Geography• The Land

– Mountainous, rugged terrain with few natural resources

– NOT ARABLE– Made it difficult to unite

under one government• The Sea

– Connected the Greeks– You could say, the Greeks

did not live on a land, but around a sea

• Powerful traders from the island of Crete on the Aegean Sea.

• Ruled by King Minos who was said to keep a minotaur in a labyrinth.

• Characterized by athletics and colorful paintings found at Knossos (capital city).

• Created much of what would become Greek mythology.

Minoans

Mycenaeans 1600-1200 B.C.• Indo-Europeans who

migrated and settled on the Greek mainland.

• Named after their leading city Mycenae.

• Ruled by warrior-kings who lived in fortified cities on a hill and who got their wealth by controlling local production and commercial trade.

• Conquered the Minoans but took on much of their culture including their religious practices.

Lion’s Gate: entrance to the city of Mycenae

Death Mask of Mycenaean warrior-king

• Believed to be a myth until 1870 when Heinrich Schliemann discovered the remains of the city.

• 10 year battle between Mycenae and Troy.

• Troy: independent trading city located in Anatolia (present day Turkey)

• Allegedly fought over Helen, a beautiful queen of Greece who was kidnapped by a Trojan (Troy) youth.

• Another theory suggests it was fought over control of a crucial waterway in the Aegean Sea.

Trojan War

Trojan War

The Mycenaeans destroyed the city of Troy.

Greek Dark Ages 1200-750 B.C.• Mycenaean civilization collapses

around 1200 B.C. after sea raiders attack and burn down cities

• Less advanced Dorians move in– No written language or record– Collapse of trade and

centralized economy

• Homer was a blind storyteller who composed the epics The Iliad and The Odyssey

• Epic: long narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds

• These poems take place under the backdrop of the Trojan war

• What do the Greeks value?– Read excerpt from The Iliad

on p. 114

Epics of Homer

•From the Iliad (about the Trojan War) by Homer (movie version).

•Achilles – Greeks’ greatest warrior, part god part human, said to be semi-immortal (heel).

•Agamemnon – leader of Greek forces in the war against Troy. Is jealous of Achilles and the two do not get along.