quick start
DESCRIPTION
A quick introduction to the Minoans and MycenaeansTRANSCRIPT
Greek TimelineWelcome Back!
Mount Olympus
Vertical Geography
• Greece is a land of many mountains
• Mt. Olympus, the highest, is 9,570’ high.
• Mountains divide Greece into many small regions
• These regions become the basis for the city-states of ancient Greece
Cape Sounion, Attica
Relations with the Sea
• Greece has a rough coastline.
• There are many islands, as well.
• No place is more than about 30 miles from the sea.
• Transport is easier by water than by land in ancient times.
The Island of Crete
The Islands of Greece
• Settled by the Pelasgians?
• Possibly about 2500 BCE
• Brought pigs, wheat, barley, oats, grapes and other crops to the islands
• Built un-walled towns, set up villages
Pelasgian Harp/Lyre player
• carved of marble, around 2500 BCE, and found on the island of Keros, Greece. This figure is about 3 inches high
Female Figureof Cycladic origin
• created about 2800 BCE and found on the island of Paros, Greece.
Kamares Ware
• Pottery style from 1800 BCE, named after the town where it was first found.
• This came from Phaistos, Crete
The Islands of Greece
• Eventually conquered or united under the Minoan civilization.
• The Minoans were centered on Crete
• They built elaborate palaces and irrigation systems
• The culture flourished about 1650 BCE.
Mainland Greece
• Mainland Greece is a land of wild mountains and dry but fertile valleys.
• There is little water, but winters tend to be relatively mild.
• Grapes, wheat, and olives formed the base of an early economy.
Mainland Greece
Meteora in north Greece
Boeotia & Mt. Helicon
Greek Sacred Sites
• Delphi was the oldest and most important.
• It may have come into being around 3000 BCE
• It was definitely dedicated to Apollo by about 1500 BCE.
Delphi: the Oracle
• The oracle breathed fumes coming from a crack in the rock
• Once high, she could tell the future.
• The prophecies came at first from Gaia (mother Earth), but later from Apollo)
Olympia: The Games
• Where Delphi was mountainous and rocky,
• Olympia was flat and next to a river
• Both places shaped Greek identity for 4,000 years.
Eleusis: The Mysteries
• Near Athens, initiates drank a sacred drink after nine days of fasting.
• Then they met the goddess Demeter face to face in the same field where corn was first planted.