Ancient Greece and Rome: Geography and History
Dark Age of Greece
We know very little about it over the years. The Greek alphabet appeared, and the polis was born. It was the most important social and political structure. Poleis were ruled by the most powerful citizens: the aristocracy. The two most important poleis were Athens and Sparta.
Introduction
Geography has always determined the history of nations. Greece is dominated by two main geographical features: sea and mountains. The mountain ranges sweep down from the center to the shore. The rocky relief of Greece made it difficult for its inhabitants to communicate by land, so they learned to do it by sea.
There is no point in the Greek territory that is further than 90 km from a coastline, so it is easy to imagine that the Greeks felt, above all, like seafarers. On the other hand, Rome is situated in the center of Italy, by the river Tiber, in the region of Latium, about 200 km from the development of Rome since it communicated the city both with the coastline and with the interior of the Italian peninsula. Rome is also situated in the center of the Mediterranean, the sea that the Romans called Mare Nostrum, “our sea”, since in the 1st and 2nd centuries, all the territories bathed by this sea were under Roman rule. So the geographical context of Rome also determined the history of this city and, by extension, the history of the whole world.
The Geography of Greece
Greece is strategically situated between Europe and Asia, something that determined its history. On the other hand, two elements determined its geography: the mountains, which didn’t allow the development of cities, and the sea, riddled with islands, which became the Pontos, a bridge, a means of communication.
Near the two seas bordering Greece, the Ionian and the Aegean, there are important mountain ranges: Olympus, Parnassus, and Helicon.
Between the sea and the mountains are the plains, an ideal place for cities to develop. The fig tree, the olive tree, and wheat are common crops.
The rivers are short, although some of them are wide; they hold myths and legends, like the Acheron. We can find three main areas in Greece:
1. Peninsular Greece
There are two different areas:
- a) Continental Greece: The most important regions are Attica (capital city: Athens), Boeotia (capital city: Thebes), and Macedonia (Alexander the Great was born there).
- b) The Peloponnese: which is joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. The most important regions were Argolis (Mycenae, Argos, and Corinth) and Laconia (capital city: Sparta).
2. Insular Greece
The main islands in Greece are:
- a) Ionian Islands: In the Ionian Sea, Ithaca is the most remarkable one.
- b) The Aegean Islands: In the Aegean Sea, they are formed by several archipelagos:
- The Cyclades: Thera, Naxos, Paros
- The Sporades: Lesbos, Chios, Samos, and Rhodes
- Crete, the biggest island of all
3. Asia Minor
It was divided into five regions: Phrygia, Lycia, Lydia, Mysia, and Caria. All along the coast flourished very important cities in the history of Greece, such as Troy, Ephesus, and Halicarnassus.