Geography of Greece

Peloponnesian Peninsula

Black Sea

Greece’s geography is defined by countless bodies of water, peninsulas and mountains.

Aegean Sea

Adriatic Sea

Asia Minor

Balkan Peninsula

Please label the following items on your map of

Ancient Greece:

- Aegean Sea- Mediterranean Sea- Black Sea- Sea of Marmara- Asia Minor- Crete- Balkan Peninsula - Peloponnesian Peninsula- Mt. Olympus- Athens- Sparta

The isolation created by theses physical features led to the a region composed of many city-states rather

than one large unified empire. The rocky uneven ground throughout Greece made agriculture difficult.

City-states around the Aegean Sea were

constantly battling each other for the control of the

scarce resources.

743 B.C.

Please draw the following timeline in your notebook.

History of Ancient Greece

621 B.C.

490 B.C.

480 B.C.

479 B.C.

478 B.C.

438 B.C.431 B.C.

404 B.C.

399 B.C.

338 B.C.

336 B.C.

330 B.C.

323 B.C.

492 B.C.

500 B.C.

461 B.C.

743 B.C.First Messenian

War begins. Sparta conquers

neighboring Messenia and

makes its citizens serfs or

“helots”.

And this is Messenia.

743 B.C.

621 B.C.Draco becomes

the first Athenian

legislator by recording a strict

set of laws in which many actions were

punishable by death.

Not this Draco!

Thanks to his law code, Draco now has

his own adjective!

621 B.C.

500 B.C.Ionian City

States Revolt against the

Persian Empire.

Athens and Eretria send

forces to aid in the revolt.

Ionia

500 B.C.

492 B.C.The first Persian Invasion of Greece led by Darius the Great. He intended to punish the city states of Athens and Eretria for coming to the aid of the Ionian Greeks.

In 490, Darius besieged Eretria for 6

days before its citizens were

betrayed by a group of Eretrian nobles. The city was looted and burned, and its citizens enslaved.

492 B.C.

490 B.C.The Greeks defeat the Persian forces at the battle of Marathon.

The battle of Marathon was a turning point in the Greco- Persian wars because it

proved that the Persians could be defeated by a Greek force. Many historians feel that

if the outcome of this battle had been different, all subsequent European history

would be vastly different.

490 B.C.

480 B.C.The second Persian invasion of

Greece. This invasion was led by Xerxes who intended to fulfill his

father’s dream of subduing Greece.

480 B.C.

480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. The Persians are held off for 7 days before finding an alternate route, which allowed them to attack from both sides and win the battle. (This battle is the inspiration for the movie 300)

480 B.C.

480 B.C.The Persians are defeated at the Battle of Salamis. This victory for the Greeks destroyed the Persian navy and dealt a serious blow to the Persians hopes of conquering Greece.

480 B.C.

479 B.C.The Greeks defeat the Persians in

the Battle of Plataea which proved to be the decisive victory in the first stage of the Greco- Persian

wars. After this battle, the Persians retreated and the Greeks went on

the offensive.

The serpent column pictured above was made to commemorate the victory at Plataea. It was forged using melted Persian weapons and stood at Delphi until it was

transported to Constantinople (Istanbul) by Emperor Constantine in 324 A.D.479 B.C.

478 B.C.Athens forms

the Delian League and

Sparta forms the

Peloponnesian League.

478 B.C.

461 B.C.Pericles

becomes the leader of

Athens and ushers in the

Athenian Golden Age. He would die of the plague in 428 B.C.

“Just because you do not take

an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an

interest in you.”

- Pericles461 B.C.

438 B.C.The Parthenon in Athens is completed and dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare. This temple has stood the test of time to become the most important surviving structure from Classical Greece.

438 B.C.

431 B.C.The Peloponnesian Wars begin

when Sparta prepares to destroy Athens.

431 B.C.

404 B.C.Athens surrenders to

Sparta bringing an end to the Peloponnesian

wars. The Spartans defeated the Athenians by cutting off their food

supply and putting Athens under siege. Rather than starve,

Athens surrendered.

404 B.C.

399 B.C.Socrates is

condemned to death. He was convicted for “corrupting the youth”

and “impiety”.

Impiety is the lack of respect for God or religious traditions

“The Death of Socrates” is a 1787 oil on canvas painting by the French painter Jacques-Louis David.

399 B.C.

338 B.C.All of Greece

(excluding Sparta) is

unified as the League of

Corinth under Phillip

II of Macedonia.

338 B.C.

336 B.C.Phillip II is murdered by one

of his bodyguards at his daughter’s wedding. His son Alexander who was 20 years old, succeeds him. Alexander

is determined to fulfill his father’s dream of conquering the Persian Empire. He even

dreams of conquering the entire world! “Pausanias' assassination of Phillip II”

By Andre Castaigne- 1899

336 B.C.

330 B.C.After conquering

much of the Persian Empire and

establishing many cities, Alexander the

Great defeats the last Achaemenid

Emperor, Darius III, and burns the capital

city of Persepolis. A portion of the Alexander Mosaic found in Pompeii.

330 B.C.

Alexander traveled and fought for 11 years.

323 B.C.Alexander the Great dies at the age of 32. The cause of his death is still debated, but it was due to an illness of some sort. When he died, Alexander had no heir to the throne.

A depiction of Alexander's funeral procession based on the description of Diodorus.

323 B.C.

Because Alexander had not declared an heir, his generals divided his empire into the kingdoms shown on the map

above. This began the era known as the “Hellenistic Period”.

Ptolemy I Soter I became ruler of

Egypt and established the

Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Seleucus I claimed most of the land that

had formerly belonged to the Persian Empire.

Antigonus controlled the Macedonian homeland.

Alexander’s Empire continued to be divided. The map above shows the Diadochi (land of the successors) 20 years after the

death of Alexander in 303 B.C.

The Hellenistic Period would continue for 300 years until the defeat of the Ptolemic Empire by the Romans in 31 B.C. This

defeat would lead to the establishment of the Roman Empire which would become the new Mediterranean Power.

“The Battle of Actium” by Lorenzo A. Castro, 1672