ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex societies of the Aegean Sea region during the Bronze Agethe Minoans on the island of Crete and the Mycenaeans on the Greek mainland-and the Classical cultures of Greece and Roman Italy. The maritime environments of these peninsular lands presented particular challenges and opportunities that had significant bearing on the course of their development, fostering periods of isolation and of interconnection. The Bronze Age developments brought palatial government to Greece and nearby islands, although the structures of governance are still in question. Both democratic Athens and republican Rome were relatively short-lived products of specific economic, political, and social forces. Altogether, the cities and lands encompassed by these civilizations offer a high degree of variability in their organization and institutions and attest to the adaptability of social and political systems to a broad array of local circumstances.
