Today's Class

In today's class, we took some more notes on (Ancient) Greece is the Word.  We learned a lot about Greece's geography.  Greece is a mountainous peninsula.  Greece's mountains cover 3/4 of Greece. There are approximately 1400 islands in the Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean Seas.  This combination shaped Greece's culture.  They had many skilled sailors and shipbuilders.  They had poor, limited natural resources, so they needed to trade.  It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain they developed small, independent communities (city-states).  Although fertile valleys cover one quarter of the peninsula, only about 20% is suitable for farming.  Greek diets consists of grains, grapes, and olives.  The lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization.  Back then, temperatures usually ranged from mid 40s in the winter to low 80s in the summer - although it could get hot in the summer, it was pretty nice year-round.  Then, we talked about some early peoples - first, Mycenaeans.  Their influence began around 2000 BCE.  Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20-foot thick wall.  Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BCE (they controlled trade in the region).  In 1400 BCE, Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language.  Then, we learned about the Dorians (the sea people).  Then, around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palace after palace so, the Dorians moved into this war-torn region.  Dorians were far less advanced.  The trade based economy collapsed.  Writing disappeared for 400 years.  After, we talked about Homer the Storyteller.  Greek oral tradition - stories passed on by word of mouth.  Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages."  He composed stories of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE.  The Iliad - probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans (The Trojan War.)  The Odyssey - Odysseus attempt to return home, being thwarted by the angry god of the sea, Poseidon.  The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter.  After that, we talked about if Homer even existed.  The last thing we did, was read some of the Odyssey.  The Odyssey is about Odysseus and his journey to get back home, and he has to go through a lot of obstacles to do so.