Ancient Greece

Geography of Greece:

• Mountainous peninsula

- Mountains cover 3/4 of land

• Approx. 1400 islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas
• Skillful sailors
• Poor natural resources
• Difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain; developed small, independent communities.
• About 20% is suitable for farming
• Fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the peninsula
• Because of the Geography the Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olives, and made wine.
• Lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization
• Temperatures range from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer.

Mycenaeans: 

• Began around 2000 B.C.
• Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20 ft. thick wall.
• Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 B.C.

                    -Controlled trade in the region

• 1400 B.C. Mycenaeans indeed created

Culture in Decline

• Around 1200 B.C. sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
• the Dorians moved into the war-torn region

                -Far less advanced

                -Economy collapsed

                -Writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer and Myths

• Only stories were kept and passed on by word of mouth
• Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages"
• Recorded stories of the Trojan War in the Iliad  and The Odyssey

                   -Trojan war was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans

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