The Earliest Greeks

Geography Shapes Ancient Greek Life

ESSENTIAL QUESTION What were the main features of the geography of Greece?

The mainland of Greece sticks out into the Mediterranean Sea. It is a peninsula , a body of land that has water on three sides. Greece also includes thousands of islands.

A gulf of water almost divides the Greek peninsula in two. The southern tip forms a second peninsula called the Peloponnesus (pehl•uh•puh•NEE•suhs). A narrow strip of land called an isthmus (IHS•muhs) links the Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece.

Landscape and Climate

Mountains cover 70 to 80 percent of Greece. The mountains divided it into many regions. The uneven landscape made transportation over land difficult. Greece had no large rivers on which people could travel. The rugged landscape made it hard to unite Greece under a single government.

Greece has mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. In much of Greece, temperatures range from about 50°F in winter to 80°F in summer. The warm climate encouraged outdoor life. For example, outdoor athletic competitions such as races were an important part of Greek culture.

Agriculture

Greek land was rocky, so only about 20 to 30 percent of it was good for farming. Even so, more than half of all Greeks were farmers or herders. Most farmland was located in the valleys between mountains.

In Greek society, landowners were part of the upper class. In general, only men owned property. A person who owned land could support himself. He had enough wealth to pay for equipment such as helmets, shields, and swords. This allowed him to serve in the army and defend his homeland. As a result, people respected landowners, who had a higher place in society than merchants or poor people. In order to get more farmland, the Greeks founded colonies in other regions. The western end of Anatolia had broad plains and rivers. The Greeks founded many colonies there.

Resources

The lack of farmland was not the only problem. Greece also lacked natural resources such as precious metals. The Greeks had to find those resources somewhere else. One resource that Greece did have was stone for building. Greece also had plenty of good sites for harbors.

Highways of Water

Several seas played a major role in the life of ancient Greece. The largest was the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Ionian and Aegean seas were branches of the Mediterranean. The Ionian Sea is west of Greece. The Aegean Sea is east of Greece.

These "highways of water" linked most parts of Greece to each other. The Greeks used the seas as transportation routes.

A Seafaring People

The Greeks became skilled sailors and shipbuilders. They built rowing ships for fighting and sailing ships for trading. Some warships had two or three levels of oars on each side. Most sailing ships had a single mast and square sail.

The Ionian and Aegean seas are not very large. Small ships could sail around them by staying near the coast or by sailing from island to island. Once the Greeks learned these routes, they could sail to other regions.

The sea was a source of fish, an important part of the Greek diet. The Greeks traded fresh fish from the sea to local ports along the coast. The Greeks also dried some kinds of fish so that they could be transported over great distances.

Trade and Commerce

Greece did not produce much grain, but some regions produced surplus olive oil, wine, wool, and fine pottery. Greek city-states bought and sold surplus goods from each other. In addition, Greeks traded these items to other regions around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt and Italy. The main products that the Greeks bought were grain, timber for building, animal hides, and slaves. The Greeks also traded for nuts, figs, cheese, and flax, which was used to make linen.

The Earliest Greeks

ESSENTIAL QUESTION How did trade influence Greek culture?

The Greek culture of sailing and trading developed over thousands of years. The earliest Greeks had moved onto the Greek peninsula about 2000 B.C.

Mycenaean Civilization

The first Greek civilization was built on the Peloponnesus. It was named after its most important city, Mycenae (my•SEE•nee). A king ruled each city of Mycenaean Greece. The Mycenaeans were traders. Their culture featured writing, gold jewelry, bronze weapons, and fine pottery. Their civilization collapsed about 1200 B.C., perhaps because of invaders.

After the fall of the Mycenaeans, Greek culture declined. People no longer kept written records. Without such records, historians know little about the period from 1200 to 750 B.C.

New Advances in Greek Culture

In time, Greek culture made advances again. One reason for this is that the Greeks learned from other people, such as the Phoenicians (fih•NISHSH•uhnz). They were another important trading people, who lived on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean. By trading with other people, the Phoenicians spread their system of writing. It used 22 symbols to stand for sounds. Such a system of symbols is called an alphabet .