the 5th plague was animal livestock dying, the 6th plague was boils on the Egyptians, the 7th was hailstones and storms, the 8th was locust (grasshoppers), and the 9th was darkness, but Pharoh would still not let us go. We were safe from plagues 4-9 at Goshen.

Now the last plague was tragic for all the Egyptians, even Pharoh. It was when the angel of death killed all the firstborn of all the Egyptian families. We were to prepare for this plague by putting lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintel on the Hebrew houses. That night, the Angel of Death passed over the houses with the lamb blood on it, but it killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. After that plague, Pharoh finally let us go. Who knows what lies ahead?

The Egyptians were fascinated with their death and the afterlife. We see this because of their interest in spirits. There are two spirits, the Ha and the Ba. After you die, the Ba goes to watch over your family and the Ha goes to enjoy a certain kind of land. At night, they go to the tomb in which the person of whom they belong to rest for the next day. The Egyptians painted food pictures on the walls of the tomb so the spirits could turn the food pictures into real food, so they could eat and live eternally.

The Egyptians make someone a mummy when they die. To make a mummy, the Egyptians first take the brain out through the nose. Then they take out the internal organs and store them in canopy jars. They put the body in oils then leave it in the oils for about 70 days. After those 70 days, they wrap the body in linen, then put the mummy in a sarcophagus, then they bury it.

The Egyptians don’t just bury people in the ground. They were also buried in pyramids. They said that if you were really rich, you could be buried with your riches, but the holes in the ground weren’t big enough for all the dead person’s riches, so they built huge pyramids so a dead person can be buried in it and hold all of their riches. There are pyramids that are still around today, so archeologists can study them and find out how the Egyptians lived.

Today the 39-foot tall statue of Ramesses II was moved to the Mit Rahina Museum in the Ancient Capital, Memphis. Memphis is near modern-day Cairo.

I asked a mover about how he felt about the statue. He told me, “It was hard work moving it to the museum.” Another mover told me, “It was amazing artwork.” I also asked a geologist what was it made of. He said, “It was made of red granite.”

I asked a mover about how they moved it to the museum. He said, “It was too big to move, so we had to cut it into 3 pieces to move it.” I was amazed. I also asked him how heavy it was. He said, “About 38 tons.” Now that’s a big and heavy statue!

In order to reduce the risk of damaging the statue while it is being delivered, they wrapped the parts in rubber. They delivered the parts in three separate trucks. It took 30 men to complete the task. The entire process took 3 months to complete.

The museum’s curator, Dr. Ahmed Basara, is extremely excited to be receiving this piece of Egyptian history. Dr. Ahmed is expecting at least 10,000 people to show up at the museum that day. In fact, an average of 13,000 people arrived at the museum to see it!