Chapter 5: Ancient Greece

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Chapter 5 Ancient Greece

• Section 1 Early People of the Aegean

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Minoan Civilization (2700-1400 BC)

• Crete --- cradle of early Greek civilization
• Height/greatest success (1750-1500)
• British archaeologist Arthur Evans called the
  people of this civilization Minoans named after
  legendary King Minos
• Evans led the excavation at Knossos in the late
  1800s/early 1900s AD
• Minoan success was based on tradenot conquest
  had contact with Mesopotamia Egypt

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Island of Crete
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Palace at Knossos

• Home of royal family
• Religious shrines honored gods/goddesses (mother
  goddess bull)
• Palace wall covered with frescoes --- watercolor
  paintings on wet plaster
• Paintings showed imp. of the sea (dolphins),
  religion and games (bull jumping)
• Women and men seen as equals in society

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Arthur John Evans (1851-1941)

• British archaeologist
• Inspired by Schliemanns discovery of Troy in
  1870 AD
• Excavated Knossos in 1900 AD
• Worked to transcribe over 3,000 clay tablets
• Found a civilization earlier than the
  MycenaeansMinoans
• Knighted in 1911

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Bulls and Bull Jumping
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End of Minoan Civilization (1400 BC)

• Why did it vanish???
• Possible reasons include volcanic eruption on
  nearby island, earthquake, tidal wave
• 1st approx. 1600 BC (the Cretans rebuilt), 2nd
  approx. 1500 BC on Thera (Knossos was a weakened
  city)
• Invaders known the Mycenaeans conquered the Greek
  mainland and then invaded Crete (approx. 1400 BC)

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Mycenaean Civilization (1600-1100 BC)

• First Greek speaking people on record
• Sea traders like the Minoans warriors unlike the
  Minoans
• Borrowed art of writing from the Minoans (Linear
  A/B)
• Lived in separate city-states on the mainland
• Referred to as Achaeans by Homer

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The Trojan War (1250 -1240 BC)

• Origin 1 Economic rivalry btw. Mycenaean Greece
  and Troy (a rich trading city in Asia Minor)
• Origin 2 Trojan prince Paris captured Helen
  (the face that launched a thousand ships), wife
  of King Menalaus of Sparta

• 1870s German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann
  led excavation of Troy and found evidence of the
  warbelieved by many to be legendary
• The Troy of Homers Iliad was possibly level VII
  of IX unearthed cities.

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Trojan War (1250-1240 BC???)
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The Apple of Discord The Trojan War has its roots
in the marriage between Peleus and Thetis, a
sea-goddess. Peleus and Thetis had not invited
Eris, the goddess of discord, to their marriage
and the outraged goddess stormed into the wedding
banquet and threw a golden apple onto the table.
The apple belonged to, Eris said, whomever was
the fairest. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each
reached for the apple. Zeus proclaimed that
Paris, prince of Troy and thought to be the most
beautiful man alive, would act as the
judge. Hermes went to Paris, and Paris agreed to
act as the judge. Hera promised him power, Athena
promised him wealth, and Aphrodite promised the
most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose
Aphrodite, and she promised him that Helen, wife
of Menelaus, would be his wife. Paris then
prepared to set off for Sparta to capture Helen.
Twin prophets Cassandra and Helenus tried to
persuade him against such action, as did his
mother, Hecuba. But Paris would not listen and he
set off for Sparta. In Sparta, Menelaus, husband
of Helen, treated Paris as a royal guest.
However, when Menelaus left Sparta to go to a
funeral, Paris abducted Helen (who perhaps went
willingly) and also carried off much of Menelaus'
wealth. In Troy, Helen and Paris were married.
This occurred around 1200 B.C.
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Archaeologist or Treasure Hunter?

• Schliemann smuggled most of the artifacts off the
  site at Troy.
• Some items found copper shield, cauldron, and
  vase, two golden cups, a silver goblet, seven
  double-edged daggers lance-heads
• King Priams Treasure was acquired (1880) by the
  Pergamon Museum in Berlin, where it remained
  until 1945, when it was removed by the Soviet Red
  Army to Moscow from a protective bunker beneath
  the Berlin Zoo.
• Schliemann died December 26th in Naples, Italy of
  a severe ear infection.

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Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890)For the Hero
Schliemann
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Trojan War Legacy

• One of the only times that Greek city-states
  united to fight a common enemy
• Result Greeks seized Troy and burned the city
  to the ground
• Accepting the gift of the Trojan horse (idea of
  Odysseus Athena) led to Troys downfall
  (Why???)
• Trojans accepted the horse as a sign of
  surrender celebrated were attacked at nightfall
  when they slept

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The Trojan Horse
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The Age of Homer/Dark Age (1100 800 BC)

• Greek-speaking Dorians invaded the mainland
• Mycenaeans abandoned cities, trade declined, art
  of writing was lost, etc.
• Civilization took a step backward
• Two epics, Homers Iliad (Troy Ilium)
• (15,000 lines) and Odyssey (12,000 lines),
  give hints of life during this time period

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Time of Homer

• Lived sometime between 850-750 BC???
• Blind poet (according to tradition) who traveled
  from village to village singing heroic tales
• Tales passed on orally before being written down
• Homers Iliad chief source of info. about the
  Trojan War (fought ???)

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Homer continued

• Iliad covers last 50 days of the 10th year of the
  war
• Odyssey tells of the struggles of Greek hero
  Odysseus on his return (20 year journey!) home to
  faithful wife Penelope after the fall of Troy
• Iliad and Odyssey tell us about Greek values
  through the heroes, gods, goddesses, etc.
• King Menalaus (Sparta), King Agamemnon (Mycenae),
  Achilles Odysseus (Greek heroes), King Priam
  (Troy), Paris Hector (Trojan heroes)
• Both epics are a great source of national pride
  for Greeks.

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Riddle posed to Homer

• According to the legend, Homer himself did not
  know where he was born.
• He went to Delphi to consult the oracle.He was
  told The isle of Ios is your mothers country
  and it shall receive you dead but beware the
  riddles of young children.
• As an old man, he visited Ios and met children of
  local fishermen coming back from the sea. He
  asked them what they had caught.
• What we caught we threw awaywhat we didn't
  catch, we kept.
• He couldnt answer slippedbumped his head
  died!
• Lice!

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Looking Ahead

• After Dorian invasions --- Greeks lived in small,
  isolated villages
• Had no writing and few outside contacts
• Eventually Greece develops a strong civilization
  that will impact Western Europe and the rest of
  the world.