ANCIENT GREECE

This UnitMinoan Age The beginnings of Aegean Civilization The Legend of AtlantisMycenaean Age Age of Myth and Legendary HeroesDark AgeArchaic Period Wars with Persia, Athens and Sparta DemocracyClassical Period Art, Thinkers and ThespiansHellenistic Period Alexander the Great: the spread and fall of Greece

Minoan Civilization

Establishment of Civilization

Crete known to be inhabited beginning 7000BCE by Neolithic farmers

By 2600 BCE a Bronze Age culture was firmly established on Crete – likely made up of various invaders from the Cyclades Islands

Items from this region and period have been found in the Middle East and Egypt suggesting an extensive trade network

Establishment of Civilization

By 2000 BCE political power was centered at Knossos the legendary palace was erected

• Palace had a central courtyard surrounded by maze of hundreds of rooms• Many buildings were several stories high and completed with fine masonry work• Water brought in through terracotta pipes and drainage systems present

Technology Extensive system of roads Writing developed but no

records of leadership, individuals or dates as found in Egypt

Mathematics: decimals, weights and measures

Jewelry, cloth and bronze working

Pottery wheel

Art Fresco Paintings are where the best

records of Minoan culture exist as they depict various aspects of daily life

Government King was located at Knossos and controlled

food production as the centralized authority The lack of any palace fortifications suggest

that there was peace on the island among the power

centersThe Minoan Navy enjoyed enough dominance in

the region to protect the land Palaces also served as markets for trade

Entertainment Bull Vaulting is the only known sport or

source of entertainment Depicted in this fresco

Religion No evidence of temples or powerful

priests Worship was limited to the home,

shrines and sacred groves Bull was the symbol of fertility,

power and destructive force of nature

Worshiped mother goddess: Gea The Double headed Axe is found

in many artistic pieces lumped with other religious symbols and may have held religious significance

The Minotaur The monstrous son of King

Minos who was locked away in a labyrinth beneath the Palace at Knossos

14 youths from Athens were to be sacrificed each year to him

With the help of Daedalus and the loving daughter of the king, Ariadne, Theseus was able to kill the Minotaur and using a ball of string find his way out of the labyrinth

video

Family Life Agricultural based Women seem to have enjoyed a prominent role in

society perhaps even equality since male and female gods/goddesses were given the same reverence

Females took part in bull-vaulting

End of the Minoan Civilization catastrophic earthquake in 1700 BCE

simultaneously destroyed all the palaces at once – rebuilt quickly

The civilization came to an abrupt end with the volcanic eruption on a nearby island which sent tsunamis over the island

By 1450 the island was occupied by other Greek peoples

The Palace was ultimately destroyed in 1380 BCE either by invaders or the Minoan people themselves who resented the invaders occupation

Was this Atlantis? There is a theory that the Minoan civilization may have

been what Plato would describe 1000 years after the destruction of Knossos

Some aspects of Plato’s description add upA powerful naval empire on an islandDestruction from an earthquake and “swallowing by the sea”

Let’s look at some competing theories of Atlantis!

In your textbook, read pg 95-102 and in a well structured response, discuss which thoery of Atlantis you find to be most compelling. Be sure to support your answer with evidence in the text.