Ancient+Greece



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===In the development of Greek civilization, geography was very important. Greece is a very small area consisting of mountains, peninsulas, plains, river valleys, and islands. The mountains split apart Greece forcing different communities to live on their own. There was war between these communities that had a negative impact on Greek society. Another factor on the development of Greece was the sea. Many different islands surround Greece. The Aegean Sea, Black Sea, and Mediterranean helped the Greeks come in contact with new people, places, and ideas. The Aegean Sea would have been an easy way for the Mycenaean people to reach Troy. Troy was home to a great battle in Greek history, the Trojan War.===

===The Trojan War took place in 1250 BC. This battle was a fight between Troy and the Mycenaean civilization. The war started when Paris, the Trojan prince, captured Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta. King Agamemnon of Mycenae as a result of this came up with a plan. The Mycenaean soldiers acted like they were retreating from Troy and left a big wooden horse as a gift to the Trojans. The Trojans brought the horse into the city, and later that night when the city was celebrating, a bunch of Mycenaean soldiers jumped out of the horse and destroyed the city. This was a major event in Greek history. Another person who changed Greek history was the poet Homer.===

===Homer was a blind poet in 750 BC. He was famous for two epic poems. One of the epics was the Iliad. The Iliad was about a Great War hero named Achilles and his journey through the Trojan War. The Odyssey was another one of Homers famous epics. The Odyssey is about the adventures of Odysseus when he was trying to find his way home after the Fall of Troy. In Homers poems, he taught of courage and honor. To the Greeks Homer didn’t just record history in his poems, he created it!===

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**5.Pheidippides-** He ran 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens. He died after this run but with his last breath he said, “ Victory we win!”

 * "As soon as they were seven years old they were to be enrolled in certain companies and classes, where they all lived under the same order and discipline, doing their exercises and taking their play together. Of these, he who showed the most courage was made captain; they had their eyes always upon him, obeyed his orders, and underwent patiently whatsoever punishment he inflicted; so that the whole course of their education was one continued exercise of a ready and perfect obedience." - Plutarch**

__**Vocabulary Terms**__
==== **Direct Democracy:** A system of government in which the people participate directly in government decision making through mass meetings. In Athens, every male citizen participated in the governing assembly and voted on all major issues. ====

**Ostracism:** In ancient Athens, the process for temporarily banning or sometimes punishing the ambitious politicians from the city by popular vote.
==== **Tragedy:** A form of drama that portrays a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a protagonist who is brought to ruin or extreme sorrow, especially as a result of a fatal flaw. ====

[[image:ancient_greece_map.gif width="394" height="318" caption="A map of Ancient Greece"]]
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__** Links **__
History of Original Marathon This relates how the marathon got started with Pheidippedes and how it has evolved to today's marathon. SpartaGives an overview of Sparta. You can navigate the site to learn about the history, see a few maps, and more. Basics of HomerTells about Homer and his poems the Illiad and the Odyssey. Phalanx and HoplitesShows what hoplites are and how they used the phalanx defense in battle. Trojan WarWebsite that tells the history of the Trojan War and how it started.