Ancient Greece Introduction: Minoans, Mycenaeans, Greek Colonization

Classical Time Period According to the AP curriculum: Classical civilizations Major political developments in China, India, and the Mediterranean Social and gender structures Major trading patterns within and among Classical civilizations; contacts with adjacent regions Arts, sciences, and technology

Geography of Region Greece: a.k.a “Hellas” Greeks were sea traders Mountains divided Greece— kept it disunited --Polis

Geography According to the AP curriculum: Environment Interaction of geography and climate with the development of human society The environment as historical actor Demography: Major population changes resulting from human and environmental factors

Pre-Greeks Minoans (2800 BCE – 1600 BCE) Location: Aegean islands, Crete Economy: Trade Writing: linear A and linear B Knossos Disappearance: Unknown Natural Disaster

Pre-Greeks Mycenaeans Trojan War, 1250 BC Overran Minoans Sea traders Mythical story Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

1100 BCE Everything stops? Pottery Dark Ages Sea Peoples?

Ancient Greece 1000 BCE – goat-herding, barley, and a few iron tools. Difficult terrain for farming A shift comes with Wine and Olive Oil “The Olive Harvest” ~500BCE The Antimenes Painter

Olive Oil Olives grow well in rocky soil and high elevation Fat and flavor Seasonal farming – lots of free time Lamp oil Soap High value export

Greek Expansion Emphasis on wine and olives leads to… Heavily stratified economic status Rich vs. poor Importation of grains Greek colonization Greek Settlements by 500 BCE

Greek Expansion Colonies in Italy, Sicily, France, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, the Black Sea coastline, and Africa. Colonists were criminals and outcasts, but still clung to the Greek way of life.

Greek Politics Ethne – tribes Polis – a city state By 600 BCE there were over 300 city-states Governments varied – polis = politics The Parthenon in Athens atop the Acropolis - 2500 years old