Bellringer: 10/30 and 11/4
• Write down or discuss with your
neighbors 3-4 things you remember
about the Persian Empire.
Table of Contents Update:
• Page #:
Agenda:
• 1. Bellringer
• 2. Notes: Greek Geography and Origins
• 3. Activities:
• Geography Packet
• Perseus Myth Reading
Greek Geography and
Origins
•
Ms. Allen
• World History
• 2015-2016
Europe: An Overview
Satellite View
More vegetation than the Middle East
Map 1: Regions of Europe
• Northern
Europe
• Western
Europe
• Eastern Europe
• Not clearly
defined!
• Central
Europe
• Southern
Europe
Map 2: Peninsulas on Europe
•
•
•
•
•
•
Balkan Peninsula
Peloponnesus
Italian
Iberian
Normandy
Scandinavian Normandy
Iberia
Scandinavia
Italy
Balkans
Peloponnesus
Map 3: Bodies of Water
 Mediterranean
Sea
 Black Sea
 Aegean Sea
 Adriatic Sea
 Strait of
Gibraltar
 English Channel
 North Sea
 Baltic Sea
North
Sea
Baltic
Sea
Black
Sea
Strait of
Gibraltar
Aegean
Sea
Mediterranean Sea
List the Major Rivers:
Important
boundaries:
• Rhine
• Danube
Important trade
route:
• Dnieper
Map 4: Mountains
•
•
•
•
•
Alps
Pyrenees
Apennines
Caucasus
Urals
Urals
Alps
Pyrenees
Caucasus
The Geography of Greece
Where is it?
The Balkan Peninsula: (land surrounded by water on three sides), includes
Greece and other Southeastern European countries
Geographic Terms
• With the person next to you, do your
best to define the following geographic
terms on your notes:
•
•
•
•
•
Isthmus
Peninsula
Strait
Island
Arable land
An example of a strait (narrow body of water
connecting two larger bodies of water) are the
Dardanelles and Bosphorus Strait
Peninsula
• EX: Balkan Peninsula
• Definition: A piece of land surrounded
by water on 3 sides
Isthmus
• EX: Isthmus of Corinth
• Definition: A narrow strip of land with
sea on either side, forming a link
between two larger areas of land.
Island
• EX: Rhodes, Delos, Samos, Crete
• Definition: A piece of land surrounded
entirely by water
Arable Land
• EX:
• Definition: Land that is suitable for
farming that can sustain and produce
good crop yields
•Facts of Life: Greek
Geography Edition
Mountainous Terrain
Contrast to…
- Civilizations with flatter terrain (i.e. Egypt)
- Civilizations with more traversable or arable land
Effect on Greece…
- City-states develop in isolation
- Less unified, harder to unify because of
geographic barriers
Hundreds of Islands dotted
between adjacent seas
Contrast to…
- Centralized, unified empires
- Civilizations not separated by water
Effect on Greece…
- Forced to develop seafaring abilities (look to the
Phoenician design for ships)
- Travel is difficult (by land)
- Not easy to get from city-state to city-state quickly
Throwback: Royal Road (Persia)
Travel is a problem…
• Royal Road: 1500
miles, 9 days
• Sparta to
Olympia: 60
miles, 7 days
Many small streams, no
large rivers
Contrast to…
- River valley civilizations and their successors (i.e.
Yellow River Valley  Qin and Han China)
- Other classical civilizations
Effect on Greece…
- Travel/transportation is more difficult
- No “flooding” to help crops grow
- Harder to establish contact with other civilizations
outside the Mediterranean region
Few fertile plains for
growing crops
Contrast to…
- River valley civilizations
- Other classical civilizations
Effect on Greece…
- Economy centered on trade, not agriculture
- Difficulty growing crops
- Forced to trade for sustenance
Climate problems: Constant
sun and little rain
Contrast to…
- Non-Mediterranean civilizations
- Civilizations where climate was less mild
Effect on Greece…
- Difficulty producing crops
- Droughts
Why did Greek city-states
develop independently?
Activities:
• Using the packet readings and your logic
skills…
• Label The Map of Greece (pp. 108-112)
• Label Greece in the World (pp. 108-112, 139,
145)
• Read the information about the Geography of
Greece and answer the questions
Early Greeks: The Minoans
c. 3200 -1100 BCE
• Lived on island of Crete
• Great navigators and
farmers
• Palace led political, social
and economic organization
at Knossos
• Artistic expressions and
grand construction
• Advancements in bronze
• Built sanctuaries
Minoan Culture
• Art work (drawings, murals or frescoes) at
Knossos shows dangerous sports such as
leaping over the backs of charging bulls as
well as dancing, athletics, and festivals
Myth of the Minotaur
• Minoan Myth of King Minos at Knossos
• Theseus defeats the Minotaur (half man
half bull) and escapes from the maze
like structure called the labyrinth, saving
the youth of Athens
THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF
MINOANS
• 1750 BCE- earthquake destroys Minoan palaces
• 1628 BCE- volcano erupts at Thera
• 1400 BCE- War between Minoans and Myceaneans
led to decline of power
Enter the Mycenaeans
c. 1700 – 600 BCE
• 1490 BCE- Minoan palaces had been rebuilt however all were
destroyed except at Knossos by Mycenaean warriors
• Mycenaeans took control of Crete at Knossos by 1500 BCE
• Myceneans controlled mainland Greece = main political centre was
Mycenae
• More interested in war as pottery and grave sites reflect hunting,
weapons, armour and war as well as fortified palace walls
• Slowly Minoan culture and traditions disappeared
THEORIES FOR DECLINE OF
MYCEANEANS
• Shift in climate leading to drought forcing
Myceanans to migrate to more fertile lands
• Tribe of nomadic warriors from north of Greece
(Dorians) destroyed Mycenaeans