Chapter 5 Ancient Greece

5.1 - The Early People of the Aegean

- Identify and define key terms and vocabulary - Describe how the Minoan civilization disappeared - Compare the legend to the facts behind the Trojan War

Introduction
Europa, daughter of the king of Phoenicia, gets carried off to a distant Mediterranean island by a flying bull (Zeus) where she marries the king of Crete.

Minoan Civilization
Introduction
Minoans named by British archaeologist for a legendary king of Crete called Minos Succeeded as a civilization due to trade, not war Crossroads of ideas between Egypt and Mesopotamia

Minotaur (n.)
From Greek minotauros, from Minos, king of Crete + tauros, "bull." A flesheating monster, half man half bull, son of Pasiphae (wife of Minos) by a bull.

 The palace at Knossos

Home to the rulers of this civilization Paintings portrayed a people who loved sports, gardens, nature, color, food, etc. Women appeared to have more rights than those in other ancient civilizations

 A civilization disappears
Civilization vanishes around 1400BC Archaeologists do not know why Theories
Sudden giant volcanic eruption Huge earthquake unleashed a tidal wave

Mycenaens invaded and plundered what remained of this civilization

Rulers of Mycenae
Successful sea traders
Mycenaens were Indo-European, Greekspeaking conquerors of Greece and Crete Dominated Aegean between 1400-1200BC Learned writing from Minoans Mainland Mycenaens ruled in fortified citystates Archaeologists have discovered massive troves of gold in the tombs of rulers

 The Trojan War (1250 BC)

Troy (present-day Turkey) and Mycenae might have been economic rivals Troy controlled the straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Trojans and Mycenaens warred for 10 years The Greeks invented a romanticized legend about the war, but a German archaeologist proved it to be a historical fact

From Virgils Aeneid

After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks, opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war, build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallass divine art, and weave planks of fir over its ribs: they pretend its a votive offering: this rumour spreads. They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot, there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge cavernous insides with armed warriors. [...] Then Laocon rushes down eagerly from the heights of the citadel, to confront them all, a large crowd with him, and shouts from far off: O unhappy citizens, what madness? Do you think the enemys sailed away? Or do you think any Greek gifts free of treachery? Is that Ulyssess reputation? Either there are Greeks in hiding, concealed by the wood, or its been built as a machine to use against our walls, or spy on our homes, or fall on the city from above, or it hides some other trick: Trojans, dont trust this horse. Whatever it is, Im afraid of Greeks even those bearing gifts.

 Greek legend claims that Trojan prince Paris kidnapped Helen, beautiful wife of a Mycenaen king After 10 years of fighting the Greeks tricked the Trojans into accepting a horse statue as a war prize

Review
Identify and define key terms and vocabulary
Strait Knossos Minos

Describe how the Minoan civilization disappeared Compare the legend to the facts behind the Trojan War