Olives, and Grapes, and Grains, Oh My!

Today in the beginning of class we took more notes on ancient Greece. Then, Mr. Schick read some of the Odyssey to us.

• Greece is a mountainous peninsula, mountains cover over 3/4 of Greece.
• 1400 islands in the Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean Seas. 
• This combination shaped Greece's culture, they had many skilled shipbuilders and sailors. 
• They had poor/limited natural resources 
• It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain. 
• They mostly had olives, grapes, and grains. 
• Only 20% of the land was arable meaning good farming land. 
• Lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization 
• Back then, the temperatures usually ranged from mid 40s in the winter to low 80s in the summer (sometimes hotter). Fairly nice weather year round. 

Some early peoples- first, Mycenaeans 

-their influence around 2000 BCE

-Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20-foot thick wall. 

-Mycenaean kings dominated Greece for 400 years

-They controlled trade in the region 

-1400 BCE: Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language. 

Then, "sea people" and Dorians

-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

Homer- the story teller 

Greek oral tradition- stories passed on by word of mouth, not written. 

Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages" 

He composed stories of the Trojan War

The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of his stories. 

The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter. 

Did Homer actually exist? 

- The "Homeric question": Homer may have been a mythical creation himself. 

-a blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure. 

-Iliad and the Odyssey may be the culmination of many generations of storytelling. 

-or...Homer actually existed and was awesome.