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