About 2,500 years ago, Greece was one of the most important places in the world. Copyright © 2018. National Geographic and the Yellow Border Ancient Greece are registered trademarks of the National Geographic Society.
Geography MAP 480 Greece is made up of a peninsula EUROPE at the southernmost tip of Europe I A and many islands scattered across N D O the Aegean and Adriatic seas. E ASIA It is mountainous with hot, dry C ATLANTIC summers and rain only in winter. A OCEAN Mount Olympus was M believed to be the home of AFRICA the gods. It is the highest mountain in Greece. Troy INDIAN Mount . OCEAN Olympus Aegean Sea
Marathon was the site of a great battle in 490 B.C. The outnumbered Greeks defeated GREECE the Persian army. A messenger ran to Athens to spread the victory news. This is PERSIAN Delphi was one of the holiest the origin of the marathon running race. places in ancient Greece. Ships and Trade EMPIRE The ancient Greeks relied on the ocean for food, trade, and Ionian Sea . Delphi exploration. Greek sailors had small rowboats for fishing, big Marathon trading ships, and fast warships. . Athens Olympia was home to the ancient Mycenae Olympic Games. Athletes came Olympia . from all over Greece to compete. . Only a very powerful ruler could Sparta was a place of soldiers. Boys left their control all of Greece. One man did in families at age seven to train for decades. Sparta the 300s B.C. He was Alexander the Those who completed their training were . Great, from Macedonia. He led his The Mycenaeans considered true Spartan soldiers and citizens. Athens was a key place in army to conquer an empire that The Mycenaeans were a Greece from 500 to 400 B.C. stretched as far as India. great civilization of traders M Some of Greece’s most and soldiers on the E important thinkers, artists, mainland from 1600 to D and writers lived here. 1100 B.C. They famously I Athens was also the world’s T first democracy. fought in the battle E R of Troy. Homer, an R A important Greek N E writer, told their A Knossos was the oldest N city and the center of story in his books S Legend has it that Knossos N E A the Minoan civilization. the Iliad and the was home to a man-eating Odyssey. W E 0 25 50 100 Kilometers bull, called the Minotaur. It roamed the palace labyrinth, S 0 25 50 62.14 an elaborate maze. .Knossos This mask is probably were the first great Greek civilization. the most famous artifact The Minoans C R E T E of Mycenaean Greece. They lived on the island of Crete, from 2200 to 1450 B.C. They were named after their legendary king, Minos. (MAP) ROBERT PRATT, (SHIP, MARATHON RUNNER, MINOTAUR ART) STEVE MCCRACKEN, (MAP INSET) MAPPING SPECIALISTS, LTD., (GOLD MASK) (GOLD LTD., (MAP INSET) MAPPING SPECIALISTS, MCCRACKEN, STEVE ART) RUNNER, MINOTAUR MARATHON (SHIP, PRATT, (MAP) ROBERT FOTOSTOCK GARCIA/AGE GOMEZ PACO (ALEXANDER THE GREAT) IMAGES, LIBRARY/GETTY PICTURE AGOSTINI VERGANI/DE DE AGOSTINI/A.