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Abby Rega 10/26/10 WHCP

__**Key Words:**__ Mycenaeans: The group of people the migrated and settled in Greece around 2000 BC. Trojan war: A war that was fought among the Greeks and the trojans because a Trojan price stole Helen, a Greek queen. Dorains: Moved into the country after the Mycenaean cities had been destroyed. Epics: narrative poems ceeabrating heroic deeds. Myths: Traditional stories about the gods.

__**Key People:**__ Homer: An epic story teller who's stories were the source of many of the Greek myths.

__//**Summary:**//__


 * Geography Shapes Greek Life**
 * Ancient Greece was a mountainous penninsula jutting out into the Mediterrean Sea. There were also 2,000 islands to go along with it.


 * The Sea**
 * The Sea was extremely important for trading and connecting Greece to other countries, since they didn't have many natural resources.


 * The Land**
 * 3/4 of ancient Greece consisted of mountains, which split up Greece into many different political regions, each with their own government.
 * The uneven terriain and the small dirt roads made traveling very dfficult.
 * There was little fertile ground and rivers for irrigation, so Greece wasn't able to support a lot of people.


 * The Climate**
 * Greece had mild winters and warm summers, so these enjoyable temperatures made it easy to live an outdoor life.


 * Mycenaean Civilization Developes**
 * Some people who migrated to Greece in 2000 BC made a city called Mycenae, and they were later called the Mycenaeans.
 * Mycenae was located in southern Greece where there was a rocky wall more than 20 feet thick to protect them, and a warrior king ruled the surrounding villages and farms.


 * Contact with the Minoans**
 * After 1500 BC, the Mycenaeans came in contact with the Minoans and saw the value of seaborne trade. From there they traded with other nations such as Syria and Crete.
 * The Minoans also influenced the writing, art, and literature of the Greeks.


 * The Trojan War**
 * As legend goes, a Greek army destroyed the city of Troy because a Trojan prince had kidnapped a Greek queen named Helen.
 * Many historians believed that the legends about the Trojan war are fictional, but according to exacvations in 1870, there might be some truth to the stories.


 * Greek Culture Declines Under the Dorians**
 * Sea radiers destroyed many Mycenaean cities, and a new group of people, the Dorians, moved in.
 * The Dorians, who were far less advanced than the Mycenaeans, eventaully had their trade and economy collapse. They had no writing avalible to them at that time, so little is know about the Dorian age.


 * Epics of Homer**
 * The Greeks learned much about their history through spoken word. Homer, a blind man, was one of the greatest story tellers in Greek history, and the "backdrop" of his poem //Iliad// is the Trojan war.
 * Heroes of Iliad: Achilles, the Greek, and the Trojan, Hector.
 * The Heroic idea of Arete: Virtue and Excellence


 * Greeks Create Myths**
 * Through the epics of Homer and several other story-tellers, myths were created. They explain natural phenonenons, such as the changing of the seasons.
 * Greeks atributed many human characteristcs to their gods, but the gods lived forever, unlike humans.