The Geography of Greece
Explore the physical environment of ancient Greece.
The ancient inhabitants of Greece were profoundly impacted by their environment.
Maps are a key tool for learning about the physical environment of ancient Greece.
Throughout this module, we will pay special attention to maps and how we can use maps to learn about ancient Greek geography. A map is a visual representation of a physical area. It can be helpful to look at a variety of maps because each type of map highlights different aspects of the environment. For example, if we’re going on a road trip, we will want to make sure our map shows highways, rest stops, and road names. If we want to go rock climbing, we will want a map that shows elevation, terrain, and trails. Different maps have different purposes.
Below are two kinds of maps that are helpful for learning about geographical features. On the left is a topographical map, which shows representations of landforms like mountains and rivers. On the right is a map made with satellite imagery. Satellite imagery gives us a picture of the earth taken from a satellite in space.
Try it: Find Greece on the maps below. Look for mountains, water features, road and place names, and settlement patterns. Which features are easier to read in the topographical map? For what purposes would you rather use the satellite imagery map for?
On the left, a topographic map, and on the right, a map composed of satellite imagery.
The landscape of Greece is defined by rocky mountains and winding coastlines.
The Greeks told stories about gods who lived high on Mount Olympus and heroes who sailed across the Mediterranean Sea. These two geographical features, the mountains and the sea, are perhaps the most representative aspects of the Greek landscape.
The Mountains
Mountains and hills cover over 80% of mainland Greece! The tallest mountain is Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is part of the Olympus mountain range in the north east of Greece. Can you find it on this map?
In the west lies the Pindus mountain range, which is sometimes called the “spine of Greece.” By looking at this map, you can see why – it runs North to South along the length of Greece, dipping under water and emerging again to cross the Peloponnese. Zoom in and explore this map - you'll see that even outside the major mountain ranges, the topography of Greece is full of mountains and hillsides.
The mountains of Greece are not extremely high, but they are steep, rocky, and windy. Most cities and farms were built in the plains between them. These communities were often separated from each other because it was difficult to travel through the mountains. The mountain tops became snowy in the winter, but in the summer the snow melted and fresh water ran down from the peaks to the valleys below. This water was used for drinking, bathing, and farming.
The Sea
The sea is a fundamental part of the Greek physical environment and proximity to the sea informed many aspects of ancient Greek culture. Mainland Greece is a peninsula, a piece of land that is surrounded on three sides by water. It extended from Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly in the north to the Peloponnese in the south. The ancient Greeks also inhabited many small islands (including the Cycladic islands, the Dodecanese islands, and the North Aegean islands) and the large island of Crete. In addition, there were Greek cities along the coast of modern-day Turkey, on the east side of the Aegean Sea.
How did the Greeks travel between these different landscapes? You guessed it, by sea. The coastline of modern Greece is more than 13,000 km long! There are many small inlets, which at times provided safe harbour for boats but could also be treacherous in bad weather. By sea, the Greeks traveled throughout the Mediterranean and came in contact with other cultures. Many Greeks became sailors, fishermen, or merchants.
The natural landscape of ancient Greece influenced settlement patterns and political geography.
The physical environment of Greece influenced where communities settled and how the cultures of individual cities developed. Greek communities grew in the valleys between mountains, where the land was fertile enough to grow crops. Ancient Greece was not a unified nation like a modern country. Instead, it was made up of city-states. A city-state is a political unit made up of a city and its surrounding territory. Each city-state operated independently, but city-states would often form an alliance with other city-states.
Map of Greek Political Geography image credit: https://maps-greece.com/greek-city-states-map
The boundaries of each city-state were often based on geography. Mountains created natural barriers for traveling, as did water features and the natural ragged shape of mainland Greece. Some historians believe that ancient Greek city-states remained independent partly because travel between areas was so difficult. This also meant that each city-state developed unique characteristics including customs, language dialect, and economic specialization.
Try it: The map on the left shows the political geography of ancient Greece and highlights important city-states. Find Attica, Boeotia, Laconia, Crete, and Ionia. What are the major city-states in each of these areas?
The physical environment of Greece impacted many aspects of ancient Greek life, culture, and history.
Let's briefly explore some examples, including
- agriculture
- natural resources
- conflict and cooperation
- technology
- social structure
- culture and customs
Agriculture
Although we spend a lot of time talking about Greek cities, many Greeks lived in rural areas and were farmers. The climate of ancient Greece included dry, hot summers and mild, rainy winters. This impacted the kinds of food that the Greeks could plant and made them very susceptible to drought. The soil was farmable in some places, particularly in valleys fed by mountain streams, but rocky terrain made it difficult to grow crops in most areas of Greece. The Greeks raised animals that could survive on steep hills such as goats and sheep. They also raised chickens, pigs, or even a few cows, and ate a lot of seafood. Bees were kept to produce honey. Main crops were wheat, barley, olives, and grapes. The Greeks also grew many vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts.
Drought was a major concern for the Greeks. If there was not enough rain, crops would not grow and there would not be enough food to eat that year. There were a few solutions to this problem: they could trade something else for food, they could store food, or they could form alliances with other areas to support each other in times of need. In early times, Greek farmers grew most of their own food and sold surplus at markets. If the crops failed, they would hope to borrow from their neighbours or trade other items for food. As small towns grew into larger city-states, governments sometimes made trade agreements to get enough food for their urban populations.
Natural Resources
The natural resources of Greece impacted trade and culture. Gold and silver could be mined in northern Greece. We know of a large silver mine in Attika, near Athens, called Laureion. The Athenians used the silver from Laureion to mint their own coinage. Wood was used for building and for making tools like wagons and ploughs, but it was not plentiful (especially in the south) and later Greeks had to trade for timber. Various stone was used for art and architecture. Some of the most expensive stone was called Parian Marble, which came from the Greek island of Paros, and Pentelic marble, which came from Mount Pentelicus in Attika. The Parthenon, pictured on the right, is made of Pentelic marble.
The physical environment impacted the natural resources that each city-state had to trade. As more contact was made with other peoples, cities began to specialize in a few commodities and trade for the rest of what they needed. For example, an area with lots of farmland might specialize in agriculture and produce a lot of grain. Since grain was in high demand throughout Greece, they would be able to trade for other essentials like pottery and metalware.
Right: The Parthenon, made of Pentelic marble.c. 420 BCE.
Conflict and Cooperation
The natural geography of Greece made certain areas more desirable than others. These areas sometimes became sites of conflict, as various city-states struggled to control them. They might also be sites of cooperation. Alliances could be made so that multiple groups had access to a resource or area. This might take the form of a trade agreement or official alliance.
An area might be desirable for economic reasons, such as a particularly fertile area which could grow crops, or an area rich in natural resources like metal or timber. Port cities, like the Piraeus, provided safe harbour for ships and were important for controlling trade and naval power. Some cities were strategic because they lay at the intersection of trade routes or at locations where two areas connect (such as the place where the Peloponnese connects to Attika). These cities could demand taxes for those passing through. Areas that are easily defended from invaders were also more desirable.
Technology
The physical environment of Greece offered considerable challenges including mountainous terrain, long sea voyages, and limited land for farming. The Greeks came up with numerous inventions to address these challenges. For example, they developed terraces (a series of flat areas on a slope) to increase the amount of land available for farming. The creation of drains, aqueducts and fountains allowed natural water features, like rivers, to be channeled for other purposes.
Naval and maritime technology provided another powerful way to overcome environmental challenges. The Greeks invented the trireme, a war galley with three banks of rowers. The technology of the trireme helped the Greeks win a war against the large Persian empire. They also developed technology to create larger and more stable harbours to house their boats and keep them safe from storms. Finally, the Greeks used natural resources like metal and clay to fashion tools and domestic wares. In all of these examples, the Greeks made use of materials available to them from the natural environment in order to overcome the challenges of that environment.
Social Structure
The physical environment impacted the social structure of the Greeks, too. Since there was not much fertile land to go around, those who did own land became wealthy. Over time, a social divide grew between those who owned land and livestock (who we call the aristocracy) and those who did not. This led to the creation of laws to protect the lower classes.
The land and sea dictated the work opportunities available to Greeks as well. There was a large class of merchants and sailors who traded with other peoples of the Mediterranean over land and across the sea. There were artisans who worked with the natural materials of the land, turning clay into fine pottery and stones into tools. Many Greeks were also farmers or herders. All of these groups derived their livelihood from the natural environment of Greece.
Culture and Customs
Finally, the physical environment also had an impact on the culture and customs of the ancient Greeks. In response to the hot climate, they wore clothes made of draped fabric like the chiton, which was light and airy. Greek architecture had many open terraces, and much of life was spent outside. A centre of Greek life was the agora or marketplace. An ancient Greek could walk around this open-air marketplace, browsing shop stands and stopping in the shadow of public buildings for some shade. Many cities had an acropolis, a Greek word that means the highest part of the city. This was a hill, usually near the centre of an urban community, which was often walled. During an invasion, the population could retreat within the acropolis walls and defend their city-centre more easily. The acropolis would sometimes have temples, like the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens. Furthermore, Greek traditions were often rooted in specific places, such as sacred groves or caves, and the Greek gods were thought to dwell in particular areas, like mountains and forests. We will explore how Greek mythology was rooted in place in a later StoryMap.
The geography of Greece impacted individual city-states in different ways.
The inhabitants of ancient Greece were never far from the mountains or the sea. Yet each city-state had its own history and customs. There were seaside cities, like Athens, that developed busy ports, a large navy, and a sea trading empire. In northern areas, like Thessaly, some communities lived on plains and traveled on horseback more than by boat. Some city-states had neighbours on all sides and had to keep peace through treaties. Other city-states had a whole island to themselves. These geographical differences impacted the customs of each community and what they had to trade with others. Geography influenced the strengths and weakness of each city-state. In this way, geography was a very important influence on Greek history and culture.
Case study: the Isthmus of Corinth
A great example of how geography impacted Greek history and culture is the Isthmus of Corinth. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, which forms a link between two larger pieces of land. This isthmus is in the area of Korinthia, and it is often known as the Korinthian Isthmus or the Isthmus of Corinth. It connects the Korinthian Gulf (in the west) and the Saronic gulf (in the east). Greek sailors who wanted to go from the Aegean Sea to the Ionian Sea would have to go all the way around the Peloponnese.
Map indicating the Korinthian Isthmus.
Diolkos of Corinth. Western End. image credit: Dan Diffendale
In the late 7th century BCE, the tyrant of Corinth, Periander, sponsored a way to get boats across the Isthmus. He hired workers to carve a groove in the land from one end of the Ishtmus to the other. Then, they used wagons to haul boats from one end to the other. They called this the Diolkos. In ancient times, various leaders promised to cut through the isthmus, but this was never actually done. Finally, in 1893, the Korinthian Canal was cut right through the rock at the Isthmus. Still, the isthmus remains difficult to navigate and these days it is mostly used by recreational boats.
The history of the Isthmus goes back much further than Periander. By the 8th century BC, almost a hundred years before Periander constructed the Diolkos, a settlement called Isthmia had already grown near the Isthmus. The area was often under the political control of Corinth, the largest city in Korinthia. The area of Korinthia also has some of the most fertile land in southern Greece, plus access to timber. These are some of the reasons that Corinth emerged as an early power in Greece and remained so throughout antiquity.
In the 7th century BCE, a temple of the sea god Poseidon was constructed at the Isthmus. By the 6th century BCE, a pan-hellenic festival began at Isthmia. These prestigious games were similar to the Olympics that took place at Olympia, a sanctuary in the Peloponnese. We call these games pan-hellenic because all Greeks, regardless of their city-state, were invited to participate. The games were held every 2 years, but at other times, too, visitors and travellers stopped at Isthmia to explore the sanctuary and pay their respects to the god of the sea.
Isthmia became a site associated with unity among the Greeks. In the classical period, Greeks from many city-states gathered at Isthmia to discuss their battle plans against the Persians. They even began plans to fortify the Isthmus in case the Persians were able to push that far into Greece, but in the end that was not needed. Throughout later Greek history, Isthmia continued to host games and serve as a symbolic meeting place for people from all over the Greek world. In the 3rd century BCE, when Alexander the Great arranged a meeting to discuss how the Greeks could take on the great King of Persia, they met at Isthmia. Because of its strategic location, Isthmia remained an important site throughout the Roman period. In modern times, many travellers pass through Isthmia on their way from Attika into Korinthia and the Peloponnese each day.
Greek physical, political, and human geography is best understood in the context of the wider Mediterranean.
Be sure to check out the next Storymap, where we'll look at how the geography of Greece fit into the wider context of the Mediterranean Basin.
Map Centring the Mediterranean Basin. How would you describe the location of Greece within the Mediterranean?
Want to learn more?
Click here to learn more about the Isthmia, and the Isthmus of Corinth from Ohio State.
Click here to learn more about the excavations at Corinth from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
