Geography of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece Geography of Ancient Greece

Mountains and Sea

 Ancient Greece was made up of a part of southern ______mainland and

many ______.

 The two largest islands are ______and ______, found in the Mediterranean Sea.

 About 9 out of every 10 acres in Greece are ______.

 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 ______, on the east coast of Greece, has some of the precious arable land.

 A peninsula is an area of land surrounded by ______on ______sides.

 Attica contains many ______, sheltered places along the coast.

 ______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 ______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 ______and ______to make bread, in addition to

______and ______.

 ______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.  ______oil was one of the most prized Greek exports because it was tasty to

______with, useful as ______fuel, and body ______.

 This made it possible to ______for the much needed grain.

The Rise of Greek Cities

 Greek historian, ______, is considered the “Father of ______.”

A Greek Polis

 In Greece, a city-state was called a ______. It was a self-governing city ruled

by a group of powerful ______.

 Most city-states were built around an acropolis, a large _____ where city residents

could seek shelter and ______in times of war.

 Farmers and craftworkers sold their goods at an agora, a ______and meeting place in a clearing.

 Each polis was ruled by leaders who were ______of the polis.

 In ancient Greece, only free ______could be citizens. Women and slaves were not citizens and had few rights.

 A small group of the richest, most powerful citizens called an ______generally controlled decision making.

 Early Greek polis were ruled by a king and queen, called a ______, which means ruled by one.

 A modern day citizen is a person who was born in a ______and has certain rights and responsibilities.

Two Greek Cities

 ______and ______are two city-states whose artifacts were preserved and told archaeologists about life in these polis.

 Sparta covered most of the southern ______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 ______.

 Sparta had more slaves than any other polis.

 Sparta’s leaders made Sparta the strongest ______power in Greece after defeating a slave revolt.

 Spartan boys started training to be soldiers by ___ years old.

 Spartan girls trained in ______to be strong mothers of strong children.

 Athens lay on the peninsula of ______, northeast of Sparta.

 Athenian girls wove ______and helped in ______at harvest.

 Athenian boys worked with their fathers to learn their craft, or rich boys went to

______to learn ______and ______.

 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 ______could take part in making decisions about the polis.

 This form of government is called a ______.

 Athens had the ______known democracy in history.

Shared Culture

 The ancient Greeks worshipped many ______. The most powerful gods lived

on Mount ______.

 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 ______, the goddess of ______.  ______, 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.

 ______is a favorite Greek poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, stories of war and adventure.

 The Greeks settled ______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 ______years ago.

 They were started so that the Greeks could honor the ______on Mt. Olympus.

 In ancient Greece, the Olympics were ______competitions, and

______were not allowed to compete. Only free ____ from Greek city-states.

 Today there are ______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 ______power and built a mighty naval fleet.

 During the war against ______, Athens and ______joined together to defeat the Persians.

 Many Greek colonies continued to be threatened by Persia and ______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 ______.

 Athens’ large ______was the religious center of the city.

 Buildings such as the temple to Athena, the ______, showed the cities wealth and power.

 At this time, Athens was the ______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 ______citizens made the cities important decisions.

 Later, the council’s powers were taken over by an ______.

 An assembly is a ______body of government.

 ______, an Athenian leader around 450 B.C., made sure that ______

citizens as well as rich citizens could take part in government decisions.

 Citizens served on the ______and sat on ______.

 A jury is a group of ______chosen to hear evidence and make decisions in a court of law.

 Pericles arranged for citizens to be ______when they held office or served on a jury.

 Socrates taught philosophy, or the search for ______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., ______began questioning Athenian ______, such as laws, customs, and religion.  Socrates was brought to trial and found ______of “urging Athens’ young people to revolt”.

 ______, a student of Socrates, wrote down all of Socrates’ teachings.

War and Conflict

 The ______Wars began because ______and other Greek

city-states became jealous of Athens’ ______and ______.

 ______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 ____-______of the population in the crowded city.

 Sparta won most ______battles, while Athens won most of the ______battles.

 The Athenians did not surrender until their people were ______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 ______.

The Greek Empire

 At the end of the Peloponnesian Wars, ______was the most powerful remaining empire.

 The Persians controlled lands in ______, Phoenicia, ______, ______,

Persia, and Jewish lands.

Alexander of Macedonia

 Alexander, king of Macedonia, was educated by ______, a Greek philosopher.

 Alexander had grown to ______the Greek culture and traditions because of Aristotle’s teachings.  Alexander’s army conquered ______after the city-states had been weakened by the Peloponnesian Wars.

 In 334 B.C., Alexander and his armies set off to conquer ______.

 His conquest continued through Persia and into the ______valley. Alexander’s

army never ______a battle, and he helped to spread Greek culture from Egypt to

India.

 Alexander died after becoming ______in 323 B.C.

A City in the Empire

 ______was founded as a capital for the newly conquered ______kingdom.

 Alexandria’s basic layout mirrored a ______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 ______.

 This lighthouse was one of the ______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 ______to honor gods, goddesses, deceased

spouses, or to serve as a beacon (light) for ______.

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 ______.  The Alexandria library was one of the largest of the time partially due to the

practice of searching trader’s ships for ______and making ______of the

books from all over the known world.

 The Greeks used a simple ____ letter alphabet to simplify learning to ______

and ______.

 Greek mathematicians learned from the ______mathematicians and

created the basic principles now used in ______and ______.