• Greece is very mountainous
- Separated the different city-states from one another
• Had many peninsulas
- 2 main ones – Peloponnesus
Balkan
- Had many different waterways
seas
straits
islands

¾
– Left little land for regular farming
– Forced to grow/harvest other products
• Olives, grapes, seafood, etc.
– Mountains force Greeks to use seas
• Increased their sailing abilities
• Increased their necessity to trade by sea
» Travel to areas like Italy, Egypt , Phoenicia

– Effected Greece economically
• Limited farmable (arable) land for crops
• Forces them to depend on the seas
- Effected Greece politically
• Each area created its own
– Also forces them to colonize other rules, government, and lands to farm citizenship
– Effected Greece socially
• Government styles of the
– All were Greek, but they were not time include: unified – Monarchy, Tyranny,
– Saw themselves as separate people Democracy , Oligarchy
» Spartans, Athenians, Ionians,
Mycenaeans
– Mountains separated each of the different groups

• Indo-Europeans spread into Greece
– Mycenaean settled around 2000 B.C.
• Name came from the city – Mycenae
– Mycenae included the city of Athens
• Ruled by kings which is known as a monarchy
• Mycenaean fought Troy in the Trojan War
– Went to war because Paris took Helen from the
Mycenaean king

• Mycenaeans win when they trick Troy by using the Trojan horse
• Dorians move into the area after
Mycenaeans
– Far less advanced than earlier groups
– Following the Dorians, Greeks broke into city-states

• Early Greece cities forced on two ideas
– Promoting civic participation
• Getting people involved in the decisions of the city
– Promoting a commercial
(business) life
• Getting people to trade products and ideas

• Greek city-states known as the polis
– Polis – was a city and its surrounding countryside
• Example – Washington DC and its suburbs
– Agora – city center – like a business district
– Acropolis – fortified
(protected) area of the city
• Not all cities had these
• Some cities built their agora in their acropolis

• The Agora
– Used for discussion and trade
– Men would meet for food, clothes, and ideas
– Women were rarely seen in the agora
• The Acropolis
– Used for protection and a sign of power
– Made it easy to see oncoming attackers
– Provided a place for royalty, women, and children to hide during time of war.

• A fortified hilltop for protection
– Walls are actually the mountain its located on (marble)