Bronze Age Greece

Minoans

-Lived on the Island Crete

-Capital is Knossos

-Name after King Minos

-Peaceful

Thera

-Minoan island

-Used to be a big island but an eruption destroyed a lot of it

-A lot of what we know about the Minoans comes from here

Palace of Knossos

1. Minoan Palace

2. No outer/protective walls

3. Center of society

4. Earthquake proof architecture

5. Murals/Fresco’s that show long distance trade and bull leaping

6. Labyrinth

Mycenaeans

-More integrated with the world the Minoans

-Military focus

Citadel of Mycenae

-Main city of the Mycenaeans

-Postioned on a big hill

-Had protective walls

-Lions gate with Minoan column

Linear B

-Myceneaen writing

-Has been translated

-Only used for unimportant things like lists not literature

Tholos Tombs

-Myceneaen tombs where royalty were buried

-9 of them

-Best preserved is called the Tomb of Atreus

Myceneaen Political Heirarchy 

-Wanax (King) 

-Lawagetas (“leaders of the people”)

-Governors 

-Gwasileis (“village major” eventually became top of the heirarchy

Ivory

-Used by Myceneaens

-Shows long distance trade

-Shows wealth

Palace of Nester

Myceneaen Palace similar to Knossos but smaller

Barbarians

1. People who are nomadic and/or unsettled

2. People who speak a different language

3. People who have a different religion

How overpopulation led to democracy

1. Colonization

2. Emigration

3. More trade/wealth

4. Rise in social status, demand for political equality, and being able to buy your way into democratic positions

How warfare led to democracy

1. Intro of Iron

2. Phalanx

3. Lower classes or recruited but refuse

4. Lower classes demand equality

Basileus

-Monarchs who ruled the city states

-These are the Gwasileis from the Mycenaean period

Hellene

Common ancestor of the Greeks

All Greeks believe they were descendants of him

Dialects/language

-Aiolian (northern), Ionian (central), Dorian (Southern)

-All could understand each other

Alphabet

DIfferent from Phoenician alphabet because it was the intro of vowels

Literature

-Homer, wrote Iliad and Oddyssey

-Hesiod, wrote Theogony which is about cosmology and Works and Days which is farming instructions and provides us good info

Religion

-All Greeks have a lot of temples and worship the same gods

-Oracles. Most famous is Oracle at Delphi

Olympics 

1. Held every 4 years to honor Zeus

2. Had to be Greek

3. Had to be male

Arete

“Excellence” Greek belief that If you’re going to do something, do it to the best of your ability