ANCIENT GREECE Chapter 4.1

Discuss with your table

groups what you observe in

this geographical map of

Greece

How might geography have

affected ancient Greek

development?

MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION

Mycenaeans: Indo-Europeans who settled on Greek mainland and flourished from 1600 BCE – 1100 BCE

• Named after their main city Mycenae

• Made up of loosely-allied monarchies

• Prided themselves as heroic warriors

Trojan War: fought by Mycenaeans against the city of Troy in 1200 BCE

GREEK IN THE DARK AGE

Dark Age (Greece): Period of ~400 years after the Mycenaeans collapsed where few records of what happened exist

• Population declined; food production dropped

• Use of iron helped reverse decline in food production

• Greeks adopt Phoenician alphabet

HOMER

• Oral tradition grows, especially epics

oEpic: long poem that tells the deeds of a great hero

• Homer: Blind creator of the Iliad and the Odyssey

• Homer’s epics viewed as history, not fiction to the ancient Greeks

• Homer’s epics taught values of courage and honor called Arete

oArete: excellence of any kind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td1uPq9K--E