Emily+G's+Europe+Project

=Greece= toc

Greece is located in Europe. It has a mountainous range. Art includes, the Parthenon that was built in ancient times. Sculpture work was also some of the arts in Greece. The Trojan War had Greeks fighting with the Trojans. They believed in gods such as Zeus and Hera.

Geography
Greece is located in the Balkan Peninsula. Greece has several hundred islands in the Mediterranean and Ionian seas. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous or full of hills. There are Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean seas. It’s geographical size is 131,957 kilometers squared. Western Greece contains wetlands and lakes. The capital of Greece is Athens. There are approximately 10,992,589 people in Greece (since 2014). The highest mountain in Greece, is Mount Olympus. There are also many volcanoes on islands such as Kos or Milos islands. It is also in southern Europe.

Arts
The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena the god of wisdom. It is located in Athens, Greece. The massive foundations were made out of limestone. The columns were made out of marble. The main function of the temple was to shelter a statue of Athena. The statue was made out of ivory and gold. The statue was and temple was dedicated in 438 B.C.E. The Parthenon cost 469 silver talents.

Greek art showed accomplishments and importance of humans. Greek art was suppose to mean honor to the gods. Greek sculptures were made from either wood or stone. Few sculptures are surviving today. Ancient Greeks thought that beauty was in naked form. Greeks also painted. Pictures on pottery often showed tragic or heroic stories of gods and humans.

History
Ancient Greeks believed in more than one god. Greeks believed in gods in the bronze Age. In 700 B.C, a poet by the name of Hesiod’s Theogony, made the first writing of Greek Mythology. It contained details on the family tree of the gods. It all started with Chaos, which then became Pontos (Sea), Gaea (the earth), Ouranos (the sky), and Tartaros (the Underworld). In the 5th century, Greek artists and writers used mythological figures in poems. The gods were said to live on Mount Olympus. There are twelve main gods. This includes: Zeus (weather and king of the gods), Hera (Queen of the gods and marriage), Ares (war), Hermes (travel), Poseidon (sea), and Athena (wisdom) to name a few. Some minor gods are Eros, Hades, and Hestia. They also believed in human heroes, like Hercules. There were also monster hybrids, such as centaurs, pegasus, and satyrs. Characters, lessons, and themes have inspired art and literature for thousands of years.

About 2000 B.C, M ycenaeans people entered Greece. Then, in about 1200 B.C, the Dorian people entered Greece bringing forth a dark age, known as the Homeric epics. In the 5th century B.C, Greece was at its peak of glory. During this time, Greece devoted itself to art, trade, literature, politics, and philosophy. The nation began to weaken during the Peloponnesian War. The son of the Alexander the Great of Macedonia, conquered Greece. It remained in the east part of the Roman Empire, until Constantinople fell in the 2nd century. Later the Turks took over Constantinople, and Greece became part of the Ottoman Empire. The war of Greek Independence started in 1821 and ended in 1827. Greece became independent and certain country’s guaranteed sovereignty to Greece. In WWI, Greece lost to Turkey, which replaced its monarchy government with a democratic one.

One of the major wars in Greece, was the Trojan War. The Trojan War took place in the Bronze Age. The two kingdoms that fought were the kingdoms of Mycenaean Greece and Troy. There were many Greek heroes. Some included Achilles, Ajax, Nestor, and Odysseus. They were accompanied by more than a thousand ships. The war lasted more than ten years. The Greek army decided to leave a wooden horse for Troy. The Greeks hid inside the horse. The Trojans took the horse inside and that night, the horse opened up, and the Greeks jumped out and attacked. The Greeks won the war.