ANCIENT GREECE
GEOGRAPHY GREECE
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Territory included:
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Mountainous peninsula
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Seas = Liquid highways
Trade very important b/c little resources
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1,400 islands
W. coast Asia Minor/Anatolia
“Did not live on land, but AROUND seas”
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Divided Greeks – never unified
No timber, precious metals, usable farmland
Ate simple diet grapes, grains, olives
Moderate climate
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Winter = 48 degrees F
Summer = 80 degrees F
Most people spent time outside
THE BRONZE AGE: MINOANS AND MYCENAEAN'S
THE MINOAN WORLD
SIR ARTHUR EVANS
EXCAVATIONS AT KNOSSOS
ARTIST’S RECREATION OF KNOSSOS
KING MINOS
LINEAR A – (UNDECIPHERABLE)
MINOAN RELIGION: GODDESS WORSHIP?
MINOAN RELIGION: BULL CULT?
BULL JUMPING
WHAT CAUSED THE END OF MINOAN
CIVILIZATION?
MYTHICAL ATLANTIS OR MYCENAEAN'S?
MYTH OF THE MINOTAUR
THE MYCENAEAN WORLD
HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN
EXCAVATION OF MYCENAE
ARTIST RECONSTRUCTION OF MYCENAE
CYCLOPEAN WALLS
LIONS GATE
SHAFT GRAVES
MASK OF AGAMEMNON
BEEHIVE GRAVES
LINEAR B: DECIPHERABLE
BRUTAL COMBAT
THE TROJAN WAR
WHAT CAUSED THE TROJAN WAR?
I ZEUS, OVERTHROWN BY MY SON…
Marriage of Thetis and Peleus
THE APPLE OF DISCORD
WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL…
Hera
Athena
Aphrodite
THE BRIBE: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
Helen of Sparta
911 THERE’S A PROBLEM…
Menelaus
Agamemnon
CONVINCING ODYSSEUS & ACHILLES TO JOIN
WAR…
Odysseus
Achilles
HELP I’M STUCK AND I CAN’T GET UNSTUCK…
Iphigenia
THE 10TH YEAR…
Plague
Briseis
Death of Patroclus
Death of Hector
Death of Achilles
Death of Paris
TROJAN HORSE: THE DEMISE OF THE TROJANS
THE “REAL” END OF THE STORY…
Helen gets back w/ Menelaus, but they’re
stranded in Egypt for 7 years
 Agamemnon makes it back to Mycenae, but is
killed by his wife Clytemnestra with an axe
 Odysseus wandered the sea for 10 years before
returning home to Ithaca
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BRONZE AGE ENEMIES?
THE 9 LAYERS OF ANCIENT TROY
Homer’s Troy
(VII)
ARTIST RECONSTRUCTION OF TROY
“WALLS” OF ANCIENT TROY
THE REAL WALLS OF ANCIENT TROY
KING PRIAM’S TREASURE
MINOANS
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Island of Crete
Sir Arthur Evans
King Minos
Peaceful culture?
Palace culture, vivid frescos,
bull cult, fishing and trade
Linear A
Minotaur
MYCENAE
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Greek Mainland
Schliemann
King Agamemnon
Warlike culture
Palace culture, walls and
defenses, beehive and shaft
graves
Linear B
Troy
SUMMARY OF MINOANS AND MYCENAEAN’S
THE GREEK DARK AGES (AKA IRON AGE)
THE DORIAN INVASION
(DORIANS}
DECLINE IN GREEK CULTURE
GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE
THE POLIS
Greek City State or Citizen State
 “the people” or “the community”
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THE POLIS CONTINUED…
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Each polis had an agora (market place) and
acropolis (fortified citadel)
THE POLIS CONTINUED…
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Fundamental idea:
 All
male citizens “equal” political rights based on
ownership of property
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Non-citizen = Women, children, slaves and
resident aliens (aka outsiders)
THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY
HOMER AND HESIOD
THEOGONY AND WORKS AND DAYS
GREEK RELIGION
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
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Polytheistic
Hierarchal
Moral guideline
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Anything in excess
improper
Explained world
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Myths
14 OLYMPIAN GODS AND GODDESSES
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Aphrodite- Love & Beauty
Apollo- Sun & Music
Ares- War
Artemis- Hunt
Athena- Wisdom & Arts
Demeter- Harvest
Dionysus- Wine
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Hades- Underworld
Hephaestus- Metallurgy
Hera- Family
Hermes- Trade
Hestia- Hearth
Poseidon- Sea
Zeus- Sky
MUSES
FATES
FURIES
CHARACTERISTICS OF GODS
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Immortal, but not all
powerful
Act like humans, have
human vices too
Meddle and mingle w/
humans
THE UNDERWORLD
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“Place of Hades”
Early thought = Gloomy
Place
Later thought = Place of
Judgment
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Rewarded or cursed
Fields of Asphodel
 Tartarus
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Punishment fit crime
WORSHIP OF THE GODS
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Build temples
National shrines
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Oracle of Delphi
Sacrifice
Festivals
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Olympics