The Early Greeks I Discovery of New Civilizations A Homer and Schliemann B Minoan Civilization C Mycenaean Civilization Homer Odyssey o Iliad o Greek poet around 750 650 BC most famous for two epics Iliad and A poem about Trojan war a major war that lasted about 10 years Paris with the help of the goddess of love steals Helen away long between cities from her husband Helen was kidnapped and brought to Troy All her suitors signed a waver that said they d help her husband if anything was to happen to her Hector Paris brother Troy Achilles Story is set in the distant past but it was written around 700 750 BC o Heinrich Schliemann Scholars believed it to be fantasy mythology 1822 German father was a merchant As a boy Schliemann was a prodigy and was great with languages Father was alcoholic lost all his money and couldn t send his son to school anymore Schliemann went to work but taught himself languages Greek Latin 1850 Gold Rush Schliemann also went to California thinking he would supply to the minors and makes a fortune Goes to Greece because he wants to locate the city of Troy Credited with finding the city of Troy o Troy Around 1870 Schliemann located the city of Troy Found giant walls where the gods sat to watch the fighting around a small city and evidence that he believes shows the city was destroyed by fire He also found lots of gold and sent out press release about it Scholars looked at it and said it was unlike any they had Probably bought the gold off the black market and was seen before placing it there Sir Arthur Evans o Mycenae If Homer was right about Troy he must be right about everything else Schliemann set out to find Mycenae Finds a small city with a defensive big wall around it Finds graves and inside with grave goods Tons of weapons swords with decorations of scenes of fighting and gold Death Masks that are placed on the face of the deceased Homer wrote down stories that were passed down as oral tradition Not a historian because the details might be skewed from generations passing down the story He describes the outfits battles as battles from his time olive oil o Intrigued by what Schliemann found and intrigued by the gifts from Crete o Makes an expedition to the island of Crete 1894 1900 o Finds a massive palace with underground chambers filled with wine and o Parts of the Minoan palace were elaborately painting with scenes never seen before women dancing with snakes young acrobats Lots of images with bulls people dancing with bulls o Minoan clay tablets Two versions Linear A and Linear B Not cuneiform because they have lines Around 1450 BC people switched to Linear B Linear A is older than Linear B Maybe a new ruler who is speaking a different language Knossos o Center of Crete Carl Blegen o American 1933 o Digging in a Mycenaean city Called it Minoan o Finds tablets with only Linear B Michael Ventris o Tries to break the code of Linear B o Alice Kober linguist at a Brooklyn college was working on it too but dies so Ventris gets her notes o Symbols were syllables o ti ri po de Picture of a vessel with three feet following the syllables Tripod Ancient Greek written in a different language Greek speakers Review Minoan Civilization o Evans discovers and names it o Began in 2600 BC o Mostly confined to Crete o Large palace complex at Knossos o Linear A appears in 2000 BC o Production and trade in wine and olive oil o Linear B supplants Linear A in 1450 BC o Ended by 1370 BC Peaceful bull loving wine drinking people who are trading no walls around cities collapse due to the growth of the Mycenaeans Mycenaean Civilization o Discovered by Schliemann o Began in 1500 o High period 1400 1200 BC o A Greek speaking people o Throughout Aegan o Small walled cities o Warfare militaristic society o Trade in wine and olive oil o Se of Linear B o Ended by 1100 BC II Time of Turmoil 1200 1000 BC Economic political and social collapse o One theory subjugated people possibly living under Mycenaean kings rebel and start an uprising causing no proof of outsiders o Second theory goes back to Homer Trojan War 10 years long o Domino effect after the collapse of the Mycenaeans o Wiped out of any mention of history books until Schliemann and Evans went out there Dorians Sea People III Archaic Greece Dark Ages 1000 750 BC o Breakdown of society writing is lost o Sustenance farming Archaic Age 750 550 BC o Characteristics Base of Greeks in Greece and Asia Minor begin colonizing On the coast they are usually trade network Literacy comes back Phoenician Alphabet Borrowed from the Phoenicians Semitic people Only one city survives from the pre Dark Ages Athens Greeks are Indo European Increase in population Slow economic revival Wine and Olive Oil trade Beginning of coinage Each city state had its own coin o Silver gold depictions of animals o Poets and Pre Socrates Delphi o Highly volcanic region o Becomes the location of a kind of pilgrimage religious site o Greeks were polytheistic who believed their gods interacted with humans Sexually demigods o Gods spoke to humans through oracles priestesses who would go through trances Apollo o The Oracle at Delphi Olympic Games o At the city of Olympia there was a temple to Zeus o Celebration of Zeus that happens every 4 years o Series of contests athletic and intellect 8th century o Used as calendars o Male only performed in the nude o Represented yourself but gave city state status if won Poets of Ancient Greece Economically strong time o Boom in trade and re establishment of cities Political writing scientific writing Sappho o One of few surviving writing that came from a woman o Lyric poet Poems were more like songs complicated meter and rhyme o Topics were mainly on love o Weave in the story of the gods o Came from the island of Lesbos o Refers to a group of sisters in her poems o Believed to live in a community of women o She was married and had children but her poems include passionate love with women and men Sexuality was more fluid in the Greek world o Two of her poems are primary sources Mentions Helen of Troy Hesiod o Well known archaic poet o Theogony Literally means origins of the gods Preserves the story of the Titans and how they were destroyed by Zeus and his brothers sister the Olympians o And Work and Days Homer o Main poems set in the distant past Epic poet o Iliad and Odyssey Masterpieces in any era Odyssey the 10 year long journey a warrior has to take to get Iliad an episode of the 10 year war home About the aftermath of war o