World History
Chapter 5A
Cultures of the Mountains and Sea
Geography Shapes Greek Life
• The sea shaped Greek life just as the rivers
shaped the cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Greeks became skilled sailors
• Sea travel and trade were important because
Greece was poor in natural resources
Greece
Continued
• The land was rugged and mountainous
• Land transportation was difficult and there was
very little farmland
• The Greek population was small and people
lived simply
• The climate was cool in winter and warm in
summer which allowed much of life to take
place out doors
Mycenaean Civilization Develops
• A large wave of people migrated to Greece and
they were the Mycenaean's
• They developed city-states in southern Greece
and these flourished from 1600 B.C. until
1200B.C.
• These city-states joined together to fight a war
with a powerful city in Asia Minor (Turkey)
called Troy
• Though the Mycenaean's won they would be
invaded and defeated by the Dorian's
Troy
Mycenae
Greek Culture Declines Under the
Dorian's
• The Dorian attack causes economic chaos and
also social decline as the ability to write is lost
• With no means to record events Dorian Greeks
developed the practice of passing on history
through the spoken word
• A blind poet named Homer composed epicsnarrative poems celebrating heroic deeds.
They were called The Iliad and The Odyssey
Homer
TA5B
Read Pages 127-133
Copy & Define terms on Page 133
Copy & Answer Questions 11 & 12 on Page 150