The Empire Of Crete

Silk soon became an imperial monopoly, and through this way, the trade of luxury items became the Byzantine’s main source of income. The location of Constantinople also aided in military conquest and defence, for the empire’s naval headquarters were located along the shores, and had access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean. Because of the Empire’s location, all but overlapping the fallen Roman’s territory, the Byzantine Empire was greatly affected by these Roman’s past traditions and ways of life.

After the conclusion of the Persian Wars (492-479BC) with Athens being the true victor, and before the Peloponnesian War, a period of prosperity covered Athens, and they needed to devise new ways to protect themselves and expand their wealth, and how this would affect their relations with allies.

A study of the strategies and projections of King Archidamus of Sparta as compared to those of Pericles of Athens reveal Archidamus' understanding of the "superiority of land power as a basis for success at sea" in the ancient Mediterranean - as well as Pericles' naiveté as to this tenet.

-DBQ document POV: Moving up in Greek society was possible and everyone could help out

The different geographic location of Athens and Sparta had a great impact on their military strategy and technologies. Athens was close to the sea, therefore it expanded by conquering nearby islands. This necessitated the construction of ships, which was expensive and required a lot of wood material and cheap labor. Both of those were supplied by Athens' allies; wood was purchased with paid tributes and labor came from conquered slaves (Pomeroy, p.22). Sparta was situated far inland on the Laconian plain and had no access to sea. It directed its military expansion towards the neighboring poleis and relied mostly on its standing army. In return, its allies were expected to provide military support to the Spartan army in an effort to appropriate even more land on the Peloponnesian peninsula.

There were four great multicultural Empires in our world’s history Ancient Greece, The Roman Empire, Persia and China. I am going to focus on Ancient Greece and the Persian Empire, what geographical features did each region offer to help the people build these great empires, what were some of the cultures of this empires, and what changes did they have over time? Going further into details on the Persian Empire, who were two of the leaders and what contributions did they make to Persia, what methods did they use to expand the region and gain power? How did the political system change over time?

The Romans used commerce to consolidate the provinces and territories of their vast empire. Being a part of the Empire was of great economic benefit to almost all of the members; insomuch as the Romans built roads and protected sea routes, and inasmuch as the Roman Empire was so large, the Roman Empire’s subjects benefited from what amounted to a massive free trade zone. Roman commerce was a major factor in preserving the Empire for so long.

There were good things about being a seafaring civilization. As the Ancient Greeks migrated to the coast of the Mediterranean, and Black Seas, they were able to put all of their energy into maritime trade, eventually making them dominant of the busiest waterway in the ancient world. (Acrobatic, 2014)

1 ship is exchanged 1 food on condition that they agree to trade ships and food at an international term of trade of 1. Athens should trade 12.5 ships to Troy, and Troy should trade 8.5 foods to Athens. Troy will experience the greater gains from trade.

G.C. Kiriakopoulos is a dentistry professor at Columbia University. Kiriakopoulos is a Fellow of the Royal Society in Great Britain and is a highly decorated veteran of World War II. He has written two books “Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Crete” and “The Nazi Occupation of Crete, 1941-1945.” His first book, “Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Crete,” has been praised as the most authentic documentation of the battle.

In the year 330 A.D., a new capital of Rome under the command of Emperor Constantine I would be founded. It would become a dominant power that would conquer and progress for the next nine centuries, and according to the author Frederic Harrison, it would remain a solid unit in which its foundation would rarely be broken (Harrison, 7). Emperor Constantine would choose to position the new capitol between the areas of Europe and Asia Minor, located on a narrow water passage that would stretch from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. According to an article I found dedicated to the Military of The Byzantines, it stated that this new capitol known as Constantinople would become one of the most tremendous cities but would also become home to one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known, The Byzantine Empire (“Military of the Byzantines”, 2015).

Greece’s economy was primarily based on the trade of grapes, cereals, and olive oil. However, because of natural constraints, production soon proved insufficient to satisfy demand. The olive tree and grapevine were the main sources for economic growth, as well as the cultivation of herbs and vegetables. Sheep and goats were the most common types of livestock. Woods were heavily exploited, first for domestic use and eventually to build triremes. Bees were kept to produce honey, the only source of sugar known to the ancient Greeks. Since it was so labor intensive, agriculture employed up to 80% of the Greek population.[5] Ancient Rome was a slave-based economy whose main concern was feeding the vast number of citizens and legionaries who populated the Mediterranean region. Agriculture and trade dominated the Roman economy, only supplemented by small scale industrial production.5 This was a similarity between Greece and Rome because Greece had to adapt to the demands of their own economy, and trade, while Rome had to do the same, but to a greater extent because their main concern was to feed the people of their empire.

?Corinth being at the center of all this trading activity, it is no surprise that the city was consistently a great commercial and cultural center.? A description of Corinth by the ancient author Strabo states, ?Corinth is called wealthy because of its commerce, since it is situated on the Isthmus and is master of two harbors, of which the one leads straight to Asia, and the other to Italy; and it makes it easy the exchange of merchandise from both countries that are so far distant from each other? (Strabo).? In his book Roman Corinth, Donald Engels describes Corinth in similar terms, ?From a small beginning, Corinth grew to become the largest city in Greece by the Second century A.D.? It was both an intellectual and cultural center, as well as a vital link in the commercial network of the eastern Mediterranean? (Engels 8).? It was the Vanity Fair of Greece, having objects of exoticism and luxury finding open markets which were visited by every nation in the civilized world;

The Battle of Crete began May 20th, 1941. Nazi Germany launched an airborne attack called Operation Merkur or Operation Mercury on the island of Crete. This battle will be important because it will hold great influence over the course of the war in the means of power. The Greek, Allied forces and even civilians attempted to defend the island and after day one the Germans suffered heavy casualties. The next day, the Allies were confident they could gain control back but they would have miscommunications that would lead to Germany gaining Maleme Airfield and flying in reinforcements to overwhelm the defenders of the island. This research is being used to answer the question why the

Very few civilizations have had as profound an influence on the world as those of ancient Greece. The Greeks laid the foundations for fields varying from philosophy to political theory to war tactics. However, this influence was not just due to their intelligence or success, but their widespread presence in the Mediterranean. Greek culture was spread throughout their known world in two distinct manners, the foundation of apoikia in the Archaic Age (8th century to 500 B.C. ) and imperialists by poleis, primarily Athens of the Classical Age (490 - 323 B.C ). Though the culture of a mother city (mētropolis) may have spread through two very different manners of “colonization.” The word is not used in the literal sense, but rather hereafter used to mean “spreading of culture”, as the former can hardly be described using the contemporary definition of colonization and the latter was through Athenian empire-building. These developments had a significant impact on ancient Greece and our modern perception thereof. Like most of the ancient world, we can best analyze these methods of colonialism through extant artifacts. I will analyze an inscription of the foundation oath of Cyrene, which recounts the decision and manner in which the island of Thera sent its citizens to the form a new polis, and the fragments of the Lapis Primus, a marble monolith that documented tributes to Athens when the city was at the peak of its imperial age, evidencing the magnitude of their power and influence in the Greek region.