Ancient Greece

Geography

Aegean Sea Heart of Ancient Greece Few people lived more

than 70 km from it’s shore

Civilization depended on the sea

More than 2000 islands- some rocky and some extremely fertile

Earliest civilization began on a fertile island named Crete

Greece has nearly 3200 km of coastline.

Deep fjords provided excellent harbors.

Greeks sailed from island to island sharing ideas and products.

Landscape

Landscape is marked by mountains. Only 1/5 of the land was fertile- so it

was highly valued. Mountains acted as partitions

between communities. Ancient Greece became a collection

of separate, independent city-states- often at war with each other.

Ancient Greece-Historical Overview: Ancient Greece can be divided into

4 periods:

EARLY PERIOD (2000- 800 BCE) EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD (800- 480

BCE) CLASSICAL GREECE (480-338 BCE) HELLENISTIC AGE (338-27 BCE)

THE EARLY PERIOD – EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD The Minoan Period The Mycenaean Period The Dark Ages The Persian Wars

The Minoan Period

The earliest civilization associated with Greece.

Located on the island of Crete

Named after legendary ruler- King Minos. (Mythical)

The Mycenaean Period

Lived on the mainland in small simple farming villages.

Wealthy and powerful civilization. Gained wealth through trade and

piracy. Factors that led to the decline of the

Mycenaean civilization: Civil wars, invasion, drought and famine.

The Dark Ages Greeks developed small, secure,

independent communities. These became known as city-states or ”polis” (community of people).

These rarely exceeded 20,000 people except for the two largest:

Athens Sparta

In order to find additional food, the Greeks set up “apoikai ” (away homes or colonies).

CLASSICAL GREECE

This is considered the greatest age in Ancient Greek History.

Phenomenal rush of achievements- most of which stemmed from Athens. A lot of these achievements came from contact with Egypt and Persia.

Blossomed in Art and Science.

THE TWO GREAT CITY STATES OF GREECEATHENS:

- Commercial city and cultural center- Had the most democratic government of

all the city states.- Controlled the Delian League (150 city

states banned together to protect against further attacks from the Persians).

SPARTA:

- First city-state to keep a standing army of professional soldiers

- Highly militaristic- Ruled by a small group of

aristocrats.

THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Son of King Phillip II, of Macedonia. In 338 BCE, Macedonia takes over

the Greek city states. When Phillip II is killed, Alexander

becomes king of Macedonia at the age of 20.

What did he do?

To consolidate his power, he had possible rivals killed and led campaigns into Greece to demonstrate his power.

He set out to fulfill his fathers dream of expanding the empire.

He spent 11 years at war- by the end of which he had stretched the empire from Greece to India.

He died at the age of 33 of Malaria.

What was his significance? “Hellenistic” civilization was a blend

of Eastern and Western influences---because his army consisted of both Persians and Greeks, they learned from each other.

The large empire spread the culture and ideas of Greece.

Film: Alexander the Great (25 min)