ACTUALLY WRITING NOTES FOR ONCE
Location Significance
Aegean Sea
Ionian sea
Adriatic Sea (North of the Ionian Sea)
Peloponnesus 
Athens
Sparta 
Crete
Asia Minor
Macedonia
(ALL SURROUNDED GREECE)
SEAS
The Greeks lived around the seas. The seas connected Greece with other societies and provided shipping and trading lanes. 
LAND
Greeks made several small communities around the mountains rather than one large one. The Greeks had several governments within each little valley.
WEATHER
The weather in Greece varied. Some days it was cold and some days it was very hot. The temperature varied throughout Greece and there was no average. The climate continuously changed throughout the course of the year. Some days being 40 degrees Fahrenheit, others being 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
OBSTACLES 
Uneven terrain makes transportation harder for the average person. Uneven services meant that there were few fertile valleys and with fewer fertile valleys came a lack in resources. Uneven terrain meant that there were few roads and the roads that were there were either gravel or dirt. A lack of roads meant that journeys that could take a few hours on a horse might end up taking several days on foot. 
CIVILIZATIONS 

• All located on water-usually rivers
• Mesopotamia/Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• Egypt/Nile River
• India/Indus River
• China/Huang He River
• Mediterranean Sea means middle of Earth

ODD FACTS

Greece is a mountainous peninsula. Mountains cover three quarters of Greece. There are approximately 2,000 + islands in the Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea combined. Greece had many skilled sailors and shipbuilders. They also had farmers, metalworkers, weavers, and potters. Greece also had poor/limited natural resources. They needed to trade for most of their supplies and food. It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain. The Greeks developed small independent communities throughout Greece rather than one large society.

DIET

Greeks had a diet that consisted mainly of the following foods:

• Grains
• Olives
• Grapes
• Fish

GREEK HISTORY
Mycenaeans influence began around 2,000 BCE. Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge on Peloponneseus, protected by a 20-foot thick wall. Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1100 BCE.
THE TROJAN WAR
Greeks have fought many wars, including the Trojan War. Trojan War- 12th or 13th century, part of Greek mythology until the 19th century. Most historians believe(d) that the Trojan War was fake because gods and goddesses were said to have fought in it. Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera were given the "apple of discord." Paris judges Aphrodite as "the fairest." Lots of fighting between gods and goddesses, both physically and verbally. 
HOMER

• Blind storyteller
• composed stories of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE. 
• popular for telling stories of his courageous journeys. He told stories or "epics" of Zeus and his relationships. 
• Told of the Odyssey- 12,110 line story. 
• Homer may have been a mythical creation himself
• A blind, wandering minstrel; a heroic figure said to have told of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
• May be the culmination of many generations of storytelling or... Homer actually existed and he was just that amazing. 

STUFF I MISSED THE FIRST TIME AROUND

Somewhere around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace. The Dorians moved into this war-stricken zone, dominating from 1150-750 BCE.

Greek Oral Tradition-stories passed down by word of mouth.

Iliad-probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans. (Trojan War) 

The Odyssey- Odysseus attempts to return home after the Trojan war, only to be sabotaged along his journey home by Poseidon, god of the sea. Took a total of ten years to get home. 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter.

That is all of my notes on Greece and this is the first blog in a while that I have actually rewritten my notes into. Hope it helps anyone trying to study or read through the material quickly to get a quick overview of what we are studying.