Greek Spheres of operations

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• Greek Spheres of operations
• Note the feature
• Location!
• Location!
• Location!

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First Great Aegean CultureMinoan3100 BC 1450
BC
Set like a jewel in the wine dark sea there lies
a land called Crete, a rich and lovely land,
washed by waves on every side .
-Homer,
Odyssey, XIX
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Palace at Knossos - Discovered 1900 by Sir Arthur
Evans
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Evans called the culture Minoan after the
mythic King of Crete and son of Zeus (vide
handout)
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Palace at Knossos

• Beautiful frescos, pottery, sculpture, athletics
  much with marine themes
• Intricate structures (including an indoor toilet)
  suggesting a labyrinth
• Bull imagery (suggesting the minotaur)

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Minoan Sports
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Knossos Cretan culture

• Wealthy people-many storehouses
• Educated-had a writing system, particularly used
  for inventories of goods
• Sea dominance- no fortifications against invaders
  suggests naval supremacy
• High standard for women shown in art and religion
  note goddess sculptures
• Goods from all around the
• Mediterranean

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But around 1450 - Gone

• Invaders?
• Earthquake and zunami?

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Mainland Mycenaeans moved inflourished ca
1700-1200 BC
These are the people Homer describes and calls
Achaeans
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Mycenaeans were very different from Minoans

• Great cities located where Homer puts Pylos and
  Mycene
• Named from Homers description by Schliemann, the
  archeologist who uncovered the sites
• A feudal, warlike culture with power centering on
  kings and their henchmen
• Shaft and mound (tholos) graves

• Cities protected by Cyclopean walls

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Even the art is different
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Mycenaean Map
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Palaces the great hall (megaron)
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But around 1250-1200, Mycenaeans begin fortifying

• Ca 1150 major cities burned but not rebuilt
• Population level on mainland drops sharply
• Levels of manufacture, art, writing drop
• No sign of social organization
• No sign of invaders
• Internal feuds? Plague? Drought? Revolt of
  peasants? Raiders who came and left?
• What?? No conclusive answer. Dark Ages
  begin.

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But 300-400 years laterGreek (Hellenic) culture
is starting up Archaic Age begins

• Homer, 750 BC, represents the first literary work
  of the new era and his tales harken back to
  Bronze Age life
• Rise of City-States or Poleis (p??e??) as
  independent governments.
• Continuity of political system of monarchy
  alongside oligarchy and development of democracy
• Rise of Hellenic art, writing, commerce, and
  common religious institutions

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Note nearnessOf eastern Greek city-states to
Persia