1. CLAS3001 Mycenaean Greece (ca. 1500 BC to 1100 BC)

3. Geography of Ancient Greece The Aegean Sea: “like frogs around a pond”

4. Sea

5. Mountains

6. Valleys

7. Inheritance of Literature and Myth ● For example, story of Theseus and Minotaur ● Or of Achilles at Troy

8. What if These Had Basis in History?

9. Minoan Culture ● Early second millennium BC ● Centered on Crete ● Best-known representation in palace of Knossos

10. Map of Knossos

11. Minoan Frescoes: Bull-leaping

12. Elaborate Palace Complex at Knossos - like similar ones in the East - provides center for economy, religion, politics, etc. - (Not primarily defensive, in contrast to our ideas of palaces)

13. Eastern Urbanization Patterns ● E.g., palace of Mari, in modern eastern Syria ● Flourished down to 1700's BC

14. Minoan Religion

15. Labys / Labyrinth

16. Extent of Minoan Civ. ● Thera provides evidence of Minoan influence, at very least

17. Language: Encoded in 'Linear A' Tablets ● Represents a non- Greek language ● Perhaps not even part of Indo-European family of languages ● Others think Anatolian

20. Linear B Tablets ● Comprising many symbols ● On clay, fired in burning palaces

21. Deciphered by Michael Ventris in 1950s ● Architect ● Worked on Linear B in spare time ● Died in car accident soon after

22. World of the Linear B Tablets ● Earily familiar: Di-o- nu-so = Dionysus ● Largely, though storage and distribution of goods ● Including workers, some bought and sold ● Wanax ● Where did these Greek-speakers come from?

24. “Mycenae, Rich In Gold” ● Great lion statue always visible ● Massive 'Cyclopean' walls made of large, dressed irregularly shaped stones ● From this original site, we call whole mainland Greek civilization of this period 'Mycenaean'

25. Heinrich Schliemann ● Excavated traditional location of Troy, mythical site of siege by Greeks, led by king of Mycenae ● 1874 excavates Mycenae itself ● Romantic trust in mythical sources

26. Grave Circles, c. 1600 BC ● Inside city walls, but probably pre-date ● Include shaft graves ● Apparently for the elite

27. Treasure of the Shaft Graves

30. Tholos Tombs

31. Fall of Mycenaean Civilization ● Increase in war motifs in vase paintings? ● Tales of troubles around 13 th c. BC in Troy ● Internal or external? ● Series of destructions on mainland around 1200 BC

32. Map of Extent of Mycenaean Civilization

33. Fortress-Towns with Megaron

34. Palace Life

35. Architectural Evidence of Troubles ● Vaulted path to internal cistern at Tiryns

36. External Evidence for Troubles

37. Myth and Prehistory ● Prevailing late-19 th C. view was that myth explained nature and religious rite ● Myths written down after writing reappears in Greece, mid 8 th C. ● Reflecting Mycenaean or Minoan culture from previous millennium – Mycenae was wealthy and powerful – Troy and Mycenaean Greece did have relations of trade ● Should we therefore accept all aspects of myths?