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?