" A positive benefit of the geography would have to be that it allowed different forms of art to be produced in different parts of Greece. Some people like the Minoans who lived on Crete before the Greeks, came along and made murals of people vaulting over bulls which was a popular activity for their religion. A negative example would be that the types of governments differed depending on where you lived in Greece. If you happened to live in Athens, you might have a Direct Democracy. If you lived in Sparta however, your government would be a Dual Monarchy. This would be run by two kings and a council of elders with five ephors. Sparta liked to rule using military rules. Athens would let you have more "say" in the government. Thanks to the geography, one might be disconnected from other city states unless he was a messenger or a soldier marching on through.
Permanent settlements were split up into city-states or "Polises" as stated earlier. Each Polis had it's own benefits. Let's say one lived in Athens. Athenians were very smart people and had Socrates as one of their teachers. Sparta was very powerful, organized, and had a good location on the map. They had a lot of area to expand and conquer. Corinth had a great navy, probably one of the best at the time. Argos controlled the Olympics which was a big responsibility and Megara's people were good traders who were friendly and had a good location near water. The idea of having different city-states was both a good and bad idea. On one hand, having your own Polis would allow you to develop your own little twist on Greek culture. It would be a little different than your neighbor's. Also, your government might be different as well as your rights as a citizen. If you were to have lived in Sparta as a woman, you would have been able to do more things that you would want to do than if you lived in any other city-state. A Spartan woman would possess more freedom because the Spartan husband would be off training to become part of an efficient military machine designed to control the helots (conquered people) and extend Spartan Power.