Download Chapter 2: The Minoans, The Mycenaeans, and the Greeks

Chapter 2: The Minoans,
The Mycenaeans, and the
Greeks of the Arcahic Age
The tradition of Greece is often the first in
which Westerners feel they can recognize
themselves. Greeks were the “first” to
place human beings at the center of the
universe.
However, preceding the Greeks in the
Aegean Basin were the Minoan and
Mycenaean civilizations.
Prelude: Minoan Civilization
3000 – 1100 BC
• This civilization was developing on the
island of Crete while Egypt and
Mesopotamia were flourishing
• This civilization was named after
legendary King Minos, whose father was
said to be Zeus
Aegean Basin
Eastern Mediterranean
• As with Egyptians, the Minoans were
organized into a complex caste system:
Nobles, Merchants, Artisans, Bureaucrats,
and Laborers
• Life for Minoans was unusually
peaceful…very few weapons found at
archeological sites
Palace at Knossos
Sophisticated Palace Architecture
• A complete plumbing and drainage system
• Multi-level structure with complex layout of
rooms and passageways
• Below ground storage of grains, oils, and
wines
• Beautiful friezes and frescoes
• No walls protecting Minos palace
Langauge
• Pictorial forms gave way to:
• 1. Linear A script from 1800 BC to about
1400 BC. Undecipherable even to this
day.
• 2. Linear B from 1400 to decline in 1100.
Was an early form of Greek and not used
for political, social, and philosophical
aspects of life; only commercial
transactions
Religion
• Most Minoan life revealed through its
religious practices and art.
• 1. Matriarchal society
• 2. Center of worship was a mother
goddess
• 3. Earth goddesses portrayed in various
forms.
Mother Goddesses
Art
• Bull a significant element of Minoan life;
bull leaping, maybe a sport or ritual.
• Males painted in red, sometimes in female
clothing
• Females in white
Art Examples
Photos by
Edith Fuchslocher
Agamemnon Mask and PHI
Minoan Bull and god?
Dancing Antelope & Gold
Ceremonial Cup
Poseidon
Bull Leaping
Decline of Civilization
• Minoan trade dominated eastern
Mediterranean until about 1380 BC
• Something happened, maybe a volcanic
eruption or other natural disaster
• Culture was further weakened by
Mycenaean attacks and influences
between 1400 and 1100 BC
Cultural Beliefs & Influences
• Crete is traditionally the place where Zeus was
born
• Minoans worshipped Zeus, and in their culture,
he eventually died
• Later, Greeks were incensed that Minoans
believed that Zeus died.
• Though Greece eventually dominated the area,
Minoan beliefs largely influenced Greek thinking,
language, social organization and economic
pursuits
Beginnings: Mycenaean Civilization
1900—1100 BC
Mycenae
Mycenaeans
• The civilization named by archeologists
after the fortress city, Mycenae, in the
lower rugged region of the Greek
peninsula, Peloponnesus
• Mycenaeans were war-like and may have
come from Russia or parts of
Mesopotamia. Arrived about 1900 BC and
by 1500 ruled entire peninsula
Mycenae Data
• Ruins of Mycenaean palaces reveals them
to be mole like structures with massive
double walls and narrow escape passages
• Most well know Mycenaean monument is
the massive Lion Gate constructed from
four massive hewn stones (ashlars)
• Bronze lion’s heads now gone, maybe
stolen. Design likely to remind citizens
who ruled and to intimidate visitors.
Lion’s Gate
Mycenaean religion
• Seems to have been a mixture of Minoan
influences and local deities. There were
two types of deities…
• 1. Some were predecessors of Olympian
gods and goddesses worshipped by later
Greeks and bore the same names
• 2. Others were nature divinities and
spirits.
Religious Images
Mycenaean Data
• It was Mycenaeans who tried to topple
Troy. The long siege weakened the
civilization and inspired Homer’s later Iliad
and Odyssey
• It was the Mycenaeans who gave the
Greeks many of their ideals and inspired
the age of heroes established by Homer
Dark Ages:
1100—800 BC
• After collapse of Mycenaean civilization, a
300 year period called Dark Ages
– Life becomes more agrarian
– Transitional time—changes happening behind
the scenes
– Power shifting from kings to families
– Bronze gives way to iron
– Mycenaeans flee to Asia Minor. Early Greeks
establish life around Aegean and
Mediterranean Seas
The Archaic Greek Age:
800—479 BC
• After the Dark Ages, the Greeks emerged
with a common language, heroic stories,
myths, religious practices and trading
interests.
• They claimed a common mythical parent,
Hellen, who fathered three sons, the
ancestors of the three major Greek tribes:
Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians.
• The development of Greek culture lasted
three centuries, and by the end of it they
had laid the foundation of a new
world…ours!!!
Important Words
• Archaic: Greek for ancient or beginning
• Polis: where people began to migrate from the
farms. Small, well-defined city state.
• Acropolis: fortified hilltop from which rulers
governed
• Agora: open area where some temples were
built, and where people gathered for business
and to socialize. It was the center of the polis
Sparta & Athens: Contrasting Ways
Of Life
• Sparta:
– The principle symbol of the Dorian civilization
– Developed an ever vigilant hierarchical
society with rigid policies and well trained
men, women, and children
– Harsh laws were passed to ensure stability
– Sparta contributed little to the artistic
enrichment of Greece.
• Athens:
– In contrast it reached far greater
achievements in art, intellect, and literature.
– Athens was a much more open society
– Through aristocrat, Solon, lower class men
were given the right to participate in
government, and by 508 BC nearly full
democracy established
Interesting Differences
• Sparta needed healthy male warriors, so
childbearing women were given more freedoms
• Spartan woman
Athenian women
Choral singing
No
Dancing
No
Nude athletics w/men
No
• Athenian women pursued respectability as an
ideal.
Emergence of Greek Genius
• Archaic Greeks developed literary,
philosophical, and artistic forms to probe
the meaning of the universe as well as
celebrate their joyous sense of life
The Muses of Artistic Inspiration
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Calliope
Clio
Erato
Euterpe
Melpomene
Polyhymnia
Terpsichore
Thalia
Urania
Epic Poetry
History
Erotic poetry and mine
Lyric poetry and music
Tragedy
Sacred hymn
Dance and song
Comedy
Astronomy
Religion
• Deities derived from early settlers evolved
into two major categories:
• 1. Olympian deities dwelled in the sky or
on mountains…associated with Homeric
heroes
• 2. chthonian deities lived under ground
and were associated with the seasons and
cycles of nature and fertility.
• Greek endowed their gods and goddesses
with physical bodies and personalities.
They were a blend of charm, cruelty,
childishness, love, justice, and caprice
• They fought with one another, played with
their worshippers and had favorites
Olympian Deities
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Zeus: chief deity and Olympus order keeper
Hera: Mother goddess—protector of women
Poseidon: Ruler of waters
Hades: Keeper of the underworld
Hesta: Keeper of the hearth
Apollo: God of wisdom and moderation
Artemis: Virgin goddess who aided women
Ares: Amoral god of violence and war
Aphrodite: Goddess of passion, love, and beauty
Hephaestus: Patron of crafts people
Athena: Goddess of wisdom and warfare
Hermes: God of merchants; messenger for the deities
• Chthonian, underground, gods and
goddesses were probably derived from
ancient earth and harvest deities.
• Two cults around most important crops—
grain and grapes.
• 1. Persephone, niece of Zeus, tricked by Hades
to return underground part of every
year…hence…winter, ground is barren….spring,
ground rich in crops.
• 2. Dionysus, noted for dancing and wine
became associated with the irrational,
emotional, uncontrollable aspects of human life.
Contrast is Apollo…representing rational,
conscious, and controlled human aspects.
Epic Poetry
• Homer
– Originator of the epic poem
– Appeal lies in his well crafted plots filled with
dramatic episodes and finely drawn
characters
– Iliad describes the battle of Ilium, another
name for Troy
– Odyssey recounts the Greeks defeat of the
Trojans and Odysseus’ ten year journey to
return home
Natural Philosophy
• Simply thinkers who questioned the power
and existence of gods
• Natural philosophers conceived a world
where natural causes and effects operated
• The Romans later called this “natural
philosophy”. That encompassed what we
would call “science” and “philosophy
Philosophers
•
Three Primary Philosophers of the
Archaic Age were:
1. Thales: 585 BC. Believed everything
was made from matter
2. Pythagoras: 580-507 BC. Believed
everything was made of numbers
3. Heraclitus: 545-485 BC Most modern by
our standards…truth ion constant
change…struggle necessary for progres
Architecture
• The supreme architectural achievement of
the Greeks was the temple
• Parts included: Architrave…horizontal
members resting on columns
• Pediment…the triangular area resting on
the columns
• Entablature…all of the building between
the columns and pediment
• Cornice…Horizontal piece that crowns the
entablature
Sculpture
• The primary forms were called:
• kouros, freestanding statues of male youth
• kore, freestanding statues of young
maidens