I. Geography and Environment [MAP]

II. The Early Greeks: Minoans and Mycenaeans [MAP]
        2500 BCE        beginning of Minoan civilization (Crete)
        1600 BCE        beginning of Mycenaean civilization
        1450 BCE        destruction of Crete by Mycenaeans
        1200 BCE        destruction of Mycenaean cities in Greece

III.  Dark Age Greece (1100-750 BCE)

IV.  Discussion of Homer's Iliad, Book VI
        Priam - king of Troy
        Hecuba - Queen of Troy
        Hector - son of Priam and Hecuba
        Paris (Alexandrus) - son of Priam and Hecuba

        Agamemnon - leader of Achaeans (Greeks) [king of Mycenae]
        Achilles - Greek warrior
        Helen - Greek woman, taken to Troy by Paris

        The Trojan War (according to Greek mythology)
        - goddesses ask Paris to choose who is most beautiful
        - he chooses Aphrodite because she promises him 
                the most beautiful woman in the world 
                -- Helen, daughter of Zeus and the wife of the king of Sparta
        - Paris goes to Greece to get Helen
        - Helen is already married to Menelaus
        - Aphrodite puts a spell on Helen that allows Paris to convince 
                her to elope with him back to Troy
        - under the command of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, 
                the Greeks launch an expedition to avenge Menelaus
                 and take Helen back to Greece

        - war lasted 10 years; Greeks besieged Troy for 9 years -- uneventful
        - Homer's Iliad is about a small part of 
                the more eventful final year of the war

        - main subject: wrath of Achilles

Religion
        A. the gods
        B.  mythology = stories about the gods
        - used by the Greeks to explain their world
        e.g., The Trojan War
        C. gods are unpredictable, capricious
        D. worship of gods
                1- Olympia [MAP] [Olympic events]
                2- Delphi
        E. in sum:
                1- purpose of mythology was to explain events that were
                        otherwise unexplainable; relieved tension and anxiety
                        about things people didn't understand
                2- the subjects of myths are supernatural
                3- but myths are not devoid of truth

Culture
        A. areté
        B. honor
        C. fate

    - Paris and Hector
    - Glaucus and Diomed

Society (esp. roles of men and women)

        - the plight of women in Ancient Greece

V. After the Dark Age: Revitilization of Greek Society (8th c. BCE) [MAP]
        A. Population growth
        B. Reintroduction of writing [Linear B] [Phoenician alphabet]
        C. Colonizing the Mediterranean
                - spread of Greek culture
                - increased trade
        D. Political Change
                1. ethnos
                2. polis = city-state
                3. democratization of warfare = democratization of politcal life 
                        - hoplites: image 1, image 2
                            - phalanx
                        - those who fight are those who vote

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