MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN WORLDS

2000 – 1200 BC

MAP OF GREECE

INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN MINOANS, EGYPT, AND MESOPOTAMIA UNTIL 1500 BCMiddle Kingdom of Egypt beginning with the time of Amenemhet II around 1930 BC we start to see artifacts from Aegean civilizations appear in the Delta region.

During the Hyksos (1650-1540 BC), there is evidence of painting spread throughout the Delta area and some Palestinian sites.

By the reign of Thutmose III (New Kingdom, 1450ish), Crete was destroyed.

MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN GREECE

MYCENAEAN PEOPLE 1600-1200 BC

They were an Indo-European people who migrated onto the Greek mainland and displaced the inhabitants (2200 BC).

Heinrich Schliemann: Excavated on the coast of Turkey and located Troy. The stratum for the Trojan War does show devastation. The war was possibly a trade dispute.

He turns to the Greek mainland and excavates Mycenae. There he finds “the mask of Agamemnon.” He names Mycenae after the city of the Trojan War hero Agamemnon.

DEVELOPMENT OF MYCENAEAN CULTURE

1600 BC Indo-Europeans settled on the Mainland of Greece. Not politically unified.

1400 BC Attracted by the Minoan culture and emulated much of it. However, their culture was distinctly their own.

After the Mycenaean people took control of Crete, they began to dominate the Mediterranean, 1400-1200 BC.

EARLY MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION 1600-1400 BC

Shaft graves: rectangular pits in which weaponry is buried with the bodies

Tholos graves: noble families buried in bee-hive shaped tombs

ZENITH OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION 1400-1200 BC

Using Minoan ideas in art and architecture, they built fortified cities on a hill.

LINEAR A VS B

When the Mycenaean people conquered Crete, they stole its system of writing. The Cretan form of writing was called Linear A. It was not Greek!

The Minoans used linear signs to keep track of palace records.

The Mycenaean people used their system to develop an early form of Greek, called Linear B.

PALACE ARCHITECTURE

MYCENAEAN ARCHITECTURE

Mycenaeans were fighters. So much of their architecture were citadels. They would choose a high, rocky hill, and built a fortress on top.

There would be living quarters, etc. The focus of the citadel was the megaron, Greek for large room.

Most of the citizens would live in small mud brick houses. Then, when under attack, they would retreat to the citadel.

Megarons: large rooms used for feasts, councils, and reception of visitors

Large open room with four columns in the center with a circular hearth.

LION GATEThe citadels were cut out of massive,

irregular blocks of hewn stone. The Greeks called the walls Cyclopeans, because it seemed that it had been placed there by giants.

They would use post and lintel construction for doorways, usually with a triangular space on top. This one has two lions protecting the entrance.

THOLOSA tholos was a beehive

tomb. It’s made by corbeling stones on top of each other, with each one slightly on top, overlapping the one below it.

A dromos is the long walkway leading to the tomb.

TOMB OF CLYTEMNESTRAClytemnestra was the

wife of Agamemnon, who murdered him when he returned from Troy.

Once body was inside the tholos, the triangle and door were blocked in with bricks.

FUNERAL MASK

In many of the tholos uncovered, wonderful objects were uncovered such as this funeral mask.

It is thought that these masks would secure a person’s identity in the afterlife.

Although stylized, this definitely was modeled after a specific person.

This particular mask has been mistakenly called the Mask of Agamemnon.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND GOVERNMENT

Discoveries at Pylos have reaffirmed some of the account in the Iliad about society during the Bronze Age.

Wanax: warlord who scrupulously kept on eye on all the economic activity of his city.

Lawagetas: general of the army

Most of the population worked on land belonging to the nobility and craftsmen held private property. Women were relegated to textiles, cooking, and childcare.

Palace workers were highly specialized in crafts.

RELIGION

Shrines in the palace centers

Many of the same gods as would be present in the later Greek pantheon.

Based off of Indo-European gods.

Zeus: early sky god; same god as the Sanskrit, Dyaus pitar and Roman, Zeus pater.

Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, Athena, Artemis, Dionysus, Apollo, and Ares.

POTTERY

Mycenaean Warrior Vase

The “warrior vase” was named by Heinrich

Schliemann, the 19th-century archeologist who

discovered it. It is a mixing bowl (krator in Greek)

used for mixing wine and water and dates to the 12th

century BCE.

INTERSECTION OF MYCENAE AND EGYPT

After the Mycenaens took over Crete, they began to explore.

Contact with Egypt who called them Cretans (Kreftiu).

Contacts in Asia Minor led the Hittites to refer to them as Ahhiyawa or possibly Achaeans.

THE END OF AN AGE AND MYTHIC ANCESTORS

Around 1150 BC, a city was attacked in Asia Minor.

The battle decimated the city though it did later rebuild.

At this same time the WHOLE Mediterranean collapsed: Egypt, Middle East, Greece, Asia Minor…

Called the Dark Age

FACTS OR MYTHS?

When were the myths, the Minotaur and Trojan War, created?

During the Dark Ages of Greece

Minoans: 1900 BC-1500 BC, Mycenaean Peoples: 1600-1200 BC

Dark Ages 1200-700 BC

It was during the Dark Ages that the Greeks would look back on the past with nostalgia and mystify their past. So they created the Minotaur and the Trojan War. Based on some facts, but largely turned into mythology.

The Greek collapse 1200-750 BC

What happened?

Around 1200 BC: Famine, drought, trade disruptions, invasions…

Famine probably caused everything

Sea Peoples

Troy fell

Egypt fell

Near East Fell

75% Population decreased

People moved away

Writing was lost

Some art was lost

Bards

Athens only survived

1200-750 BC

Agriculture and crafts continued

Geometric-like art

Basileus: chief

Homer and Hesiod

Demos: a territory, with a major city, and the people

Polis: main city of the Demos

Oikos: household

Thetes: property-less men

THE POWER TO THINK AND REASON GAVE MAN HIS WORTH

NO AUTHORITY HIGHER THAN REASON

‘GOD” WAS AN ABSTRACT IDEA NOT A PERSONAL PRESENCE

EXCELLENCE (ARETE) IN ALL THINGS

THE MATERIAL WORLD IS THE EXTENSION OF THE HUMAN ABILITY

Blind poet who compiled lost epics into a our two surviving books: The Iliad and the Odyssey

Lived towards the end of the Dark Ages (700 BC)

Combined present social life with past legend

Sought to elevate the Mycenaean period as “Heroic”

Paris prince of Troy kidnaps the wife of a Mycenaean King, Menelaus of Sparta. Menelaus defers to his brother, Agamemnon the King of all Achaeans, and they engage in war for 10 years at Troy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w8wW0z7nNg

What was life really like during the Dark Ages and what was a reflection back into the past?

Linear B:Wanax (warlord)

Lawagetas (army general)

From archaeology:Large Palaces with art and architecture from the Minoans

Megarons

“Greek” religion

Inhumation

Bronze weapons

From Homer government changes…

Basileus: chieftain

Boule: assembly of “elders”

Agora: assembly of community

Weapons changeIron is used

Some large homes (no palaces)Megaron

Xenia: guest friendship

Agathos: “goodness” attained by bravery in battle, loyalty, fairness, hospitable

Aristos: desire to be the best

Arete: Excellence

Kleos: glory

Aidos: sense of duty

Arête: ExcellenceValue is determined by how effective you are at controlling your environment

Examples of Homeric arête: Glory in battle or athleticism

Sense of duty

Xenia

Two major works:

Works and DaysHard work (ergon)

Guest friendship (xenia)

Theogonythe creation of the gods and the world

Humanism vs Fatalism

750-700 BC

Rapid population growth

City-States and Panhellenism

Rise of aristocracy and the lack of fertile land

Trade

Colonization

Writing

Art and architecture

Set foundation for theArchaic Age