Key Terms – Ancient Greece

Crete Minoans Knossos Frescoes Mycenae Dorians Peloponnesus The Dark Age

Homer Iliad and Odyssey Polis Direct Democracy Tyrants Phoenicians Polytheism

Geography of Greece

- Greece is located in Eastern Europe, near the Asia Minor.

- The irregular coastline of Greece allowed for natural harbors that were suitable for docks.

- The mountainous terrain served as natural boundaries that helped create the city-state structure.

Crete The first Greek

civilizations began in Crete.

Crete → island just southeast of mainland Greece

The capital city of Crete was called Knossos.

The people credited with originating Greek civilization were known as Minoans

Minoan Civilization

The Minoans were an advanced civilization known for their ornate palaces and beautiful artistic works.

A strong example of Minoan creativity would be the frescoes that adorned their palaces.

Frescoes → murals done with watercolor on wet plaster.

The frescoes serve as a means by which we can learn about different historical events and figures from Ancient Greece

Mycenaeans

Mycenae → polis located on Peloponnesus that sought to expand via conquest.

The Mycenaeans sought to conquer the Minoan civilization and take over the trade routes they controlled.

Blending of Cultures

The Minoans and Mycenaeans would blend after the initial conquest.

The blending led to a lack of cultural identity which was only exacerbated (increased) by the Dorians moving into Peloponnesus, Ionians moving into Attica and areas near the Aegean.

Dorians → warlike culture that slowly took over Peloponnesus.

A common language would emerge as all of these groups intermingled with each other, which would be known as Greek.

The Grecian Dark Age As Mycenean nobles

moved away or disappeared, so did the language and craftwork they had knowledge about.

Considering the low literacy rate of the remaining groups, a dark age ensued.

Dark Age → period of time where no history is kept

Age of Homer

Since no history was being recorded, most history was orally transmitted.

Homer, a blind bard, would go from town to town singing his tales from the Mycenean Age.

These tales would later become the Iliad and the Odyssey.

The Rise of the Poli

As the populations began to grow around 700 B.C., cities began to emerge.

These cities were known as poli.

Each poli would have its own patron god, government system, and economic ideal.

Government Diversity

Different poli held different types of government. Aristocracies were created in poli that were dominated by

wealthy citizens or had a strong nobility. Oligarchies grew in poli that had larger amounts of people

that could be classified as elite (landowners, wealthy) This diversity occurred for two reasons:

Small populations made everyone important to the economy which entitled them to a say in government

Frequent war forced poli to enlist all free male citizens who would be entitled to a say in government.

Direct Democracy

Direct Democracy → government system in which the people had a say in all government affairs.

This form of democracy is considered a pure democracy since everyone could have a say. This would emerge with the reign of Cliesthenes in Athens

Tyrants Tyrants → rulers who

took power by force. Tyrants were able to

acquire power when there was common discontent with the current leadership.

These tyrants strengthened their power and maintained their position through colonization.

Phoenicians

- Phonecians → colonizing group that was adept at seafaring and colonized many areas to establish trading ports.

- The Phoenicians were responsible for:

- The Grecian alphabet

- The Greek navy

Greek Religion- Greek religion was polytheistic.

- Polytheism → belief in many gods.

- The Greeks believed that the gods represented different aspects of their lives ranging from the sun to wine.

- They believed that if they did not honor the gods, the gods would punish them severely.

- They also believed the gods were petty and had human emotions making them very volatile.