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Archaic Greece

Minoan civilization on Crete
– Palace economy (redistributive)
– Linear A writing
– Social structure unclear

Mycenaean civilization on mainland
Greece
The Lost Civilizations of Greece
•Minoan (ca. 2200–1400 B.C.) Palace of
Knossos, matriarchy?
•Mycenae (ca. 1600–1100 B.C.) Lightweight
chariots
•The Greek Dark Ages (ca. 1100–750 B.C.)
•The Iron Age (ca. 900–800 B.C.)
•Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
•Chiefs, raiders, slaves
The Palace at
Knossos
Minoan Religion
Female deities:
Potnia Theron
(Mistress of the
Animals)
 Important symbols:
snakes (underworld),
bulls (power), the
double headed axe
(labris)

Minoan Society
No good evidence for
how society or
government
operated.
 Male and female
shared some sports
and activities.
 Not a warlike society
 Linear A (Minoan)

Fresco at Knossos
The Lost Civilizations of Greece
•Minoan (ca. 2200–1400 B.C.) Palace of
Knossos, matriarchy?
•Mycenae (ca. 1600–1100 B.C.) Lightweight
chariots
•The Greek Dark Ages (ca. 1100–750 B.C.)
•The Iron Age (ca. 900–800 B.C.)
•Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
•Chiefs, raiders, slaves
Mycenaean Society (1600–1100 BC)
Palace economies prevalent
 More warlike and aggressive
 Linear B tablets: Greek language but
not Greek letters
 Widespread trading network
 Destroyed in the invasions of the Sea
Peoples c. 1200 to 1100 BC

Mycenae
Left: Lion’s Gate at Mycenae
Right: Death Mask of Agamemnon?
(found by Heinrich Schliemann)
Hut of a
chief
during the
Greek
Dark Ages
Archaic Greece (700-500 B.C.)
•Reappearance of trade and written language (825800 B.C.)
•The Rise of the polis (plural: poleis)
•Panhellenism and athletic competitions (Olympia,
776 B.C.)
•Emigration and colonization
•Aristocrats and sharecroppers
Vase painting of the games at Olympia