HIST 261 Lecture 6: Notes 10-3
Minoans and the Mycenaeans
• The first large settlements start to appear
• Minoans
o Knossos, 2000 BCE located in Crete
o Crete was a center of commerce, very important economic center, religious,
administrative
o Had a very elaborate royal residence
o Developed a form of writing referred to as Linear A- represents numbers
and nouns
o Natural disasters- series of earthquakes; volcanic eruption on Santorini
destroyed Minoan civilization
o During their process of rebuilding, they were invaded by the Mycenaeans
• Mycenaeans
o Quietly been growing strong
o Conquered Sparta
o Create a hybrid language between Linear A and came up with Linear B
o Control Mediterranean, and peloponeasis
o Involved in the Trojan War
o Chaos 1100-800 BCE (omer’s )liad and Odyssey
o Helen (wife of king of Sparta), king (brother of Mycenaean king)
o Helen runs away with son of king of Troy
o Peloponesis people start rebelling, and Mycenaea loses control
o They fall into this period of chaos and violence
o No written documents from this time, possibly not written or destroyed
o Next text we get is from Homer (part oral histories, also fiction)
• Emergence of the Polis
• Politically separate, unified by culture and language
• Polis- Greek city-state
• Various styles of running and cultures, fairly small (40,000 max), politically
autonomous, but also politically separate; common religion, culture, similar
languages; not united or common people; didn’t like each other
• Monarchies, oligarchies, or ruled by tyrants (someone who came to power through
illegitimate means; the route not the way they ruled)
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