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Geography of Ancient Greece
Mountains and Sea
• Ancient Greece was made up of a part of
southern European mainland and many
islands.
• The two largest islands
are Crete and Rhodes, found
in the Mediterranean Sea.
• About 9 out of every 10 acres in Greece
are mountainous.
• Little farmable land exists; so
shepherds kept herds of sheep and
goats because they can live on the
shrubs that grow on the rugged
hillsides.
• The peninsula of Attica, on the east coast of Greece,
has some of the precious arable land.
• A peninsula is an area of land
surrounded by water on three sides.
• Attica contains many harbors, sheltered places
along the coast.
• Peloponnesus is a large hand-shaped peninsula in
the southern area of mainland Greece.
• Peloponnesus is a mountainous
region ringed by a thin band of fertile land.
Early Economy in Greece
• Greece is not as fertile as the river valleys
of the Indus or Huang rivers; however,
ancient Greeks figured out how to make a
living from the few fertile valleys and the
sea.
• Summers were hot and dry, and winters in
Greece were wet and windy making
agriculture difficult.
• Farmers grew wheat and barley
to make bread, in addition to olives
and grapes.
• Sailing became an important part of life
because farmers could not produce huge
grain surpluses.
• Sailors traveled as far as Ancient
Egypt and Phoenicia, modern day
Lebanon.
• Olive oil was one of the most prized Greek
exports because it was tasty to cook with,
useful as lamp fuel, and body lotion.
• This made it possible to trade for
the much needed grain.
The Rise of Greek Cities
• Greek historian, Herodotus, is considered
the “Father of History.”
A Greek Polis
• In Greece, a city-state was called a polis. It was a selfgoverning city ruled by a group of powerful men.
• Most city-states were built around
an acropolis, a large hill where city
residents could seek shelter and safety
in times of war.
• Farmers and craftworkers sold their goods at an agora, a
marketplace and meeting place in a clearing.
• Each polis was ruled by leaders who were citizens of
the polis.
• In ancient Greece, only free men could be citizens.
Women and slaves were not citizens and had few
rights.
• A small group of the richest, most powerful citizens
called an oligarchy generally controlled decision
making.
• Early Greek polis were ruled by a king and queen,
called a monarchy, which means ruled by one.
• A modern day citizen is a person who was born in a
country and has certain rights and responsibilities.
Two Greek Cities
• Athens and Sparta are two city-states whose
artifacts were preserved and told
archaeologists about life in these polis.
• Sparta covered most of the southern
Peloponnesus peninsula and the central city
was located about 30 miles from the
Mediterranean Sea.
• A low mountain formed Sparta’s
acropolis and a nearby agora where
political decisions were made.
• Most of Sparta’s farm workers were
slaves.
• Sparta had more slaves than any other
polis.
• Sparta’s leaders made Sparta the
strongest military power in Greece after
defeating a slave revolt.
• Spartan boys started training
to be soldiers by 7 years old.
• Spartan girls trained in athletics to be
strong mothers of strong children.
• Athens lay on the peninsula of Attica,
northeast of Sparta.
• Athenian girls wove cloth and helped in
fields at harvest.
• Athenian boys worked with their
fathers to learn their craft, or rich
boys went to school to learn reading
and writing.
• Like Sparta, Athens was ruled by an oligarchy
around 600 B.C.
• Average citizens demanded more of a say in
government.
• Large meetings were now held where all citizens
could take part in making decisions about the polis.
• This form of government is called a democracy.
• Athens had the first known democracy in history.
Shared Culture
• The ancient Greeks worshipped many
gods. The most powerful gods lived on
Mount Olympus.
• Mount Olympus was a
mountain in northern Greece.
• Each polis honored at least one god or
goddess as its special protector and
provider.
• In Athens, people worshipped
Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
• Zeus, the most powerful god,
was also worshipped by people
all over Greece.
• At huge festivals honoring the gods,
people sang, danced, proceeded to the
temple, sacrificed animals, and held
athletic competitions like the Olympics.
• Homer is a favorite Greek poet who wrote
the Iliad and the Odyssey, stories of war and
adventure.
• The Greeks settled colonies throughout the
Mediterranean Sea.
• The colonies were made up of
groups of people who lived apart
from, but kept ties with, Greece.
• Many colonies became important trading
partners because they could grow grain and
serve as stopping points on the long journey to
trade with Egypt.
Ancient Olympic Games
• The first Olympic Games were
held nearly 3,000 years ago.
• They were started so that the Greeks could honor
the gods on Mt. Olympus.
• In ancient Greece, the Olympics were individual
competitions, and women were not allowed to
compete. Only free men from Greek city-states.
• Today there are team events, and women can now
compete. We also have Summer and Winter Games,
and there are Olympics for disabled athletes too.
Athens’ Age of Glory
• The Athenians understood the importance of sea
power and built a mighty naval fleet.
• During the war against Persia,
Athens and Sparta joined together
to defeat the Persians.
• Many Greek colonies continued to be threatened by
Persia and paid the Athenian navy to protect them.
• Some of this payment expanded the navy and the
rest developed the city of Athens into a rich cultural
center.
Golden Age of Athens
• Athens’ “Golden Age” was a time of great
achievement.
• Athens’ large Acropolis was the religious
center of the city.
• Buildings such as the temple to Athena,
the Parthenon, showed the cities wealth
and power.
• At this time, Athens was the largest city in Greece.
• Many people came to do business in the agora.
• In the agora, shopkeepers traded their goods;
students studied their lessons; and lawyers
conducted government.
Athenian Government
• In the early 400s B.C., a small council of powerful
citizens made the cities important decisions.
• Later, the council’s powers were taken over by an
assembly.
• An assembly is a lawmaking body
of government.
• Pericles, an Athenian leader around
450 B.C., made sure that poor citizens
as well as rich citizens could take part
in government decisions.
• Citizens served on the assembly and sat on
juries.
• A jury is a group of citizens chosen
to hear evidence and make decisions
in a court of law.
• Pericles arranged for citizens to be paid when
they held office or served on a jury.
• Socrates taught philosophy, or the search
for wisdom and the right way to live.
• The philosophers and students discussed what
makes the best government, what it means to love,
or what it means to be a good citizen.
• Shortly before 400 B.C., Socrates began questioning
Athenian values, such as laws, customs, and
religion.
• Socrates was brought to trial and found guilty of
“urging Athens’ young people to revolt”.
• Plato, a student of Socrates, wrote down all
of Socrates’ teachings.
War and Conflict
• The Peloponnesian Wars began
because Sparta and other Greek citystates became jealous of Athens’
wealth and power.
• Sparta attacked Athens. Pericles knew
that the Athens army was no match for
the Spartans, so he called for all
Athenians to move within the city walls.
• The Spartan army destroyed the fields
surrounding the city, but Athens continued
to have food because their army could bring
grain from elsewhere.
• Not all deaths occurred on the battlefield. A
terrible disease killed one-third of the
population in the crowded city.
• Sparta won most land
battles, while Athens won
most of the sea battles.
• The Athenians did not surrender until their
people were starving because Sparta cut off
the grain supply from the Black Sea.
• After the Peloponnesian War, Sparta became
a leading polis once again.
• No city-state could maintain control for long
before others challenged it.
• This made Greece vulnerable to outside
threats.
The Greek Empire
• At the end of the Peloponnesian Wars,
Persia was the most powerful
remaining empire.
• The Persians controlled lands in Egypt,
Phoenicia, Babylon, India, Persia, and
Jewish lands.
Alexander of Macedonia
• Alexander, king of Macedonia,
was educated by Aristotle, a Greek
philosopher.
• Alexander had grown to respect the Greek
culture and traditions because of Aristotle’s
teachings.
• Alexander’s army conquered Greece after the
city-states had been weakened by the
Peloponnesian Wars.
• In 334 B.C., Alexander and his armies set
off to conquer Persia.
• His conquest continued
through Persia and into the
Indus valley. Alexander’s
army never lost a battle, and
he helped to spread Greek
culture from Egypt to India.
• Alexander died after becoming
ill in 323 B.C.
A City in the Empire
• Alexandria was founded as a capital for
the newly conquered Egyptian
kingdom.
• Alexandria’s basic layout
mirrored a Greek polis.
• The city had an agora, a theater,
several temples, a stadium, and a
gymnasium.
• At the mouth of the harbor stood
one of the world’s first lighthouses.
• This lighthouse was one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.
• These wonders include the Pyramids of Giza, the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Lighthouse of
Alexandria, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Mausoleum
at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus,
and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.
• These structures were built as tombs to honor gods,
goddesses, deceased spouses, or to serve as a
beacon (light) for ships.
New Seven Wonders of the World
• Chichen Itza (Yucatán, Mexico), Great Wall of
China (China), Christ the Redeemer (Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil), Machu Picchu (Cuzco
Region, Peru), Taj Mahal (Agra, India),
Colosseum (Rome, Italy), Petra (Ma'an
Governorate, Jordan)
• Scholars studied in a museum and referenced books
from a nearby library.
• The Alexandria library was one of the
largest of the time partially due to the
practice of searching trader’s ships for
books and making copies of the books
from all over the known world.
• The Greeks used a simple 24 letter
alphabet to simplify learning to read
and write.
• Greek mathematicians learned from the Egyptian
mathematicians and created the basic principles
now used in mathematics and geometry.