EEarly arly GGreeksreeksWhat’s the Connection?

In Chapters 1 and 2, you learnedabout Mesopotamia and Egypt. Thesecivilizations grew up in great rivervalleys with rich soil. Greece had nogreat river valleys. Instead, it hadmountains, rocky soil, and manymiles of seacoasts.

Focusing on the • The geography of Greece influenced

where people settled and what theydid. (page 117)

• The Minoans earned their living bybuilding ships and trading. (page 118)

• Mycenaeans built the first Greekkingdoms and spread their poweracross the Mediterranean region.(page 119)

• Colonies and trade spread Greek culture and spurred industry. (page 121)

• The idea of citizenship developed inGreek city-states. (page 122)

Locating PlacesCrete (KREET) Mycenae (my•SEE•nee)Peloponnesus

(PEH• luh•puh•NEE•suhs)

Meeting PeopleAgamemnon (A•guh•MEHM•nahn)

Building Your Vocabularypeninsula (puh•NIHN•suh• luh)colony (KAH• luh•nee)polis (PAH• luhs)agora (A•guh•ruh)

Reading StrategyFinding Details Draw a diagram likethe one below. In each oval write onedetail about a polis.

c. 2000 B.C.Minoans control easternMediterranean

c. 1200 B.C.Mycenaeancivilization declines

c. 750 B.C.Greece’s Dark Agecomes to an end

GREECE

Crete Knossos

Mycenae

116 CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks

TheThe

2000 B.C. 1250 B.C. 500 B.C.2000 B.C. 1250 B.C. 500 B.C.

polis

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100 kilometers0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

100 miles0

20°E 30°E

40°N

A e g e a nS e a

Sea ofMarmara

Me d i t e r r a n e a nSe a

I o n i a nS e a

S e a o f C r e t e

M

e d i t e r r a n e a n

S e a

Gulf of Corinth

GRE E C E

Crete

B A L K A NP E N I N S U L A

PELOPONNESUS

Mt. Olympus

M A C E D O N I A

A S I A M I N O R

Miletus

Sparta

Athens

ThebesDelphi

Corinth

Troy

Knossos

Mycenae

N

S

W E

Ancient Greece c. 750c. 750 B..C..

The Geography of GreeceThe geography of Greece influenced

where people settled and what they did.Reading Focus Do you rake leaves in the fall? Do youwalk uphill to school? Your answers explain how geogra-phy shapes your life. Read to learn how geographyshaped life in early Greece.

If you fly over Greece today, you will seea mountainous land framed by sparklingblue water. To the west is the Ionian (eye •OH • nee • uhn) Sea, to the south is theMediterranean Sea, and to the east is theAegean (ih • JEE • uhn) Sea. Hundreds ofislands lie offshore, stretching across to Asialike stepping-stones. Mainland Greece is a

peninsula (puh • NIHN • suh • luh)—a body ofland with water on three sides.

Many ancient Greeks made a living fromthe sea. They became fishers, sailors, andtraders. Others settled in farming communi-ties. Greece’s mountains and rocky soil werenot ideal for growing crops. However, the cli-mate was mild, and in some places peoplecould grow wheat, barley, olives, and grapes.They also raised sheep and goats.

Ancient Greeks felt deep ties to the land,but the mountains and seas divided themfrom one another. As a result, early Greekcommunities grew up fiercely independent.

Cause and Effect How didgeography discourage Greek unity?

Ancient GreeceKEY

Mountains and seasplayed an important role in Greek history.

All parts of ancient Greece werenear water.1. What body of water lies east of

the Balkan Peninsula?2. What transportation was probably

most useful to the early Greeks?Find NGS online map resources @www.nationalgeographic.com/maps

Ste

ve V

idle

r/S

uper

Sto

ck

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Minoan calendar

This wall painting from Knossos shows Minoansparticipating in a dangerous sport called bull leaping.Who discovered the palace at Knossos?

118 CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks

The MinoansThe Minoans earned their living by

building ships and trading.Reading Focus Imagine what it would be like touncover a building that is more than 5,000 years old.Read to learn how such a discovery unlocked clues toGreece’s ancient past.

The island of Crete (KREET) lies southeastof the Greek mainland. There, in 1900, anEnglish archaeologist by the name of ArthurEvans made the find of a lifetime. Evansuncovered the ruins of a grand palace thathad been the center of Minoan (muh •NOH •uhn) civilization. The Minoans were notGreeks, but their civilization was the first toarise in the region that later became Greece.

The palace at Knossos (NAH • suhs) re-vealed the riches of an ancient society. Itstwisting passageways led to many differentrooms: private quarters for the royal family

and storerooms packed with oil, wine, andgrain. Other spaces were workshops formaking jewelry, vases, and small ivory stat-ues. The palace even had bathrooms.

The Minoans made their wealth fromtrade. They built ships from oak and cedartrees and sailed as far as Egypt and Syria.There they traded pottery and stone vasesfor ivory and metals. By 2000 B.C., Minoanships controlled the eastern MediterraneanSea. They carried goods to foreign portsand kept the sea free of pirates.

About 1450 B.C., the Minoan civilizationsuddenly collapsed. Some historians thinkundersea earthquakes caused giant wavesthat washed away the Minoans’ cities.Others think the cities were destroyed by a group of Greeks from the mainland.These invaders were called the Mycenaeans(MY • suh •NEE •uhns).

Explain How did theMinoans become a trading civilization?

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The First Greek Kingdoms Mycenaeans built the first Greek

kingdoms and spread their power across theMediterranean region.Reading Focus What is the most important building inthe area where you live? Is it a government building, agrocery store, or a hospital? Read to find out what build-ing was most important in the Mycenaean civilization.

The Mycenaeans were originally fromcentral Asia. They invaded the Greekmainland around 1900 B.C. and conqueredthe people living there. The Mycenaeanleaders became the first Greek kings. Theirwarriors became nobles who ruled the peo-ple they had conquered. In the late 1800s, aGerman named Heinrich Schliemann (HYN•rihk SHLEE • MAHN) discovered one of theirwalled palaces in Mycenae (my • SEE • nee).He named the people of this civilization theMycenaeans.

What Were Mycenaean Kingdoms Like?The centerpiece of each Mycenaean king-dom was a fortified palace on a hill. Theruler lived there, surrounded by giant stonewalls. Beyond the palace walls lay largefarms, or estates, that belonged to thenobles. Slaves and farmers lived on theestates and took shelter inside the fortressin times of danger.

Mycenaean palaces hummed with activ-ity. Artisans tanned leather, sewed clothes,and made jars for wine and olive oil. Otherworkers made bronze swords and ox-hideshields. Government officials kept track ofthe wealth of every person in the kingdom.Then they collected wheat, livestock, andhoney as taxes and stored them in the palace.

Power From Trade and War Soon afterthe Mycenaeans set up their kingdoms,Minoan traders began to visit from Crete.

As a result, Mycenaeans learned muchabout Minoan culture. They copied theways Minoans worked with bronze andbuilt ships. They learned how theMinoans used the sun and stars to findtheir way at sea. The Mycenaeans evenstarted worshiping the Earth Mother, theMinoans’ chief goddess.

Around 1400 B.C., the Mycenaeansreplaced the Minoans as the major poweron the Mediterranean. They traded widely,sailing to Egypt and southern Italy. Some

CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks 119

The ruins at Mycenae includedthis gate. What layoutside the walls of aMycenaean palace?

Gold mask of Agamemnon

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historians think they conquered Crete andnearby islands.

Although trade made the Mycenaeanswealthy, they were prouder of their deedsin battle. Their most famous victory is prob-ably the Trojan War. In the next chapter, youwill learn the legend of how the Mycenaeanking Agamemnon (A • guh • MEHM • nahn)used trickery to win that war.

What Was the Dark Age? By 1200 B.C., theMycenaeans were in trouble. Earthquakesand fighting among the kingdoms haddestroyed their hilltop forts. By 1100 B.C.,Mycenaean civilization had collapsed.

The years between 1100 B.C. and 750 B.C.were difficult for the Greeks. Overseas tradeslowed and poverty took hold. Farmersgrew only enough food to meet their ownfamily’s needs. People also stopped teach-ing others how to write or do craftwork.Before long, the Greeks had forgotten theirwritten language and how to make manythings. As a result, historians call this timethe Dark Age.

The changes that took place in the DarkAge were not all bad, however. One posi-tive development was a huge populationshift. Thousands of Greeks left the main-land and settled on islands in the AegeanSea. Other Greeks moved to the westernshores of Asia Minor, to what is now thecountry of Turkey. This wave of movementexpanded the reach of Greek culture.

Meanwhile, people known as theDorians (DOHR • ee • uhns) invaded Greece.Many settled in the southwest on thePeloponnesus (PEH • luh •puh •NEE • suhs) pen-insula. The Dorians brought iron weaponswith them, giving Greece more advancedtechnology. Iron weapons and farm toolswere stronger and cheaper than those madeof bronze.

Gradually, people began to farm againand to produce surplus food. As a result,trade revived. One benefit of the increasedtrade was a new way of writing. As you readin Chapter 3, the Greeks picked up the idea ofan alphabet from the Phoenicians, one oftheir trading partners who lived on the coastof the eastern Mediterranean.

The Greek alphabet had 24 letters thatstood for different sounds. It made readingand writing Greek much simpler than everbefore. Soon people were writing down talesthat had been passed down by storytellersfor generations.

Identify What changesoccurred during Greece’s Dark Age?

120 CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks

WrittenName

EnglishSound

GreekLetter

alphabeta

deltagamma

epsilonzeta

theta

kappa

mu

omicronxi

eta

iota

lambda

nu

rhopi

psi

phi

tau

chi

upsilon

sigma

omega

ab

dg

ez

th

c, k

m

ox

e

i

l

n

rp

ps

ph

t

ch

y, u

s

o

The Greek AlphabetThe Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet was based on the Phoenician alphabet. What happened to Greek writing during the Dark Age?

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A Move to ColonizeColonies and trade spread Greek culture

and spurred industry.Reading Focus If you read labels, you know thatyour food and clothing come from all over the world.Read to find out where the early Greeks got theirgoods.

As Greece recovered from its Dark Age,its population rose quickly. By 700 B.C.,farmers could no longer grow enough grainto feed everyone. As a result, cities begansending people outside Greece to startcolonies (KAH • luh •nees). A colony is a settle-ment in a new territory that keeps close tiesto its homeland.

Between 750 B.C. and 550 B.C., adventur-ous Greeks streamed to the coasts of Italy,France, Spain, North Africa, and western

Asia. With each new colony, Greek culturespread farther.

Colonists traded regularly with their“parent” cities, shipping them grains, metals,fish, timber, and enslaved people. In return,the colonists received pottery, wine, and oliveoil from the mainland. Overseas trade got anextra boost during the 600s B.C., when theGreeks began to mint coins. Merchants weresoon exchanging goods for money ratherthan for more goods.

The growth of trade led to the growth ofindustry. As the demand for goods grew, pro-ducers had to keep pace. People in differentareas began specializing in making certainproducts. For example, pottery makingbecame popular in places with large amountsof clay.

Cause and Effect How didnew colonies affect industry?

CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks 121

500 kilometers

500 miles0

0

Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

N

S

WE

0° 20°E

30°N

50°N

40°E

MediterraneanSea

Black Sea

Red Sea

EuphratesR.

Tigris R.

Nile R.

ATLANTICOCEAN

Corsica

Sicily

CreteCyprus

ASIAMINOR

A F R I C A

GREECE

ITALY

EGYPT

SpartaAthens

Troy

Tyre

Greek Colonies and Trade 750–550 750–550 B..C..

Greek colonies and trading postsspread from the Black Sea in theeast to Spain in the west.1. Which islands were home to

Greek colonies?2. On which continents could Greek

colonies be found?

Trade routeGreeceGreek colonies

KEY

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The PolisThe idea of citizenship developed in

Greek city-states.Reading Focus Did you know that the word “politics”comes from polis, the Greek term for a city-state? Read tofind how the Greeks also created the idea of citizenship.

By the end of the Dark Age, manynobles who owned large estates had over-thrown the Greek kings. They created city-states. Like the Mesopotamian city-statesyou read about in Chapter 1, those inGreece were made up of a town or city andthe surrounding countryside. Each Greek

city-state, known as a polis (PAH • luhs), waslike a tiny independent country.

The main gathering place in the poliswas usually a hill. A fortified area, called anacropolis (uh •KRAH •puh • luhs), stood at thetop of the hill. It provided a safe refuge incase of attacks. Sometimes the acropolisalso served as a religious center. Templesand altars were built there to honor themany Greek gods and goddesses.

Below the acropolis was an open areacalled an agora (A •guh • ruh). This space hadtwo functions: it was both a market and aplace where people could meet and debateissues.

City-states varied in size. Some were afew miles square, while others coveredhundreds of square miles. They also variedin population. More than 300,000 peoplelived in Athens by 500 B.C. Most city-stateswere much smaller, however.

What Was Greek Citizenship? EachGreek city-state was run by its citizens.When we speak of citizens, we mean mem-bers of a political community who treateach other as equals and who have rightsand responsibilities. This was very differ-ent from ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt.There, most people were subjects. Theyhad no rights, no say in government, andno choice but to obey their rulers.

The Greeks were the first people todevelop the idea of citizenship. Today, theword applies to almost everyone in a society.However, in most Greek city-states, only freenative-born men who owned land could becitizens. From their point of view, the city-state was made up of their lands, and it wastheir responsibility to run it. They did notthink anyone else should be a citizen.

Some city-states, such as Athens, eventu-ally dropped the land-owning requirement.Slaves and foreign-born residents, however,

Athenian Soldier’s Oath

In the Greek city of Athens, soldiers took this oath:“I will not bring dishonor uponmy weapons nor desert thecomrade by my side. I will strive

to hand on my fatherlandgreater and better than I found it. I will not consent to anyone’s disobeying ordestroying the constitution

but will prevent him, whetherI am with others or alone.

I will honor the templesand the religion

my forefathersestablished.”—oath of enrollment

in Epheboi corps,early 400s B.C.

Identify six things each soldier promisesto protect in taking the oath.

Greek soldier

122 CHAPTER 4 The Ancient GreeksThe Art Archive/National Archaeological Museum Athens/Dagli Orti

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Reading SummaryReview the • Geography influenced the way

Greek communities developed.

• The Minoan civilization, on theisland of Crete, built ships andbecame wealthy from trade.

• The Mycenaeans created thefirst Greek kingdoms.

• After the Dark Age, the Greeks setup colonies and trade increased.

• The idea of citizenship developedin Greek city-states.

1. What made the Minoanswealthy?

2. How was a Greek city-statedifferent from a city?

Critical Thinking3. Compare Create a Venn dia-

gram to compare the Minoansand Mycenaeans.

4. Summarize What changesoccurred in Greece during theDark Age?

5. Citizenship Skills Namethree rights granted to Greekcitizens that American citizenshave today.

6. Link to Economics Why didthe use of money help trade togrow?

7. MakingConnections Choose onepassage from this section. Writea paragraph to explain how itconnects to something youalready know or something youhave experienced.

What Did You Learn?

Homework Helper Need help with the material in this section? Visit jat.glencoe.com

Minoan Both Mycenaean

CHAPTER 4 The Ancient Greeks 123

continued to be excluded. As for womenand children, they might qualify for citizen-ship, but they had none of the rights thatwent with it.

What exactly were the rights of Greek cit-izens? They could gather in the agora tochoose their officials and pass laws. They hadthe right to vote, hold office, own property,and defend themselves in court. In return,citizens had a duty to serve in governmentand to fight for their polis as citizen soldiers.

Citizens as Soldiers In early Greece, warswere waged by nobles riding horses andchariots. As the idea of citizenship devel-oped, however, the military systemchanged. By 700 B.C., the city-states hadbegun to depend on armies of ordinary cit-izens called hoplites (HAHP • LYTS).

Unable to afford horses, the hoplitesfought on foot and went into battle heavilyarmed. Each carried a round shield, a

short sword, anda 9-foot (2.7-m)spear. Row uponrow of soldiersmarched for-ward together,shoulder to shoulder. With their shieldscreating a protective wall, they gave theirenemies few openings to defeat them.

Hoplites made good soldiers because, ascitizens, they took pride in fighting for theircity-state. However, “hometown” loyaltiesalso divided the Greeks and caused them todistrust one another. A lack of unity alwaysexisted among the Greek city-states.

Explain How did citizenshipmake the Greeks different from other ancientpeoples?

Greek plateshowing soldiers in battle

National Museums of Scotland/Bridgeman Art Library

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