Ancient Greece

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The Agora– 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.

• A fortified hilltop for protection– Walls are actually the mountain its located on (marble)