Transcript Aegean Greece

The Mediterranean
World Part I
Mediterranean Europe
and Realms
of the Aegean
Atlantis
The roots of the legendary
lost civilization examined.
The pseudoscience associated
with the search.
Varna, Bulgaria
► Ancient
site discovered in 1972 on Black Sea
coast. Elaborate and rich burials dated to
7000 BC suggest late Neolithic/Chalcolithic
period was more complex than previously
imagined.
► (see
pdf reading on course website)
Burial at Varna
necropolis.
See link
http://www.eidola.eu/im
age_groups/11
From such burials it
is often possible to
reconstruct social
structure of lost
societies, such as
ideologies of status,
rank, and religion.
Obsidian from Milos found in Franchiti cave, mainland Greece, dated to 10,000
years ago. Even with lower sea levels, this provides evidence for early
seafaring.
Early Bronze Age
3500-2000 BC
► Crete
and the Cyclades develop
independent of Egypt. Some influence
can be traced to Mesopotamia.
► Trade and tribute underscore the
relationship between Aegean sites and
Egypt.
► East
of the Levant, Mesopotamia cities have
emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. Literacy begins with script impressed
into clay tablets in Ugarit and Uruk.
►
► Greece
at this time is home to only small
petty kingdoms or lesser tribes.
► In
the Cycaldic islands seafaring is dominant. Art is
highly refined, and international exchange is far
reaching into Anatolia and beyond.
► After
2000 BC, settlements are destroyed. New
forms of art, pottery, architecture and burial
customs, and a new language that follow strongly
suggest invasion and cultural replacement. But by
whom?
► Cycaldic
culture is mainly a mystery, known
principally through their art and fortified
towns.
► Late Cycladic artistic motifs are shared with
culture on Crete.
Cycladic artistic styles
Motifs shared with Crete.
Refined pottery styles.
► New
people to the region are of IndoEuropean “stock” and introduce cultural
elements found in Europe and shared in SW
Asia.
► Peoples migrating from the north establish
themselves at Mycenae.
2000-1700 BC
► Greek
mainland suffers cultural decline until
Mycenaean times.
► Rise of city-based kingdoms in Greek
speaking regions, including Anatolia.
► Principal power in Mediterranean is Minoan
civilization, its capitol on Crete at Knossos.
The Mediterranean
Legend and Myth
Most Greek legends predate the period of Classical Greece by at least 1000
years.
Parthenon. Athens 5th century BC
Theseus and the minotaur
Trojan War
Plato
Plato and Atlantis
In one of the philosopher’s teaching stories Plato describes
a lost civilization a 1000 years before his time.
► Although the story is embellished , it is intended to recall a
glorious time before the corruption of his own time. Much
like Homer’s Illiad, it is from the time of Heroes.
► The story is related as a commentary of the politics of his
own time more than as a history lesson.
►
►
We need to remember that Plato is the only source of the
legend and nowhere else in Greek mythology does it
appear.
The Minoans
► Crete
and nearby colony of Thera (today
Santorini)
► Refined art, advanced technologies, trade
based on seafaring.
► Urban life, sophisticated, merchant class.
► Development of script apparently for
bureaucratic purposes. Linear A and B (A remains
undeciphered)
► Small
city-states of Greece paid tribute to
the Minoans. The Egyptians tell of Minoan
power in their papyrus scrolls dated to this
period.
► On Crete, the cult of the Bull was all
powerful--expressed in art and ritual.
Excavations at Akroteri by Spiridon Marinotos
From fresco.
Atlantis?
► Compelling
evidence for Thera as an island
kingdom source of the legend of Atlantis.
Several important parallels between the
archaeology and the “legend.”
Advanced, sophisticated, naval power
► Destroyed in a major natural disaster
► Described by Egyptian scribes
► Worshipped bulls
► Labyrinth in the palace
►
Early Period
Greece from 1050-750 BC
► Fall
of the Mycenaean occurs around 1050 and
leads to what has been called the “dark ages of
Greece,” but really means we have little
information about these times. Literate traditions
faded and few records exist.
► This is the leading edge of the Iron Age.
► Literacy will not emerge again until 800 (borrowed
script from Phoenicians adapted to Greek
language) and recording of oral traditions.
War and military arts dominated male life at Mycenae.
Stylistic elements of Mycenae
have militaristic character.
Late Bronze Age
► Fall
(or destruction) of Minoans opened up
opportunities for the Mycenaean civilization
on mainland Greece and the eastern
Mediterranean
► The period from 1600-1000 BC is often
referred to as the “Age of Heroes” in Greek
mythology. It is the time of the Trojan war,
and heroes such as Hercules.
Linear A
House model; fired clay.
Reconstructed Palace at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans. Part
science, part fantasy.
“Throne room”
Stylized bull horn motif.
As it might
have looked.
1200 rooms.
Frescos from the palace interior.
Minoan
priestesses.
Chronology
► Thera
destroyed around 1600 BC
► Total collapse of Minoans a few centuries
later
► Akhenaton in Egypt
► Trojan war around 1550 BC
► Movement of the Sea Peoples into eastern
Mediterranean (who they were remains a puzzle)
► Mycenaean decline after 1000 BC
Political and economic power
► Controlled
by sea power
 Minoans had strong merchant navy
 Phoenicians had merchant fleets and fast
galleys
 Greeks had merchant fleets and city-state
controlled naval fleets with powerful triremes.
The trireme was state of the art sea power. This design is closer to 5th century
than the time of Trojan war. Based on multiple secondary sources.
Greek Trireme Trust replica.
Your view as you are about
to be rammed…
The Trojan War of Homer’s Illiad
TROY AND MYCENAE
Next time:
The Age of Heroes
Homer
Trojan War
Current excavations at Mycenae
► See
http://www.uncg.edu/arc/
Mochlos/settlement.html
The citadel of Mycenae
Golden death
mask recovered
by Heinrich
Schliemann, royal
tomb II at
Mycenae.
He proclaimed he
had “gazed on the
face of
Agamemnon” who
had led the
Greeks in the
Trojan War.
The graves,
however, predate
the Trojan War.
Mycenaean women