11-1 Notes: The Geography of Greece

Greece’s Geography, Landscape, and Climate• Greece’s mainland is a peninsula, a

piece of land surrounded by water on three sides, in the Mediterranean Sea

• It is also made of thousands of tiny islands

• A gulf of water nearly divides Greece in two: Peloponnesus and Attica are the two peninsulas that make up Greece’s mainland

• An isthmus, which is a narrow strip of land, connects the two peninsulas

• Mountains cover 70 – 80% of the land, which divide the land into regions

• Transportation, organization overland was difficult (many mountains, no major rivers)

• Greece has a mediterranean climate (mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers [50-80°F]), which encouraged outdoor life such as athletic competitions like racing

Agriculture and Resources• Only 20-30% of Greek land was good for

farming (grain was grown on open plains, olive trees on the edges of the plains, grapevines on the lower slopes of hills, infertile or tough land used for grazing)

• More than half of all Greeks were farmers or herders

• Landowners were part of Greece’s upper class

• Only men could own property (land) which could be used to support oneself

• Wealth could be used to pay for weapons to help serve in the army, defend Greece so it was respectable to have wealth

• Greece founded many colonies, such as those in Western Anatolia, to increase farmland

• Greece also lacked resources such as metal but had a lot of stone for building and good natural harbors

Trade, Waterways, and the Sea• Despite not having major rivers, Greece

used the sea to trade• Greece has a lot of coastline and many

harbors, and most places are less than 100 miles from the sea (many cities were built on harbors)

• Several seas, such as the Mediterranean, Ionian, and Aegean seas, were used as highways to transport people, ideas, and goods

• Greeks built rowing ships (some had 2-3 levels for oars) for fighting and sailing ships (single mast with a square sail) for trading

• Aegean and Ionian seas are not very large and could be sailed across by sailing near the coast or by island hopping

• Sea was a great source of fish (some were ate fresh and some dried)

• Greece did not produce much grain but did produce surplus supplies of olive oil, wine, wool, and fine pottery, which was traded amongst the city-states and to other countries

The Earliest Greeks• Earliest Greeks moved onto the

Greek Peninsula by around 2000 BCE• Mycenae• Earliest Greek civilization built

around the city of Mycenae (Mycenaean) on the Peloponnesus peninsula

• Each Mycenaean city was ruled by a king

• Mycenaeans were traders• Their culture featured a writing

system, gold jewelry, bronze weapons, and fine pottery

• Their civilization collapsed around 1200 BCE, most likely due to invasion

• Between 1200 – 750 BCE, Greek culture declined (people no longer kept written records)

New Advances in Greek Culture• The Phoenicians, another trading

people living on the eastern Mediterranean coast, brought their alphabet to Greece between 900 and 800 BCE, where it was adopted

• Phoenician alphabet used 22 symbols to stand for sounds

• This system of writing is called an alphabet

• The Greeks changed letters from the Phoenician one, which later evolved into our modern 26 letter alphabet

• Greeks also learned how to make and distribute coins in 650 BCE in Anatolia

• Most Greek cities began making coins in 500 BCE