What do all these images have in common?

©2012, TESCCC

Where is it exactly?

©2012, TESCCC

Ancient Greece: Geography

• Southeastern Europe• Mountainous and rugged terrain• Surrounded by bodies of water• Greeks referred to their land as Hellas and to

themselves as Hellenes• Geography led to political fragmentation…

city-states!

Ancient Greece

©2012, TESCCC

Ancient Greece: History

• Polis=city-state (Athens, Sparta, and many, many more)

• Made up of a city and its surrounding countryside• Between 50 and 500 square miles of territory• Often home to fewer than 20,000 people• Peaked around 500 BC• Even though the city-states often fought with each

other, politics, the arts and philosophy flourished…mainly in Athens!

Forms of Government

• Monarchy: rule by one• Aristocracy: rule by the nobility• Oligarchy: rule by the few• Democracy: rule by the people (free men)

which only consisted of about 1/5 of Athens population!!!

A Greek Theatre

©2012, TESCCC

©2012, TESCCC

Parthenon

©2012, TESCCC