New Mycenaeansegarvin/assets/2-mycenaeans.pdf · 2015. 7. 27. · Do the Math: •Athens in the...
Transcript of New Mycenaeansegarvin/assets/2-mycenaeans.pdf · 2015. 7. 27. · Do the Math: •Athens in the...
Mycenaeans
Neolithic Migrations
Nile River
Tigris R.
Euphrates R.
Migrations from the North East
The Fertile Crescent
The Neolithic Revolution
• 12,000 – 10,000 BC
• Agriculture
• Figs ca. 11,300 BC
• Cereals ca. 9,000
• Evidence for crops as early as 11,500
• Animals
• Dog 14,000 BC or earlier
• Cow 9,000 • Plow invented ca 4,000 BC
• Goat 8,000
• Horse 3500
Earliest Cities
Jericho, 9000
Damascus, 8000
Biblos, 7000
Ubaid, 6000
Uruk, 5000
The Bronze Age
• Bronze
• First discovered ca.3000 BC.
• Lagash:
• the soldiers of Eanatum (2455-2425 BC.) wear metal helmets and are arranged in columns.
• Ur (c.2400 BC.)
• Copper helmets have been found.
By the time of Sargon of Agade (Akkad) (2296 - 2240) "bronze had become the weapon of conquerors" (Keegan 1993: 134).
Cuneiform
Indo-Europeans
Minoan Civilization
Minoans
• Discovered by Arthur Evans in 1900
• Palace structures as early as 2000 BC
• Hieroglyphic script
• Linear A syllabic script
• Complete destruction ca 1600 BC.
• Rapid rebuilding program
• Knossos
• Vibrant trade with all surrounding regions
DNA research shows that the Minoans were likely Indo-Europeans who migrated from Anatolia
Thera
• Akrotiri:
• Discovered by Marinatos in 1967
• Apparent trading centre
• Wood and Wheat
• Volcanic eruption ca 1628 BC
• Atlantis Legend
• http://www.therafoundation.org/
Minoan Myth
• Arthur Evans
• (Re)constructed an image of an idyllic, sophisticated and benevolent culture of artisans and traders
• Jacquetta Hawkes (1960s)
• Imagined a feminist society of peaceful nature worshippers
Harsh Realities
• Recent evidence suggests that the Minoans practiced child sacrifice and cannibalism
• Crete was conquered violently ca 1400 BC by a group using Linear B script, and a different language.
Mycenean Greece
• Proto-Greek, Indo-Europeans
• Fully developed by 1600
• Warrior (charioteer) elite
• Mycenae, Pylos, Sparta, Athens
• Homeric Epics
• Age of Heroes
• Iliad
• Odyssey
Mycenae
• Heinrch Schleiman
• 1870 – 76
• Excavations at Troy
• Discovered Mycenae
The Megaron Model:Pyramid Economy
Farmers Craftsmen Traders
Military Overlord
Do the Math:
• Athens in the Bronze Age +/- 8,000 people• dozens of towns and villages surrounding it.• average size 1600 people• 400 families each earning $40,000 per year• Each pays 20%, or $8,000 to an overlord
• Overlord makes $3,200,000 per year.• 30 overlords each paying 20% ($640,000)
• King Makes;• $19,200,000 from his vassals• $16,000,000 from the capital
• The population is only about 56,000
Bronze Age Trade
• Uluburun:
• Shipwreck dated to 14th cent. BC
• Cedar Construction
• Copper and tin enough for 14 tons of Bronze
• Proto-Phoenician?
Phoenicians
• Canaanites:
• Moved to the Levant ca. 1400-1200 BC
• Phoenician = purple dye people
• The Levant:
• Biblos
• Tyre
• Damascus
• Sidon
The Markets
• Assyria and Babylon
• Wealthy in cereal crops: flax and barley
• Access to minerals: tin and copper
• Poor in lumber
• Egypt
• Wealthy in exotics: ivory
• Wealthy in cereal crops
• Poor in lumber
The Middlemen
• Phoenicians:• Strategic location
• Wealthy in lumber
• Skilled shipwrights
• Moved
• wheat
• Flax
• Ivory
• Pottery
• Lumber and wood products
Communication
• Began from a hieroglyphic system
• One symbol = one word
• Ca. 1500 BC:
• First use of hieroglyphs for phonetic value
• Universality of written symbols
The Alphabet
• Aleph = ox
• Beth = House
• Gimel = Throw
• Daleth = Door
• He = Wall
• Zayin = Sword
• Phoenician • Greek
• Alpha Α
• Beta Β
• Gamma Γ
• Delta Δ
• Epsilon Ε
• Zeta Ζ
Sea Peoples
• By 1200 BC:
• Hittites destroyed
• Assyrians pushed from the Levant
• Egypt conquered
• Philistines?
• “Classical tragedy portrays the suffering and destruction of the individual caught in the mystery of the divine” (Burkert, 1985)
• Are the Greek Myth Cycles attempts to explain the destruction of the Heroic Age peoples?