Chapter 5 Section 1 Notes

I. Geography Shapes Greek Life

Map of Greece

A. By 2000 B.C. Minoans lived on the island of Crete and Indo-Europeans had settled on Mainland Greece

Bull Jumping

B. Mainland Greece is a mountainous peninsula in southeast Europe

C. Greece has over 1400 islands in the Aegean Sea on the east side

D. The Mediterranean Sea is located to the South

1. The Greeks became excellent sailors

E. Greece had few natural resources

F. Mountains covered about ¾ of Greece

Mountains of Greece

1. Mountains kept the city-states separated

a. Thus loyalty was to your own city- state and not to a centralized government

2. Travel was very difficult

G. Only about 20 % of the land was used for farm land

1. With such little land the Greeks would search for lands to colonize

J. The climate of Greece was mild 48 to 80 degrees

II. Mycenaean Civilization Develops

Mycenaean Greece

Gates of Mycenaea

A. Mycenaeans were named after their main city Mycenae located on the east side of the Peloponnesus

B. Mycenaean warrior kings were very wealthy

1. Bronze weapons

2. Drank from gold cups

C. Mycenae took over the power of the Minoans when they decline so abruptly

D. Mycenae did adopt many of Minoan customs

E. The Trojan War

1. War with Troy on the Hellespont in current day Turkey

2. War lasted for 10 years

3. Prince Paris of Troy kidnaps Helen the beautiful wife of the king Agamemnon of Mycenae

Hellen’s Abduction

a. Face that launched a thousand ships

4. Greeks win the war with the trick of the Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse

5. German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, finds nine layers in Turkey one may have been Troy

Heinrich Schliemann

III. Greek Culture Declines under the Dorians

Doric Column

A. the Dorians would take over after the decline of the Mycenaeans

B. the Dorians were less advanced than the Mycenaeans

IV. The Epics of Homer

A. Homer was a blind poet that wrote two major epics

B. the Iliad was a book about the Trojan Wars

1. About Greek hero Achilles and the Trojan hero Hector

Achilles

Andromacher Mourning Hector

C. the Odyssey was a book about the 10 year trip home for the Greek hero Odysseus

1. Odysseus uses his wits and trickery to get home

Odysseus blinding Polyphemos

D. Both books described the characteristics of Greek heroes

1. Brave

2. Loyal

3. Integrity

4. Cunning

5. Honor

V. Greeks Create Myths

A. The Greek myths explained the world around them

B. Gods had human characteristics

C. Zeus was their main god

D. Hera was his wife

E. The gods lived in the clouds above Mount Olympus

F. Athena was the guardian of cities