4Monday:
Geography of Greece
- Greece is a small country in Europe
- The main part of Greece is on a peninsula
- Greece is surrounded by what three large bodies of water? Mediterranean, Aegean sea, Ionian sea
- The rest of Greece is made up of islands 6000 (227 being inhabited)
Importance of geography
- The sea was extremely important to the Greeks-Why?
- Did not live "on the land" but "around the sea"
- Most Greeks lived within 85 miles of the sea
- used the sea as a means of transportation
- the sea linked all parts of Greece to other areas for trade which was essential due to lack of resources
- Mountains covered around 3/4 of ancient greece
Mt Olympus
- Home of 12 Olympian Greek gods
- Zues, Hera, demeter, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes
Other things
- Due to mountains, transportation over land was difficult
- Greeks did not have much fertile land for agriculture
- due to these issues, ancient Greece never had a large population no more than a few million
- these issues might have led some leaders to look to expand
City states
- Due to Greece geography, city states developed instead of a unified country
Ancient Olympics
- Records of Olympics date to 776 BC and lasted until 393 AD when the Romans ended them
- Lasted on day at first but eventually extended to five days
- Happened every four years an Olympiad
- Started as a tribute of Zues
- competed nude
Pentathlon
- Long jump
- Javelin
- Discus
- Stadion-200 yards
- wrestling
Average temp in Greece?
Pretty nice, encouraged outside activities
Minoans
- Known for its advanced cities
- 2000-1500 BC
- heavily influenced by the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations
- named after legendary Crete King
- not overcrowded, plumbing, toilets and sewers
- known for women having much higher status than in earlier civilizations
- known for their art and pottery
Tuesday:
Down fall of the Minoans
- around 1500 BC, the Minoan civilization ended abruptly
- historians think it could have been an earthquake which leveled cities and their ships
- the could have been over ran by the Mycenaeans
Plato
- Greek philosopher
- only known source discussing location of Atlantis
Mycenaeans
- Controlled the area around Greece from 1600 BC-1100 BC
- heavily influenced by the Minoans
- much more war like than Minoans (based on art)
- Known for their trade around the Mediterranean sea, Aegean sea
- Known for their piracy on the seas surrounding Greece
- Known for their city sates- Athens, Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns
historians are not sure if city states were independent or more united
Mycenaean did unite to fight the Trojan war against Troy
The Mycenaean fell apart due to wars and the sea peoples sacking their city states
eventually the Dorian came down from the north and took over greece
Dorians 1150-750 BC
- came from the area north of Greece
- less advanced than the Mycenaean
- trade and culture slowed
- Greece went into the dark age
Homer
- was a Greek epic poet from 750-700 BC
- Narrative poems celebrated heroic deeds
- the lliad was about the Trojan war
- the odyssey was a sequel that was after the Trojan war
Trojan war
- fought between Mycenaean Greeks and troys
- 1194-1184 BC- Myth
- war began after the abduction of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince, Paris
- helen's husband, Menelaus, convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae to lead an expedition to get her back
- Agamemnon was joined by the greek heroes Achilles and Odysseus
- they crossed the Aegean sea and laid siege to Troy
- demand helens return
Greek city states- athens/sparta
Polis- city, Minneapolis
Acropolis- a settlement in a city on higher ground used for defense and a place to discuss politics
Types of gov't in city states:
- Monarchy- gov't ruled by one person king, queen (Greece called them czar)
- Aristocracy- gov't ruled by a small group of wealthy, landowning families
- Oligarchy- a gov't ruled by a few powerful people
- Tyrant- powerful individuals who seize control from the gov't
- could be good or bad
- today we see tyranny as a bad thing
- Democracy- rule by the people (Athens was first democratic)
- only allowed citizens participate (only for athens)
- women, slaves, and foreigners were not citizens
- only allowed citizens participate (only for athens)
Education
- only for the sons of wealthy families
- started at age 7 and focused on developing good citizens
- studied reading, grammar, poetry, history, math, music, logic, and public speaking
- Public debate and athletics were also stressed
- once older students went to military school
- girls were educated by their mothers in the home to do cleaning, cooking, child rearing etc
Greek city state/sparta
- Sparta was very powerful and had its own army
- defeated the Messenians in 725 BC and in 650 BC
- Unlike Athens and other city-states, it did not have democracy
- built a military state
- Sparta conquered other city states to gain wealth and power
- Valued duty, strength and discipline over freedom, beauty and learning
Spartans classes
- Only men born in Sparta were citizens
- Women were not allowed to become citizens
- The second class in Sparta were people who came from other city states or other countries
- they could own businesses but not become citizens
- The third class helots/slaves
- worked fields or were servants
Spartan warriors
- learning to read and write in Sparta was not very important
- training to become a good soldiers was stressed
- young boys left home at 7 and trained to be a soldier until they were 30
- athletics was also stressed
Spartan women
- Service to Sparta was stressed
- received some military training
- athletics were stressed
- had quite a bit of freedom in comparison to Athens
- could run family estates when husband was off at war
Thursday: Working on mythology
Friday: Working on mythology
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