Transcript Bronze Age
Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Sir Arthur Evans Knossos Palace Economy Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Review: Sir Arthur Evans Knossos Palace Economy Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Review: Sir Arthur Evans Knossos Palace Economy Bronze Age Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Today: 1. The end of Minoan civilization: other sites and religion 2. Mycenaean civilization: graves, palaces, writing, and collapse Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Other sites include -- Palace sites (Phaistos, Zakros, Mallia) -- Towns (Gournia) -- Burial sites Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Other sites include -- Palace sites (Phaistos, Zakros, Mallia) -- Towns (Gournia) -- Burial sites Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Other sites include -- Palace sites (Phaistos, Zakros, Mallia) -- Towns (Gournia) -- Burial sites Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Other sites include -- Palace sites (Phaistos, Zakros, Mallia) -- Towns (Gournia) -- Burial sites Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Other sites include -- Palace sites (Phaistos, Zakros, Mallia) -- Towns (Gournia) -- Burial sites -- small palaces -- sanctuaries (peak and cave sanctuaries) -- temples Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Minoan religion Places of worship Aegean religion The main purpose of Aegean religion (and very similar to later Greek and Roman religion): to secure the survival of the community Raises the question of connections Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization 1. Signs of progress on mainland prior to 1600 BC 2. Minoan influence on the mainland and Minoan collapse • Early Minoan: 3000 – 2000 BC • Middle Minoan: 2000 – 1550 BC • Late Minoan: 1559 – 1100 BC Pre-palace Period: 3300-1900 BC Old Palace Period: 1900-1700 BC New Palace Period: 1700-1450 BC Post-palace Period: 1450-1100 BC Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization The megaron Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization Writing: Linear B Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization Shaft graves (and tholos tombs) Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization The Palaces Mycenae Tiryns Pylos Thebes Citadel at Gla Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization The Palaces The megaron has evolved to become the central focus Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization The Palaces The megaron has evolved to become the central focus Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations Mycenaean civilization The Palaces The megaron has evolved to become the central focus The end of Mycenaean civilization Collapse of the Mycenaean Palaces Indications of trouble: -fortification walls extended and strengthened -fortified gates added, such as the postern gate at Tiryns -water supplies secured -wall built at the Isthmus of Corinth -fortress at Gla in Boeotia built The end of Mycenaean civilization The Destruction -nearly every Mycenaean site shows that a catastrophic destruction occurred around 1200 BC -some sites were destroyed, reoccupied and attacked again; others were destroyed and never reoccupied (e.g. Pylos) -all sites, except Athens, were all ultimately destroyed -this devastation was not limited to Greece: -Hittite Empire collapsed just after 1200 BC due to famine, unrest and rebellion -Troy was destroyed ca. 1250-1200 -Egypt suffered from a series of invaders -Cyprus, parts of Palestine and Syria were also attacked The end of Mycenaean civilization C. Reasons for such widespread destruction: -external causes (invasions, migration, raiding)? -internal conditions due to stresses within the Mycenaean political and economic system? -collapse of mainland palaces must be viewed in context of entire Mediterranean The end of Mycenaean civilization Possible Reasons: - Dorian invasion? - Sea Peoples? - Climate change? - War between Mycenaean kingdoms? - System collapse? - Multiple causation?