Early Greece
Travel
Royal Road: 1500 miles, 9 days
Sparta to Olympia: 60 miles, 7
days
Geography
Peninsula
Mountains
Islands
Small
Rivers
Mountains, Islands and Rivers
Geography
Little land for growing crops
 Lots of sun and little rain
 Natural harbors along the coast
 Answer the following questions on your guided
notes:
1. What were the benefits of having mountains?
2. What were the downsides of having mountains?

The Minoans
Who were they?
 People
living on
the island of Crete
 Ruler: King Minos
 Not considered
Greeks
Minoan Civilization



Controlled trade in Mediterranean Sea
Traded with:
 Mainland Greece
 Egypt
 Asia Minor
Culture:
 Women were of high class
 Boxing & dancing
Minoan Collapse

Collapse is debated

Theory #1: destroyed by
tidal wave

Theory #2: invaded by
people from mainland
Greece
The Mycenaeans
Who were they?
 Indo-European
nomads
 Settled in Greece
 Took over trade in
Mediterranean Sea
Mycenaean Civilization

Created Greek
culture:
 Language
 religion/mythology
 Art
 Literature

Fought the Trojan War
Mycenaean Collapse
 Nomadic
invaders defeated the
Mycenaeans
 Began a Dark Age
 300
years of fighting
 Little cultural growth
 Increase in poverty
 People started leaving Greece
Out of the dark
 Ionia:
Greek colony
 Many Greeks moved
to Ionia during the
Dark Ages
 Ionians help bring
Greece out of the
Dark Age
Golden Age
Ionians
reintroduced:
Art
Literature
Technology
 Words
to define:
Peninsula
Harbor
Mythology
Literature
Colony