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Chapter 2 Aegean civilizations

Chapter 2 Aegean civilizations. 1. Historical overview. The origins of Classical Greek culture:. 1. Historical overview. Aegean cultures: Minoan: Crete and Thera 3000-1100 BCE. Mycenaean: Mainland Greece 1900-1100 BCE. 2. Minoan Civilization: Geography. Thera today ( Santorini ).

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Chapter 2 Aegean civilizations

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  1. Chapter 2Aegean civilizations

  2. 1. Historical overview • The origins of Classical Greek culture:

  3. 1. Historical overview Aegean cultures: • Minoan: • Crete and Thera • 3000-1100 BCE. • Mycenaean: • Mainland Greece • 1900-1100 BCE.

  4. 2. Minoan Civilization: Geography Thera today (Santorini) Effects of the volcanic eruption of 1623 BCE

  5. 2. Minoan Civilization: Geography Santorini (Thera) Crete

  6. 2. Minoan Civilization: Geography • What civilizations did Minoans interact with? • Crete acted as a link between three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe.

  7. 3. Minoan Civilization: economy • Economy: • It was a civilization based on sea trade: (thalassocracy) Naval expedition. Akrotiri, Thera, 1500 BCE.

  8. 4. Minoan Civilization: society • Socio-political structure: • A federation of cities. The most important was Knossos (centralized government?) • There was a king and a nobility, merchants, bureaucracy, laborers, and slaves? • Peaceful society ? (no city walls or weapons)

  9. 5. Minoan civilization: palaces • What are the main features of a Minoan Palace? • Large asymmetric complex built around a central courtyard. (labrys/ labyrinth (maze)) • Residence of the royal family • Religious buildings • Storage areas

  10. 5. Minoan civilization: palaces • Post and lintel constructions • Wooden painted inverted columns • Decoration of walls with frescoes

  11. 5. Minoan civilization: palaces

  12. 5. Minoan civilization: houses • Akrotiri, Thera, c. 1650.

  13. 5. Minoan civilization: palaces Themes: Human figures (performing rituals?), scenes of nature (marine life, flora)

  14. 6. Minoan religion • Cult of Earth Goddess. Matriarchy? • Worship a sacred tree and a sacred pillar (column) • Images of the epiphany of a god. • Cult of the bull? Earth goddess with Snakes, Knossos, ca. 1600 BCE

  15. 6. Minoan Religion • The Earth Goddess: Prehistory Mesopotamian Egyptian Minoan

  16. 6. Minoan Religion Feminine deities

  17. 6. Minoan religion Minoan seal Fresco from Knossos, 1500 BCE Representations of bull-leaping ritual?

  18. 6. Minoan religion • Modern bull leaping (Spain): • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6n81X9hpvs&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjTyf2IdcZU

  19. 7. Minoan painting The Minoan canon “Prince” from Knossos, ca 1600 BCE

  20. 7. Minoan painting

  21. 7. Minoan painting Bull leaping, Knossos, ca.1600 BCE Boxers, Thera, 1650

  22. 7. Minoan painting • The Minoan canon • Egyptian influence in the posture • Narrow waist • Attention to anatomical features • Representation of movement

  23. 7. Minoan painting Hagia Triada, c. 1400 B.C. What does the image represent? Where have you seen something like this before?

  24. 7. Minoan painting

  25. 7. Minoan painting River Landscape, Thera, 1500 BCE.

  26. 7. Minoan painting

  27. 7. Minoan sculpture Rhyton bull, Knossos, ca. 1500 BCE.

  28. 7. Minoan sculpture

  29. 8. The Myth of the Minotaur

  30. 8. The Myth of the Minotaur Labrys (double ax) Floor plan of Knossos Labyrinth: house of the Double Axes “Palace of king Minos”

  31. 9. Language and writing • Minoans were not Greek • Pictographic writing • Linear A: undeciphered script. • Linear B: Greek (Mycenaean domination of Knossos)

  32. 9. Mycenaean Civilization • It developed in mainland Greece around 1900-1100 BCE. • Important cities were Mycenae, Tiryns and Pilos. • It flourished after the decline of Minoan civilization.

  33. 9. Mycenaean Civilization • Militaristic society • Cities protected by “cyclopean” walls and gates.

  34. 10. Social structure: • Feudal system: King and noblemen offering protection while they exacted material resources from the “non-warriors”.

  35. 11. Religion • They worshiped divinities which became gods in the Greek pantheon: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon… • They also established a cult to their heroes. Funerary mask, 1500 BCE

  36. 12. Architecture Lions Gate, Mycenae, ca. 1300 BCE Post and lintel construction with relieving triangle.

  37. 12. Architecture Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, 1300-1200 BCE Funerary tholos (circular tomb)

  38. 12. Architecture

  39. 13. Conclusion • Minoan civilization synthesized elements from Egypt and Asia Minor. • Their cultural and artistic knowledge was inherited by the Greeks from the mainland: the Mycenaeans. • After a period of turmoil (Dark Ages), elements of the Mycenaean civilization reemerged in the culture of Archaic Greece.

  40. 14. Conclusion • The Greeks of the Archaic period considered that the Mycenaeans were their ancestors. • Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, narrate the deeds of the Mycenaean heroes.

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