Greece part 2

In class we continued taking these notes on Greece:

• Mountains covered 3/4 of Greece
• It was a peninsula surrounded on 3 sides by water
• 1,400 islands were located on the seas
• The Greeks were skilled sailers and shipbuilders
• They had poor/limited natural resources 
• Difficult to unite- independent communities
• Grew grapes, grains, and olives
• Only 20% of land is arable (suitable for farming)
• Lack of resources led to colonization
• Temperature ranged from the mid 40's in Winter to the low 80's in the Summer

Some early people- first, Mycenaeans 

• Influence began around 2000 BCE 
• Mycenae is located on a rocky-ridge and protected by a 20 foot wall
• Dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BCE 
• 1400 BCE- Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture/language
• 1200 BCE- The "sea people" began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palaces. So, the Dorians moved into this region
• The Dorians were less advanced 
• Trade-based economy collapsed 
• Writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer

• Greek Oral Tradition- Stories passed down by word of mouth
• Homer lived in the dark ages and told stories of the Trojan war
• The lliad- One of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans 
• The Odyssey- Odysseus attempted to return home, being thwarted by Poseidon 
• 12,110 lines of Dactylic Hexameter
• The "Homeric Question" - Homer may have been a mythical creation
• Blind wandering minstrel; Heroic figure