T HE B RONZE A GE (1)

B RONZE A GE (3.200 – BC) Stable settlement - Development of systematic farming, stock-rearing, exchange of raw materials and products & navigation Use of copper – Development of metallurgic techniques Development of significant civilizations

B RONZE A GE (3.200 – BC) Southern Aegean Civilization (3.200 – BC) Cycladic Civilization (3.200 – BC) Minoan Civilization (3.200 – BC) Helladic Civilization (3.200 – BC) Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – BC)

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Inhabitation of the islands in the Neolithic Age Factors of development: o Geographical position o Geological terrain o Local raw materials Most important archaeological points: Limnos, Lesvos, Thira, Kea, Melos, etc.

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Development of metalworking and use of bronze alloys (from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC) Durable tools and weapons Improvement and expansion of many productive activities Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding, trade and artisanship

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Large settlements with an early urban character and population of persons, mostly located near the sea Stone fortification walls of a retaining, flood-preventing and fortifying character,mainly from the side of the land Mainly stone-built buildings with usually rectangular shape, consisted mainly of a ground floor & infrequently of two or three stores - Built either attached to one another or free- standing Houses with stone or clay storage constructions & sewage system

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Beginning of cultivation of the vine & olive tree Development of marine trade in order to discover raw materials (obsidian, metals), to acquire technical knowledge & to promote exchangeable agricultural and manufactured goods (especially by the Cyclades) Extraction & elaboration of metals (copper, lead, silver) by using special tools & techniques – Manufacture of golden & silver jewels

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Decorated ceramic vases & frescoes, with various colors and themes from the animal-, plant- & everyday's life or sometimes even landscape paintings or historical scenes (e. g. Akrotiri on Thira)

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Marble-sculpture (vases & figurines) from the Cyclades  Anthropocentric character of Art Isolated burials of infants and children within the limits of the settlement, in vases or simple pits into the floors of houses – Burials of adults in simple pits or in “pithoi” in cemeteries out of the settlements

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Foundation of the earliest sanctuary of the prehistoric Aegean in Agia Irini on Kea Female figures dominating in religious scenes (e.g. Thira), as in those of Minoan Crete Ritual acts ( e.g.Thira – young men with blue hair and long locks), through which the youths officially became adults, responsible to society & gods

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Indications of a dressing code very close to the Minoan (  Figurines from Thermi on Lesvos & frescoes from Thira) Clothes expressing presumably social differences Minoan style loincloth worn mostly by men, occupied with an activity of movement (e.g. “pygmachoi”) Impressive women with wide bell-shaped skirts made of successive woven bands and a tight-fitting bodice leaving the breasts exposed – Sometimes very fine transparent clothes, probably made of silk - Many jewels, made of precious metals and colorful stones – Painting of the eyes & face & tattoo marks

S OUTHERN A EGEAN & C YCLADIC C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) Existence of a political-administrative power, coordinating the communal works and observing the harmonic function of the community (  Existence of “Bouleuterion”) Existence of a wealthy class of merchants & craftsmen  Seals, bronze tools and weapons & jewels of exceptional art as "prestige goods" or objects of "social prestige“, found in houses or graves (Thermi, Poliochni)

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Factors of development: o Geographical position in the centre of the East Mediterranean Sea, at the connecting point of 3 continents o Geomorphologic terrain, with big & small plains among high mountains o Warm climate o 1 st settlements already in the Neolithic Age

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) 1899 – 1935 AD: Excavations by Sir Arthur Evans in Knossos  1 st extensive revelation of the Minoan Civilization Most important archaeological points: Phaistos, Knossos, Malia, Zacros, etc Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding, exchanging trade & artisanship

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Development of navigation  "Minoan thalassocracy“ “Pax minoica” (  No kind of fortification) “International” trade with the Aegean Islands, Egypt (“Kefti ”) & the coasts of the Near East – Exchange of Cretan produced goods with raw materials Collection, storage & trade of the produced goods exclusively organized by the palace centers - Specialized workshops within the palaces

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Import of metals, gemstones & ivory – Export of Cretan agricultural products, such as oil & wine, or textile “International” transit trade Use of identical seals on the commercial goods, as a form of protection against theft Bureaucratic system of recording Use of script

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Settlements usually in fertile valleys or mountainsides Complicated architectural forms, which satisfied functional & aesthetical needs No fortification Urban settlements, with wide central streets, squares & houses with windows only on the 1 st floor & a little room in the roof OR

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Minoan palace or villa: o With large reception & gathering halls, rooms specially formed for ritual ceremonies, workshops, storage rooms & luxurious apartments (for the king & the priests) o Rooms located around a big yard, connected by a labyrinthine system of corridors, stairs, wells & terraces o Decorated with wall- paintings, depicting scenes of nature or ritual acts

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Social stratification: o King of the palace  Master of the wider area, possessing wide areas of land & representing God on Earth o Higher class of the members of the royal family & the priests o Significant social position of the specialized craftsmen & writers o Farmers, artisans & merchants, living usually in towns Women’ equality  Special position in religion – Equal part in hunting & bull-leaping (“taurokathapsia”) BUT ALSO with elaborate & provocative clothing & make-up

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Worship of a goddess like the eastern Astarte - Myth of her love affair with a young god, who died & was born again every year ( nature’s revival) Absence of built sanctuaries – Worship in shrines in the palaces, mountain peaks or sacred caves Ritual processions with gifts for the goddess & ritual objects Ceremonies aiming to the appearance of the goddess, usually by using special hymns & ecstatic dances Ritual sacrifice of a bull Double axe & bull horns as sacred symbols

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) (Ritual) use of triton shells or likely formed vases, in order to strengthen the human voice Mostly female priests or sometimes male ones, wearing a long cloth with fringed ends, wrapped several times around the body & tied at different points into “sacred” knots, over a dress with short sleeves Family circular or triangular graves with burial gifts – Ritual ceremonies for the dead

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Textile with multi-colored forms or colored woven bands, fringes and jewels Golden jewels & other items, sometimes decorated with gemstones Items (e.g. seals, etc) of ivory or faience Pottery with elaborate decoration Vases of stone (e.g. alabaster, etc.) Metal items, sometimes manufactured by using moulds

M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – BC) Use of some kind of weights & measures with engraved values Three types of Minoan script, all used to record produced goods : o Hieroglyphic script (NOT readable) o Linear script A (NOT readable) o Linear script B (in the latest Minoan period  Mycenaeans) Phaistos Disc: disc of fired clay, with an inscription on both sides, integrated into continuous parts of a spiraling band, which should be read starting from the outside & moving towards the centre