1. Ancient Greece

2. Geography of Greece Greece is very mountainous
- Separated the different city-states from one another
Had many peninsulas
2 main ones – Peloponnesus
Balkan
Had many different waterways
- seas
- straits
- islands

3. Geography of Greece Greece was ¾ covered in mountains
Left little land for regular farming
Forced to grow/harvest other products
Olives, grapes, seafood, etc.
Mountains force Greeks to use seas
Increased their sailing abilities
Increased their necessity to trade by sea
Travel to areas like Italy, Egypt, Phoenicia

4. Effects of the Geography
Effected Greece economically
Limited farmable (arable) land for crops
Forces them to depend on the seas
Also forces them to colonize other lands to farm
Effected Greece socially
All were Greek, but they were not unified
Saw themselves as separate people
Spartans, Athenians, Ionians, Mycenaeans
Mountains separated each of the different groups
- Effected Greece politically
Each area created its own rules, government, and citizenship
Government styles of the time include:
Monarchy, Tyranny, Democracy, Oligarchy

5. Early People Indo-Europeans spread into Greece
Mycenaean settled around 2000 B.C.
Name came from the city – Mycenae
Mycenae included the city of Athens
Ruled by kings which is known as a monarchy
Mycenaean fought Troy in the Trojan War
Went to war because Paris took Helen from the Mycenaean king

6. Early People
Mycenaeans win when they trick Troy by using the Trojan horse
Dorians move into the area after Mycenaeans
Far less advanced than earlier groups
Following the Dorians, Greeks broke into city-states

7. Cities of Greece Early Greece cities forced on two ideas
Promoting civic participation
Getting people involved in the decisions of the city
Promoting a commercial (business) life
Getting people to trade products and ideas

8. Cities of Greece Greek city-states known as the polis
Polis – was a city and its surrounding countryside
Example – Washington DC and its suburbs
Agora – city center – like a business district
Acropolis – fortified (protected) area of the city
Not all cities had these
Some cities built their agora in their acropolis

9. Greek Polis The Agora The Acropolis Used for discussion and trade
Men would meet for food, clothes, and ideas
Women were rarely seen in the agora
The Acropolis
Used for protection and a sign of power
Made it easy to see oncoming attackers
Provided a place for royalty, women, and children to hide during time of war.

10. What is the famous Athenian acropolis?
A fortified hilltop for protection
Walls are actually the mountain its located on (marble)