2.  Mountains divide Greece—gives hamlets different identities.  Localism  Arable land? 30% only 20% good.  Trade for food (urban centers)  Population pressures--colonization

3.  Thrace, Macedon in north  Large plain—Thessaly  Central Greece: Aetolia, Phocis (Delphi), Boeotia, Attica, Euboea.  Isthmus of Corinth  Arcadia—poor agricultural area  Laconia—Sparta  Mediterranean triad: grain, olives, grapes.  Polis ?

4.  Long peninsula  Ionian/Aegean seas  Pindus Mts. 75% mountainous  Many islands—volcanic  Long coasts—good ports, harbors—sea-based civilization  Rivers—short, dry—for agriculture not navigation.  Med. Climate—hot summer, wet winter

6.  Paleolithic/Neolithic  Franchthi Cave—transition from 20,000 to 3,000 B.C.  Size of Alabama  South—never more than 40 miles away from sea.  No irrigation  Lots of wood but by 5 th c. B.C. areas import it.  Mediterranean triad.

7.  Except for a few stone buildings, mostly temples, which have survived above ground, the vast bulk of the material record of Greek history has been dug up from beneath, very often from dozens of feet below, the earth’s surface.  Metals and clay objects have been discovered— and the presence of clay pots, for example, helps to date surrounding materials.  Archaeologists continue to refine techniques to make the best use out of material remains recovered from the ground and even from the sea.

8.  Written on a variety of physical materials, only a fraction of the total output of Greek writing has survived to this day.  Some papyrus rolls, particularly recovered from the hot, dry environment of Egypt, can be read today, but most of our written records were copied and preserved over many millennia, and only because they were deemed “worthy” of being preserved.  Even when composed, the documents were records of things that were deemed significant at the time, and they were all produced by a privileged group: free, urban, and generally upper-class males.  Thus, we must read them carefully in order to find out what life would have been like for women, the poor, and the enslaved.

9.  Historians conventionally divide the Greek experience into the following blocks of time: Neolithic (New Stone) Age7000-3000 BC Bronze Age (Early, Middle, Late)3000-1200 BC Dark Age/ Iron Age1200-750/700 BC Archaic period750/700-480 BC Classical period480-323 BC Hellenistic period323-30 BC

10.  Construction—sun-dried bricks  Thatch roofs  3,000 B.C. Bronze Age growth of urban sites  2250 B.C.– severe destruction at most Greek sites Natural? Crete spared disaster.  New peoples? new pottery styles. Indo- Europeans. Middle Bronze period poorer  Aryan myth  Patrilineal, sky god, horse, chariot

11.  Farming, herding, weaving,  No lake or ocean  Fir  hyakithos (hyacinth) pre-Indo-European  3000-2100 Early Bronze Age  2100-1600 Middle Bronze  1600-1200 Late Bronze

12.  27 th c. B.C. -1600 B.C. centered on Crete  Discovered in 20 th c. by Arthur Evans  First European civilization  Known as “Minoans” after King Minos  Could Egyptian ”Keftiu" and the Semitic "Kaftor" or “Caphtor and "Kaptara mean Crete?

14. PeriodApproximate Date Early Helladic I2800-2500 Early Helladic II2500-2300 Early Helladic III2300-2100 Middle Helladic2100-1550 Late Helladic I1550-1500 Late Helladic II1500-1400 Late Helladic III1400-1060

15. 3650-3000 BCE EMI Prepalatial 2900-2300 BCE EMII 2300-2160 BCE EMIII 2160-1900 BCE MMIA 1900-1800 BCE MMIB Protopalatial (Old Palace Period) 1800-1700 BCE MMII 1700-1640 BCE MMIIIA Neopalatial (New Palace Period) 1640-1600 BCE MMIIIB 1600-1480 BCE LMIA 1480-1425 BCE LMIB 1425-1390 BCE LMII Postpalatial (At Knossos, Final Palace Period) 1390-1370 BCE LMIIIA1 1370-1340 BCE LMIIIA2 1340-1190 BCE LMIIIB 1190-1170 BCE LMIIIC 1100 BCE SubMinoa n

16. HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN (1822-1890) PIONEER OF AEGEAN ARCHAEOLOGY MASK OF AGAMEMNON

17. TROY VII AHOMER

18. FRANK CALVERT— SUGGESTED HISSARLIK SOPHIA

21.  In 1825, Karl Hoeck used the name Das Minoische Kretas for Volume II of his major work, Kreta.  Evans adapted it and later claimed he coined it. Minoans from Minos.

22.  Bronze Age began in Crete @ 2700 BC. (Anatolia)  In the late 3rd millennium BCE, several localities on the island developed into centers of commerce and handwork.  This enabled the upper classes to practice leadership activities and expand their influence. It is likely that the original hierarchies of the local elites were replaced by monarchist power structures - a precondition for the creation of the great palaces. From the Early Bronze Age (3500 BC to 2600 BC), the Minoan civilization on Crete showed promise.

23.  At the end of the Middle Minoan II (MII period--1700 BC), large disturbance in Crete, probably an earthquake, or possibly an invasion from Anatolia. ] ]  Palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros were destroyed.  With the start of the Neopalatial period, population increased again, the palaces were rebuilt on a larger scale and new settlements were built all over the island.  This period (the 17th and 16th centuries BC, MM III / Neopalatial) represents the apex of the Minoan civilization. There was another natural catastrophe around 1600 BCE, possibly an eruption of Thera.

25.  On mainland—ruling house of Mycenae connected to Minoan trade network.  After around 1700 BC, the material culture on the Greek mainland achieved a new level due to Minoan influence.  Connections between Egypt and Crete are prominent. Minoan ceramics are found in Egyptian cities and the Minoans imported several items from Egypt, especially papyrus, as well as architectural and artistic ideas.  Egyptian hieroglyphs served as a model for the Minoan pictographic writing, from which Linear A and Linear B writing systems later developed.  Canaanites influences?

27. PHAISTOS DISKLINEAR A

29.  Around 1450 BC, Minoan culture experienced a turning point due to a natural catastrophe, possibly an earthquake.  Another eruption of Thera has been linked to this downfall, but its dating and implications remain controversial.  Several important palaces in locations such as Mallia, Tylissos, Phaistos, Hagia Triade as well as the living quarters of Knossos were destroyed  The palace in Knossos seems to have remained largely intact. This resulted in the Dynasty in Knossos being able to spread its influence over large parts of Crete, until it was overrun by the Mycenaeans.

30. POLITICAL STRUCTUREKNOSSOS Homer recorded a tradition that Crete had 90 cities. Island probably divided into at least eight political units during the height of the Minoan period. The north is thought to have been governed from Knossos, the south from Phaistos, the central eastern part from Malia, the eastern tip from Kato Zakros, and the west from Chania. Smaller palaces have been found in other places.

31. TRADEDRESS  Mercantile culture—tin, saffron, spice, gold and silver.  Evidence of trade from Spain to Levant.  Thalassocracy—rule by sea/colonies—all fallen into disfavor.  Minoans as proto- Phoenicians?  Men—loincloths and kilts. Men depicted in reddish-brown.  Women—robes with exposed breasts. Depicted in white.

32. RELIGION AND WOMENSAFFRON GATHERERS  Minoan religion focused on female deities, with females officiating.  The statues of snake- priestesses in Minoan culture and frescoes showing men and women participating in the same sports such as bull- leaping lead some archaeologists to believe that men and women held equal social status. Inheritance is thought to have been matrilineal.

33.  Knossos—17,00 people?  Gournia in n.w. Crete excavated by Harriet Boyd Hawes.  Houses 2 stories—roomier than Greece or near east  Fishing, farming.  35 men/30 women  Slaves?

34. NORTH ENTRANCETHRONE ROOM

35.  Aqueducts bringing water into palace.  Hot/cold running water.  Early flush toilet.  1,300-rooms  6 acres—some areas 5 stories—storages areas for pithoi.

36.  Long-standing debate between archaeologists concerns the main function of the palace, whether it acted as an administrative center, a religious center, or both, in a theocratic manner.  Other important debates consider the role of Knossos in the administration of Bronze Age Crete.  Was Knossos the primary center, or was an equal to other palaces on Crete?  Many palaces were destroyed and abandoned in the early part of the 15th century BC, possibly by the Mycenaeans, although Knossos remained in use until it was destroyed by fire about one hundred years later.  It showed no signs of being a military site; for example, it had neither fortifications nor stores of weapons.

38.  Minoan Pompeii— volcanic ash hundreds of meters thick—Atlantis?  Collapse of Minoans because of tsunami.  Spyridon Marinatos 1967  Pottery, frescoes, houses, streets preserved, plumbing.  Relative equality of wealth by buildings ( three stories—all frescoed)