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Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece. The Minoans. People who came from Asia Minor to the island of Crete around 7000 BCE. Named after mythic King Minos by archeologist Sir Arthur Evans. Highly proficient navigators. Settlers spread across island and built small farming villages. Crete.

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Ancient Greece

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  1. Ancient Greece

  2. The Minoans • People who came from Asia Minor to the island of Crete around 7000 BCE. • Named after mythic King Minos by archeologist Sir Arthur Evans. • Highly proficient navigators. • Settlers spread across island and built small farming villages.

  3. Crete • Island off the coast of Greece. • About 200 km long. • Very fertile, semi-tropical climate. • Minoans grew grain and raised sheep and goats. • Also hunted and fished.

  4. Crete

  5. Crete

  6. The Minoans • Around 3200 BCE, bronze was introduced to the Minoans, enabling them to make better tools and weapons. • How did they pay for bronze? • Evidence from the land suggest they traded their surplus of food and wool clothing. • Evidence of ploughing heavier soils, making cheese from milk, and planting grape vines and olive trees.

  7. The Minoans • As trade flourished, Minoan society became more skilled, wealthy and had more contacts with people outside of Crete. • Suddenly, development was interrupted around 2300 BCE. It is not understood why settlements were abandoned and trading stopped.

  8. Circa 2100 BCE • Society began to recover. • Population grew - immigraton • Foreign trade established with Near East. • Higher levels of artisanship, system of writing, and new burial customs. • Sacred grounds called sanctuaries - buildings on hilltops in honour of the gods.

  9. The Wealthy • Built big houses, some as big as palaces. • Fine jewelry and clothing. • Initially kept track of wealth by marking possessions with a seal. Later used hieroglyphic characters. Eventually developed their own system of writing that we call Linear A.

  10. Linear A Script

  11. Palaces • Most important palace was at Knossos. • Centres of political power - where goods were stored and exchanged. • Palace of Knossos covered 5 1/2 acres of land.

  12. Destruction • Palaces destroyed possibly by earthquake around 1750 BCE. • Rebuilt shortly after and Minoan life continued for another 250 years. • Around 1490 BCE, palaces were destroyed again, probably due to Mycenaean warriors beginning to arrive in Crete.

  13. Evidence • Clay tablets used for keeping track of palace goods written in a new language, called Linear B (derived from Linear A).

  14. Linear B

  15. How Did the Mycenaeans Invade? • Minoans were probably weakened by fighting or natural disasters. • Palace at Knossos taken by Mycenaeans and used as administrative centre for 80 years. • Minoan culture slowly disappeared - linear A script disappears. • Palace of Knossos later destroyed by fire. It was not rebuilt.

  16. Greece

  17. Greece

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