Greek Colonies: 9th-6th Century BC

The map has four "overlays" that enable the students to track, century by century, how Greek communities spread from the western Mediterranean to the shores of the Black Sea. The graphics vividly illustrate the diffusion of Greek civilization in the Archaic Age. It was used as part of a class exercise on Greek colonization during the Archaic Period (ca. 800 - 500 BCE). The students in a Greek History lecture course were divided into four groups numbering about 25 each, and each group was assigned to one of four colonies. Using the online discussion feature of Blackboard, and basing their comments on readings in ancient sources, the students posted brief answers to a common set of questions that dealt with things like the political situation in the mother city, the name and biography (if known) of the leader of the colonizing group, the location and advantages of the destination site, and the significance of the colony in later history. The aim was to give the students some idea of the complexity of the evidence, and the map provided valuable information about the different distances and routes of the colonizing ventures.

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Credits

Wolasi Konu: Graphical Designer
Andrew Szegedy-Maszak: Subject Matter Expert

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