Greece Notes #2

Book notes:
The Aegean, the Ionian, and the Black seas are important routes for Greeks'.
Greece lacked natural resources (timber, precious metals, usable farmland.
Mountain chains ran from the Northwest to the Southeast along Balkan Peninsula.

• 3/4 mountainous, 1/4 arable land.
• Sea, land, and climate were important environmental influences on Greek civilization.
• Normal temperatures were 48 Fahrenheit during the Winter and 80 Fahrenheit during the Summer.
• Supporting an outdoor life attending public events, discussing public issues, exchanging news, and taking an active part in civic life.
• Mycenaean (leading the city Mycenae) kings controlled Greece from 1,660 - 1,100 BC in addition to Tiryns and Athens.
• Mycenaeans discovered seaborne trade after invading Minoans.
• Mycenaeans adapted their writing system to the Greek language and decorated vases with Minoan designs.
• Trojan war.
• 10-year war between Troy (industrial trading city in Anatolia) and Mycenae.
• Why? Trojan prince kidnapped Helen (the beautiful wife of the Greek king).
• True? Excavations during the 1,870's at Northwestern Turkey by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann suggest so.
• Around 1,200 BC, sea raiders attacked and burned Mycenaean cities.
• Dorians then moved into the war-torn countryside.
• Not very advanced.
• After their arrival, Mycenaean economy collapsed and their trade came to a standstill.
• There was a loss of writing during the 400 years that they controlled Mycenae (between 1,150 and 750 BC).
• Rise in spoken word and Homer (a blind man, and great storyteller).
• Composed epic stories between 750 and 700 BC.
• Trojan wars formed backup for the epic poem the Iliad.
• Heroes in the Iliad were warriors Achilles from Greece and Hector of Troy.
• Greeks created myths--traditional stories about their gods.
• They were made to explain mysteries about nature and power of human passions.
• e.g. the changing of the seasons.
• Gods quarreled and competed against each other constantly; they also live forever.
• Zeus is the ruler of all gods who lives on Mount Olympus with his wife Hera.
• Hera is often jealous of Zeus' relationships with other women.
• Athena--goddess of wisdom--is Zeus and Hera's daughter.
• The Greeks thought that she was the guardian of cities and dubbed Athens in her honor.

In class notes:

(Ancient) Greece is the word:

an introduction to a great civilization.

Early civilizations and corresponding rivers:

• Egypt - Nile
• Mesopotamia - Tigris and Euphrates
• India - Indus
• China - Huang He

Culture of the Mountains and the Sea:

a geographical look at Greece

• Significance of Greece's location: near the Mediterranean sea; the first great, early civilization that had not developed near a river.
• Topography: mountainous and surrounded by 3 seas (Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean seas), making it a peninsula--country which land borders about 75% with a mass of water.
• Crete is to the South/Southeast of Greece.
• For the test, we should be able to identify the following on a map:

• The Aegean sea,
• The Ionian sea, and 
• The Adriatic sea.
• Peloponnesus,
• Athens,
• Crete,
• Asia Minor,
• Sparta, and
• Macedonia.
• Greece 
• Was a mountainous peninsula (around 3/4 of Greece is covered in mountains).
• Had a compilation of around 2,000 islands spread among the Ionian and Aegean seas.
• That led to the appearance of skilled sailors and shipbuilders that encompassed Greece's culture.
• Also farmers, metal workers, weavers, and potters, etcetera.
• Had poor and limited resources, so they needed to trade with other nations.
• Developed small, independent communities called city-states.
• Instead of being loyal to a government, Greeks were loyal to places, city-states.