1. Ancient Greece

2. Geography and the Early Greeks
The Big Idea
Greece’s geography and its nearness to the sea strongly influenced the development of trade and the growth of city-states.
Main Ideas
Geography helped shape early Greek civilizations.
Trading cultures developed in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.
The Greeks created city-states for protection and security.

3. Ancient civilization
Influenced
Mediterranean region
Unique way of life.
Democracy began in Greece.

4. The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s largest inland sea.
It is almost completely surrounded by Africa, Asia, and Europe.

5. A peninsula is land surrounded on 3 sides by water
A peninsula is land surrounded on 3 sides by water. Greece is a peninsula

6. Attica Tiny wedge-shaped peninsula Juts eastward
Natural harbors for ships.

7. Peloponnesus Peninsula covered with mountains Little fertile land
Shaped like a big claw reaching out toward Crete.

8. Greece had little rich farmland due to rugged mountains and hillsides.

9. Greek farmers planted hearty olive trees and grape vines.

10. Geography helped shape early Greek civilizations.
Mountains cover much of Greece, so contact with other villages was difficult.
People created governments and ways of life.
People settled in flat areas along coasts and river valleys.
Because travel was so difficult inland, Greeks turned to the seas on all sides.
They became skilled shipbuilders and sailors.
The sea became a source of food as well as a way of trading with other communities.
They also exchanged ideas with other cultures.

11. Rhodes is located east of Crete and west of Turkey
Rhodes provides a perfect rest stop for ships sailing between Greece and Western Asia

12. Crete is the largest of about 400 islands that are part of Greece
This is a fresco from the Minoan civilization on Crete.

13. Minoan Civilization Crete in 2800 BC
Bronze civilization/weapons made of bronze
Rich trading culture
Knossos: center of far-ranging sea empire
Ships sailed to Egypt and islands of southern Greece
Palace of Knossos was elaborate: enormous private living rooms for family, workshops, and large bathrooms
Named after King Minos, the King of Crete

14. Minoan Civilization
Civilization on Crete suffered a major catastrophe around 1450 BC.
heories:
1. Tidal wave caused by a volcano
2. Invasion by Myceneans
3. Volcanic ash

15. Crete: Minoan Civilization (Palace at Knossos)

16. Aerial View of Knossos

17. Palace of King Minos

18. Palace of King Minos - Interiors

19. Minoan Fresco Prince of Knossos

20. Palace of King Minos
Throne Room

21. Minoan Palace of Knossos

22. Minoans created and traded pottery, leather, bronze armor, and metal jewelry. They also enjoyed sports such as boxing and bull leaping.

23. Minoan Artistic “Motifs”

24. Minoan Mural Shows Bull Leaping

25. Minoan Culture - Religion
Minoan Priest

26. Minoan Trade
Coast of Crete
“Bireme” ship

27. Bull Cult

28. Trading cultures developed in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.
Minoans
Trading in the Mediterranean
Wood, olive oil, and pottery all around the eastern Mediterranean
Victims of a huge volcano that erupted north of Crete
Not considered to be Greek, since they didn’t speak Greek
Mycenaeans
Considered Greek.
Lived inland and built fortresses.
Violent in their trade.
Took over Crete and became the major traders in the eastern Mediterranean.
Developed colonies in northern Greece and Italy
Shipped goods around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

29. The Mycenaean World

30. The Mycenaean Civilization

31. Mycenaeans: 2000 - 900 BC Lower Greece (lowlands)
Fortress-palaces on hilltops
Farming, herding, olive growing.
Traded: gold & bronze
Learned from Minoans: Shipbuilding, navigation, gold & bronze work, fashions, art, writing.
Better warriors than traders (pirates)
Most powerful people in Aegean world by 1400 BCE
Trojan War (1200s BCE)
Conquered by Dorians (late 1200’s)

32. archaeological“tell”
View of Mycenae
archaeological“tell”

33. Aerial View of Mycenae

34. Mycenae Citadel & Reconstruction

35. Approach to the Lion’s Gate

36. Lion’s Gate Entrance to Mycenae

37. The Mask of Agamemnon

38. Mycenaean Writing System: “Linear B”

39. The “Dark Age:” 1100 -800 BC Civil wars broke out following Trojan War
Dorians conquered Mycenaeans
Aegean world began era of “wandering and killing”
Independent communities developed
Layered view of nine major settlements of Troy
by Christopher Haussner based on archaelogical
excavation.

40. Greek Dark Ages From 1100 to 750 b.c., few records exist
Population and food production fell
Iron replaced bronze, improving weaponry and farming
Greeks adopted Phoenician alphabet which made reading and writing simpler
Homer wrote the Illiad and Odyssey

41. The Greeks created city-states for protection and security
During the Dark Ages,Greeks started joining together in small groups for protection.
Set up independent city-states. The Greek word for city-state is polis.
Creation of city-states marks the beginning of Greece’s classical age, an age marked by great achievements.

42. Life in a City-State
Usually built around a strong fortress on top of a high hill called an acropolis.
The town was surrounded by walls for protection. People no longer had to fear raiders.
Life in the city focused on the marketplace, or agora.
City-state became the foundation for Greek civilization and gave Greeks an identity.

44. City-States and Colonization
Life in Greece became more settled, and people agreed that the Greeks should establish colonies.
Before long, groups from city-states around Greece began setting up colonies in distant lands.
Greek colonies spread all around the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.

45. Patterns of Trade
Although the colonies were independent, they often traded with city-states on the mainland.
Trade made the city-states much richer.
Soon the Greeks had become the greatest traders in the whole Aegean region.

46. The Rise of the Greek Polis
Eboea
Syracuse
Athens
Larissa
Naxos
Corinth