Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
The Minoan and Mycenean
Greek civilization developed from a combination of
two earlier civilizations, Minoan and Mycenean. The Greeks contributed
a great deal to Western Civilization.
Crete, starting 2800 BC. Civilization had been there since 6000
BC, Neolithic Times.
Mainland Greece (came from Russia) in 2000 - 1100 BC. Their strength
period being 1500 - 1400 BC.
Cities and Palaces
Main city - Knossos. In the center was a palace of 706,289 square
feet, not a temple. The temple took up 1/5 of the town and was five
stories high. It had bathtubs, flush toilets, hot and cold running
water, and portable fireboxes. Passageways and rooms twisted and
turned in a maze. Underneath the palace was a labrynth. There were
many pictures and carvings of the double-headed ax. Five-thousand
people lived there.
Decorated Queen's Bathtub from Knossos on the Island
of Crete, 1500 BC
Built palaces on hilltops and fortresses - acropolis (meaning "on
the top of the hill") where people would come inside if they were
attacked. They didn't merely build cities because of the threat
of invasion - not that many people could get inside the acropolis.
Inside the acropolis was a megaron, a room for important meetings.
The Acropolis at Athens, as it must have looked in
Ways of Life
Farmed and fished. They grew wheat, barley, grapes, and olives.
Surplus was traded for things they didn't produce. Their land was
forested, so they also became carpenters and shipbuilders. The Minoans
traded with Egypt. The threat of pirates led them to make war ships
with three masts for speed, and a ram-rod. By 2,000 BC they were
the world's first important seafaring civilization. The Minoans
were peaceful since they were on their little island, and most of
the rest of the world did not know they were there.
Their land was divided into estates and farmed by tenants or slaves.
The Myceneans were landowners who gave the king horses, chariots,
weapons, wheat, livestock, etc. in exchange for protection. They
liked to hunt. The women hunted in chariots along with men. The
sale of olive oil made them rich. The Myceneans were violent, since
they were on the mainland and were under the constant threat of
Priest kings made laws and represented the gods on earth. They would
go to the top of Mount Juktas to get the message from the gods,
then go back and tell the people.
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