Minoans, Mycenaeans , Phoenicians, and Hittites

1. Minoans, Mycenaeans, Phoenicians, and Hittites

2. New Map! • Before we start today, you need to label a few things on your new map: • Red Sea • Mediterranean Sea

3. Pastoral Nomads- Nomadic peoples who lived in the areas surrounding the great civilizations of the ancient Middle East. • They domesticated animals for food and clothing and • moved along regular migratory routes. • They did trade with the settled peoples of the area and • helped to establish long-distance trade networks. This also allowed for the spreading of culture and technology (Cultural Diffusion) • Some of these people settled in Anatolia around 1750 B.C. and helped to establish the Hittite Kingdom.

4. The Hittites created their empire between 1600-1200 B.C. (BCE) • *They were the first people to learn to smelt (separate metal from ore) iron. • There were eventually weakened and defeated by the Sea Peoples. • The Sea Peoples is the term used for a mysterious group of seafaring raiders who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, invaded Cyprus, and the Levant, and attempted to enter Egyptian territory • The end of the Hittite kingdom allowed for the rise of other people in this region

5. Map • Label: • The Black Sea • The Hittite Kingdom

6. The Hittite capital city of Hattusha

7. Lived: The Phoenicians established a trade empire, and colonies, throughout the Mediterranean. • Made Living: They traded several goods including glass and lumber. • Goods: Their most important product was Tyrian purple, a dye made from boiling the Murex snail. • This purple dye was very difficult and expensive to produce. It was very valuable to the rich. Murex snail

9. The Phoenicians spread their alphabet throughout the Mediterranean • Their alphabet consisted of 22 letters, it did not have vowels. • Unlike many early alphabets which were made of pictographs, the Phoenician alphabet was phonic (based on sound). These sounds could be assembled to make words. • The Greeks eventually adopted this alphabet, which influenced the Latin Alphabet which we use today.

10. Phoenician Artifacts

12. Minoan Civilization3000 – 1100 BC • This civilization was developed on the island of Crete while Egypt and Mesopotamia were flourishing • This civilization was named after legendary King Minos, whose father was said to be Zeus

13. Map • Label • Aegean Sea • Crete

14. Aegean Basin

15. As with Egyptians, the Minoans were organized into a complex caste system: Nobles, Merchants, Artisans, Bureaucrats, and Laborers • Life for Minoans was unusually peaceful…very few weapons found at archeological sites

16. Sophisticated Palace Architecture • A complete plumbing and drainage system • Multi-level structure with complex layout of rooms and passageways • Below ground storage of grains, oils, and wines • Beautiful frescoes

17. Palace at Knossos Palace Then Remnants of the Palace

18. Langauge • Two forms of language: • 1. Linear A script from 1800 BC to about 1400 BC. Undecipherable even to this day. • 2. Linear B from 1400 to decline in 1100. Was an early form of Greek and not used for political, social, and philosophical aspects of life; only business transactions

19. Religion • Most Minoan life revealed through its religious practices and art. • Polytheistic

20. Mother Goddesses

21. Art • Bull a significant element of Minoan life; bull leaping, maybe a sport or ritual. • Males painted in red, sometimes in female clothing • Females in white

22. Art Examples

23. Bull Leaping

24. Decline of Civilization • Minoan trade dominated eastern Mediterranean until about 1380 BC • Something happened, maybe a volcanic eruption or other natural disaster • Culture was further weakened by Mycenaean attacks and influences between 1400 and 1100 BC

25. Influences • Though Greece eventually dominated the area, Minoan beliefs largely influenced Greek thinking, language, social organization and economic pursuits

26. Beginnings: Mycenaean Civilization1900—1100 BC

27. Map • Label • Adriatic Sea • Ionian Sea • Peloponnesus • Mycenae

28. Mycenae

29. Mycenaeans • The civilization named by archeologists after the fortress city, Mycenae, in the lower rugged region of the Greek peninsula, Peloponnesus • Mycenaeans were war-like and may have come from Russia or parts of Mesopotamia. Arrived about 1900 BC and by 1500 ruled entire peninsula

30. Mycenaeans • Ruins of Mycenaean palaces reveal them to be huge structures with massive double walls and narrow escape passages • Most well known Mycenaean monument is the massive Lion Gate • Bronze lion’s heads now gone, maybe stolen. Design likely to remind citizens who ruled and to intimidate visitors.

31. Lion’s Gate

32. Mycenaean religion • Seems to have been a mixture of Minoan influences and local gods and goddesses. There were two types of gods and goddesses… • 1. Some were the first Olympian gods and goddesses worshipped by later Greeks and had the same names as the gods and goddesses worshipped by the Greeks • 2. Others were gods of nature • Polytheistic!

33. Religious Images

34. Mycenaean Influence • It was the Mycenaeans who gave the Greeks many of their ideals and inspired the age of heroes established by Homer

35. Dark Ages:1100—800 BC • After collapse of Mycenaean civilization, a 300 year period called Dark Ages • Life becomes more agrarian (farming) • Transitional time—changes happening behind the scenes • Power shifting from kings to families • Bronze gives way to iron • Mycenaeans flee to Asia Minor. Early Greeks establish life around Aegean and Mediterranean Seas