Post on 22-Dec-2015
Ancient Greece
Height of Minoan Civilization of Crete1600-1500
BC 1400 BCMinoans Disappear
Mycenaean Civilization develops
1250 BC
Trojan War: Helen or
economics?
1100 BCGreek Dark Ages
“Dorian Invasion”
750 BCLife of Homer
Bull of Knossos
The Earliest Greeks: The Mycenaeans
Blind poetRetold/had written down The Iliad & The
Odyssey Other stories & hymns as well
Gives us:Description of godsDetails of lifeImportant values
Greek ReligionPolytheistic Mt. Olympus Gods took on human qualities Stories help explain the natural world
Homer
Family Tree of the Greek Gods
Geography Issues:
Islands Mountai
ns
City-States—Individual kingdoms or govs within a city
“Polis”
The political, religious, and social center of the cityAcropolis: high city Agora: market place
The Polis
The Acropolis of Athens
Athens & Sparta: Two different city-states
Greco-Persian War
Persian Empire, 521-486 B.C.
Persia too strong, Greeks rebel At first—Grk city-states are weak b/c not
unitedEventually unite Defeat Persian army after 50 years of
fightingBattle of Marathon—1st major victoryBattles of Thermopylae—Grks outnumbered,
300 Spartans fend off Persians in support of the other Grks
Battle of Salamis—Naval Battle, Persian downfall
Athens emerges as major power in Greek WorldCreate Delian League (alliance of Grk
City-States)Pericles leads them into a “Golden Age”
Greco-Persian War: 499–449 BC
Athens v. SpartaSparta resents Athens’s
PowerSparta stronger military
powerPlague breaks out in Athens
Kills 1/3 populationSparta allies with PersiaAthens is defeatedWeakens Greece again
Peloponnesian War: 431-404 BC