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Meanwhile In Greece …

Meanwhile In Greece …. The Bronze Age. Background. Began to coalesce into a heterogynous but identifiable people about the time of the first Olympics (776 B.C.). Backstory is important to understanding them Minoan Period Mycenaean Period Dark Ages. Minoan Period. Palatial Periods.

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Meanwhile In Greece …

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  1. Meanwhile In Greece … The Bronze Age

  2. Background • Began to coalesce into a heterogynous but identifiable people about the time of the first Olympics (776 B.C.). • Backstory is important to understanding them • Minoan Period • Mycenaean Period • Dark Ages

  3. Minoan Period

  4. Palatial Periods • Prepalatial Period (3200-2000 bc) • Protopalatial (2000-1720 bc) – palaces destroyed by earthquakes about 1720ish • Neopalatial (1720-1550 bc) • Final Palatial Period (1550-1350 bc) - Mycenaeans take over

  5. Minoan (?) • Sir Arthur Evans responsible for much of what we know about the Minoans (about 1900) • Name is recent descriptive term • King Minos • City of Knossos • Minotaur • Known by the Egyptions as the Kafteo • Known by the people is Western Semitic lands as the Kaftor or Kaftoreans

  6. King Minos • The legend • Where does such a story come form • Mixture of history and myth • Dominated Greek islands, Mycenae and required tribute (Thucydides says Minos first king to have a navy) • Palaces • Functioned as storehouse as well as home for ruler • Rubble from the palaces looked like labyrinth

  7. Arthur Evans Reconstruction as an analogy for how we do history • Palace • Dolphin Fresco • Griffin flanking throne • Duplication of snake goddess figures

  8. How Advanced? • Indoor plumbing • Glass windows • Skilled artists • Writing – Linear A

  9. Traded throughout Mediterranean • Pottery jars from Minos found in Egypt and in the Western Semitic territory • Alabaster jar lid in Knossos marked with name of third Hyksos king • Hyksos palace in Avaris includes a fresco of the Minoan style • Gilgamesh’ fight with Bull of Heaven may reflect Minoan influence in Mesopotamia

  10. Religion – Sacred Bulls (Apis)

  11. Religion – Human Sacrifice • Story of Minotaur eating 14 victims • Sacrificial site at Knossos includes human sacrifice and indicates ritual feasting on the dead • Probably rare – maybe related to Earthquakes suffered by island and attempts to appease Poseidon/Earthshaker

  12. Religion – Snake Goddesses

  13. Sacred War Axe

  14. Why Did Minoan Civilization Fade? • Possible Answers • Volcano • Earthquake • Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur points to the animosity between Mycenae and Knossos

  15. Mycenae (1700-1200 BC) • Immigrated from the North • Mycenae gives its name to the civilization • By 1500, Tribute and culture flowed from Mycenae to Knossos

  16. Heinrich Schliemann • Self-financed / self-style archaeologist • Where is ancient Mycenae • Looking for grave of Agamemnon discovers the shaft grave inside the lions gate.

  17. The Lion’s Gate

  18. “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon…”

  19. Commerce & Trade • Strong naval power with much sea trade • Sunken ship found with merchandise from no less than seven countries; Egypt, Canaan, Asia Minor, Italy, Cyprus,Baltic,etc. • Linear B used primarily for accounting purposes but it mentions the gods. • Decoded by Michael Ventris a WWII codebreaker • Earlier form of Greek

  20. Religion • Snake goddesses (with bodice closed) • Worship of the Greek gods (Zeus, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, etc.) goes back to the second millennium BC on the mainland.

  21. Time of prosperity, until …

  22. Greek Dark Ages • Circa 1200-800 bc. • Cities abandoned • Writing ceases • Art and culture fade away • Sophisticated architecture disappears • Trade with foreign nations stops • Vanish from records of other nations

  23. Why Dark Ages? • Possible Answers • Earthquakes • Famine and Plague • The Sea Peoples • Invasion of the Dorians • thick fortified walls around palaces • Art depicts them fighting barbaric peoples, chariots, armament • Trojan War • All of the above

  24. Trojan War • About 1250 BC • Primary sources • Homer’s Iliad - Odyssey • Virgil’s Aeneid • 10 Year Siege • (compare with Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan)

  25. Was there a Trojan War • Heinrich Schliemann • Calvert – American vice-consul • Nine layered cities

  26. “The Greeks raise a mighty army because of a woman . . . And then invaded Asia and destroyed Priam and his forces. Ever since then, the Persians have regarded the Greeks as their enemies…. They date their hostilities towards Greece from the fall of Ilium.” (Herodotus)

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