The Ancient Greeks Section 1 The Early Greeks

The Ancient Greeks Section 1 - The Early Greeks Section 2 - Sparta and Athens Section 3 - Persia Attacks the Greeks Section 4 - The Age of Pericles

The Early Greeks The geography of Greece influenced where people settled and what they did.

The Geography of Greece • Greece is surrounded by the Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea. • Hundreds of islands lie offshore, stretching across to Asia like stepping-stones.

Pictures of Greece

Geography of Greece • Mainland Greece is a peninsula- body of land with water on three sides. • Ancient Greeks made a living from the sea. • They became fishers, sailors, and traders. • Greece’s rocky, mountainous soil were not ideal for growing crops. • They were however able to grow wheat, barley, olives and grapes in some places. • They also herded sheep and goats.

Geography of Greece Olive trees Grape vines Sheep and goats were important to the Greeks

Geography of Greece • Ancient Greeks felt deep ties to the land, but the mountains and seas divided them from one another. • Thus, early Greeks were fiercely independent.

The Minoans • Earned their living by building ships and trading. • Ruins of this civilization, the first to arise in Greece, is found on the island of Crete. • Artifacts at the palace of Knossos reveal the riches of the Minoan people- wine, oil, jewelry, and statues. • Minoan people traded with other countries using ships.

The First Greek Kingdoms • Historians aren’t exactly sure how the Minoans collapsed, but some thing it was destroyed by mainland inhabitants called the Mycenaean's. • The first Greek Kings were Mycenaean leaders, whose people invaded the Greek mainland around 1900 B. C. • Mycenaean's began trading with the Minoans and learned much about their culture. • They learned how to use bronze and how to build ships as well as how the Minoans used the sun and stars to find their way at sea. • Before collapsing around 1100 B. C. , the Mycenaean civilization was the most powerful on the Mediterranean. • Earthquakes and fighting among the kingdoms led to this collapse.

The First Greek Kingdoms • The Dark Age occurred b/t 1100 B. C. and 150 B. C. and was a time of less trade and poverty among people. • Farmers grew only enough food for their families. • People stopped teaching and had forgotten their written language and how to make many things.

The Dark Age • Not all was bad about this time period: One positive development was the shift of population. • Many Greeks left the mainland settled on islands in the Aegean Sea. • Other Greeks moved to the western shores of Asia Minor, what is now called Turkey. • This wave of movement expanded the reach of Greek culture.

The Dark Age • Meanwhile, a Greek-speaking people known as the Dorians, who lived in northern mountains of Greece, moved southward. • Many settled in the Peloponnesus (mainland part of Greece). • Dorians brought their iron weapons with them, giving mainland Greece a more advanced technology. • Iron weapons and farm tools were stronger and cheaper than those of bronze.

The Dark Age • People began gradually to farm and trade again. • One of the trading partners were the Phoenicians. • They picked up the alphabet from them. • The Greek alphabet had 24 symbols that stood for sounds.

A move to colonize • Colonies and Trade spread Greek culture and spurred industry. • After the Dark Age, Greek people began to set up colonies in other countries. • A colony is a settlement in a new territory that keeps close ties to its homeland. • Trade b/t colonists and the parent cities grew, and soon merchants were trading goods for money instead of more goods.

A Move to Colonize • Around 600 B. C. the Greeks began minting coins. • Merchants were soon using coins to trade for products.

The Polis • City-state, was like an independent country. • Varied in size and population • Acropolis, located at the top of a hill, was the main gathering place of the city-state • Agora, or open area, served as a market and as a place for people to meet and debate issues.