The Origins of Greece  Greek civilization begins with Mycenae around 1400 BC  The Mycenaeans were the legendary Greeks of Homer’s Illiad  Fact and Fiction: The Iliad  Troy was a real city in the Greek world  The leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, may have been a real king around 1250 BC

Mask of Agamemnon

The Dark Ages, BC  During the Greek Dark Ages, Greek civilization collapsed for close to 400 years  Many Greeks leave to start colonies in other parts of the Mediterranean  Homer writes Iliad and Odyssey  Don’t forget the rest of the story – the Epic Cycle!

The City-State  The POLIS: the Greek term for city-state  We get words like “politics” from this root  The central meeting point was on a hill, called an ACROPOLIS: high city  Below the acropolis is the AGORA: an open market

Government in the Polis  Tyrant: rulers who seized power by force and were not subject to the law  ARISTOCRACY: rule of the best men  The ‘Aristoi’ were the best men: warriors and nobility of Greece  OLIGARCHY: rule of the few  Sparta is the most famous example of oligarchy  DEMOCRACY: rule of the people  ‘Demos’ is the Greek word for people

Summarize  In your interactive notebook, at the bottom of your notes page, write a short paragraph about today’s lesson. Write about:  What the main idea of the lesson was  AND what you learned today.  Your summary should be able to explain today’s lesson to someone who was not in class today.