3/8

• fertile valleys cover 1/4 of the peninsula; only 20% is arable (suitable for farming)
• Greek diet- consists of grain, grapes, olives, and fish
• lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization
• temps- ranged from mid 40's in the winter and low 80's in the summer
• their influence began around 2000 BCE
• Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnosus; protected by a 20 ft thick wall
• Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600 -1100 BCE- controlled trade in the region
• 1400 BCE Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture 
• The Trojan War- fought around 1200 BCE (was the war really fought)
• around 1200 BCE the mysterious sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after place
• the Donians moved into this war-torn region dominating from 1150-750 BCE; far less advanced; trade-based economy collapsed; writing disappeared for 400 years (Dark Ages)
• Greek oral tradition - stories passed on by word of mouth
• Homer lived at the end of these Greek Dark Ages; he composed stories (epics) of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE
• The Iliad possibly one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans (The Trojan War)
• The Odyssey- attempts to return home After the Trojan War. being thwarted by the angry god of the sea Poseidon 
• The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter