Chapter 2: The Minoans, Chapter 2: The Minoans, The Mycenaeans, and the The Mycenaeans, and the Greeks of the Arcahic AgeGreeks of the Arcahic Age

The tradition of Greece is often the first in which Westerners feel they can recognize themselves. Greeks were the “first” to place human beings at the center of the universe.

However, preceding the Greeks in the Aegean Basin were the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.

Aegean BasinAegean Basin

• Minoans lived on the island of Crete.• British archaeologist, Arthur Evans,

discovered the ruins of the ancientkingdom. He called it the Minoancivilization in honor of the legendaryking of Crete called Minos.

• Minoans built huge palaces that may havebeen the center for governing and forreligion.

• As with Egyptians, the Minoans were organized into a complex caste system: Nobles, Merchants, Artisans, Bureaucrats, and Laborers

• Life for Minoans was unusually peaceful…very few weapons found at archeological sites

• The palaces were like mazes.• Many houses were built around them.• Beyond the palaces were small towns,

villages, and farmland.• The remains of four palaces have been found.• The largest is called Knossos and probably

stood at least 3 stories high.• It probably covered an area as large as 20

football fields.• As many as 12,000 people may have lived

there.

Palace at Knossos

• Known for its sophisticated architecture

• A complete plumbing and drainage system

• Multi-level structure with complex layout of rooms and passageways

• Below ground storage of grains, oils, and wines

• Beautiful friezes and frescoes• No walls protecting this palace• Evans began a massive

reconstruction project

Beautiful friezes and frescoes

Minoans depended on trade

Bull leaping

Bull LeapingBull Leaping

Minoan Bull and god?Minoan Bull and god?

• Minoans developed a system of writing.• The only remaining records are written on

clay tablets.•

Written LangaugeWritten Langauge

• Pictorial forms gave way to:• 1. Linear A script from 1800

BC to about 1400 BC. Undecipherable even to this day. Found on Phaistos Disc which has writing on both sides

• 2. Linear B from 1400 to decline in 1100. Was an early form of Greek and not used for political, social, and philosophical aspects of life; only commercial transactions

ReligionReligion

• Most Minoan life revealed through its religious practices and art.

• 1. Matriarchal society

• 2. Center of worship was a mother goddess

• 3. Earth goddesses portrayed in various forms.

Mother GoddessesMother Goddesses

Decline of CivilizationDecline of Civilization

• Minoan trade dominated eastern Mediterranean until about 1380 BC

• Something happened, maybe a volcanic eruption or other natural disaster

• Culture was further weakened by Mycenaean attacks and influences between 1400 and 1100 BC

Beginnings: Mycenaean CivilizationBeginnings: Mycenaean Civilization1900—1100 BC1900—1100 BC

MycenaeMycenae

MycenaeansMycenaeans

• The civilization named by archeologists after the fortress city, Mycenae, in the lower rugged region of the Greek peninsula, Peloponnesus

• Discovered in late 1800s by a German, Heinrich Schliemann.

• He named the people The Myceneans

•They were a war like people.• They traded with the Minoans and learned

much of their culture. (cultural borrowing)• They changed Minoan art styles to make them

more warlike.• They changed the Minoan written language to

match their own. Some believe they invaded and overtook the Minoans

MycenaeMycenae

• Ruins of Mycenaean palaces reveals them to be mole like structures with massive double walls and narrow escape passages

• Most well known Mycenaean monument is the massive Lion Gate constructed from four massive hewn stones (ashlars)

• Bronze lion’s heads now gone, maybe stolen. Design likely to remind citizens who ruled and to intimidate visitors.

Lion’s GateLion’s Gate

• It was Mycenaeans who tried to topple Troy. The long siege weakened the civilization and inspired Homer’s later Iliad and Odyssey

• It was the Mycenaeans who gave the Greeks many of their ideals and inspired the age of heroes established by Homer

Arcaheological Dig

• The weapons and armor found in Mycenaean graves greatly impressed later Greeks

• Homer called Mycenaean warriors”the strongest generation of earthborn mortals.”

Dark Ages:Dark Ages:1100—800 BC1100—800 BC

• After collapse of Mycenaean civilization, a 300 year period called Dark Ages– Life becomes more agrarian– Transitional time—changes happening behind

the scenes– Power shifting from kings to families– Bronze gives way to iron– Mycenaeans flee to Asia Minor. Early Greeks

establish life around Aegean and Mediterranean Seas

The Archaic Greek Age:The Archaic Greek Age:800—479 BC800—479 BC

• After the Dark Ages, the Greeks emerged with a common language, heroic stories, myths, religious practices and trading interests.

• They claimed a common mythical parent, Hellen, who fathered three sons, the ancestors of the three major Greek tribes:

Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians.

• The development of Greek culture lasted three centuries, and by the end of it they had laid the foundation of a new world…ours!!!