Greece Lesson 1: Geography and beginning of civilization

Greece Lesson 1: Geography and rise of civilization

Learn about the geography of Greece and the beginnings of Ancient Greece

First there was nothing. Then came Mother Earth. The gods of Night and Day appear next, and then Starry Sky. Sky created the Twelve Titans. These great gods rebelled against their Father Sky and took away his power. The youngest of the Titans, Cronos, ruled in his father's place.  In time, Cronos had six children. The youngest, mighty Zeus, toppled Cronos from his throne.

Multiple Select

Theism or theology is the belief in gods. The prefix "Mono" means "one" and "Poly" means many.

So was ancient Greek religion monotheistic or polytheistic?

• polytheistic

• monotheistic

With such stories, the people of ancient Greece described the struggles of their gods. Like their gods, the people of Greece had to struggle for power and independence. Their struggles began with the land itself.   

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Geography of Greece

 The land of Greece looks as if the sea had smashed it to pieces. Some pieces have drifted away to form small, rocky Islands. Others seem to barely cling to the mainland. Greece is a peninsula made up of smaller peninsulas and islands. A peninsula is an area of land almost completely surrounded by water and connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. As you can see, no part of Greece is very far from the sea.

Multiple Choice

What landform is mainland Greece?

• island

• peninsula

• plateau

• ocean

 Mountains are a major landform of Greece. Greece’s islands are mostly mountain peaks. Mountains criss-cross the mainland, leaving only small patches of farmland. Only about one-fifth of Greece is good for growing crops. It is no wonder the Greeks became traders and sailors. At times, they left Greece to found colonies far away.

Multiple Select

Since only about one-fifth of Greece is good for farming, many Greeks became what?

Choose 2

• farmers

• traders

• sailors

• artisans

Geography and ancient communities

 The ancient Greeks were in a way all islanders. Some lived on real islands, completely surrounded by water, or on small peninsulas. Others lived on what could be thought of as land islands. Instead of water, mountains separated the people in these small communities from one another.

 Because it was difficult for Greeks from different communities to meet, each community developed its own customs and beliefs. Each was more than ready to go to war to protect itself. In fact, for most of their history, the Greeks were so busy fighting among themselves that it was easy to forget that they shared a common heritage, spoke the same language, and worshipped the same gods.

Multiple Select

It was difficult for Greeks to travel so each community developed its own ____ and _____.

• customs

• language

• war

• beliefs

Early civilizations

Early Greek civilization arose both on and off the Greek mainland. Two ancient peoples, the Minoans and the Mycenaeans, made important contributions to Greek civilization.

 From about 3000 to about 1100 BC, Bronze Age people called the Minoans lived on the island of Crete. Surrounded by the waters of the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean Sea, Crete was an ideal place for the Minoans to develop a broad sea trade network. Mainland Greece and other Greek Islands, Egypt and Sicily all traded with the Minoans, who at one time dominated the Aegean.

Multiple Choice

What were the name of the people who lived on the island of Crete and became traders?

• Minoans

• Mycenaeans

• Minotaurs

• Muppets

The Minoans developed an advanced culture. Samples of Minoan writing have been found on 1000's of clay tablets. Palace ruins in the ancient city of Knossos on Crete hint that rooms were once covered with fanciful wall paintings. Statues found within suggest that the Minoans worshipped many goddesses. In the middle of 1400 BC, Knossos was destroyed, and Minoan civilization declined. People from mainland Greece, the Mycenaeans, were the likely invaders.

Mycenae

 After the Mycenaeans came to power, mainland and island cultures blended. However, the focus of these cultures moved to the mainland, where Mycenae was located.

Multiple Choice

Where was the Mycenaean civilization located?

• island in Greece

• east of Greece

• mainland Greece

• south of the Mediterranean Sea

 At the height of their power, around 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans controlled the Aegean Sea and parts of the Mediterranean. Like the Minoans, the Mycenaeans also used writing. Studies of the Mycenaean script show that they spoke an early form of Greek.

 The Minoans had gained much of their power through trade. Although the Mycenaeans traded widely, they relied upon conquest to spread their power. Greek myth tells the story of the Trojan War, a long struggle between Greece and the city of Troy on the west coast of Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. There was an actual struggle over trade in the region, though the details of the legend were invented.

Multiple Choice

How did the Mycenaeans gain their power?

• trade

• conquest

• worship

The Trojan War

According to the myth, Greece conquered Troy by using a trick, the Trojan Horse. Greek warriors hid inside a huge wooden horse. The horse was rolled to the city gates. Thinking it was a gift, the Trojans brought the horse into their city. During the night, the Greek soldiers climbed out of the horse and let the rest of their army into Troy. The Greeks burned and looted Troy and then returned home.

Open Ended

The Greeks won the Trojan War by tricking the Trojans with the ...

 Two epics, or long storytelling poems, about the Trojan War survive today. They are called The Iliad and the Odyssey. These epics may have been composed by many people, but they are credited to one poet called Homer.

Open Ended

What are epics?

The poems were important to the Greeks. They taught the Greeks what their gods were like and how the noblest, or best, of their heroes behaved. It also taught the people how to behave themselves and what was important and meaningful to them. Today, people think these poems came from stories memorized by several poets and passed down by word of mouth through many generations. Homer may have been the last and greatest in this line of poets.

Open Ended

Why were epics and myths important to the Greeks?