Ancient Civ

* Greece 1: Bronze-Age Greece

* Objectives

* Describe the geography and climate of the Greek world.

* What is the “Mediterranean Triad”?

* Give the dates of the Minoan period.

* How did the “Minoan” civilization get its name?

* What is a “thalassocracy”?

* What are pithoi (pithos, sing.)?

* When and why did Minoan civilization collapse?

* Give the dates of the Mycenaean period.

* Who excavated the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations?

* Identify and describe the following images: “Priest-King” Fresco, Bull-Leaping Fresco, Mask of Agamemnon, Lion Gate.

* Describe “Linear A” and “Linear B” and match to their correct civilization.

* When and how did the Greek alphabet develop?

* The Mediterranean World

* The Geography of the Ancient Greek World

* Climate and Agriculture

* Typical Mediterranean climate

* Hot, dry summers

* Cold, rainy winters

* Mediterranean triad

* Grapes

* Grain

* Olives

* What can these be used for?

* The Minoan period on Crete

* c. 2900-1450 B.C.E.

* “There is a fair and fruitful island in mid-ocean called Crete; it is thickly peopled and there are ninety cities in it… There is a great town there, Knossos, where Minos reigned, who every nine years had a conference with Zeus himself.”

Homer, Odyssey Book 19, lines 184ff.

*

The Minoan thalassocracy

* Thalassa: “sea”/kratein: “to rule” (Grk.)

* "And the first person known to us by tradition as having established a navy is Minos. He made himself master of what is now called the Hellenic sea…”

* Thucydides, Book 1, chapter 4, section 1

(mid-fifth-century Greek historian)

* Evidence for thalassocracy

* Lack of defensive walls on land

* Artifacts from and visual representations of Minoan civilization found throughout Mediterranean world

* Cretans in Egyptian Art

* Sir Arthur Evans

* Bought entire site of Knossos on Crete in 1900

* Excavated there yearly...