Ancient Greece existed between 750 and 338 B.C.E. The ancient Greek arts, ideas, and writings continue to influence us today. Greece is a small country in Southern Europe, and It is shaped like a little hand with tiny fingers that lead to the Mediterranean Sea. The Mainland is a peninsula. There are many islands in Greece throughout the Mediterranean and Mainland Greece is steep, rocky mountains. It is almost fully surrounded by turquoise-blue seas and the Aegean Seas. Greeks lived on farms or in small villages scattered through the country. The farms and villages were isolated, or separated, from one another by the high mountains. In this website, you will learn how Greek geography influenced how the Greeks lived and will explore why they lived and farmed in isolated communities. Historians study Ancient Greece because they want to learn about the gods, and lots of ancient theater and architecture is still used today.