3-14-11

  Today in class we reviewed the notes we took we learned on Friday and took some new ones. "Crucible of Civilization" was the name of the movie we watched. A crucible is a vessel made of material that doesn't melt easily, it was used for touching items of high temperatures. The Greeks were a "crucible" of civilization because powerful, social, political, and intellectual powers came together. Nobody did what the Greeks did before they came along.

  Cleisthenes was born an aristocrat. If your an aristocrat, your money gets passed down from one generation to the next. He let other people help him make decisions, and to helped spread the wealth for all of the people. He was always inspired by ancient Greek stories. Any of the stories that needed to be told back around 700 B.C. were told by word of mouth. The most famous poems the Iliad and Odyssey were written by Homer.

  Greece was a mountainous peninsula. It was hard to get around from one place to another. The mountains were about 6/7,000 feet and really rocky. They covered 3/4 of Greece. There are approximately 1,400 islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas. It's location shaped it's culture. A lot of people who lived here were very skilled sailors.

  However, they had poor natural resources. It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain; they developed small, independent communities. Only about 20% of the land was suitable for farming. Fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the peninsula. Due to their geography, the Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, and olives. Lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization. Temperatures range from 48 degrees in the winter to 80 degrees in the summer. This made them year-round active people.

  Mycenaeans began around 2,000 B.C. Mycenae is located in a rocky ridge and protected by a 20 ft. thick wall. Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1,600-1,200 B.C. and they controlled trade in the region. In 1,400 B.C. Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language. Around 1,200 B.C., sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt down palace after palace. The Dorians moved into the war-torn region. It was far less advanced, their economy collapsed, and writing disappeared for 400 years when the Dorians were in charge.

  Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages". He recored stories of the Trojn War in the Iliad and Odyssey (at about 750-700 B.C.) . The Trojan War was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans. Arete means virtue and excellence. Epics are narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds. Myths were created to explain creation. Zeus is the leader of the gods, Hera is Zeus' wife, and Athena is the goddess of wisdom.