Peloponnesa
- mountainous peninsula
- mountains cover 3/4 of Greece
- approximately 1,400 island in the Aegean and Ionian Seas
- Location shaped its culture
- skilled sailors
- poor natural resources
- difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain; developed small, independent communities.
Geography
- 20% suitable for farming
- fertile valleys cover 1/4 peninsula
- consits of grains, grapes, olives
- lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization
- Temperatures range from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer
- colonized near the ocean
Mycenaeans
- Began around 2000 B.C.
- Mycenae is located on a rock ridge and protected by a 20 ft. thick wall
- Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 B.C.
- controlled trade in region
- 1400 B.C. Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language.
Culture in Decline
- around 1200 b.c. sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
- the dorians moved into the war-torn region
- far less advanced
- economy collapsed
- write disappeared for 400 years
Homer and Myths
- only stories were kept and passed on by word of mouth
- Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages"
- recorded stories of the Trojan War in The lliad and The Odyssey (written 750-100 B.C.)
- Trojan war was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans
Greek Concepts
- Arete- virtue and excellence
- Epics- narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
- Myths were created to explain creation
- Zeus: leader of the gods
- Hera: Zeus' wife
- Athena: goddess of wisdom
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