1. Heroes in cultures are not necessarily good people. Look at how Achilles treats the body of his
arch-rival Hector. Explore why the treatment of Hector’s body and the aftermath of that event
would BOTH be considered heroic by the ancient Greeks.
2. The seer Tiresias in the Homeric epics is depicted as blind. Homer himself was often considered
to be blind (the story that this is because he portrays himself as a blind character in one of the
epics is not true, by the way). Research why blindness and the ability to communicate with the
gods and the world of spirits is a common pattern in the ancient world.
3. How did the rise of phalanx warfare help solidify Greek society? Use the text and additional
sources.
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Slide 1
Early Greece: Cycladic Culture to
Collapse of Mycenae & Minos
Slide 2
Timeline for Greek Civilization
Cycladic: 3200 – 2000 BCE Minoan: 2500 – 1500 BCE Mycenaean: 1600 – 1100 BCE Dark Ages: 1200 – 800 BCE Archaic: 800 – 480 BCE Classical: 480 – 323 BCE Hellenistic: 323 – end of Roman Empire
Cycladic is a neolithic society focused on the Cyclades Islands just to the southeast of Attica, the
peninsula where Athens is.
The Minoan civilization is centered on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. The Mycenean
civilization is centered on a Greek peninsula called the Peloponnesus (and sometimes Lacedaemon)
which is the peninsula which later on is the homeland of Sparta. Soon after the collapse of these two
civilizations there is a ‘dark age.’ There have been many dark ages in history. What makes a period a
‘dark age’ is the collapse of government, organized human activity beyond the village level, little or no
trade, little or no writing or other cultural activities.
Following the rebirth of culture, trade, and the arts Greece enters into the old or archaic period. The
most prominent cultural feature at this stage is Greek mythology and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and
the Odyssey.
The Archaic Period ends with the end of the Second Persian War in 480 BCE. Then begins the brief
Classical Period, which barely lasts at its greatest, fifty to 70 years, and is brought to an end by the
Peloponnesian War (between Athens and her allies versus Spartan and the Spartan allies, which exhaust
Greece.
Hellenistic Greece is Greek culture as it developed under the ideas of Alexander the Great (died in 323
BCE).
Slide 3
Cycladic
The map shows the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the north of Africa. The Cycladic Islands are small,
rocky and hilly, and not well-suited to growing wheat.
Slide 4
Cyclades
Slide 5
Cycladic
Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age Fishing Olive production
Slide 6
Cycladic Art
Stylized images White marble
We have seen stylized figures before (Venus figurines from paleolithic times, and also votive figures in
Mesopotamia, for example the ‘lizard’ figures of the Ubaid culture). Notice that the figures above have
minimalist heads, and the pose with the arms can be considered ‘supplicatory’ – a prayer posture.
Slide 7
Minoan Civilization
Slide 8
Minoan Civilization
Centered on Crete Thalassocracy Sea Trade Palace at Knossos
A thalassocracy is an empire that is based on control of the sea (thallassos is sea in ancient Greek, and
cracy refers to rule). The British empire was a thalassocracy (‘Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!’).
Crete is located near trade routes to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia (modern Turkey).
Slide 9
Minoan & Mycenaean Trade Routes
Slide 10
Palace at Knossos
This is a model of the Minoan palace at Knossos. It was extremely intricate as you can see from the
model. During the dark ages after the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations collapse, and the palace fell
into ruins, the ruins looked like a gigantic maze to the inhabitants of the region. Legends grew up that
there was an evil king, Minos, who had a monster that was a bull or a bull-man hybrid who was naturally
called Minos’ bull: the minotaur (recall the zodiac sign, taurus the bull). Minos would demand human
sacrifices to the bull. This, we will see, is a garbled remembrance of the Minoans demanding tribute
from the surrounding region.
Slide 11
Minoan Art
These are all artifacts from Knossos. In the upper left is a mosaic from a pool at Knossos. Mosaics are
artworks that are created by putting colored stones or glass into wet plaster in order to create images.
The other images are frescos. ‘Fresco’ means ‘fresh. What is done is this: A fresh coat of plaster is
applied to a wall. Then the artist paints directly on the wet plaster. What happens when you do this is
that the paint starts to seep into the wet plaster which adds depth and vivid color to the picture. The
upper right fresco shows youths engaged in some sort of dance or sport with a bull (non-deadly version
of a bullfight). The bottom two frescos show wealthy Minoan women. The white dots are nets of pearls,
the hairdos are very elaborate, the clothes are richly colored and most certainly expensive. This is an
example of ‘conspicuous consumption.’ The idea of conspicuous consumption is that you display your
status by very expensive, very time intensive, items and activities that are not productive. The idea of
conspicuous consumption was developed by a late nineteenth early twentieth century sociologist,
Thorstein Veblen.
Slide 12
Egyptian and Minoan Art
What often happens is that fashion trends get swapped among the elites in different societies. Notice
that the Minoan woman poses in the same direction and style as the Egyptians and seems to be wearing
the kohl eyeliner. Notice the elaborate work on the clothes. Appearing in New Kingdom tombs among
the food items are olive pits, from trade with Minoans.
Slide 13
Babylonian and Minoan Art
The theme of the bull. The Ishtar gate was part of the wall surrounding the city of Babylon during the
neo-Babylonian Empire.
Slide 14
Minoan Linear A Script
This is NOT bildzeichen (which are pictographs representing ideas). The script here is NOT an alphabet,
but instead each symbol represents a syllable. A syllable is a composite of a consonant and a vowel. In
an alphabet each symbol represents a sound, either a consonant or a vowel. Both types of scripts are
still used today. Japanese and Chinese are written syllabically.
Slide 15
Mycenaean Fortress
Tiryns, the capital of Mycenae, was a fortress. Mycenae was part of the mainland of Greece and
therefore could be invaded. Knossos was on an island and easier to defend.
Slide 16
Mycenaean Civilization
Home of Agamemnon Bronze Age Indo-European Migration circa 2000 BCE Linear B Script
Bronze is an alloy (mixture) of copper and tin. The Myceneans were originally from West Asia.
They have a different writing system from the Minoans (Linear B).
Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek invasion that has become known as the Trojan War, and was
the subject of the epic poem, the Iliad.
Slide 17
Mycenaean Art
Lower right – more votive figures. Upper left is the so-called Mask of Agamemnon. This is a death mask
found in the grave of a Mycenean king, and is almost certainly not Agamemnon himself.
Slide 18
Egyptian and Mycenaean Art
On the left we see the death mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (son of Akhenaten). Notice both are made
of gold for a high-status individual. There are cultural differences. Agamemnon is shown with his eyes
closed, while Tutankhamun’s eyes are wide open. Remember that the pharaoh is a god, and that he is
alive in the underworld, living a wonderful after-life. For the Myceneans, like the Mesopotamians, the
afterworld, such as it is, is a dismal place. And the death mask shows the king as a dead person.
Slide 19
Mycenaean Linear B and
Phoenician Scripts
Slide 20
Archaic Greece
Mycenean civilization ends around 1100 BCE
Life goes on, though politically the Greeks are divided.
About 1000 BCE trade has been rebuilt enough for wealth to accumulate and it is a time for new beginnings.
Wealth is a basis for power, but it must be used for that to occur.
After the crash of the thalassocracies there was a dark age where culture died down, writing was a lost
art, and things simplified. By 800 BCE civilization had revived enough that cities were being rebuilt,
writing was coming back as a normal means of expressions and the Greek world breathes new life.
Slide 21
Homeric Greece and Greek Heroic Ideal
In the archaic period we see the creation of the ideas and images that dominate the Greek idea of what
it means to be Greek for the next 500 years, and this vision was shaped by the poetry attributed to
Homer.
Slide 22
Alphabets
Phoenician Greek 800 BCE
Slide 23
Heroic Ideal
• Personal Excellence • Point is to win fame and
glory • Fearlessness in face of death • Odysseus vs Achilles as
models of heroes
Slide 24
Iliad Backstory:
Agamemnon & Menelaus
Slide 25
Iliad: Book I
Slide 26
Achilles
Slide 27
Odyssey: Book I
Slide 28
Odysseus & The Cyclops
Slide 29
Odysseus & the Suitors
Slide 30
Magna Graecia
Slide 31
Hoplite Warfare
Slide 32
Phalanx
Slide 33
Kouros
Slide 34
Greek funerary stela 450 BCE