2. Greek Beginnings Minoans and Mycenaeans

3. A remarkable environment

4. Ancient Greece Minoan Civilization Mycenaean Civilization

5. Minoan civilization

6. Minoans c. 6000 BCE: the first farmers settle Crete c. 2000 BCE: the first palaces appear c. 1700 BCE: a great earthquake destroys Minoan palace complexes later rebuilt c. 1600 BCE: the first Mycenaeans reach Crete c. 1450 BCE: a volcanic eruption on Thera generates a great tidal wave Knossos and other palaces destroyed c. 1100 BCE: the end of Minoan civilization

7. Knossos

8. Knossos (cont.) Right: queen’s room Below: throne room

9. Remarkable art Minoan Wall frescoes (below) Seals (right)

10. Minoan art (cont.) How sensitive these images are in comparison to those of other early civilizations

11. Let the games begin…. “bull-leaping” compare: the first Olympic Games 776 BCE

12. Mycenaean civilization

13. Mycenaeans c. 1600-1100 BCE: dominate mainland Greece c. 1450 BCE: become rulers of Crete c. 1250 BCE: the traditional date of the fall of Troy c. 1200 BCE: Mycenaean culture begins to decline cities abandoned c. 1100-800 BCE: the Greek “Dark Age” Homer and Hesiod

14. A martial tradition Right: Theseus and the Minotaur Below: the Trojan Horse

15. The martial arts Right: Mycenaean arms and armor Below: the lion hunt

16. Fortifications Right: the Lion Gate Below: the citadel at Mycenae

17. Mycenaean art Top right: history’s most famous mask c