Archaic Greece Notes

Archaic Unit Overview Greece

  • Why did Greek civilization decline at the end of the Bronze Age?

    • greek civilization declined due to invasions, warfare, natural disasters, and the collaspe of trade networks, which destroyed Mycenaean Palace society which led to the greek dark age

  • How did geography impact the development of Greek civilization?

    • greece’s mountains caused the rise of independent city-states, and the surrounding seas encouraged trade, travle, and communication, helping greek culture grow and spread.



Greek Religion

  • Pantheistic

    • equates gods with the forces and laws of the universe

  • Titans

    • offspring of gaia and uranus

    • ruled the cosmos before emergence of olympians

    • cronus (the strongest) killed uranus and titans took charge

    • cronus became ruler of the universe

    • cronus locks siblings in Tartarus

    • married his younger sister Rhea and had 6 children

    • decided to swallow his sons whole to avoid his fate

  • Zeus and Family

    • zeus and his brothers split territory

  • Mount Olympus

    • home to the gods

    • where zeus reigns from

  • Oracle at Delphi

    • devoted to Apollo

    • most famous ancient oracle

    • belived to deliver prophecies


Minoans

  • Crete

    • Center of minoan

    • Notable for art

    • Trade around the mediterranean

    • Culture influence extended to cyprus, canaan, and egypt

  • Palace of Knossos

    • Built after 2000BCE

    • Covers 3 acres

    • 16 rooms

  • Frescos

    • high color

  • Linear A (not deciphered)

    • writing system used from 1800 to 1450 BCE

    • primary script used in palace and religous writings

    • succeded by linear B

    • discovered by authur evans

  • Mediterranean Trade

    • overseas trade

    • high degree of organization

    • saffron

  • Peaceful Society

    • “minoan peace”

    • no evidence of army


Mycenaeans

  • Trojan War

    • 1200 BCE

    • funded in 1300 BCE

    • burned in 1184 BCE

    • illiad told in 800 BCE

  • Homer

    • greek poet

    • wrote illiyad and odyssey

  • Illiyad 

    • recounts the war between the greeks and troy

    • highlights positive (manly strength) and negative (pride) qualities

    • greek gods directly intervene

  • Odyssey

    • after the greek war

    • odysseus (greek kind) tries to get home to his wife in ithaca

    • journey takes 10 years

    • gods constantly intervene to take him of course

    • eventually finds his way home, finds many suitors trying to marry his wife

    • dishuises himself and challeneges alll the suitors, defeats them and reveals himself to be the true king

  • Warlike Society

    • high walls for defense

    • ruled by warrior elite

  • Palace Culture

    • ruled by competive palace kingdoms

    • centered around a king who ruled

  • Linear B

    • borrowed symbols from linear A

    • primarily used by palace to track gods

    • uses some symbols for ideograms

    • uses some symbols for syllables

    • greek decended from mycenean language

    • we can read it

  • City States/Polis

  • Bronze Age Collapse

    • started to collaspe around 1250 BCE

    • Invasions - Sea People

    • Climate change - destroyed economy

    • overpopulation - could not feed enough people

  • Greek Dark Age

    • populations shrank

    • writing went extinct

    • people became poorer

    • international trade declined

    • greek society became less of a hierarchy, heading towards democracy