Ancient Greeks The Rise of City States

· The Greeks were influenced by an early civilization - the Minoans. · Minoan civilization was highly advanced. · They had a writing system and built huge stone palaces with running water. · Around 1450BC Minoan palaces and towns were mysteriously destroyed. Most historians believe that mainland Greeks were responsible.

Early Greek History

· By the time Homer's epics were composed each Greek community had begun to organize itself into a polis, or city state. · The city-state became one of the most important features of Greek culture. · A polis was more than just a city, it was a community with its own government. · Each Greek city-state usually had a marketplace and a government center. Here citizens would meet to make laws and discuss issues affecting the entire community.

Emergence of City States

· In ancient times there was no country called Greece, only communities of Greek speaking people scattered across the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. · Peninsula - A land area almost surrounded by water. · Modern Greece occupies a large peninsula that juts into the Mediterranean Sea. · Greece is divided by mountains. The mountains were good for grazing sheep and goats but too steep and rocky for farming. · The only fertile land was in the lowland valleys and plains. Here people settled in farming communities. · The mountains isolated these farming communities so they were very independent. Greek cities were often at war with one another.

Geography of the Greek World

· Greece had mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Olive oil and wine became important trade goods and brought in wealth

Mediterranean Climate

· The Minoans influenced a civilization that developed among Greek speakers. · It was known as Mycenaeans. · Early Mycenaean towns was governed by monarchy. · The rulers lived in stone fortresses on hilltops overlooking their towns. · They made fine bronze weapons and pottery. · They traded these goods for copper, ivory, and luxury goods from other lands. · Sometimes they raided other people for gold and other goods.· Eventually they grew weak and around 1100BC this civilization was destroyed by newcomers from the north known as Dorians. · With the fall of the Mycenaeans, Greek culture declined. · People lost the ability to read and write. · The following period (1100 to 750BC) has been called the dark age. · The Greeks never forgot the "heroic age" of the Mycenaeans. · They told and sang songs of the world that existed before the dark age. One of these stories was about the Trojan War.

Mycenaeans

· The sea brought contact with the wider world. · The Greeks became skillful sailors and merchants. · Greek fishing and trading ships crisscrossed the waters around them leading contact with older, more complex cultures of North Africa and Asia.

Surrounded by the Sea

· A typical polis was usually built on two levels. On the high stood the acropolis (high city). · Public building and marble temples were located in this area. · The acropolis served as a fortress in times of danger. · On the lower ground lay people's homes, shops, and farms. · The word polis gave rise to the term politics, the art and practice of government. · In early times the polis was governed by an aristocracy, a hereditary class of rulers. Aristocracy meant, "rule by the best people".

The High City

· In the legend of the Trojan War, warriors from Mycenaean kingdoms sailed across the Aegean to attack Troy, a city in Asia Minor. The ten-year long conflict ended when the Greeks tricked the Trojans into accepting a "gift" of a large wooden horse. Greeks hiding in the horse crept out and opened the city gates. The Greek army entered and burned Troy to the ground. · For centuries, the stories of the Trojan War were recited or sung, as the Greeks could no longer read or write. Then, in 700sBC, the Greeks developed an alphabet based in the Phocenian alphabet.· According to tradition a poet named Homer shaped the stories of the Trojan War into a long epic poem, the lilad. The lilad tells of the events during the war but stops before the Greek's eventual victory. · Homer's Odyssey is another epic poem, which describes the adventures of the hero Odysseus on his journey home after war. · The lilad and the Odyssey shaped Greek culture. Students learned the verses by heart. The values expressed in these poems became part of Greek identity. · The ancient Greeks tried to live up to the ideals of bravery, strength, and honor.

Trojan War