1. Seafaring Traders: The Minoans and Phoenicians

2. Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia and to East Asia mainly through Buddhist traders.
In the Mediterranean, the same process took place: traders carried many new ideas from one society to another.
Two of these peoples are the following:
MINOANS and the PHOENICIANS

3. Minoans Lived in Crete on the southern edge of the Aegean Sea
Dominated trade from 2000 BC to 1400 BC

4. Minoans Produced finest pottery of time
With their trade, exported culture, art, and architecture
Dolphin in their art
HUGE influenced on Greece

5. Minoan Capital
Knossos-capital
Minoans named after King Minos

6. King Minos and the Minotaur

7. King Minos and the Minotaur
Legend says that he kept the Minotaur in a labyrinth
He would sacrifice children to the Minotaur

8. According to Greek myth, Theseus kills the Minotaur

9. Bull Leaping of Knossos
Enjoyed sports like boxing, wrestling
Bull leaping
Athletic people who loved nature

10. Minoan Women
Mother Earth Goddess and priestesses indicate women were important

11. Animal Sacrifices Animal sacrifices (bulls as example)
One male sacrificed

12. Minoan Culture’s End 1700 BC-earthquake but rebuilt
1470 BC earthquake followed by volcano on neighboring island and tidal wave
Minoans never recover from disasters
Invaders from Greece take Minoan lands
End in 1200 BC

13. Why would historians use art to draw conclusions about Minoan society?

14. Phoenicians
After Crete’s decline, Phoenicians in 1100BC were the most powerful traders along Mediterranean.
Modern day Lebanon
City-states
Byblos, Tyre, Sidon
NOT a united country

15. Phoenician Traders Great shipbuilder and seafarers
1st Mediterranean people to sail through Strait of Gibraltar
Evidence of sailing:
Around Africa
Southern coast of Britain

16. Phoenician Purple Dye
Sidon and Tyre known for red/purple dye from murex (a snail)
60,000 snails could produce 1 pound of dye

17. Phoenician Outposts
Byblos known for trading papyrus

18. Phoenician Colonies
Colonies along coast of Africa about 30 miles apart
Distance a ship could sail in a day
Carthage is most important

19. Phoenicians also known for:
1. Trading wine, weapons, metals, ivory, and slaves
2. Working with wood, metals, GLASS, and ivory

20. Greatest Legacy: Phoenician Alphabet

21. Phoenicia’s Alphabet
Merchants needed a way of recording transactions clearly and quickly.
Developed a system that used symbols to represent sounds.
It spread through trade
Now learning was accessible to more people. (easier)
Later developed into western alphabet

23. Phoenicians cont. Eastern cities captured by Assyrians in 842 BC
Later controlled by the Babylonians and the Persians.
Carthage remained a city-state to the west

24. Ancient Trade Routes
Land routes link Mediterranean world and Asia (see map on p. 73)
Indian traders sail to Southeast Asia and Indonesia
Trade helps spread culture, ideas, religion

25. Why would sailors traveling from East Africa to India have the easiest trip during the spring and summer?
Monsoon winds blow from he southwest then.

26. Did the Minoans or the Phoenicians have a greater influence on other cultures? Why?

27. 1. Minoans cities had no fortifications.
Minoans were a peaceful, not a warlike, people or they lived during a time of peace.

28. 2. Archaeologists excavating the Minoan capital city found the remains of wall paintings, seals, and fine painted pottery.
Minoans had some form of government and a culture that created and appreciated fine arts.

29. 3. Many works of Minoan art depict women as major goddesses and priestesses.
Women held a high rank in Minoan society; Minoans practiced organized religion.

30. 4. Minoans sacrificed bulls to their gods and enjoyed the sport of bull-leaping.
The bull had special significance in Minoan history and culture.

31. 5. The Phoenicians were the first Mediterranean people to sail beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, possibly even around Africa by way of the Red Sea.
The Phoenicians were skilled shipbuilders and sailors.

32. 6. The Phoenicians worked in wood, metal, glass, and ivory and produced red-purple dye from snails in the waters off the city-states of Sidon and Tyre.
The Phoenicians were resourceful and skilled artisans.

33. 7. There are some similarities among Phoenician, Greek, and modern-day alphabets.
Phoenician traders spread their alphabet system to the peoples with whom they traded.