John Green Video

1. It took Odysseus more than ten years to return home from the Trojan War.
2.  According to Google Maps, the trip would have taken two weeks  
3. The Trojan war occurred around the twelfth century BCE.
4. Homer composed the Odyssey in the eighth century BCE.
5. An epic poem is a long narrative poem 
6. His wife is Penelope.
7. His son is Telemachus. 
8. Odysseus is imprisoned by the nymph because she loves him and does not want to let him go, until the gods intervene and after a series of events is able to return home. 
9. Yes, because the Greek's definition of being a hero did not mean you had to be perfect, but it just meant that you had an extraordinary attribute or ability and Odysseus did.
10. One of the most beautiful lines of Homer is " And so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, her white arms round him pressed as though forever."

3/13

During the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. aristocrats ran the show in most of Greece

• aristocrats- members of the ruling class

- attended symposiums, meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry; performances by dancers and acrobats and the company of the hetaeras (courtesans) while discussing politics
- no women except for entertainment
- no middle or lower classes
- even certain aristocrats were excluded
-would form alliances with hoplites- well armed soldiers- and set up alternative form of government- tyranny
-tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis
- modern meaning of tyrant: an abusive or oppressive ruler
- Greek meaning of tyrant: someone who simply seized power (usually with hoplite help)

• Draco (621 B.C.)

- all Athenians, rich or poor, are equal under the law- draconian- unnecessarily harsh
- but death is the punishment for many crimes
-debt slavery is OK- work as a slave to repay debts

• Solon's reform (594 B.C.)

- outlaws debt slavery
- all Athenian citizens can speak at the assembly
- any citizen can press charges against wrongdoers

• more reforms (500 B.C.) 

-allowed all citizens to submit laws for debate at the assembly
- created the Council of Five Hundred (members chosen at random, to counsel the assembly)
- but only free adult male property owners born in Athens were considered citizens
-no women, slaves, or "foreigners"

3/11

Did Homer actually exist?

• the Homeric "question"- Homer may have been a mythical character himself
• blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure
• Iliad and Odyssey maybe the culminations of many generations of story telling
• or... Homer actually existed and he was just that awesome
• polis: fundamental political unit, made up of a city and the surrounding countryside; politics (affairs of the city), policy, political, etc.
• monarchy: rule by a single person (a king in Greece)
• aristocracy: rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families
• oligarchy: weal thy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rue, who seized power often (with military help)
• tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support

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

3/7

Mycenaean Civilization Develops

• some settled in Greece around 2000 B.C.
• Mycenae- mainland located in southern Greece
• could withstand almost any attack 
• warrior-king ruled the surrounding villages and farms
• strong rulers controlled the areas around other Mycenaean cities such as Tiryns and Athens
• 1500 B.C. through either trade or war saw value of seaborne trade
• The Minoans influenced culture of Mycenae 
• formed the core of Greek religious practice, art politics, and literature
• The Trojan War- 1200 B.C. the Mycenaean fought a ten year war against Troy, independent trading city in Anatolia.
• myths- traditional stories about Greek gods

3/6

• What does the relief panel suggest about the role of democracy in Greek society?
• Why might the Greeks decorate pottery with a heroic scene?
• Why might the Greeks place grateful statues in and around their public buildings
• Ancient Greece- mountainous peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea, 2000 islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas
• The Sea- shaped Greek civilization. they were main transportation routes. connected Greeks to the outside civilizations
• The Land- Rugged mountains- ran northwest to southeast along Balkan Peninsula- land transportation took a long time due to rugged mountains. fertile valley covered only 1/4 of Greece. No more than a few million people lived there because of the nonexistent irrigation system
• The climate- temperatures averaging to about 48 degrees F to 80 degrees F which supported an outdoor life. Men often met outside for public events to discuss public issues, exchange news, and take part in civic life

3/4

• Upper Egypt- 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile; Lower Egypt- wide land of the Nile Delta, emptying into the Mediterranean Sea
• Nile- major provider of life for the Egyptians and was much revered in lore and writing
• 3100 B.C. the two lands were united by the single- king or pharaoh, Narmer
• Pharaoh- worshiped as a god, god-king
• relied on harmony and balance of universe which is called "maat" and is represented by goddess named Maat and the opposite is Isfet
• Pharaohs had multiple wives and all routes to financial and social success were through the palace
• women could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands, though only a tiny few wielded real political power
• Gods were often portrayed with animal heads or bodies
• Egyptians believed in an afterlife, ka, and they mummified bodies to preserve them 
• all souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and be either sent to an after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster
• first Egyptian writing formed around 3100 B.C. and were small pictures called hieroglyphics
• Egyptian script was usually written in ink on papyrus which was made from mashed Nile reeds 
• Papyrus, the precursor to paper, was stored in scrolls and these scrolls were the books of ancient Egypt
• Egyptian astronomers created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days to make better sense of seasonal cycles
• wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transportation ability on the Nile
• The Temple of Amon at Karnal is the largest religious building in the world. also made out of huge blocks of stone
• stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in a series of regulated poses, often in profile and without perspective, but were highly effective