Ancient Greece

Unit 6Section 1 Early Greek Civilization

Miss Denisse Lopez

The Geography of Greece

• Greece: – Peninsula and islands.– Montains major landform– Islands are mountain peaks– All Greece was surround by water or by mountains.– Small area for farm– 1/5 of the land is good for farming– Greeks became traders and sailors– Difficult to meet with other communities and fought among

them.– Developed customs, beliefs, gods, languagehttp://phschool.com/atschool/mapmaster/common_maps/mapviewer.html

Greek Civilizations

• Minoan– Lived on the island of Crete.– Created a sea trade

network because of his location.

– Gained power by trade.– Developed Minoan writing

found on clay tablets.– Built palaces on Knossos.– Painted walls.– Statues found suggest they

worship mainly goddesses.– Conquered by Mycenaeans.

• Mycenaeans– Lived mainland.– Writing and scripts

showed that spoke an early form of Greek

– Gained power by conquering.

The Ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans

• The Greeks trace their culture back to two earlier cultures known as the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. The Minoans were named after the legendary King Minos. A large palace had been discovered at Knossos on the island of Crete. It is believed to have been built around 2000 B.C. The Minoans grew grapes, grain, and olives and traded with the Greeks, Egyptians, and others in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

• The Mycenaeans were from the Peloponnesian Peninsula. They invaded and conquered the Minoans on Crete. The most famous of the Mycenaean kings was named Agamemnon. He was a key figure in the Trojan War, as retold in Homer’s poem the Iliad. The Mycenaeans were then conquered by the Dorians. This began the period in Greek history known as the Dark Ages.

Dark Ages of Greece

• After the Trojan War– Greece collapsed– Poverty everywhere– No trade– People had to raise food (grow crops and raise animals)– People moved to islands and to Asia Minor– Traditions, history and customs were passed on by word of

mouth. – People settled near mountains for protection and later form

villages. – Built fortifications and other structures for protection.

Governing Ancient Greece• Villages form cities and were formed near an acropolis.• Greek city-states formed and ruled by a king or chief. • By the end of Greece’s Dark Ages were ruled by aristocrats.• Aristocrats controlled : land, horses, chariots and weapons. • Greeks trade olive oil, marble, and more to foreign

countries.• City-States became richer and a middle class of merchants

and artisants were deverloped.

• Middle Class could not afford horses and chariots instead used armor, sword and spears.

• Military changed from the aristocrats to the merchants and artisans.

• Aristocrats were overthrown from the government and replaced by tyrants.

• Tyrants supported middle and working class, but sometimes were too harsh and cruel.

• Many city-states overthrown tyrants and implemented democracy

• In Athens democracy was fully developed.• Solon a leader in Athens reformed the law, canceled all

debts, money owed and freed citizents who had been enslaved.

• Allowed adult citizen to debate important law.• 1/5 were citizens in Athens (only men and people that

came from citizen families).• Enslaved, women or men with noncitizen parents could

not be citizens or particiated in the government. • Citizens of Athens were free and self-governing.

Classwork Activity

• Explain why someone might say the ancient Greeks were all islanders.

• How did the geography of Greece affect the way in which people lived?

• Why was Crete an ideal location for the Minoan civilization to develop trading connections with people from other countries?

• Vocabulary words: Peninsula – Acropolis – Aristocrats – Tyrant - Democracy

• HOMEWORK: Get online to PHSchool.com Web Code: lbd-2601

Ancient Greek epics about the Trojan War

• The Iliad The story tells about Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, which is married to Menelaus, who is prince of the Greeks. She was kidnapped by Paris, prince of the Trojans, and was taken to Troy, where she falls in love with him. Menelaus wants her back, and so he launches 1,000 ships from Greece to Troy. Then, a massive war began between the Greeks and the Trojans on the plain in front of the walled city of Troy. At one point the Trojans set fire to the Greek ships and they thought they were beaten, but then Achilles, the hero of this story, summons the river, causes a flood and puts the fires out. Achilles then leads the Greeks and they defeated the Trojans and kill their King, Hector.

• The OdysseyThis story describes how Odysseus, also a hero of the war, got back to Greece after the Trojan War. Odysseus lost loads of his crew, got lost, and ended up meeting Sirens, a goddess, a Cyclops and various other monsters. He also nearly got killed by the sea god, Poseidon, and nearly fell into a massive whirlpool. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope was left at home. All the local men thought Odysseus was dead, and they tried to get her to marry them.

Write some characteristics from Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Geography

CivilizationGovernment