1. INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT GREECE Minoans Mycenaeans The Trojan War Phoenicians

2. GEOGRAPHY INFLUENCES CULTURE (THIS TIME, IT’S NOT A RIVER)

3. GEOGRAPHY Rocky, mountainous terrain  No big rivers, little farmable land People live near the coast  3200 km of coastline, full of fjords, coves, and peninsulas Over 2000 islands surrounded by the sea  Generally quite close to one another Civilization is sea-centric

4. GEOGRAPHY Mountains act as barriers between mainland communities The sea acts as a barrier to island communities  City-states arise and develop independently, with their own identities (~800 BCE)  Polis = city-state Not until Alexander the Great is Greece ever more than a collection of independent city-states that are constantly in conflict and/or outright war with one another

5. NATURAL RESOURCES Few natural resources, and unevenly distributed across the peninsula  Precious metals: gold and silver  Iron ore  Marble: building material; art medium  Clay: pottery  Olive trees  Grapevines Uneven resource distribution leads to development of both trade and conflict

7. EARLY TIMELINE ~3000 BCE: first Greek speakers move into the area  Small farming communities on the mainland  Invasions from the north starting around 2500 BCE result in creation of larger fortress settlements ~3000s-1400s BCE: Minoan civilization on Crete (capital: Knossos) ~1600s-1100s BCE: Mycenaean civilization (centered on the Peloponnese) ~1450 BCE: Thera erupts 1380-1375: Knossos destroyed, abandoned ~1250 BCE: Trojan War results in destruction of Troy ~1100s BCE: Mycenaean civilization ends; Dark Age begins

8. MAJOR DIVISIONS OF GREEK HISTORY Bronze Age (~2000-~1100 BCE)  Minoan civilization  Mycenaean civilization  The time of the heroes Dark Age (~1100-~800 BCE)  Mycenaean civilization ends  Time of chaos, illiteracy, general disorganization and lack of record-keeping  Think about what else was going on in the world around this time Golden Age (Classical period) (~500-~300 BCE)  Rise to prominence of Athens and Sparta  Spread of Athenian influence  All the things: the Parthenon; Pericles; Sophocles; Socrates; all the other –es; Plato; Aristotle; etc.  Arts, literature, philosophy, math, etc. Hellenistic Age  After the death of Alexander of Macedon (323 BCE)  Greek language and culture spreads throughout the world  All the parts that Alexander had conquered

9. MINOAN CIVILIZATION ~3000-1100 BCE Based on the island of Crete Capital at Knossos  Centre of trade: storehouse as well as palace Indoor plumbing Bronze workers Linear A Declines after eruption of Thera, ~1450 BCE Architecture suggests they were peaceful (no walls around palace at Knossos  Greek myths suggest otherwise

14. MINOANS IN MYTH Daedalus King Minos Queen Pasiphae The Minotaur The Labyrinth King Aegeus Theseus Ariadne Atlantis?

15. MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION ~1600s-1100s BCE People from mainland Greece, in the area of the Peloponnese Palace-states: Mycenae, Thebes, and Athens, to name the big ones Not as peaceful as the Minoans: lots of competition and conflict Mycenae takes the lead: located next to a sizeable stretch of arable land

16. MYCENAEANS IN MYTH: HOMER’S ILIAD & ODYSSEY

17. THE TROJAN WAR

18. THE TROJAN WAR: HECTOR VS. ACHILLES MADE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO GREEKS

19. THE GREEK DARK AGE ~1100-800 BCE Very few surviving records, written or otherwise End of Mycenaean civilization  Quite possibly due to the Sea Peoples Decline of trade Dorian invasions Basic agricultural life

20. THE PHOENICIANS

21. THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET