Aim: How did Geography effect the development of ancient Greece?

Do Now: Complete Question

Why was sea trade important to the Greeks?
What is an Epic poem?
Who was Homer?
Where the Ancient Greeks Mono or polytheistic?
How does a civilization keep its history alive?

Greece
• Collection of separate lands where Greek-speaking people live
• Includes mainland and about 2,000 islands

The Sea
• The sea shapes Greek civilization
• Proximity to sea, lack of resources encourage sea travel and trade

The Land
• Mountains slow travel, divide land into regions
• Lack of fertile land leads to small populations, need for colonies

The Climate
• Moderate climate promotes outdoor life
• Greek men, especially, spend much of their time outside



Origins
• Mycenaeans—Indo-Europeans who settled on Greek mainland in 2000 B.C.
• Took their name from their leading city, Mycenae
• Mycenaean warrior-kings dominate Greece from 1600–1100 B.C.
Contact with Minoans
• After 1500 B.C., Mycenaeans adopt Minoan sea trade and culture

The Trojan War
• Trojan War—fought by Mycenaeans against city of Troy in 1200s B.C.
• Once thought to be fictional, archaeological evidence has been found


Dorians Replace Mycenaeans
• Mycenaean civilization collapses around 1200 B.C.
• Dorians—possibly relatives of Bronze Age Greeks—move into Greece
• Less advanced than Mycenaeans, Dorians leave no written records

Epics of Homer
• Oral tradition grows, especially epics of Homer—a blind storyteller
• Epic—a narrative poem about heroic deeds
• Homer’s epic the Iliad, about Trojan War, shows Greek heroic ideal

Greeks Create Myths
• Greeks develop their own myths—traditional stories about gods
• Greeks seek to understand mysteries of life through myths
• Greeks attribute human qualities—love, hate, jealousy—to their gods
• Zeus, ruler of Gods, lives on Mount Olympus with his wife, Hera
• Zeus’s daughter Athena is goddess of wisdom and guardian of cities