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Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece. The Minoans & The Mycenaeans. The Chronology of Ancient Greece. The Early Period 2000BCE-1450BCE-The Minoan Period 1600BCE-1100BCE-The Mycenaean Period 1100BCE-800BCE-The Dark Ages. The Chronology of Ancient Greece. The Early Classical Period

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Ancient Greece

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  1. Ancient Greece The Minoans & The Mycenaeans

  2. The Chronology of Ancient Greece The Early Period 2000BCE-1450BCE-The Minoan Period 1600BCE-1100BCE-The Mycenaean Period 1100BCE-800BCE-The Dark Ages

  3. The Chronology of Ancient Greece The Early Classical Period 800BCE-550BCE-The Age of Colonization 550BCE-480BCE-The Persian Wars Classical Greece 480BCE-338BCE-The Reemergence of the city state

  4. The Chronology of Ancient Greece The Hellenistic Age 338BCE-27BCE-The Rise of Macedonia 336BCE-323BCE-The Conquests of Alexander the Great The Roman Empire 27BCE-Greece is conquered by Rome

  5. Discovery of Troy and Mycenae • Heinrich Schliemann was a wealthy German businessman turned archaeologist who believed that the Trojan War had happened as Homer said in the Iliad and Odyssey • In 1870, Schliemann found the massive ruins of a Bronze Age city, which he identified as Troy

  6. Discovery of Troy and Mycenae • Although Schliemann had an agreement with the Turkish government to split any finds, he smuggled the treasures out of the country • No longer welcome in Turkey, Schliemann negotiated with Greece to excavate Mycenae • His findings are not conclusive evidence of a large-scale war between Troy and Mycenae • The impressive ruins do prove correct the Greek’s remembrance of the Late Bronze Age as a time of fabulous wealth and splendor

  7. The Discovery of Knossos • Schliemann’s discoveries inspired Arthur Evans to begin excavations of his own • In 1899 Evans discovered a third fabled site, the palace complex of Knossos on Crete • Evans called the civilization on Crete “Minoan” after the mythical king Minos of Knossos who lived, according to Homer, three generations before the Trojan War

  8. Minoan Civilization • Cretans were involved in international trade because the island’s location made it an important cross-road in trade routes across the Mediterranean • Cretans had direct contact with Egypt and western Asia • The palace-centred economies that emerged on Crete were replicas of the state economies of the Near East

  9. The Minoan Palace Economy • Knossos and the other Cretan palaces consisted of a maze of rooms (residential quarters, workshops, storerooms) clustered around a large central courtyard • The palace was the political and administrative centre and the focal point of economic activity, state ceremony, and religious ritual

  10. The Minoan Palace Economy The palace structures featured light wells, complex indoor drains and plumbing, and multiple entrances

  11. The Minoan Palace Economy • Minoans developed a redistributive economy • The king and the palace had considerable control over the allocation and use of surrounding land • Produce from the palace’s lands, along with produce from private farms paid as taxes, was funneled into the palace and stored there

  12. The Minoan Palace Economy • The king’s main use of his surplus was for trade • This is indicated by the large workshops in the palace • The exchange of goods on the Mediterranean-wide market made Knossos and other Cretan centres rich

  13. Linear A • Around 1900BCE the Cretans developed pictographic writing, perhaps inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphics • This evolved to more stylized script made up of specific signs that stood for syllables, later called “Linear A” by archaeologists • It is clear that Linear A was used for keeping palace records • It is still largely undeciphered

  14. Linear A Clay Tablets

  15. The Social Classes of Crete • Huge differences in the living standards, lifestyles, and social status of the privileged few and the rest of the people • Ordinary Cretan people, like the common people in Egypt, accepted their roles as exploited subjects in the belief that the rigidly hierarchical arrangement was proper • People received benefit in the form of protection from famine and outside aggressors

  16. The Social Classes of Crete • In Crete, as in all ancient kingdoms, the king was a symbol as well as the actual ruler • The king was the embodiment of the state: supreme war leader, law giver, and judge, as well as the representative of the land and the people to the gods • Palaces were the religious centres of the society

  17. Minoan Culture • Minoan art is unlike that of the Near East • No scenes that show the king as a conquering warrior and few of royal pomp • Minoan palace art is serene and happy; nature motifs are everywhere • Images of bull-jumping, fishing, and religious rituals are popular

  18. Minoan Religion • Because the preponderance of deities represented by icons and in images are female, Minoan religion appears to be goddess-centred • Judging from artistic scenes, female priestesses held positions of honour and prestige in Minoan society • Religious symbols of animals abound and are poorly understood

  19. Minoan Culture and Religion A bull-leaping fresco A Minoan “Snake Goddess”

  20. Minoan Culture and Religion A Minoan dolphin fresco A fisherman fresco

  21. Making Myths of the Minoans • Some people have characterized Minoan society as utopian because its palaces were not fortified and because Minoan settlements on the islands appear to be trading posts, rather than colonies • The female images and nature scenes suggest that the Minoans were egalitarian • Excavations at Knossos do not support such an uncomplicated picture

  22. The Lost City of Atlantis? • In 1630BCE the island of Thera had a massive volcanic explosion-caused tidal waves and ash • In 1967, excavations on Santorini led to the discovery of “a Minoan Pompeii”-a city covered and preserved by ash • Initially the eruption of Thera was linked romantically to Plato’s myth of Atlantis • The sudden destruction of Minoan culture now seemed to fit with the idealized culture of Atlantis • The location of Minoan Crete does not fit with Plato’s placement of Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean

  23. The Mycenaeans • Contacts between mainland Greece and Crete had begun as early as 2000 BCE • Much evidence of Minoan influence over Greece • In approximately 1450BCE the Mycenaeans conquered Crete and took over Knossos and other centres • For most people, life went on as before, but they now paid their taxes to kings who spoke Greek

  24. Linear B • In the destruction at Knossos, Evans found approximately three thousand clay tablets inscribed with a more elaborate script, which he named “Linear B” • In the early 1950s, Michael Ventris broke the code

  25. Linear B By deciphering Linear B, Ventris proved… • Greek was the language of the Mycenaeans • The Mycenaeans had adapted the Cretan Linear A to their own Greek language and used it for the same purpose (records) • Mycenaeans were ruling in Crete by at least the fifteenth century BCE

  26. The Shaft Graves and Tombs • Two circular burial grounds, reserved for elite families, have shed light on Mycenae’s early development • These are called “shaft graves” because the bodies are lowered into deep rectangular pits cut into the soft bedrock • The earlier circle contained many bronze weapons and quantities of local pottery, but little jewelry

  27. The Shaft Graves and Tombs • The later grave circle contained the bodies of three men and two women, held an arsenal of weapons (ie. 43 swords), and hundreds of other expensive objects, including gold jewelry adorning the women • The increasing wealth of shaft graves reveals the evolving power of the ruling class in Mycenae over 150 years

  28. The Shaft Graves and Tombs • Before 1500, the Mycenaean elites adopted a different type of tomb, called a tholos • Found throughout Greece, tholoi were the highest achievement of Mycenaean engineering • They were very large stone chambers, shaped like beehives, cut horizontally into a hillside • They are a statement of the Mycenaean “arrival” on the wider Mediterranean scene • Most were robbed centuries ago

  29. A Mycenaean Tholos

  30. A Mycenaean Tholos

  31. Mycenaean Palaces • Architecture and decoration of Mycenaean palaces closely followed Minoan style • Different from Minoans in that were usually located on a commanding hill and fortified by high, thick walls-defensive seems to be the primary consideration • Because of the expense, Mycenaean fortifications were as much a boast by the king of his wealth as they were a defense of his palace and people

  32. Mycenaean Fortification

  33. Mycenaean Palaces • The main focus of the palace was the megaron, a large rectangular hall, with a small anteroom and a portico in the front, opening onto a courtyard • The megaron was clearly the ceremonial centre of the palace; they used it for feasts, councils, and reception of visitors • The frescoes were Minoan in style, but showed a preference for martial themes, such as personal combats, sieges, and hunting scenes

  34. Mycenaean Great Hall

  35. Palace Culture and Society • At the top of the palace system was the wanax (or “lord”) • Under the wanax were high-ranking officials, such as the lawagetas (probably “commander”) • The telestai (priests) and korete (regional administrators) oversaw the collection, production, and protection of palace resources

  36. Palace Culture and Society • Officials received their lands from the wanax, and in return gave him their service and a share of resources • Military enforcement and raiding for the kingdom was the job of the hequetai • Villages were under the supervision of the local pariseu (magistrate)

  37. The End of Mycenaean Civilization: Theories • “The Dorian Invasion”-Did the Mycenaean civilization collapse because of an invasion from the North? • The Sea Peoples-Records show that mysterious sea peoples were wreaking havoc on Egypt, the Middle East, and Anatolia in the late thirteenth and early twelfth centuries BCE

  38. The End of Mycenaean Civilization: Theories • Most likely explanation is that the Mycenaeans experienced “system collapse” –a breakdown of their economic and social systems • This was triggered by problems such as prolonged drought, overpopulation, soil exhaustion, reliance on too few crops, and internal difficulties

  39. The End of Mycenaean Civilization: Theories • Additionally, there was a cessation of foreign trade in the late thirteenth century • The coming of the Dorians was perhaps not really an invasion but an intrusion into a political vacuum created by the obliteration of Mycenaean kingdoms • Groups of Doric-speakers from the North may have filtered in over a period and taken over the Peloponnesus, as well as Crete

  40. The Dark Age-1100-800 BCE • By 1100 BCE the palace-centres were in ruins or uninhabited • For the next 450 years, no monumental stone structures would be built in Greece • The art of writing was forgotten and would not return until the eighth century • Vital trade links were broken and supplies of bronze dwindled

  41. The Dark Ages-1100-800 BCE • During these obscure centuries, a new Greece was rising, radically different from both the old Greece and other societies of the Mediterranean • The patterns of social and political integration that emerged from the shattered palace-states would set the path to a new kind of state government in Greece-the city-state (polis), which emerged in the eighth century BCE

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