Ancient Greece

Today in Western Civilization, we took notes on Ancient Greece. Here are the notes I took.

Ancient Greece is the Word

-The Worlds greatest civilization are all located on a river

-Great Civilization/Key River

Mesopotamia – Tigris/ Euphrates River

         Egypt – The Nile

         India – Indus River

         China – Huang He River

-Ionian Sea

-Terra – means “earth”

-Medi – means “medium”

         Mediterranean – Middle of the Earth

-Crete is the largest island in Greece

Greece’s Geography

·      Greece is a mountainous area

·      Mountains cover ¾ of Greece

·      -The combination of the Peninsula and the mountainous area shaped Greece’s culture

·      They had many sailors and shipmakers (They lived on the sea)

·      They had poor/limited natural resources, so they had to trade

·      It was difficult to unite Ancient Greeks because of the terrain, they had

·      Although fertile valleys cover one quarter of the peninsula, only 30% is suitable for farming

·      Greek diet: Grains, grapes, olives

·      Lack of resources led to Greek Civilizations

·      Arable – good for farming

·      Back then, temperature usually raged from the mid 40s in the winter to low 80s in the summer, although it could get hot in the summer, it was pretty nice year-round

Some early peoples, first Mycenaeans

·      Their influence began around 2,000 BCE

·      Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and was protected by a 20ft wall

·      Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BCE

o  Controlled trade in the region

·      1400 BCE – Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language

Then, “sea people” and Dorians

·      around 1200 BCE, the mysterious “sea people” began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace

·      So, the Dorians moved into this war-torn region

·      Dorians were far less advanced

·      The trade based economy collapsed

·      Writing disappeared for 400 years

·      Talk about a culture in decline… except…