Came to Greece around 2000 BCE Rivals to the Minoans around 1800 BCE Eventually took over Cretan civilization around 1450 BCE

Sat at the centre of a road network Traded with Egypt, Spain, Crete, Phoenicia, and maybe even Britain

German millionaire turned adventure hunter Visited Greece in late 1800s Dug up ruins in Mycenae and other prehistoric Greek sites First real archaeologist in Greece

Found Troy first, but the Turks expelled him for taking artifacts He dressed his wife in the jewelry he found at Troy, calling her the “second Helen”

When Schliemann left Turkey, he came to Greece a hero; the Greek gov’t allowed him to excavate Mycenae beginning in 1871 He found a Bronze Age Greece that no one had really understood before

People had known about it for centuries, but no one had done a significant search of the fortress

Armor, drive chariots, kills animals and people Primary virtues: honour and courage

Tholos or beehive tomb

Core of the Mycenaean palace A 2.5 room showplace designed to prove they weren’t barbarians

When the Mycenaeans conquered Crete and the Minoans, they “stole” their writing system and adapted it to their own use Same symbols, different sound values

The “Greek” alphabet is not invented for another 800 years This is Linear B Greek, not Linear A Minoan

1936 – Michael Ventris (young boy) heard Arthur Evans speak on two unknown languages – Linear A and Linear B He resolved to translate the tablets

1953 – Ventris found the key and proved Linear B was archaic Greek (at age 32) Began working on decipherment at 14 years of age 1956 – Ventris died the same year that his decipherment was accepted as accurate

Around 1200 BCE someone starts burning Mycenaean palaces deliberately Mycenaean records report posting sentinals and coastguards An invasion is underway… or a civil war

Palaces were reinforced with massive “cyclopean” walls Palaces destroyed anyway By 1100 BCE, Mycenaeans were gone