1. Ancient Greece

3. Geography
Ancient Greece - Collection of separate lands where Greek-speaking people live
Geography shaped Greek traditions and customs
The Land - Mainland was a mountainous peninsula
Mountains resulted in slow travel and land was divided into regions
Small independent communities
Lack of fertile land resulted in small populations
Lack of arable land created a need for colonies

4. The Sea and Climate The Sea - The sea shaped Greek civilization
People lived around the sea
Lack of resources encouraged the need for sea travel and trade
48 degrees in the Winter/ 80 degrees in Summer
What would you do if this was our weather?

5. Mycenaean Civilization
Mycenaeanians- who settled on Greek mainland in 2000 B.C.
Took their name from their leading city, Mycenae
Mycenaean warrior-kings dominated Greece from 1600– 1100 B.C.
After 1500 B.C., Mycenaeanians came into contact with the Minoans
Adopted the Minoans sea trade and culture
Adopted the Minoan writing system

6. Trojan War
Trojan War (1200 B.C.) – Mycenaeanians fought a ten year war against city of Troy
Greek army besieged and destroyed Troy because a Trojan Prince had kidnapped Helen (Beautiful Wife of a Greek King
Once thought to be fictional, archaeological evidence has been found
One of the last Mycenaean battle campaigns
Trojan Horse Scene

7. Dorians Arrive 1200 B.C. - Mycenaean civilization collapsed
Sea traders attacked and burned many Mycenaean cities
Dorians moved into the war torn region
Less advanced than Mycenaeans,
Dorians left no written records

8. Culture under the Dorians
Oral tradition grew
Especially epics of Homer—a blind storyteller
Wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
Epic—a narrative poem about heroic deeds

9. Excerpt from the Iliad
“ My dear husband, your warlike spirit will be your death. You’ve no compassion for your infant child, for me , your sad wife, who before long will be your widow… As for me, it would be better, if I’m to lose you, to be buried in the ground..”
Great Hector replied, “ Wife, all this concerns me, too. Bt I’d be disgraced, dreadfully shamed…, if I should slink away from war, like a coward. For I have learned always to be brave, to fight alongside Trojans at the front, striving to win great fame for my father , for myself.”
_- Homer, Iliad.

10. Mythology
Greeks developed their own myths—traditional stories about gods
-Greeks sought to understand mysteries of life through myths
Greeks attributed human qualities—love, hate & jealousy to their gods
Zeus, ruler of Gods, lives on Mount Olympus with his wife, Hera
She was often jealous of his relationships with other women
Zeus’s daughter Athena is goddess of wisdom and guardian of cities

11. Warring City- States
The growth of city-states in Greece leads to the development of several political systems, including democracy.

12. Rule and Order in Greek City-States
750 B.C. - the Greek city- state, or polis was the formal government
Polis - A city and its surrounding villages
50 to 500 square miles
Population of a city-state was often less than 10,000
Citizens gathered in the agora, marketplace, and acropolis (a fortified hilltop)

14. Government City-states had different forms of government
Monarchy—rule by a king;
Aristocracy—rule by nobility
Oligarchy—rule by small group of powerful merchants and artisans
Many city states experienced clashes between the rulers and common people
Tyrants—Nobles and wealthy citizens who won support of common people
They seized control illegally and ruled in the interests of ordinary people
Were not considered harsh or cruel
Often established building projects to provide jobs and housing for their supporters