Ancient Greece had a geography defined by seas, mountains, and islands that led to isolation of city-states like Athens and Sparta. Early civilizations like the Minoans and Mycenaeans emerged, with the Minoans building grand palaces on Crete and advancing bronze working. This era was followed by Classical Greece and the Hellenistic Age, which saw the flourishing of Greek arts, literature, and philosophy before the spread of Greek culture through Alexander the Great's empire.

1. Ancient Greece
Geography and Beginnings

2. Describe tthhee cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss ooff
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3. GGeeooggrraapphhiicc FFeeaattuurreess
1. Sea: Aegean, Ionian – trade, cultural exchange
2. Mountains more than ¾ of Greece’s surface area –
isolating effect, prevents communication
3. Islands: more than 2000 islands - Crete largest –
led to isolation and trade
4. Climate: mild wet winters, hot dry summers =
long growing season
5. The POLIS emerges – independent city states,
Athens and Sparta most powerful

4. RESOURCES
• grain
• fine cheese
made of goat’s
milk
• timber
• wild game
• wool of sheep =
cloth
MOST
IMPORTANT
CROPS
• olives = oil
• grapes = wine
• grain
• clay = pottery

5. 33 MMaajjoorr PPeerriiooddss ooff AAnncciieenntt
GGrreeeekk CCiivviilliizzaattiioonn
1. Early Civilizations (7000 – 800 BCE)
Minoans (Crete) and Mycenae (mi se ne)
2. Classical Greece (800 – 338 BCE)
Flourishing of arts, literature, philosophy;
domination by Sparta and Athens
3. Hellenistic Age (338 – 31 BCE)
Macedonian Empire and Alexander the Great
Greek culture spreads far and wide

6. EEaarrllyy GGrreeeekkss::
TThhee MMiinnooaannss
cc.. 33220000 --11110000 BBCCEE
• Island of Crete
• Developed Linear A script
• Palace of Knossos
• Artistic expressions and
grand construction
• Advancements in bronze

7. Palace of Minos at Knossos (K-NOSS-oss)
•Knossos-most powerful monarch for Minoans
•Palaces controlled all agricultural goods and products by storing in large storerooms
•Palaces became the centres of exchange for Minoan economy
•Palaces had dozens of interconnecting rectangular rooms on two or more storeys
which were grouped around a large open courtyard (administrative and religious)

8. Frescoes of bull leaping – Myth of the Minotaur?

9. TTHHEEOORRIIEESS FFOORR DDEECCLLIINNEE OOFF
MMIINNOOAANNSS
• 1750 BCE- earthquake destroys Minoan
palaces
• 1628 BCE- volcano erupts at Thera
• 1400 BCE- War between Minoans and
Myceaneans led to decline of power

10. EEnntteerr tthhee
MMyycceennaaeeaannss
cc.. 11770000 –– 660000
BBCCEE
• Mycenaeans took control of Crete at Knossos by 1500 BCE
• Controlled mainland Greece = political centre Mycenae
• More interested in war
– pottery and grave sites reflect hunting, weapons, armour and war
– fortified palace walls
• Developed Linear B
• Slowly Minoan culture and traditions disappeared

11. TTrroojjaann WWaarr • Approximately
1194-1184 BCE
• The Mycaenean
king, Agamemnon
united city states
to conquer Troy
• The Illiad and the
Odyssey tell parts
of the story

12. TTHHEEOORRIIEESS FFOORR DDEECCLLIINNEE OOFF
MMYYCCEEAANNEEAANNSS
• Shift in climate leading to drought forcing
Myceanans to migrate to more fertile
lands
• Tribe of nomadic warriors from north of
Greece (Dorians) destroyed them

13. Dark Ages – 1100-750 BCE
• No written records exist for 350 years
• Minstrels would retell heroic tales of Jason
Achilles, Hector, and Herakles
• Eventually evolved into the poems of
Homer which mark the end of the Dark
Ages of Greece

14. Archaic PPeerriioodd -- 775500 –– 550000 BBCCEE
• National literature
Homer
• Resurgence of trade
• Olympic Games -776
BCE
• Large stone sculptures
of human figures
Discobolus competition
British Museum
• Greek script produced
Girl
competing in
the Heraia
foot race at
Olympia

15. Homer
• THE Greek poet
• In writings, the Greeks would often refer to him simply as ‘the
poet.’ Everybody knew Homer.
• Wrote the Iliad about the Trojan war and the Odyssey about
Odysseus's journey home
• Good stuff and it informs about Greek character
• And the Odyssey has cyclops, sirens, monsters, witches,
revenge. How can you go wrong with that?
• Debate whether he actually existed.
• There are linguistic and style differences between the two
epics
• At any rate, it’s the writing down of oral tales

16. • Professional storytellers would tells the tales and
poems.
• They’d have the entire thing memorized. They
were the entertainers of the day.
• Great opening passages