Ancient Greece

Geography and Beginnings

Describe the characteristics of Describe the characteristics of Ancient Greece’s geography:Ancient Greece’s geography:

Geographic FeaturesGeographic Features

1. Sea: Aegean, Ionian – trade, cultural exchange

2. Mountains more than ¾ of Greece’s surface area – isolating effect, prevents communication

3. Islands: more than 2000 islands - Crete largest – led to isolation and trade

4. Climate: mild wet winters, hot dry summers =

long growing season

5. The POLIS emerges – independent city states, Athens and Sparta most powerful

RESOURCES• grain• fine cheese made of goat’smilk• timber• wild game• wool of sheep = cloth

MOST IMPORTANT CROPS• olives = oil• grapes = wine• grain• clay = pottery

3 Major Periods of Ancient 3 Major Periods of Ancient Greek CivilizationGreek Civilization

1. Early Civilizations (7000 – 800 BCE) Minoans (Crete) and Mycenae (mi se ne)

2. Classical Greece (800 – 338 BCE)Flourishing of arts, literature, philosophy; domination by Sparta and Athens

3. Hellenistic Age (338 – 31 BCE) Macedonian Empire and Alexander the Great

Greek culture spreads far and wide

Early Greeks: Early Greeks: The Minoans The Minoans

c. 3200 -1100 BCEc. 3200 -1100 BCE

• Island of Crete

• Developed Linear A script

• Palace of Knossos

• Artistic expressions and grand construction

• Advancements in bronze

Palace of Minos at Knossos (K-NOSS-oss) •Knossos-most powerful monarch for Minoans•Palaces controlled all agricultural goods and products by storing in large storerooms •Palaces became the centres of exchange for Minoan economy•Palaces had dozens of interconnecting rectangular rooms on two or more storeyswhich were grouped around a large open courtyard (administrative and religious)

Frescoes of bull leaping – Myth of the Minotaur?

THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF MINOANSMINOANS

• 1750 BCE- earthquake destroys Minoan palaces

• 1628 BCE- volcano erupts at Thera • 1400 BCE- War between Minoans and

Myceaneans led to decline of power

Enter the Enter the MycenaeansMycenaeansc. 1700 – 600 c. 1700 – 600

BCEBCE

• Mycenaeans took control of Crete at Knossos by 1500 BCE• Controlled mainland Greece = political centre Mycenae• More interested in war

– pottery and grave sites reflect hunting, weapons, armour and war – fortified palace walls

• Developed Linear B• Slowly Minoan culture and traditions disappeared

Trojan WarTrojan War• Approximately

1194-1184 BCE • The Mycaenean

king, Agamemnon united city states to conquer Troy

• The Illiad and the Odyssey tell parts of the story

THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF MYCEANEANSMYCEANEANS

• Shift in climate leading to drought forcing Myceanans to migrate to more fertile lands

• Tribe of nomadic warriors from north of Greece (Dorians) destroyed them

Dark Ages – 1100-750 BCE

• No written records exist for 350 years

• Minstrels would retell heroic tales of Jason Achilles, Hector, and Herakles

• Eventually evolved into the poems of Homer which mark the end of the Dark Ages of Greece

Archaic Period - 750 – 500 BCEArchaic Period - 750 – 500 BCE• National literature

Homer

• Resurgence of trade

• Olympic Games -776 BCE

• Large stone sculptures of human figures

• Greek script produced

Discobolus competition British Museum

Girl competing in the Heraia foot race at Olympia

Homer

• THE Greek poet

• In writings, the Greeks would often refer to him simply as ‘the poet.’ Everybody knew Homer.

• Wrote the Iliad about the Trojan war and the Odyssey about Odysseus's journey home

• Good stuff and it informs about Greek character

• And the Odyssey has cyclops, sirens, monsters, witches, revenge. How can you go wrong with that?

• Debate whether he actually existed.

• There are linguistic and style differences between the two epics

• At any rate, it’s the writing down of oral tales

• Professional storytellers would tells the tales and poems.

• They’d have the entire thing memorized. They were the entertainers of the day.

• Great opening passages