1. Aegean World: Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece
By: Meghan Malloy, Aly Beckham, and Claire Feller

2. Location Minoan Crete: located on Crete Island. In the Aegean Sea
Mycenaean Greece: Greek Peninsula

3. Time frame
2000–1100 B.C.E.

4. Characteristics

5. Society- Minoans
Emerged from a manifestation of the influence of older centers on other outlying lands and peoples.
Egyptian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian influences can be seen in the design of palaces, centralized government, and their system of writing.
In Minoan Crete, statuettes of women with headdresses represented the fertility goddesses.
Through intermarriage, blending of languages, and melting cultural practices, the people in Mycenaean created the first Greek culture.
At first it was simple and static.
- farmers lived from the land
Then, people with wealth arrived and changed the whole culture.

6. Society Mycenaean Power and wealth was looked upon as a good thing.
Citadel- provided refuge for the entire community in time of danger and contained the palace and administrative complex.
Many people were merchants (pioneered trade routes),mercenary soldiers, slaves, and sailors (transported goods of other peoples).
Linear B- clay tablets which used pictorial signs to represent syllables
Tablets revealed little about the social structure and gender relations

7. Politics- Minoan Centralized government
The absence of grandiose depictions of Cretan rulers compared to the glorifications of Middle East rulers may illustrate a different kind of authority.
Palaces exerted some kind of localized control, particularly, in the gathering and storage of materials - wine, oil, grain, precious metals, etc.
The king was more like an administrator in charge of the trading activities of the state, while the real power in Minoan society lay in the hands of the priests.

8. Politics: Mycenaean
Administrative and political powers firmly under royal authority (King).
he system they governed with was called Proto-Feudal, meaning the peasants worked the lands around the palace and supported the elites.
The government controlled economy
Tablets found say pretty much nothing about politics, kings, legal structures, gender roles, or religious beliefs.
Some evidence, such as the uniformity seen in all Mycenaean architecture and art, suggests political unity. However, in Homer’s the Iliad, it is all about how Agamemnon, the king, struggles to control separate Greek rulers.

9. Religion : Minoan
Religious practices generally focused on females. Priestesses often governed rituals honoring goddesses
Ritual celebrations usually took place in sacred caves, on sanctuaries on mountain peaks, and in the palaces and villas which all had their own sanctuaries.
Animal and bloodless sacrifices, along with processions were part of ritual worship of the great female nature goddess, and during these festivities worshipers used music, dance, and prayer to achieve a state of religious ecstasy that put them in touch with the supernatural.

10. Religion: Mycenaean Polytheistic
Very few temples or shrines that have been found where religious practices might have been exercised, so all rituals most likely took place on open ground or in peak sanctuaries. Some shrines that are found have a tripartite structural design.
Minoans had a strong influence on most of the religious practices and rituals practiced by the Mycenaeans.

11. Intellectual Endeavors: Minoan
Very skilled at metallurgy; jewelry and other products were so sought after that they were exported all over the Mediterranean
Used gold and copper instruments.
Inlayed bronze with gold.
Art revolved around religion
Used a type of writing known as Linear A, but it is indecipherable

12. Intellectual Endeavors: Mycenaean
Like the Minoans, the Mycenaeans built grand palaces and fortified citadels.
They were excellent engineers and built outstanding bridges, tombs, residences and palaces.
Their tombs were called ‘Tholos’ or 'beehive tombs' which had circular shapes with high roofs. A single passage made of stone led to the tomb.
The textile industry was one of the most significant industries during the Mycenaean civilization. Wool, fiber and flax were the most important textiles.
Metallurgy was also practiced in an advanced form. Swords and weapons were manufactured in quantity.
Other skilled craftsmen included goldsmiths, ivory-carvers, stone carvers, and potters.
Mostly focused on educating scribes.

13. Technology
Bronze metallurgy: used in the creation of jewelry, copper was traded from Cyprus.
Minoa: artisans were famous in the ancient world and taught Mycenaeans the art of inlaying bronze with gold
Had water pipes, sewers, and toilets with basic plumbing
Mycenae: developed the textile industry and created cloth from wool, invented the earliest known suit of armor out of bronze

14. Economics
Exported cypress wood, wine, currants, olive oil, wool, cloth, herbs, and purple dye. Imported precious stones, copper, ivory, silver, gold
Traded throughout the Mediterranean and with Egypt
Taxes were levied
Minoa- traded decorative pottery with other civilizations
Founded trading colonies on nearby islands
Mycenae- two groups of people: workers in the palace and self-employed. Scribes recorded economic transactions and distributed rations for allotted work

15. Important people
Minoans got their name from Minos, who was a legendary king of Crete and the focus of many Greek legends
King Agamemnon- ruled Mycenae
500 years later, the poet Homer told the story of the Mycenaeans in the Trojan war

16. Terms
Proto Feudal- the peasants worked the lands around the palace and supported the elites.
The Iliad and The Odyssey- Works by Homer that give us insight into Ancient Greece.
Linear A- Minoan language
Linear B- Mycenaean language.
Tholos or ‘Beehive tombs’- circular tombs created by the Mycenaeans.
Metallurgy- one of the most important crafts used by both the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

17. Big Picture
The Minoans are considered the first advanced civilization of Europe, while the Mycenaeans had an important influence on Classical Greece.