Download Historical Background (all dates BCE)

Greek Myth/Masterpieces of Greek Literature
Dr. Fredricksmeyer
Historical Background (all dates BCE)
Setting: the Eastern Mediterranean World
1600-1400
(peak) Minoan Civilization/Crete
Knossos
Sir Arthur Evans
ornate palaces, frescoes
La Parisienne
Labyrinth, the Minotaur and Pasiphae, Theseus
Bull Leaping, Horns of Consecration
Collapse: possible reasons (no longer include Thera, flood myth)
1400-1200
(peak) Mycenean Civilization
Indo-Europeans, Trans-Caucasus, “Aryan” (term adopted from Skr.)
Mycenae, Lion’s Gate
Heinrich Schliemann
Tombs
Mask of Agamemnon
Trojan War
Collapse: so-called Dorian Invasion, starting c. 1200
Cyclopean architecture
Isthmus of Corinth (canal built 1893)
1100-750
Dark Age
750-479
Archaic Period
Cleisthenes/Athenian democracy c. 510
First Persian War: Battle of Marathon (490)
Second Persian War (480-79), includedBattle of Thermopylae (480)
Leonidas and the 300 Spartiates, the hoplite phalanx
Battle of Salamis (480), Athenian triremes
479-323
Classical Age (from end of Second Persian War to the death of Alexander)
Golden Age, c. 449-430, under Pericles: patron of culture, from architecture
(e.g.,the Parthenon) to literature and philosophy
Peloponnesian War, 431-404
Athenian Plague, c. 430-28
Sicilian Expedition, 415-13
Athens surrenders to Sparta and her allies
The Greek Mainland and Islands today