Early Greece and its Geography
The Geography of Greece
Geography played an important role in Greek
history. Compared to Mesopotamia and Egypt, Greece occupied a small area, a
mountainous peninsula that encompassed only 45,000sq miles of territory.
Much of Greece consists of small plains and river valleys surrounded by
mountain ranges 8,000-10,000 feet high. The mountains isolated Greeks form
one another, causing Greek communities to follow their own separate paths and
develop their own ways of life. Over time each polis became so fiercely attached
to their independence that they were willing to fight one another to gain
advantage. The small size of these communities fostered participation in political
affairs and unique cultural expression, but the rivalry among them also led to the
warfare that ultimately divested Greek society.
The sea also influenced Greek society. Greece had a long seacoast, dotted by
bays and inlets that provided numerous harbors. The Greeks also inhabited a
numbers of islands to the west, south, and east of the Greek mainland. It is no accident that the Greeks became seafarers who sailed out
into the Aegean & Mediterranean Seas to make contact with the outside world and later to establish colonies that would spread Greek
civilization throughout the Mediterranean.
Minoan Crete The earliest civilization in the Aegean region emerged on the large Island of Crete, southeast of the Greek mainland. A
Bronze Age civilization that used metals, especially bronze, in making weapons had been established there by 2,800BCE. This
civilization was discovered by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans, who named it “Minoan” after Minos, a legendary king of Crete. In
language and religion, the Minoans were not Greek thought they
did have some influence on the peoples of the Greek mainland.
Evan’s excavations on Crete unearthed an enormous pace
complex at Knossus, near modern Iraklion. The remains
revealed a rich and prosperous culture, with Knossus as the
apparent center of a far-ranging “Sea Empire,” probably largely
commercial in nature. We know form the archaeological
remains that the people of Minoan Crete were accustomed to sea
travel and had made contact with the more advanced civilization
of Egypt. Egyptian products have been found in Crete and
Minoan products in Egypt. Minoans also had contact with and
exerted influence on the Greek-speaking inhabitants of the Greek
mainland.
Minoan Height & Fall The Minoan civilization reached its
height between 2000 and 1450 BCE. The palace at Knossus, the
royal seat of the kings, was an elaborate structure that included numerous private living rooms for the royal family and workshops for
making decorated vases, ivory figurines, and jewelry. The complex even had bathrooms with elaborate drains, like those found in the
Indus Valley of India. The rooms were decorated with brightly colored frescoes (wall paintings) showing sporting events and nature
scenes. Storerooms in the palace held enormous jars of oil, wine, and grain, paid as taxes in the kind to the king. Around 1450 BCE,
the centers of Minoan civilization on Crete suffered a sudden and catastrophic collapse. Some historians believe that a tsunami triggered
by a powerful volcanic eruption on the island of Thera was responsible for the devastation. That explosion, however, had occurred
almost two hundred years earlier, and most historians today maintain that he destruction was the result of invasion and pillage of the
weakened Minoan society (do to a series of earthquakes that rocked Crete) by mainland Greeks know as the Mycenaeans. In fact, today
some scholars have gone on to say that Crete is the long lost civilization of Atlantis. The story of Atlantis, which was told by Socrates, has
many things in common with what we have discovered about Crete - both were Sea Empires that were very advanced, as well as, both
seam to have had their end come at the hands of Mother Nature.
The First Greek State – Mycenae The term Mycenaean (my-suh-NEE-un) is derived form Mycenae, a remarkable fortified site
excavated by the amateur German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. Mycenae was one center in a Mycenaean Greek civilization that
flourished between 1600 – 1000 BCE. The Mycenaean Greeks were part of the Indo-European family of peoples who spread from
their original location into Southern and Western Europe, India, and Persia. One group entered the territory of Greece from the north
around 1900 BCE and eventually managed to gain control of the Greek mainland and develop a civilization. Mycenaean civilization,
which reached its high point between 1400 – 1200 BCE, consisted of a number of powerful monarchies based in fortified palace
complexes, which were built on hills and surrounded by gigantic stone walls, such as those found at Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, and
Orchomenos. These various centers of power probably formed a loose confederacy of independent states, with Mycenae the strongest.
The Mycenaeans were above all a warrior people who prided themselves on their heroic deeds in battle. Archaeological evidence
indicates that the Mycenaeans monarchies also developed an extensive commercial network. Mycenaean pottery has been found
throughout the Mediterranean basin, in Syria and Egypt to the east, as well as,
Sicily and Southern Italy to the west. But some scholars also believe that the
Mycenaeans, led by Mycenae itself, spread outward militarily, conquering Crete
and making it part of the Mycenaean world. The most famous of all their
supposed military adventure has come down to us in the epic poetry of Homer.
Did the Mycenaean Greeks, led by Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, sack the city of
Troy around 1250 BCE? Scholars have been debating this question since both
City-States were discovered. By the late thirteenth century, Mycenaean Greece was
showing signs of serious trouble. Mycenae itself was burned around 1190 BCE
and other Mycenaean centers show a similar pattern of destruction as new waves of
Greek-speaking invaders moved into Greece from the north. By 1100 BCE, the
Mycenaean culture had come to an end.
The Greek Dark Age 1100-750 BCE After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, Greece entered a difficult era of declining
population and falling food production. During the Dark Age, large numbers of Greeks left the mainland and migrated across the
Aegean Sea to various islands and especially to the southeastern shore of the Middle East. As trade and economic activity began to
recover, iron replaced bronze in the construction of weapons, making them affordable for more people. At some point in the eighth
century BCE, the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet to give them a new system of Writing. And near the very end of the Dark
Age appeared the work of Homer, who has come to be viewed as one of the greatest poets of all time.
Homer and Homeric Greece The Iliad and the Odyssey, the first great epic poems of early Greece, were based on the stories that had
been passed down form generation to generation. It is assumed that Homer made use of these oral traditions to compose the Iliad, his
epic poem of the Trojan War. The war was sparked by Paris, a prince of Troy who kidnapped Helen, wife of the king of the Greek
polis of Sparta, outraging all the Greeks. Under the leadership of the Spartan king’s brother, Agamemnon of Mycenae, they attacked
Troy. After ten years of combat, the Greeks finally sacked the city. The Iliad is not so much the story of the war itself, as it is the tale of
the Greek hero Achilles and how the “wrath of Achilles” led to disaster. The Odyssey, Homer’s other masterpiece, is an epic romance
that recounts the journey of one of the Greek heroes, Odysseus, form the fall of Troy until his eventual return to this wife, Penelope,
twenty years later. Homers importance can be seen in the values he wrote about as they would become apart of Greek culture. The
values Homer inculcated were essentially the aristocratic values of courage and honor. It was important to strive for excellence befitting a
hero, which the Greeks called arête. In the warrior-aristocratic world of Homer, arête is won in a struggle of contest. Through his
willingness to fight, the hero protects his family and friends, preserves his own honor and his family’s, and earns his reputation.
The City-State of Troy The name Troy refers both to a place in legend and a real-life archaeological site. In legend, Troy is a city that
was besieged for 10 years and eventually conquered by a Greek army led by King Agamemnon. Troy also refers to a real-life ancient city
located on the northwest coast of Turkey which, since antiquity, has been identified by many as being the Troy discussed in the legend.
Whether the Trojan War actually took place, and whether the site in northwest Turkey is the same Troy, is a matter of debate. The idea
that the city was Troy goes back at least 2,700 years, when the ancient Greeks were colonizing northwest Turkey. In the 19th century,
the idea again came to popular attention when a German businessman and early archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, conducted a series
of excavations at Hisarlik and discovered treasures he claimed to be from King Priam.
Troy the legend The Trojan War is believed to have taken place near the end of the Bronze Age. That is around or before 1200
BCE. The earliest accounts of this war come from Homer. The story makes clear that the siege had taken its toll on the Greek force
sent to recover Helen. The “timbers of our ships have rotted away and the cables are broken and far away are our wives and our young
children” (Iliad). The war had essentially become a stalemate with the Greeks unable to take the city and the Trojans unable to drive
them back into the sea. We “sons of the Achaians [Greeks] outnumber the Trojans — those who live in the city; but there are
companions from other cities in their numbers, wielders of the spear to help them,” the Iliad reads. A number of key events happen in
the poem, including a duel between Menelaus, the king of Sparta and husband
of Helen, against Paris. The winner is supposed to receive Helen as a prize,
ending the war. However, the gods intervene to break up the duel before it is
finished and the war continues. Another important duel occurs nears the end
of the poem between Achilles and a great Trojan warrior named Hector. The
Trojan knows that he’s no match for the Greek warrior and initially runs three
laps around Troy, with Achilles chasing him. Finally, the gods force him to face
the Greek warrior and he is in turn killed.