Transcript The Geography and Early Cultures of Ancient Greece

Bellringer
• Please complete the thesis and paragraphs
sheet on Hinduism and Buddhism that
you picked up at the front door.
• This is to be done individually!
• You have 8 minutes.
• BJOTD: What do you feed an
invisible cat?
The Geography and Early
Cultures of Ancient Greece
Geography
• Mainland Greece is
very mountainous
– Affected Greece by
splitting it into different
regions which
• Helped city-states gain
individuality
• Hindered their ability to
work together
• Each city-state thought it
was better than others
– Limited amount of
farmland
• Led to the Greeks
colonizing new lands for
farming
• Two Major
Peninsulas
– Balkan and
Peloponnesus
• Varied Waterways
– Dardanelles
• Strait that connects
the Aegean Sea to
the Black Sea
• Strait: thin area of
water connecting
two other waterways
• Seas and Waterways affected Greece
– Causing them to trade primarily by water
• Profitable trade through Mediterranean, Aegean,
and Ionian Seas
• Made Greeks great sailors with a strong navy
– Waterways connected Greeks to Italy, Egypt
• Harbors kept boats safe overnight
• Moderate Temperatures
– 48° F in the Winter and 80° F in
the Summer allowed the Greeks
to have an outdoor life
Processing: Map
• Complete the map using the book and
your groupmates. You have 10 minutes to
do this.
The Early People of Greece
• Minoans
• Mycenaeans ruled
from 2000 BCE1200 BCE
• Location: Greece and
Crete
• Cities included Athens
and were ruled by
kings (monarchy)
– Trojan War weakens
Mycenaens and
causes collapse
Trojan War
• 1200 BCE: Mycenaean Kings fought 10 year
war against Troy (located in Anatolia)
• According to legend, Paris, a Prince of Troy,
stole Helen, the wife of a Mycenaean King ,
away starting the war
• Dorians move in after Mycenaeans
– Less advanced--little writing
• Because the Dorians lost the skill of writing, the Greeks
learned about the Trojan War through oral traditions
– After Dorians, Greeks split into city-states
Greek Religion and Mythology
• Polytheistic
• Mythology had 3 purposes:
– Explaining natural phenomena (Storms, thunder,
lightning, etc)
– Explaining human qualities (speed, knowledge,
strength, sight, etc)
– Explaining life events (births, deaths, marriages,
etc. )
• Greek gods spread to Rome and can still be
seen in everyday life
– Literature, art, monuments, politics, architecture
Mythology in the World Today
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJoJRFVno&safety_mode=true&persist_saf
ety_mode=1&safe=active
Major Greek Gods & Goddesses
• Zeus- King of the Gods, lives on Mt.
Olympus
– God of thunder and the sky
• Hera- wife of Zeus
– Goddess of marriage and birth
• Aphrodite- goddess of love and beauty
Major Greek Gods & Goddesses
• Artemis- goddess of the hunt
• Apollo- god of medicine, sun, poetry,
healing, music
• Athena- goddess of wisdom and war
– Patron god of Athens
Processing
• Why were oral traditions so important to
the early Greeks?
• Do you think oral traditions or written
records are more accurate? Why or why
not?
Early Cities
• Early cities focused on two ideas:
– Promoting civic participation
• Getting people (free adult men) involved in decisions of
city
– Promoting commercial/business life
• Getting people to trade products/ideas
• City-states known as polis
– Polis: city and surrounding countryside
• Ex—Washington DC and its suburbs
– Agora: city center—like business district
– Acropolis: fortified (protected) area of city
• Not all had one
• Some cities put agora in acropolis
• Agora:
– Place for discussion and trade
– Men met for food, clothes, ideas
– Women rarely seen
• Acropolis:
– Used for protection and as a sign of power
– Made it easy to see oncoming attackers
– Place for royalty, women, and children to hide
during war
Athenian Acropolis
• Fortified hilltop for protection
– Walls are the mountain its built on—marble
Processing
• How did Greek mythology help the Greeks
explain their everyday lives and the world
around them?
• What impact did Greek mythology have on
the world after the Greeks were gone?