History of Ancient Greece Podcast Notes

-The Minoans of Crete were an early source of inspiration for what would come to be known as Ancient Greek civilization. -Crete- the largest Greek island; separates the Libyan Sea from the Aegean Sea.    -Mountainous, but also has fertile plains for agriculture.    -Just like other Neolithic Greeks, the people established farms and shit around the same time as the people of the mainland.       -Same with a social and political hierarchy, specialization of labor, etc.       -Finally developed a proto-civilization around 3500 BC.          -Eventually became an island of small city-states. -Minoans entered into the Bronze Age around 2700 BC.    -Traded in wine, olive oil, wool, lumber, etc.    -Early masters of the Aegean Sea, as they were really good at building ships that could go out in into the open sea.       -At the height of their power they had a trade network set...

-Greece's Early Bronze Age    -Begins with the development of metallurgy (c. 4000 BC).    -Bronze technology arrives in Greece sometime between 4000-3000 BC.    -c. 2500 BC- bronze, lead, silver, and gold becomes widespread throughout Crete, its surrounding islands, and the Cyclades (the Greek islands that surround the island of Delos... comes from the Greek word "kyklas" (roughly translates to "around")).    -Bronze technology allowed for the creation of new luxury goods, tools, construction methods, and weapons!       -Weapons include swords, spears, and daggers.    -Bronze also brought a greater divide in terms of wealth and status- those who had more bronze had more power.    -Leaders of communities were now chiefs (hereditary).       -The job market also exploded with bronze/metal workers, traders, etc.          -Traders would often pass through Greece while t...

-One source for the Greek creation story is form Hesiod's "Theogony" ("theos"=god; "ogony"=birth of), written c. 700 BC. Of course, there are a bunch of different variations and versions; below is just one version.    -The world developed from chaos into an ordered structure through the power of the gods. -At first there was just chaos, and from chaos came Gaia (Mother Earth), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night).    -Inside Gaia is a huge chasm named Tartarus.    -From Erebus and Nyx we also get Aether (Air), Hemera (Day) and other primordial deities.    -Gaia produces the god Uranus (AKA Father Sky) and Pontus (Sea).       -Gaia represents the Female, Uranus represents the Male. -Uranus would rain on Gaia and produce monsters, most notably the powerful Titans.    -Uranus was scared of these monstrous children, so he kept on forcing them back into Gaia's womb.       -This pisses off Gaia (obviously),...

-The word "Greek" actually comes from Latin.     -In ancient times the Greeks called themselves "Hellenes", and their land "Hellas". -Greece is located in southeast Europe, in the south of the Balkan Peninsula.    -Has two peninsulas- the Chalkidiki in the northeast and the Peloponnese in the south.    -The Peloponnese is connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth.    -Also has a shitload of islands in the Ionian Sea (west), the Aegean Sea (east), and the Sea of Crete (south) which includes the important islands of Crete and Rhodes.    -Also has cities and territories in Asia Minor/Anatolia (basically modern-day Turkey), Cyprus, North Africa, southern Gaul (basically modern-day France), around the Black Sea, and southern Italy and Sicily (called "Magna Graecia" by the Romans). -Why didn't the Ancient Greeks ever unify like other contemporary civilizations?    -80% of the country is mountainous, so a lot of...