Professor David Buell Lecture 8 Ancient Greece Part 1 Minoans and Mycenaeans Hellas Greece Greece controlled parts of the Mediterranean Dictaean Mounatins Crete Plains and valleys separated Communication was poor Greece was politically fragmented Mountainous Suitable land and tree crops Olive vines Suitable land for pastoral activities herding of sheep and goat Mediterranean Sea Situated within a close distance of the sea Sea faring people trade network with Italy and the Eastern in particular Natural resources fish Paleolithic axes from Crete Homo Erectus upright human 1 8million 300 000 years ago Came to island of Crete through sea faring The Minoans and the Mycenaeans Homo sapiens sapiens ie Modern humans 100 000 years ago 7000 6500 BC agricultural farming communities 3500 BC Bronze weapons and tools Trade with the Near East The Greek Bronze Age Minoans and Mycenaeans Minoans is the prehistoric of Crete Mycenaens is the prehistoric of the mainland Development of cities on the island of Crete then on main land Thescus slaying the Minotaur Minos King of Crete tyrant and rules with an iron fist The Labyrinth maze that Minos own The Minotaur beast Half human half bull Minos feed the Minotaur Athenians He sends a number of boys and girls Theseus Outsmarts Minos in the Labyrinth Assisted by Minos s daughter She gave him a string to help him through the maze Kills the Minotaur Later broke up with Minos s daughter Arthur Evans archaeologist Knossos Minoans trading outposts throughout the Mediterranean The Island of Santorini location of one of the outposts Eruption ca 1470 BC Thera Minoan colony Eruption sent a massive tsunami to Crete evidence of destruction on the sea coast Volcanic ash preserved a lot of the Minoan artifacts houses objects etc Minoan houses rain led to collapse of the rooftops The Palace of Knossos or The Palace of Minos ca 1900 1100 BC Social hierarchies develop which led to extravagant palaces The palace had places for ceremonial functions manufacturing of products metals served as the political capital for these small states had storage spaces palace collected tax from surrounding country side comes in form of agricultural stuff The Central Courtyard at Knossos Bull leaping took place in these courtyards ceremonial event Bulls important in a religious context connection to religion Emphasized on the community Frescoes painting on walls individuals sitting watching people dance within these large places Could be meeting places for events like dancing Lavish building well cut stones well constructed buildings highly decorated The Minoans like to depict scenes of nature in art marine fresco dolphin fresco In storage spaces grain wine olive oil Mount Juktas A Minoan Peak Sanctuary Minoans didn t worship in temples but in shrines on high mountain peaks Peak Sactuaries Communicated with Gods the peaks are higher to the Gods Large open air high spaces Each palace have a peak sanctuary and can be seen from the courtyard Minoan Writing 1 Pictographs pictures representing various things ex The Phaistos Disk in spirals 2 Hieroglyphs 1700 1600 BC Minoans somehow adopted Egyptian idea 3 Linear A syllabic ideograms consists of various inscriptions all made by a line Undeciphered therefore we have no idea what language they spoke Documented from what were in the storages Ex Linear A tablets wrote on them then erase Massive destructions on Crete massive fires that destroyed the palaces The olive oil in storage spaces fueled the fires and explosions The Mycenaeans These people might have invaded Crete 1400 1300 BC Illiad and the Odyssey epic poems written about the Mycenaens Two cultures interact between the Mycenaens and the Minoans Mycenaean Greece 1800 1180 BC Mycenae Excavated by famous archaeologist called Heinrich Schliemann Ruled by Agamemnon in the Illiad Mycenaeans Indo Europeans The city of Mycenae Mycenae Grave Circle A ca 1600 BC Change of how people were buried Circular tomb Individuals were provided with lavish things shroud gold objects death masks metal objects weapons swords spears Ex lion hunt dagger death mask of Agamemnon Mycenaean Tholos Tomb Beehive Tomb Circular burial chamber Approached itself by a long passage way Built into hill sides covered by the earth Corbelled arch structure valve consisted of stones beehive term comes from this Build with elaborate building materials through human labor Stand as markers for the elites of Mycenaeans society The Palace of Pylos Or The Palace of Nestor Served as economical social and political purposes like the Minoans Megaron central unit of the palace Organized around a central building Megaron These Megarons were H shaped buildings and contained a hearth which was surrounded by columns Described in the Illiad and the Odyssey Megaron throne room for people to meet the King emphasized on the king King receives various objects and were entertained Frescoes from Pylos depicts an individual sitting on a rock playing a lyre bart bard Skirts armor depicted as Mycenaens Buried with arms and armor Helmet made out of tusks Depicted as great warriors fought with the Cretens and the Minoans They also fought with each other Used massive stones for their fortifications Cyclopean architecture Walls were built really high built by Cyclops Mycenaean Writing Linear B syllabic script symbols with vowels and constants Michael Ventris codebreaker in WWII Compared it to ancient and modern Greek Linear B was undeciphered but he found that Linear B is similar to the Greek Greek Collapse of the Mycenaeans 1180 BC Sea Peoples Civil Unrest Troubles to the North Northern Invaders coming to Greece Drought etc Cities abandoned Depopulation Migration Dark Ages Lecture 10 Greece Pt 2 The Dark Ages The Archaic Period The Collapse of Mycenaean Civilization 1180 BC Sea Peoples Civil Unrest Troubles to the North Drought etc Cities abandoned Collapse of Palaces various cultural arts disappearing Lost of writing degeneration of art after Bronze Age Depopulation Migration Dark Ages Ancient Greece Dark Ages 1100 753 BC Archaic Period 750 500 BC Classical Period Hellenistic Period The Dark Ages 1180 750 BC Poverty and recession Depopulation Decline in the standard of living Isolation Stagnation degradation of art Migrations to the other parts of the Mediterranean Revival 900 800 BC Iron resources were used Individuals turning to iron work Small local iron industries all over Greece Most tools and weapons are made out of iron instead of bronze Art human