Geography of
Ancient
Greece
From The World by Scott
Foresman
Sports and Culture
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1600 BC
Inside palace walls, there is a large courtyard.
Within that courtyard, a young teenage girl
stands getting ready to participate in bull
leaping.
The bull charges and the girl jumps on the
bull’s back standing up and grabbing his
horns.
She jumps into the arms of another teammate
Mountainous Land
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Greece unlike other civilizations did not have
fertile soil as a result of being located by a
river.
The land was rocky and mountainous.
Mountains did not allow for farming and they
separated people.
Greece was not united due to the landscape.
The Balkan Peninsula extends into the eastern
part of the Mediterranean Sea. Greece is on
the southern part of the peninsula.
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Greek-speaking people lived on the islands in the
Aegean Sea which separates Greece from the
western edge of Asia known as Asia Minor.
The Ionian Sea on the west separates Greece from
Italy.
To the south, the Mediterranean Sea links Greece
with Asia, North Africa and the western part of
Europe.
Greece is surrounded by many different cultures.
Surrounded by water and harbors
 “Like
Frogs around a pool, we are settled
down upon the shores of this sea.” –Plato
 Sailors and traders
 Main crops grapes, olives, grains
 Trade allows for exchange of ideas
 Greek alphabet, coins
 Lowlands fertile good for farming, hills
animals graze.
Independence
 Difficult
to unite everyone under one
government
 Same language and religion.
 Mountains made travel from one region
to another difficult.
 Independent communities grew into
cities.
 Each city had its own way of doing things.
Climate
 Climate
allowed for outdoor activities
 Markets or agoras: men shop women
retrieve water from fountains
 Open air theaters, religious services,
political meetings
 Sports and athletics (Olympics)
Two Early Civilizations
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People settled in islands of Aegean Sea.
Crete island in the Mediterranean Sea
2500 BC had a written language
Weave cloth, made pottery and jewelry
First civilization was Minoans
Participated in bull jumping
Controlled trade within islands of Aegean Sea
Traded food, pottery with Egypt and Syria
By 1600 BC powerful in Aegean islands and peninsula of
Peloponnesus
Minoans ships patrolled seas and protected from invaders
Grew weak , historians not sure why
Mycenae
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About 2000 BC groups migrated to Greek mainland
Communities grew into cities
Cities grew into city-states
Each had their own lifestyle
Mycenae was most powerful
Replaced Crete as the center of civilization.
Defend against any attack
Walls were 20ft thick
Ships captured other cities
Plunder –valuables seized in wartime
Plunder probably led to famous war included in
legends.
Geography Discussion
Questions
 Discuss
how the geography of Greece
influenced its civilization.
 What was the Minoan civilization?
 What are three seas that border Greece?
 What effect did mountains have on the
people of Greece?
 Challenge Question: Describe the
importance of the sea to the people of
Greece.