ORIGINS OF GREECEChapter 4 Sections 1 & 2

Geography

Balkan Peninsula Pindus Mountains 1400 rocky islands Aegean, Ionian, & Mediterranean No significant rivers Lacked timber, metals, farmland Difficult to unite

Timeline

Mycenaean Culture (1600-1100BC) – Bronze Age

Greek Dark Ages (1100-750BC) – Dorians

Classical Period (500-323BC) – Rise of City-States

Hellenistic Period (323-146BC) – After Alexander the

Great

Mycenaean Culture (1600-1100BC)

Settled on Crete

Based on trade, not

conquering

Vanished

1st Greek-speaking people

Conquered Greek mainland, then Crete

Traded beyond Aegean City-States with Warrior-

Kings Trojan War (1250 BC)

Minoans (1600-1400BC) Mycenaeans (1400-1200BC)

Greek Dark Ages (1100-750BC)

Invaded from the north Vacated settlements,

abandoned writing

Settled in what became

Sparta

Blind Poet

The Iliad & the Odyssey

Dorians Homer (750 BC)

Classical Period (500-323BC)

Writing

Polis – city-state

Acropolis – High City

Agora – Main City Monarchy

Aristocracy Oligarchy

Spartans Military dominance 2 Kings & Council of Elders

Assembly approved major decisions

Helots = state-owned slaves Tied to land

Isolationist

Mindless Brutes? 1st democracy Mutual-defense treaties Rights of women Public education

Athenians Civil Unrest (Limited)

Democracy

Solon (594 BC) – archon Outlawed debt slavery, expanded

citizenship to some foreigners, more power to Assembly

Pisistratus (546 BC) – tyrant Loans for farmers, more building

projects

Cleisthenes (507 BC) – reformer Council of 500 became legislature

THIS IS ATHENS!

Sparta Athens

Spoke GreekAncient Heroes

Common FestivalsReligion

Felt Superior to Foreigners