Ancient Greece

Geography Greece is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. It ’ s very close to Egypt, the Persian empire and Rome.

Greek geography Greece is mountainous Greek communities often developed independently because of the mountains, thus they were diverse As a result, they fought each other a lot.

Minoan civilization arose on the island of Crete.

Who are the Greeks? The Greeks sprang out of three civilizations, The Minoans & The Mycenaeans The Dorians. These civilizations are known as the Aegean civilization which lived around the Mediterranean sea.

Who are the Minoans? Minoans lived on the islands off Greece. Minoans culture is often characterized as a society centered on goddess worship. The Minoans were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade. Many historians and archaeologists believe that the Minoans were involved in the Bronze Age's important tin trade

Legacy (or gift from the Minoans) Their legacy was as masters of the sea and great shipbuilders.

Bull Leaping Bull leaping or bull fighting was both a sport and a religious ceremony.

The Palace One of the largest cities on Crete was Knossos. A great palace was located there - the Palace of Knossos where the legendary King Minos lived.

The palace had several passageways.

Labyrinth The palace had a network of paths through which it was difficult to find one’s way. Labyrinth means double ax so the palace was called the “House of the Double Ax.” In this labyrinth, it is said, lived a Minotaur - a beast that was half man and half bull.

Minotaur

Every year for nine years, seven youths and maidens came as tributes from Athens. These young people were locked in the labyrinth for the Minotaur to eat. When the Greek hero Theseus reached Athens, he learned of the Minotaur and the sacrifices, and wanted to end this. He volunteered to go to Crete as one of the victims. Upon his arrival in Crete, he met Ariadne, Minos's daughter, who fell in love with him. She promised she would provide the means to escape from the maze if he agreed to marry her. When Theseus did, she gave him a simple ball of thread, which he was to fasten close to the entrance of the maze. He made his way through the maze, while unwinding the thread, and he stumbled upon the sleeping Minotaur. He beat it to death and led the others back to the entrance by following the thread.

Why did they end? No one is certain why Minoan civilization came to an end. But about 1400 B.C., control of the sea and Crete passed to the Mycenaeans.

Who were the Mycenaens The Mycenaens lived on the main land. Mycenaean civilization was dominated by a warrior aristocracy. Not only did the Mycenaeans defeat the Minoans, but according to legend, they defeated Troy, a powerful city-state. The Mycenaean period flourished between 1600BC and the collapse of their Bronze-Age civilization around 1100BC.

Where did they come from? The Mycenaeans came from the north of Greece. They traded with and learned much from the Minoans.

Trojan War/Homer’s Iliad The Mycenaeans went to war with Troy because Troy was controlling a trade route and unfairly taxing ships going from southern Russia to Greece.

The Iliad About 500 years later, a blind Greek poet, Homer, told the story of the Trojan war - but not quite exactly as it happened.

Homer’s version The Trojan prince Paris fell in love with Helen, the wife of the Mycenaean king. He kidnapped her, taking her to Troy. The Mycenaeans followed to get her back. After ten years of fighting, Odysseus suggested they build a large wooden horse and place their best soldiers in it. Then the rest of the Mycenaeans returned to their ships and sailed away.

When the Trojans saw the horse and the soldiers leaving, they thought it was a gift and pulled it into the city. Once out of sight, Odysseus turned the ships around and began to sail back toward Troy. During the night, the soldiers inside the horse climbed out, opened the gate and let the returning soldiers into Troy.

What happened... The Mycenaeans killed the king of Troy and burned the city. Then they returned to their homes with Helen.

The Dorians arrived and drove the Mycenaeans out of Greece and they never returned to a peaceful existence. They settled in the Aegean islands and on the western shore of Asia Minor. Later, this was known as Ionia.

The Dorians were a tribe of war-like people who came down from the north onto the Greek peninsula and conquered it. They did not have a written language. They were not into art or music or literature. The Dorians were into war. The Dorians did not build cities. They destroyed them. It was easy for the Dorians to conquer ancient Greece. They had metal weapons, were organized and well trained. It was very easy for them to take control. The Dorians: the Dark Age

For the next 400 years, the Dorians ruled. As they didn’t have a written language, we know very little about this period. Thanks to the Dorians the early Greeks learned to make metal weapons. Thanks to the storytellers, people who earned a living through their storytelling skills, the early Greeks learned to speak a common language. Storytellers hated the Dorians and told their stories in Greek.The Greek people also learned to work together to defeat their common enemy. Dorian rule came to an end.

One step back... So this period is considered a time of wandering and killing. Trade stopped. Many skills were forgotten including how to read and write, fresco painting, working with ivory and gold, etc.

Here we go again... The people had to create a new civilization on their own beginning with herding and farming.

A New Name: Eventually they developed independent communities and began calling themselves Hellenes, or Greeks.

How the Greeks became a civilization. The Mycenaeans overtook the Minoans and the two merged. The Mycenaeans became powerful, but civil war weakened its strong fortresses and when invaders came they were easily overtaken. The invaders were the Dorians who spoke the Greek language. With the invaders the lost of many skills followed. Skills such as writing and boat making. This was know as the Dark Age for Greece.

Time Line Minoans 2500 B.C B.C. Mycenaeans 2000 B.C B.C Dorians 1150B.C – 700B.C. (Dark Age) The Greeks (HELLENIC) emerged from the mix of these three civilizations to rule from 700B.C. to 336 B.C What we know as the Greeks were influenced more by the culture of these three civilizations.

Technology results from scarcity All cities need fresh water. This is a Greek aqueduct, basically a brick water pipe. The first aqueduct was Assyrian, but most ancient societies had them.

Storytelling Storytellers told fables, myths and legends. A fable is a very short story with a moral. Fables gave these early people a common culture, a way of behaving. A myth is a story about gods and goddesses and other mythical creatures. Myths gave these early people a common religion. A legend is a story about an event that happened in the past. The legend cannot be proven, although it might be true. The legends told by the storytellers were all about heroes, but the heroes were not Dorian warriors

Aesop,s fable: The Fox and the Goat Once upon a time, a long time ago, a fox fell down a well. He was stuck there for a quite a while. Finally, a goat wandered by. "What are you doing?" asked the goat curiously. "Stay away," snarled the fox. "This is my water." "That's not fair," snapped the goat. "Why should you get all the water?" Before the fox could say another word, the goat jumped in the well. Quick as a flash, the fox leaped on the goat's back and out of the well. He ran happily off, leaving the goat stuck in the well. THE MORAL OF THIS STORY: Do not always believe what you hear from someone who is in trouble.

Technology results from necessity As Greek coastal cities were between the ocean and the sea, they developed an awesome navy for trading and fighting.

Terracing saves water and soil in mountainous environments

Greek Inventions The Greeks invented dice.

The Greeks were the original Olympiads. Their scientists studied the best way to perform sports

Greek Inventions The Greeks invented the crane.

Greek Architecture Greeks invented arches and columns. This obviously took advanced mathematics.

More Greek Architecture

Greek Military This is a catapult, a Greek invention. It could throw very heavy stones at walls and buildings

Greek Military This is a hoplite, a Greek infantry soldier. Hoplites were middle-class freemen who had to pay for their own weapon and shield.

Flamethrower!!!!!

Greek religion was polytheistic.

Political: Athens was the first democracy. Democracy: type of government where people vote. Well, actually, Athens was a direct democracy where people vote on everything. The U.S. today is a representative democracy, where we vote for people to make decisions for us.

In the Assembly, every male citizen was not only entitled to attend as often as he pleased but also had the right to debate, offer amendments, and vote on proposals. Every man had a say in whether to declare war or stay in peace. Basically any thing that required a government decision, all male citizens were allowed to participate in.

Political terms All of Greece wasn ’ t a democracy. Most of Greece was a monarchy a type of government ruled by a king or queen. On the right is Pericles, a good king of Athens.

Sparta Sparta was an isolated city-state that was culturally and politically different from Athens. Sparta was an oligarchy, government ruled by a few. They had 2 kings. During the Peloponnesian Sparta sacked Athens.

Sparta Spartan society was obsessed with war. Boys were sent to military school at a young age. Boys who are born deformed are left to die on mountainsides

Athens Athenians were tough but were encouraged to engage in activities like art, philosophy, music.

Alexander the Great Alexander was not from Athens, but Macedonia. Alexander was a brilliant military strategist. His favorite book was Homer ’ s Iliad

Alexander conquered the Persian empire and controlled the largest empire the world has ever seen.

Alexander spread Hellenistic culture throughout Asia. Hellenistic is a fancy word for Greek. Alexander spread Greek technology and ideas throughout his empire

The rest is history.