Page 1 of 4

1
Cultures of the
Mountains and the Sea
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

CULTURAL INTERACTION The The seeds of much of Western • Mycenaean • Homer

roots of Greek culture are based cultural heritage were planted • Trojan War • epic
on interaction of the Mycenaean, during this time period. • Dorian • myth
Minoan, and Dorian cultures.

SETTING THE STAGE In ancient times, Greece was not a united country. It
was a collection of separate lands where Greek-speaking people lived. By
3000 B.C., the Minoans lived on the large Greek island of Crete. The Minoans
created an elegant civilization that had great power in the Mediterranean world.
At the same time, people from the plains along the Black Sea and Anatolia
migrated and settled in mainland Greece.

Geography Shapes Greek Life TAKING NOTES

Categorizing Use a
Ancient Greece consisted mainly of a mountainous peninsula jutting out into the chart to organize
Mediterranean Sea. It also included about 2,000 islands in the Aegean information about the
(ih•JEE•uhn) and Ionian (eye•OH•nee•uhn) seas. Lands on the eastern edge of roots of Greek culture.
the Aegean were also part of ancient Greece. (See the map on page 121.) The
region’s physical geography directly shaped Greek traditions and customs. Culture Contribution
Minoan Writingg System:
y
The Sea The sea shaped Greek civilization just as rivers shaped the ancient pottery designs
civilizations of Egypt, the Fertile Crescent, India, and China. In one sense, the Mycenaean
Greeks did not live on a land but around a sea. Greeks rarely had to travel more
than 85 miles to reach the coastline. The Aegean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Dorian

neighboring Black Sea were important transportation routes for the Greek peo-
ple. These seaways linked most parts of Greece. As the Greeks became skilled
sailors, sea travel connected Greece with other societies. Sea travel and trade
were also important because Greece lacked natural resources, such as timber,
precious metals, and usable farmland.
The Land Rugged mountains covered about three-fourths of ancient Greece.
The mountain chains ran mainly from northwest to southeast along the Balkan
Peninsula. Mountains divided the land into a number of different regions. This
significantly influenced Greek political life. Instead of a single government, the
Greeks developed small, independent communities within each little valley and its
surrounding mountains. Most Greeks gave their loyalty to these local communities.
In ancient times, the uneven terrain also made land transportation difficult. Of
the few roads that existed, most were little more than dirt paths. It often took
travelers several days to complete a journey that might take a few hours today.
Much of the land itself was stony, and only a small part of it was arable, or
suitable for farming. Tiny but fertile valleys covered about one-fourth of Greece.
Classical Greece 123
 Page 2 of 4

The small streams that watered these valleys were not suitable for large-scale
irrigation projects. With so little fertile farmland or fresh water for irrigation,
Greece was never able to support a large population. Historians estimate that no
more than a few million people lived in ancient Greece at any given time. Even this
small population could not expect the land to support a life of luxury. A desire for
more living space, grassland for raising livestock, and adequate farmland may have Analyzing Causes
been factors that motivated the Greeks to seek new sites for colonies. In what ways
did Greece’s loca-
The Climate Climate was the third important environmental influence on Greek
tion by the sea and
civilization. Greece has a varied climate, with temperatures averaging 48 degrees its mountainous
Fahrenheit in the winter and 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. In ancient times, land affect its
these moderate temperatures supported an outdoor life for many Greek citizens. development?
Men spent much of their leisure time at outdoor public events. They met often to
discuss public issues, exchange news, and take an active part in civic life.

Mycenaean Civilization Develops

As Chapter 3 explained, a large wave of Indo-Europeans migrated from the
Eurasian steppes to Europe, India, and Southwest Asia. Some of the people who
settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C. were later known as Mycenaeans.
The name came from their leading city, Mycenae (my•SEE•nee).
Mycenae was located in southern Greece on a steep, rocky ridge and surrounded
by a protective wall more than 20 feet thick. The fortified city of Mycenae could
withstand almost any attack. From Mycenae, a warrior-king ruled the surrounding
villages and farms. Strong rulers controlled the areas around other Mycenaean
cities, such as Tiryns and Athens. These kings dominated Greece from about 1600
to 1100 B.C.

42°N Black Sea Mycenaean Greece

Mycenaean city
Mycenaean Greece, c. 1250 B.C. Other city
Trade routes
Battle

Troy HITTITE
EMPIRE
Lesbos ANATOLIA
GREECE Aegean
Orchomenos Gla
Euboea
Sea
Ionian Thebes
Athens
Chios

Sea Samos
Miletus
Sicily Mycenae Tiryns
Peloponnesus
Pylos

Rhodes

16°E Knossos Cyprus

Crete
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER:
Interpreting Maps
1. Location Where was the center of the Mediterranean
Mycenaean Civilization located? 34°N Sea
2. Movement Based on the map, how
did Mycenaean traders conduct most
of their trade? 0 100 Miles

24°E 0 200 Kilometers 32°E

EGYPT
124
 Page 3 of 4

Contact with Minoans Sometime after

1500 B.C., through either trade or war, the
Mycenaeans came into contact with the
Minoan civilization. From their contact
with the Minoans, the Mycenaeans saw
the value of seaborne trade. Mycenaean
traders soon sailed throughout the eastern
Mediterranean, making stops at Aegean
islands, coastal towns in Anatolia, and
ports in Syria, Egypt, Italy, and Crete.
The Minoans also influenced the
Mycenaeans in other ways. The Myce-
naeans adapted the Minoan writing sys-
tem to the Greek language and decorated
vases with Minoan designs. The Minoan-
influenced culture of Mycenae formed the
core of Greek religious practice, art,
Recognizing politics, and literature. Indeed, Western
Effects civilization has its roots in these two
How did early Mediterranean civilizations.
contact with the
The Trojan War During the 1200s B.C.,
Minoans affect ▲ Greek stories
Mycenaean culture? the Mycenaeans fought a ten-year war against Troy, an independent trading city tell of their army’s
located in Anatolia. According to legend, a Greek army besieged and destroyed capture of the leg-
Troy because a Trojan prince had kidnapped Helen, the beautiful wife of a endary city of Troy
by hiding soldiers
Greek king.
in a hollow
For many years, historians thought that the legendary stories told of the Trojan wooden horse.
War were totally fictional. However, excavations conducted in northwestern
Turkey during the 1870s by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann sug-
gested that the stories of the Trojan War might have been based on real cities,
people, and events. Further archaeological studies conducted in the 20th century
support Schliemann’s findings. Although the exact nature of the Trojan War
remains unclear, this attack on Troy was almost certainly one of the last Mycenaean
battle campaigns.

Greek Culture Declines Under the Dorians

Not long after the Trojan War, Mycenaean civilization collapsed. Around 1200 B.C.,
sea raiders attacked and burned many Mycenaean cities. According to tradition, a
new group of people, the Dorians (DAWR•ee•uhnz), moved into the war-torn
countryside. The Dorians spoke a dialect of Greek and may have been distant
relatives of the Bronze Age Greeks.
The Dorians were far less advanced than the Mycenaeans. The economy
collapsed and trade eventually came to a standstill soon after their arrival. Most
important to historians, Greeks appear to have temporarily lost the art of writing
during the Dorian Age. No written record exists from the 400-year period between
1150 and 750 B.C. As a result, little is known about this period of Greek history.
Epics of Homer Lacking writing, the Greeks of this time learned about their
history through the spoken word. According to tradition, the greatest storyteller
was a blind man named Homer. Little is known of his personal life. Some historians
believe that Homer composed his epics, narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds,
sometime between 750 and 700 B.C. The Trojan War forms the backdrop for one of
Homer’s great epic poems, the Iliad.
Classical Greece 125
 Page 4 of 4

The heroes of the Iliad are warriors: the fierce Greek, Achilles
(uh•KIHL•eez), and the courageous and noble Hector of Troy. In the
following dramatic excerpt, Hector’s wife begs him not to fight Achilles:

PRIMARY SOURCE
“My dear husband, your warlike spirit will be your death. You've no
compassion for your infant child, for me, your sad wife, who before long
will be your widow. . . . As for me, it would be better, if I'm to lose you,
to be buried in the ground. . . .”
Great Hector . . . replied, “Wife, all this concerns me, too. But I’d be
disgraced, dreadfully shamed . . . , if I should slink away from war, like a
coward. [F]or I have learned always to be brave, to fight alongside Trojans
at the front, striving to win great fame for my father, for myself.”
HOMER, Iliad (translated by Ian Johnston)

Hector’s response to his wife gives insight into the Greek heroic
ideal of aretē (ar•uh•TAY), meaning virtue and excellence. A Greek
could display this ideal on the battlefield in combat or in athletic
contests on the playing field.
▲ This is a
Greeks Create Myths The Greeks developed a rich set of myths, or traditional marble sculpture
stories, about their gods. The works of Homer and another epic, Theogony by of Polyphemus,
Hesiod, are the source of much of Greek mythology. Through the myths, the Greeks a cyclops, or
one-eyed
sought to understand the mysteries of nature and the power of human passions.
monster, who
Myths explained the changing of the seasons, for example. appears in
Greeks attributed human qualities, such as love, hate, and jealousy, to their another of
gods. The gods quarreled and competed with each other constantly. However, Homer’s epics,
the Odyssey.
unlike humans, the gods lived forever. Zeus, the ruler of the gods, lived on Mount
Olympus with his wife, Hera. Hera was often jealous of Zeus’ relationships with
other women. Athena, goddess of wisdom, was Zeus’ daughter and his favorite
child. The Greeks thought of Athena as the guardian of cities, especially of
Athens, which was named in her honor. You will learn about Athens and other
cities in Section 2.

SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Mycenaean • Trojan War • Dorian • Homer • epic • myth

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which of the cultures on your 3. What impact did nearness to 6. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS How did the physical geography
chart do you think contributed the sea have on the of Greece cause Greek-speaking peoples to develop
the most to Greek culture? development of Greece? separate, isolated communities?
Explain. 4. What aspects of culture did the 7. ANALYZING CAUSES Other than the explanation offered in
Mycenaeans adopt from the the legend, why do you think the Greeks went to war
Culture Contribution
Minoan
Minoans? with Troy?
Writingg System:
y
pottery designs 5. Why were the epics of 8. MAKING INFERENCES The Dorian period is often called
Mycenaean importance to the Greeks of Greece’s Dark Age. Why do you think this is so?
the Dorian period? 9. WRITING ACTIVITY CULTURAL INTERACTION Write an
Dorian
expository essay explaining why the Greek epics and
myths are so well known and studied in today’s society.

CONNECT TO TODAY WRITING EXPLANATIONS

Many names and phrases from this period of Greek history have been absorbed into the
English language. Use library resources to find examples, such as Achilles heel, Homeric, and
Trojan horse. Write a brief explanation of each example.

126 Chapter 5