Geography & Origins
Because 75% of Greece is covered by these geographical features, the region developed into isolated, independent city-states rather than a unified empire.
What are mountains?
The large, heavily fortified city on the Greek mainland that gave its name to the early Bronze Age civilization ruled by warrior-kings.
What was Mycenae?
The fundamental political unit of Ancient Greece, consisting of a city and its surrounding countryside.
What is a polis (or city-state)?
Focused on creating their citizens as warriors.
What was Sparta?
The military formation of foot soldiers standing side-by-side holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.
What is a phalanx?
Since Greece had sparse farmland and few natural resources, these liquid "highways" were essential for trade, travel, and cultural contact.
What are the seas (Aegean, Ionian, and Black Seas)?
The advanced island civilization from Crete that heavily influenced Mycenaean writing, art, religious practices, and sea trade.
Who were the Minoans?
A fortified hilltop in a Greek city-state where citizens gathered to discuss government and public affairs.
What is an acropolis?
Athenian noble who created a harsh legal code in 621 BC based on the idea that all Athenians were equal under the law, where almost all offenses carried the death penalty.
Who was Draco?
Famous battle in 490 BC where outnumbered Athenians defeated 25,000 Persian invaders, prompting Pheidippides to run 26 miles back to Athens to declare victory.
What was the Battle of Marathon?
Blind storyteller who composed famous oral epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey during the Dark Age of Ancient Greece.
Who was Homer?
According to Greek legend, this 10-year war began when a Trojan prince kidnapped the beautiful wife of a Greek king.
What was the Trojan War?
A government ruled by a small group of wealthy noble landowners, usually based on birth and family ties.
What is an aristocracy?
this city-state focused on intelligence and sending their young to school.
What was Athens?
The mountain pass where King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the death to hold off the massive Persian army.
What was Thermopylae?
Traditional stories about Greek gods and goddesses created to explain nature, human emotions, and mystery.
What are myths?
the name of the beautiful wife of the Greek king during the war who was captured by a Trojan prince.
Helen
A type of government where power rests in the hands of a small group of powerful citizens, regardless of nobility.
What is an oligarchy?
Type of government Athens creates for its city-state.
What is a democracy?
The crucial naval battle fought in a narrow strait where small, agile Greek ships crushed Xerxes' Persian fleet.
What was the Battle of Salamis?
A less advanced group of people who moved into war-torn Greece around 1200 BC, during whose 400-year rule no written records were kept.
Who were the Dorians?
Long narrative poems celebrating the heroic deeds of legendary warriors, such as Achilles and Hector in battle.
what are epics
Powerful individuals who seized control of the government by appealing to the common people for support against the nobility.
Who are tyrants?
Spartan boys left their homes for harsh military training barracks at this age.
What is age 7?
strongest impact of the Persian Wars.
What was unifying Greek city-states.