Chapter 5: Ancient Greece

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Chapter 5 Ancient Greece

• Unit 1 Cultures of the Mountains and the Sea
• World History Core

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Theme

• Cultural Interaction
• The roots of Greek culture are based on
  interaction of Mycenaean, Minoan, and Dorian
  cultures

Minoans Mycenaean Dorian
Used ships to trade goods Had a writing system (Phoenicians) Came from Indo-European migrates Borrowed from Minoan culture Spoke a kind of Greek Not as advanced No writing system
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Why is it important now?

• The seeds of much of western cultural heritage
  were planted during this time period.

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TERMS

• Mycenaean
• Trojan War
• Dorian
• Homer
• Epic
• Myth

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Setting the Stage

• Greece was a collection of separate areas
• Didnt unite because of geographical conditions
• 3000 BC Minoans developed on Crete
• Mainland Greece people from Black Sea and
  Anatolia migrated and settled that area

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Geography Shapes Greek Life

• Mountainous peninsula in Mediterranean Sea
• 2000 islands in Aegean and Ionian Sea
• Land on eastern edge of Aegean were part of Greece

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Geography Shapes Greek Life

• The Sea
• Provided important trade routes
• IMPORTANT Greeks lacked natural resources such
  as timber, metal, crops/agriculture

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Geography Shapes Greek Life

• The Land
• Mountains cover ¾ of Greece
• Run from SW to SE along Balkan Peninsula
• Divided land (HUGE IMPACT ON POLITICAL LIFE)
• Never united under one governmentbut people were
  extremely loyal to their cities
• Land difficult to travel
• ¼ of Greece is fertile valleys (broken up)
• Lack fresh water for irrigation

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Geography Shapes Greek Life

• The Climate
• Varied climate
• 48 in winter/80 in summer
• Outdoor way of life
• Leisure time spent outside
• Athletics, markets, festivals, worship, etc.

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Mycenaean Civilization Develops

• Migrated from SW Asia
• Settled in Mycenae
• Southern Greece
• Steep, rocky, ridge
• 20ft. protective wall
• Strong Warrior-King

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Mycenaean Civilization Develops

• Contact with Minoans
• Trade or war?
• Saw value of seaborne trade
• Sailed through Mediterranean Sea stopping at
  Anatolia, Syria, Crete, Egypt, and Italy
• Adopted writing system and decorated vases
• Also religion, art, politics, and literature

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Mycenaean Civilization Develops

• The Trojan War
• 1200 BC Mycenaeans fought a 12 year war with
  Troy (an independent trading city in Anatolia)
• Back story
• Trojan Prince Paris runs off with Spartan King
  Menelaus wife Helen
• Menelaus gets help from brother Mycenaean King
  Agamemnon to fight the Trojans
• Calls on Achilles, the great warrior, to aid in
  this venture
• The Greeks finally enter the city by leaving a
  giant wooden horse as a gift to the city and
  burns it to the ground

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Mycenaean Civilization Develops

• The Trojan War continued
• Fact of Fiction?
• 1870s excavations by German archaeologist
  Heinrich Schliemann found evidence of real city
  and events
• Homer.
• Blind man
• Greatest story teller between 750-700BC
• Through Homers stories people learned about
  early Greek history
• The Iliad Trojan War
• The Odyssey Journey home of Odysseus after
  Trojan War

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The Greek Culture Declines

• 1200 BC Mycenaean civilization collapses
• New group developed called Dorians
• No as developed
• Greece lost language and art
• Greeks Create Myths
• Stories about Gods and Goddesses
• Used to understand the mysteries of nature and
  human passion