Greek Beginnings

Minoans and Mycenaeans

A remarkable environment

Ancient Greece

MinoanCivilization

MycenaeanCivilization

Minoan civilization

Minoans

c. 6000 BCE: the first farmers settle Crete c. 2000 BCE: the first palaces appear c. 1700 BCE: a great earthquake destroys Minoan

palace complexes later rebuilt

c. 1600 BCE: the first Mycenaeans reach Crete c. 1450 BCE: a volcanic eruption on Thera generates a

great tidal wave Knossos and other palaces destroyed

c. 1100 BCE: the end of Minoan civilization

Knossos

Knossos (cont.)

Right: queen’s room Below: throne room

Remarkable art

Minoan Wall frescoes (below) Seals (right)

Minoan art (cont.) How sensitive these images are in

comparison to those of other early civilizations

Let the games begin….

“bull-leaping” compare: the first Olympic

Games 776 BCE

Mycenaean civilization

Mycenaeans

c. 1600-1100 BCE: dominate mainland Greece c. 1450 BCE: become rulers of Crete c. 1250 BCE: the traditional date of the fall of Troy c. 1200 BCE: Mycenaean culture begins to decline

cities abandoned

c. 1100-800 BCE: the Greek “Dark Age” Homer and Hesiod

A martial tradition

Right: Theseus and the Minotaur

Below: the Trojan Horse

The martial arts

Right: Mycenaean arms and armor

Below: the lion hunt

Fortifications

Right: the Lion Gate Below: the citadel at Mycenae

Mycenaean art

Top right: history’s most famous mask

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