The document provides an overview of ancient Greek and Minoan civilizations. It describes how the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, dating from 2700-1100 BCE, was influenced by Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures and centered around large palace complexes like the Palace of Knossos. It then discusses how the Mycenaean civilization emerged in mainland Greece in the 15th century BCE, being influenced by the Minoans and building large palaces and tholos tombs. After the collapse of these civilizations around 1200 BCE, Greece entered a dark age until the rise of independent city-states called poleis beginning around 750 BCE.

1. Greek and Hellenistic
Civilization
Chapter 3

2. • Cradle of early civilization
• Would influence Greeks
• People of Crete absorbed many ideas from the older
civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia
CRETE

3. Early civilization on the island of Crete
• Success based on trade, not conquest
• Name “Minoans” was given to this civilization by the British
archeologist who unearthed its ruins
• Name comes from a legendary king of Crete, King Minos
MINOANS

4. MINOANS
• Minoan Bronze Age civilization on
island of Crete
 Major influence on early Greeks
• History divided into: Early, Middle,
and Late Minoan
• The central feature of the
civilization = palace at Cnossus
• The palace (Cnossus):
• Rooms for royal family
• Banquet halls
• Shrines or areas dedicated
to the honor of
gods/goddesses
• Working areas for artisans
• Walls covered with colorful
frescos

5. • By 1400 B.C.E., Minoans civilization
disappears
• No unified explanation for its disappearance
• Some believe an earthquake may have
destroyed the palace followed by an immense
wave that drowned inhabitants
• Some believe that ultimately fell to
Mycenaeans
MINOAN CIVILIZATION
DISAPPEARS

6. MYCENAEANS
• Earliest Greek-speaking society emerged in Greece
 Influenced by Minoans
• Mycenaeans were warriors led by strong kings
• Palaces protected by defensive walls
 Many independent, well-organized monarchies
 Tholos tombs (large, beehivelike royal chambers made of
emourmous stones)
• Height of power – 1400-1200 B.C.E.
Built wealth as result of active and prosperous trade
• Sacked Troy around 1250 B.C.E.
 Inspiration for Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

7. MYCENAEAN VIDEO

8. Origins unknown
Greek legends attribute to the Dorians
(invaded Greek Mainland)
Tholos Tomb
COLLAPSE OF MYCENAEANS

9. GREEK DARK AGES
• Following the fall of Mycenaeans
• Dispersion of Greeks and Greek dark “Middle
Age,” lasting to 750 B.C.E.
• Understand Greek “dark ages” through Homer’s epic poems,
the Iliad and the Odyssey
• Told of aristocratic society – noble status being hereditary
• Society had three classes: nobles, thetes (landless
laborers) and slaves
• Arete – chief value of aristocratic world
• Manliness as demonstrated by competing in a contest, an
argon

10. Mycenaeans are best remembered for their part in Trojan Wars
According to Homer’s Iliad
• Trojan prince, Paris kidnaps Helen, the beautiful wife of a Greek
king
• Mycenaeans sail to Troy to rescue Helena
• For next 10 years, two sides battle until Greeks seize Troy and burn the city
to the ground
• Trojan War considered legend until 1870s
German businessman Heinrich Schliemann excavated the site of ancient
Troy
TROJAN WARS

11. POLIS
• Polis – city-state – foundation
of Greek life
• Each polis was a state, or an
independent political unit
• Each polis was considered a
community of relatives, all its
citizens were theoretically
descendants from a common
ancestor
• Aristotle argued that human
being is by nature “an
animal who lives in a
polis”
• Basically, humans need the
polis to to guide them, give
them laws because without
polis humans are the most
dangerous of the animals

12. DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLIS
• Initially – polis = elevated defensible rock to which farmers could
retreat when attacked
• example of this = Acropolis in Athens
Greeks built cities on two levels, with an acropolis on the top of a hill
and a walled main city below.
• The acropolis had temples devoted to gods and goddesses.
• The main city contained the marketplace (agora), public buildings, and homes.
• The citizens, or free residents, of cities
shared responsibilities and debated ideas.
• Male landowners held all of the political power.

13. HOPLITE PHALANX
New military technique
Hoplite: heavily armed infantryman who fought with a spear and a
large shield
Soldiersnwere trained to fight in close formation in a phalanx.
By maintaining formation, they were almost impossible to defeat
This shared training gave citizen-soldiers a sense of unity.
Hopelite battles: popular among quarreling city-states for land

16. GREEK COLONIES
• Tremendous expansion from 750 B.C.E.
 Fringe of Mediterranean
 Magna Graecia (Great Greece)
 Name given to them by Romans because of the numerous Greek
colonies in Italy and Sicily
• Relieved pressure and land-hunger of growing population
 Allowed polies to escape civil wars
• Panhellenic (“all-Greek”) spirit
 Common religious festivals - Olympia, Delphi
 Encouraged trade and industry

17. THE TYRANTS (700-500 B.C.E.)
• Economic expansion brought social pressures
• Emergence of tyrants who supported the politically powerless,
newly wealthy and poor farmers
• Tyrant - monarch who had gained power in unorthodox
way
 Strong one-man rule - might be popular
- Expelled aristocratic opponents and divide their land
among his supporters
- Public works projects, land division