Download Name: MYCENAE, THE CITY: The Mycenaeans were originally a

Name:_____________________
MYCENAE, THE CITY:
The Mycenaeans were originally a group of __barbarians___ who moved from Europe
southward into Greece. In the ___Peloponnesus________ they built their main city of
Mycenae. The city had huge __walls__, access to the sea, a fresh __water__ supply, and
only one main entrance, the _Lion’s___ Gate. In the center of the city there was a
__megaron___, a huge room with a fireplace in the center for holding parties and
meetings.
CONTACT WITH THE MINOANS:
Because of their vast trade routes the Minoans traded with the Mycenaeans and taught
them how to _write__ and make __ships__. Mycenaeans writing has been called
___Linear B___ because it has its origins from the Minoans’ Linear A. Over time the
Mycenaeans greedy to control trade in the ___Mediterranean__ Sea came to Crete and
conquered the island. Historians believe that either the conquest by the Mycenaens or a
_volcanic__ eruption ended Minoan civilization. Over time the Myceneans adopted much
of Minoan culture and even began to shave their _beards__.
MYCENAEAN SOCIETY:
The Mycenaens lived mainly in __warrior__ tribes and owed their loyalty to a __king__.
The warriors worked and fought for _land_ that was given to them by their king. Often
_slaves_, who were conquered in war, or _tenants_, people who lived on someone else’s
land, worked the fields.
THE TROJAN WAR:
Much of what we know about Mycenaean society comes from a blind poet named
_Homer__ who wrote two epic _poems__ called the __Iliad__ and the __Odyssey__.
The poems tell about how the Mycenaens attacked the city of _Troy__ in __Asia_
_Minor__. The story of the Illiad tells about how a Trojan prince named _Paris_ stole
the wife of the Mycenaen king of Sparta and how the Mycenaeans fought for _10_ years
to conquer the city. The Mycenaeans according to Homer snuck into the city by building
a large wooden horse (the __Trojan__ __Horse_) and killed all the Trojans and won the
war. The Odyssey tells of how Odysseus, the man whose idea it was to built the horse,
returns home after the war, a _10_ year journey. Historians believe these poems taught
the Greeks _values__, history, and __geography_.
THE DARK AGES:
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
When the Mycenaens returned from Troy they began to fight each other in a series of
__civil__ wars, a war between a place’s own people. These wars allowed a group of
people called the __Dorians___ to move into Greece and conquer much of the Greek
mainland. Many Mycenaens fled Greece to the other side of the __Aegean__ Sea and
made towns in Asia Minor. The Greeks who moved to Asia Minor were called
_Ionians_. With the Dorians in control the Greeks had a “Dark Age” in which
_writing__ and contact with the other civilizations in the Mediterranean region stopped.
The only thing the Dorians gave Greek society was the ability to make _columns_ to
support their buildings. Later the Greeks, who would call themselves _Hellenes_, would
develop different styles of columns.