Notes on the Greeks

Geography of Greece

• Adriatic
• 20% suitable for farming
• Fertile valleys cover 1/4 of peninsula
• Lack of resources led to colonization

Mycenaean's

• Began around 2000 BC
• Located:
• On a rocky ridge
• Protected by a 20 ft thick wall
• Kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BC
• Controlled trade in the region
• 1400 BC Mycenaean's invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language
• When they invaded:
• Did not take them out
• They were all in it together
• Let them do what they wanted
• Learned from each other

Culture in decline

• Around 1200 BC sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
• The Dorians moved into the war-torn region
• Far less advanced
• Economy collapsed

Homer and myths

• Stories were passed on by word of mouth
• He was a poet
• Was blind
• Wrote 2 epic poems
• The Lliad
• The Odyssey
• 750-700 BC

The Lliad:

• Was about the Trojan war
• Mythical methods

• Homer lived end of "Greek Dark Ages"
• Trojan was probably one of last conquest

The Odyssey

• About a man (Odysseus)
• Won a war and wanted to get home to his wife and son
• He angered the gods
• Goes through difficult adventures
• 12,110 lines in dactylic hexameter

Vocab

• Arete- virtue and excellence
• Epics- narrative poems, celebrating heroic deeds
• Myths- were created to explain creation
• Zeus: leader of the gods
• Hera: Zeus' wife
• Athena: goddess of wisdom