CLA230H1 Chapter 2: The Greeks, Morris and Powell
Document Summary
The sea: lifeblood of civ, unites people - 90% of grks lived within a day"s walk to the med sea (plato: frogs around a pond), best farmland here. Farming: med rainfall enough for crops, no irrigation until the grks move to egypt and meso with rivers. Med climate same as it is today winter was busy farming season, and not much to do in summer (works and days) Athens had less reliable rain than in mountains of arcadia. Plains grew grain, thin hill soils grew grapes and olives. Hesiod and menander: talk about how hard surviving was in attica, that farming needed to be backbreaking to survive, it was not the best conditions. Demographics: no censuses use arch, bones, lit refs, and similar societies. In general, high infant mortality, 1/6 lived to 60, 1/20 to 70 at most, most women died mid-late.
