The Early Greeks Geography of Greece is a

The Early Greeks

Geography of Greece is a peninsula n Land with water on the three sides Greece’s seas and mountains divided the land Isolated Greek communities

The First Greek Kingdoms The Mycenaeans learned from the Minoans (very old Greek civilization) n They learned bronze-making, shipbuilding, navigation, and religion

What Was the Dark Age? Period of time between 1100 BC and 750 BC Farmers grew enough food for their families alone n No surplus of food

What Was the Dark Age? Poverty set in Teachers stopped teaching Greeks forgot their written language As a result, many people moved away from Greece

The Recovery During this time, the Dorians invaded Greece n Brought more advanced technology Over time, Greece began to recover

A Move to Colonize Greece’s recovery from its Dark Age led to 3 important developments n n n Colonization Coins Specialization

Colonization A colony is a settlement in a new area Between 750 and 550 BC, Greek colonies spread throughout Europe and Africa and Asia

Coins As trade grew, Greeks began to make coins n Now people traded for money Greatly boosted trade

Specialization People began specializing in making certain products as they became highly demanded

The Polis By now, there were no more Greek kingdoms n Only city-states Each city state, or polis, was made of a town and nearby area

The Acropolis Each polis had an acropolis, or main gathering place

The Agora Each polis had an agora n Open area below the acropolis; usually had a market and meeting place

What was Greek Citizenship? The Greeks were the first develop the idea of citizenship Only free native-born men who owned land could be citizens n Slaves and foreigners were excluded

What was Greek Citizenship? Citizens could choose officials, pass laws, hold office, own property, and defend themselves in court.

Citizens as Soldiers Each citizen had to serve in government Also had to fight for their polis as soldiers

Citizens as Soldiers Each polis depended on an army of citizens known as hoplites. n They took pride in fighting for their own citystates But caused division among Greeks as a whole