1. Ancient Greece
Geography

2. Aegean Sea Heart of Ancient Greece
Few people lived more than 70 km from it’s shore
Civilization depended on the sea
More than 2000 islands- some rocky and some extremely fertile
Earliest civilization began on a fertile island named Crete

3. Greece has nearly 3200 km of coastline.
Deep fjords provided excellent harbors.
Greeks sailed from island to island sharing ideas and products.

4. Landscape Landscape is marked by mountains.
Only 1/5 of the land was fertile- so it was highly valued.
Mountains acted as partitions between communities.
Ancient Greece became a collection of separate, independent city-states- often at war with each other.

6. Ancient Greece- Historical Overview:
Ancient Greece can be divided into 4 periods:
EARLY PERIOD ( BCE)
EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD ( BCE)
CLASSICAL GREECE ( BCE)
HELLENISTIC AGE ( BCE)

7. THE EARLY PERIOD – EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD
The Minoan Period
The Mycenaean Period
The Dark Ages
The Persian Wars

8. The Minoan Period The earliest civilization associated with Greece.
Located on the island of Crete
Named after legendary ruler- King Minos. (Mythical)

9. The Mycenaean Period
Lived on the mainland in small simple farming villages.
Wealthy and powerful civilization.
Gained wealth through trade and piracy.
Factors that led to the decline of the Mycenaean civilization: Civil wars, invasion, drought and famine.

11. The Dark Ages
Greeks developed small, secure, independent communities. These became known as city-states or ”polis” (community of people).
These rarely exceeded 20,000 people except for the two largest:
Athens
Sparta
In order to find additional food, the Greeks set up “apoikai ” (away homes or colonies).

12. CLASSICAL GREECE
This is considered the greatest age in Ancient Greek History.
Phenomenal rush of achievements- most of which stemmed from Athens. A lot of these achievements came from contact with Egypt and Persia.
Blossomed in Art and Science.

13. THE TWO GREAT CITY STATES OF GREECE
ATHENS:
Commercial city and cultural center
Had the most democratic government of all the city states.
Controlled the Delian League (150 city states banned together to protect against further attacks from the Persians).

14. SPARTA:
First city-state to keep a standing army of professional soldiers
Highly militaristic
Ruled by a small group of aristocrats.

15. THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS

16. ALEXANDER THE GREAT Son of King Phillip II, of Macedonia.
In 338 BCE, Macedonia takes over the Greek city states.
When Phillip II is killed, Alexander becomes king of Macedonia at the age of 20.

17. What did he do?
To consolidate his power, he had possible rivals killed and led campaigns into Greece to demonstrate his power.
He set out to fulfill his fathers dream of expanding the empire.
He spent 11 years at war- by the end of which he had stretched the empire from Greece to India.
He died at the age of 33 of Malaria.

18. What was his significance?
“Hellenistic” civilization was a blend of Eastern and Western influences---because his army consisted of both Persians and Greeks, they learned from each other.
The large empire spread the culture and ideas of Greece.

19. Film: Alexander the Great (25 min)