T HE B RONZE A GE (2). M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.450 BC) Import of metals, gemstones & ivory – Export of Cretan agricultural products, such as

THE BRONZE AGE (2)

MINOAN CIVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.450 BC)

Import of metals, gemstones & ivory – Export of Cretan agricultural products, such as oil & wine, or textile

“International” transit trade

Use of identical seals on the commercial goods, as a form of protection against theft

Bureaucratic system of recording

Use of script


Settlements usually in fertile valleys or mountainsides

Complicated architectural forms, which satisfied functional & aesthetical needs

No fortification Urban settlements, with

wide central streets, squares & houses with windows only on the 1st floor & a little room in the roof

OR


Minoan palace or villa, which:

o included large reception & gathering halls, rooms specially formed for ritual ceremonies, workshops, storage rooms & luxurious apartments (for the king & the priests)

o all located around a big yard, connected by a labyrinthine system of corridors, stairs, wells & terraces

o & decorated with wall paintings, which depicted scenes of nature or ritual acts


Social stratification:o King of the palace, master of the wider area,

possessing wide areas of land & representing God on Earth

o Higher class of the members of the royal family & the priests

o Significant social position of the specialized craftsmen & writers

o Farmers, artisans & merchants, living usually in towns

Women’ equality special position in the religion – taking equal part in hunting & bull-leaping (“taurokathapsia”) BUT ALSO wearing elaborate & provocative clothing & make-up


Worship of a goddess like the eastern Astarte - Myth of her love affair with a young god, who died & was born again every year ( nature’s revival)

Absence of built sanctuaries – Worship in shrines in the palaces, mountain peaks or sacred caves

Ritual processions with gifts for the goddess & ritual objects

Ceremonies aiming to the appearance of the goddess, usually by using special hymns & ecstatic dances

Ritual sacrifice of a bull Sacred symbols, the double axe & the

bull horns


Use of triton shells or likely formed vases, in order to strengthen the human voice

Mostly female priests or sometimes male ones, wearing a long cloth with fringed ends, wrapped several times around the body & tied at different points into “sacred” knots, over a dress with short sleeves

Family circular or triangular graves with burial gifts – Ritual ceremonies for the dead

MINOAN CIVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.450 BC) Textile with multi-colored

forms or colored woven bands, fringes and jewels

Golden jewels & other items, sometimes decorated with gemstones

Items (e.g. seals, etc) of ivory or faience

Pottery with elaborate decoration

Vases of stone (e.g. alabaster, etc.)

Metal items, sometimes manufactured by using moulds


Use of some kind of weights & measures with engraved values

o Three types of Minoan script, all used to record produced goods:

o Hieroglyphic script (NOT readable)o Linear script A (NOT readable)o Linear script B (in the latest

Minoan period Mycenaeans) Phaistos Disc: disc of fired clay,

with an inscription on both sides, integrated into continuous parts of a spiraling band, which should be read starting from the outside & moving towards the centre

HELLADIC CIVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.600 BC)

Most important archaeological points: Manica, Argos, Thebe, Lerna, Toumba (Thessaloniki)

Remaining place-names in –ssos, -ttos & -nthos

Movements of the population Pre-urban status Unequal distribution of wealth – Significant social

status of the craftsmen & wealthy land owners Settlements without any specific urban plan

Buildings built in small groups with space for small narrow roads and little squares among them or building zones of unequal levels in a radiating arrangement on hill tops and slopes

Fortification finds only in some cases Earthworks in swampy areas for more land fit for

cultivation


Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding & trade, which was limited to the first two after 2.200 BC

Systematic use of metals (especially bronze), which was limited after 2.200 BC

Domestic economy after 2.200 BC

Agricultural innovations, such as the saw-toothed blades of sickles mainly made of chert & earthworks in swampy areas

Woven textiles, mainly made of flax (rarely of wool)

Development of local style in pottery


o One-room houses with an additional open or closed porch & a smaller room at the back, used as storage place or family workshop ("megaron-type“)

o Usually houses with stone foundations and walls from mud-bricks

o Built constructions inside the houses,such as hearths and grates for heating and cooking, benches and litter pits

New apsidal type of house Personal & family simple shaft or cist graves

or pith-burials, mostly outside the settlements, with the dead always ina contracted position

Limited knowledge of surgery ( trepanning of the skulls)

MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION (1.600 – 1.100 BC)

1876: excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae

Most important archaeological points:Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, etc.

Sources: o the Homeric poemso the tablets of Linear Script B

(read in 1952 by M.Ventris & J.Chadwick)

o the archaeological finds


Strong influence of the Minoan Crete, which the Mycenaeans dominated in the end of 15th c. BC

Growing wealth inequality & formation of a wealthy powerful leading social group

Marine domination - Development of “international” trade

Development of the arts Formation of a more simple & conservative civilization, with a more military character than the Minoan one

Lingual, religious & cultural homogeneity among the Mycenaean centers

12th c. BC Decline after the invasion of the “Tribes of the Sea”


Independent Mycenaean kingdoms in small settlements, situated at the foot of the citadels in the nearby regions and in the countryside

Settlements built on mountain slopes and hillocks, close to fertile valleys and springs or in coastal sites and ports

Mycenae: the most powerful kingdom


Citadel: administrative base & treasury( Cyclopean walls & imposing gates ),situated in physically fortified locations

Palace of the king located on the highest point of the citadel & based on the architectural type of “megaron”, surrounded by other apartments, rooms for ritual ceremonies, workshops, storage rooms &halls

Higher administrators, priests, specialized craftsmen & artists livinginside the citadel, while the rest of the population lived at the foot of the hill

Stairs, wells & corridors for the inner communication & sewage system


Centralized political system, based on land property “Anax” (wa-na-ka) on the top of the social pyramid,

whose power was inherited & unlimited High social status of “laagetes” (ra-wa-ke-ta), who were

local administrators & military chiefs, “epetes” (e-qe-ta), who were equestrian warriors, & “telestes” (te-re-ta), who were administrative officers & priests.

Significant social status of the specialized craftsmen

Lower class of farmers & lowest class of slaves

Military spirit paintings depicting war or hunting scenes – weapons as burial gifts – fortification – expand in the Aegean & the Mediterranean Sea


Import of metals, valuable raw materials (gold, ivory & amber) & tin

Export of oil, aromatic oils, wine, pottery, textile, weapons & wood

Trade with the East & the West ( Trojan War)

Use of sealing, in order to protect the products, & of stirrup jars for liquids

Clothes influenced by the Minoans BUT simpler & more conservative – impressive jewels – Care of the hygiene & the beauty of the body – Use of make-up


Athletic games of wrestling & boxing during religious ceremonies

Chariot races in the later ages

Demonstration of power

Music produced by various instruments, even in religious ceremonies, in order to increase the religious feeling

Pottery & vases also made of stone (alabaster, rock crystal, etc.)

Artistic items made of ivory, metals, etc.


Frescos depicting religious scenes, favorite habits of the higher class or abstract decorative forms

Tablets of unfired clay, inscribed with Linear B script (= developed level of the Minoan Linear A script) reports of imported & exported products

Indo-European language, closely related to subsequent Greek language


Worship of the Minoan goddess of fertility, sometimes as goddess of war or “Potnia Theron” (= goddess of hunting), in addition to other Indo-European gods

Depiction of “sphinx” & donkey-headed demons

Religious symbols: the sacral knot, the figure-eight shield and the horns of consecration

Offers of agrarian goods, textiles, figurines & animals

Worship outdoors or in special rooms in the palaces


Cist & shaft graves & chamber tombs (which developed to tholos tombs)

Tholos tombs: chamber of a honeycomb form with big entrance with triangular upper ending, which was almost completely covered with soil after the burial

Precious burial gifts BUT not any protection of the dead body no belief in life after death

Burial ceremonies, sometimes accompanied by athletic games

Documents

T HE B RONZE A GE (2). M INOAN C IVILIZATION (3.200 – 1.450 BC) Import of metals, gemstones & ivory – Export of Cretan agricultural products, such as