Chapter 3 Outline I. Hellas: The Land A. Geography 1. Geography played a major role in the development of Greek city-states. 2.

The islands of the Aegean served to link the Greek peninsula and Asia Minor. 3. Small but fertile plains sustained Greek agriculture, while native olive trees and grapevines enabled Greeks to export olive oil and wine. 4. Mountains and poor communications prevented the formation in Greece of a single great empire of the Near Eastern type. B. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans (ca 20001100 b.c.) 1. A civilization with writing and a noble class appeared on Crete by about 2000 and a) The poems of Homer idealized the Greek past. b) The describes the expedition against the Trojans. c) The tells of the adventures of Odysseus. 2. Hesiods and a) The traces the origins of Zeus. b) The tells of Hesiods own village life. II. The Polis A. Origins of the Polis 1. Even during the late Mycenaean period, towns had grown up around palaces. 2. These villages and towns administered political affairs of the community. 3. Each had its local cult to its own deity. 4. They exchanged goods and developed a social system 5. The Dorians took some territory for themselves, but they also assimilated the culture around them. 6. Each polis shared a number of key features. B. City and Chora 1. Life in the polis demanded the integration of the chora and the city. 2. Since the Neolithic Period, agriculture had provided the basis for Greek society. 3. Farmers were the economic basis of the polis and they were also involved in the politics of the city.

4. Most Greek religious practices were rooted in the country. 5. The polis did not have a standing army, but depended on its citizens for protection. 6. The polis was fundamental to Greek life. C. Governing Structures 1. Greek city-states had several different types of governments. 2. Only democracy and oligarchy played lasting roles in Greek political life. 3. Greek democracy meant the rule of citizens. 4. Most Greek states were oligarchies. 5. The fierce independence of Greek city-states led to almost constant warfare. III. The Archaic Age (800-500 b.c.). A. The Common Peace and Federalism 1. The Greeks of the fourth century b.c. experimented with two political concepts in the hope of preventing war. 2. The Common Peace was the idea that the states of Greece should live together in peace and freedom. 3. The second concept, federalism, was supported by those who thought Greece could gain security through numbers. B. The Struggle for Hegemony 1. Neither the Common Peace nor federalism put an end to interstate rivalry. 2. The Spartans used their victory over Athens to build an empire and to punish cities that had opposed Sparta during the war. 3. The defeat of Sparta by Thebes made Thebes the leader of Greece until 359 b.c. C. Philip and the Macedonian Ascendancy 1. Philip II became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C. 2. Philip launched a series of attacks on Athens and its dependents. 3. Philips military victories led to the formation of a unified Greece under Macedonian lea dership.