How did the environment of Greece influence the way the Ancient Greeks lived?

Answer 1

In ancient times, the vast majority of the mainland Greeks lived in narrow valleys, isolated from each other by high mountain ranges (this was, however, not always the case: Sparta for example sat in a broad valley). This isolation promoted fierce independence and patriotism in the citizens of the Greek poleis or city-states. This independence, in turn, was the cause of many bloody and unnecessary battles, e.g. the Peloponnesian War, which marked the end of Greece's golden age.

Also, Greece's particular geographical configuration made travel by sea far more practical to the Greeks than travel by land.

However, other factors contributed to this as well:

- the Aegean Sea was a calm, sail-friendly sea dotted with small islands,

making navigation easy;

- no Greek lived more than forty miles from the sea.

Thirdly, the fact that Greece's narrow valleys and poor agricultural possibilities could not sustain a large population led to the two great colonisation movements of the eighth and sixth centuries BC, spreading Greek civilization and economic influence all over the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.