Greek Notes part 2

• The Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olives, and fish. 
• Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge in Peloponnesus
• The Trojan War was fought in the 12th or 13th century BCE
• Dorians were far less advanced
• The trade-based economy collapsed, writing disappeared for 400 years.
• Talk about a culture in decline... 
• Except for the fact that the Dorians ruling from 1150 to 1750 was the Dark Ages.
• The Odyssey was 12110 lines of dactylic hexameter
• The Iliad was about the Trojan War while the Odyssey was about the man Odysseus and his long journey back to his family.
• The Homeric Question- Homer may have been a mythical creation himself
• Homer was a blind, wandering minstrel; an heroic figure
• Polis- a fundamental political unit made up of a city and the surrounding countryside.
• Monarchy- rule by a single person
• Aristocracy- rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families.
• Oligarchy- wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, who seized power.
• Tyrant- a powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support
• Aristocrats- members of the ruling class, attended symposiums(meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry.
• Politics- an excessive club, meaning no women, no middle class, certainly no slaves, sometimes even certain aristocrats were excluded)
• Hoplites- well armed soldiers 
• Tyrant(another meaning)- someone who rules outside the framework of the polis 
• Draco(621 BCE)- all athenians are equal under law, death is the punishment for many crimes, debt slavery is ok (you could work as a slave to repay debts)
• Solon Reforms- outlaws debt slavery, all athenian citizens can speak at the assembly, and any citizen can press charges against any socially classes wrongdoer.