Greek Lesson 1

​Ancient Greece Lesson 1

​The Geography

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​The Minoan civilization flourished between 2000 - 1500 BCE on the island of Crete located in the eastern Mediterranean. With their unique art and architecture, and the spread of their ideas through contact with other cultures across the Aegean, the Minoans made a significant contribution to the development of Western European civilization. This early civilization would give the mainland Aegean's a model to base themselves on.

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​The Minoans

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The people of Minoa left behind evidence that a great civilizations was growing on Crete. We know little about their government structure, or religion, because the Phoenician alphabet had not taken hold there we have little written records until later. We are not sure why they collapsed either. Some historians believe that the Minoans were the basis of the legend of Atlantis.

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​Mysterious People

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​The legendary author to whom the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey (the two epic poems that are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature) is attributed. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. The Homeric epics were a defining influence on ancient Greek culture and education

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​Homer

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​The name implies it all. Iliad is Greek for, "A series of Disastrous events." This book tell the story of the Trojan war and the events that lead up to its tart all the way to its conclusion. It is filled with the gods and goddess betting on the outcome and interfering along the way in the affairs of man. The book is full of hero's and champions who fight for glory and status.

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​The Iliad

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​The plot as brief as I can get it

​The trouble begins with a beautiful woman, Helen. At a party where the Greek city states were gathered in Sparta, king Menelaus was showing off his beautiful wife (she was supposedly the most beautiful woman who ever lived). A Trojan Prince named Paris, fell in love with her and after talking to her she fell in love with him. The two snuck out of the party together and ran away back to the city of Troy. Angered by this Menelaus rounded up all of the Greek forces he could muster and launched 1,000 ships towards the city. The war would rage on for 10 years. During that time the Greek hero's would fight in one on one battles. The gods would often interfere in these fights trying to cheat to win wagers they had placed on the outcome of the war. Some of the names include: Achilles, Ajax, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Patroclus, Diomedes, Nestor, Idomeneus, Machaon, Teucer, and Paris.

​The plot as brief as I can get it

​The story focuses mainly on Achilles, an indestructible Greek warrior. He had one weakness, (when he was dipped into a magic river by the gods his heal was covered with their hands so it was not protected). He would battle for revenge for his killed fiend and would eventually fights Troy's greatest Hero Hector. Achilles would win and parade Hectors head around on a chariot for all to see. The city still did not surrender. A plan was needed to get inside and end the war. It had been 10 years of living on the beach of Troy and the Greeks were ready to go home, but the kings could not live the fact they would lose the war after such a long time and at the cost of many men. Odysseus, a Greek general, had an idea.

​It was tradition for a defeated invading army to leave behind a gift, to signify that the war was over. Odysseus proposed that the Greek leave behind a horse filled with soldiers and a letter of surrender. The Trojans in disbelief woke up to a shore free of the Greeks for the first time in a decade. The pulled the great horse inside and began to celebrate. The whole city was partying. When night fell the Greeks emerged from the horse and threw the gates open just as the Greeks returned under the cover of darkness.

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​The Horse

The Greek army invaded the city and killed every man, woman, and child they could get their eyes on. they burned everything. By order of their kings the city and its people were completely destroyed. ​Helen was taken back by Menelaus whom she happily remarried after her "kidnapping". Only a small hand full of Trojans would escape the slaughter. Aeneas of Troy would flee to Italy and become the ancestors to the Romans

​The Fall

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