Ancient Greece, Rome, & The Middle Ages

Europe is a peninsula, which means that it is:

• Ruled by just a few powerful nobles

• An island nation, surrounded on all sides by water

• Isolated by forests and trees

• Surrounded by water on three sides - the north, south, and west

This is an internationally important inland sea that borders Europe, Southwest Asia, and Africa:

• The Mediterranean Sea

• The Dead Sea

• The Bering Sea

• The Sea of Japan

The other big mountain chain in Europe other than the Alps, are these mountains, which run along Europe's eastern border and divide the continent from Asia:

• The Appalachian Mountains

• The Andes

• The Ural Mountains

• The Himalayas

While the Alps and Pyrenees protect Europe from artic winds, this stream brings warm water, moist air, and gives much of Europe a mild climate:

• The Canary Current

• The North Atlantic Drift

• The Labrador Current

• The Gulf Stream

In early Greece, these consisted of a central city, or polis, and its outlying villages. Each one had its own laws and form of government, but all of them shared a common language and religion:

• City-states

• Empires

• Fiefs

• Nations

There were three forms of government common in City-States: Tyrant-run city-states; Democracies, where citizens take part in government; and these, where a few powerful, wealthy individuals ruled:

• A dictatorship

• An empire

• A manor

• An oligarchy

This capital of Greece, once one of the largest and greatest city-states, was a democracy where free, adult males whose fathers had been citizens could engage in politics:

• Corinth

• Athens

• Thebes

• Carthage

Three famous Ancient Greek philosophers who had a profound effect on the world, teachers who taught about knowledge, friendship, justice, government, math, astronomy, and poetry are:

• Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Augustus

• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

• Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar

• Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael

This city began as a group of villages along Italy's Tiber River, around 750 B.C. It was governed by kings for more than 200 years before it became a republic:

• Rome

• Athens

• Sparta

• Venice

An assembly of elected representatives formed Ancient Rome's republic form of government. This body of representatives was elected every two years - they elected consuls to head the government and military:

• The Supreme Court

• The Senate

• The House

• The Plebeians