The Bronze Age (2)

1. The Bronze Age (2)

2. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Import of metals, gemstones & ivory – Export of Cretan agricultural products, such as oil & wine, or textile • “International” transit trade • Use of identical seals on the commercial goods, as a form of protection against theft • Bureaucratic system of recording • Use of script

3. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Settlements usually in fertile valleys or mountainsides • Complicated architectural forms, which satisfied functional & aesthetical needs • No fortification • Urban settlements, with wide central streets, squares & houses with windows only on the 1st floor & a little room in the roof OR

4. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Minoan palace or villa, which: • included large reception & gathering halls, rooms specially formed for ritual ceremonies, workshops, storage rooms & luxurious apartments (for the king & the priests) • all located around a big yard, connected by a labyrinthine system of corridors, stairs, wells & terraces • & decorated with wall paintings, which depicted scenes of nature or ritual acts

5. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Social stratification: • King of the palace, master of the wider area, possessing wide areas of land & representing God on Earth • Higher class of the members of the royal family & the priests • Significant social position of the specialized craftsmen & writers • Farmers, artisans & merchants, living usually in towns • Women’ equality  special position in the religion – taking equal part in hunting & bull-leaping (“taurokathapsia”) BUT ALSO wearing elaborate & provocative clothing & make-up

6. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Worship of a goddess like the eastern Astarte - Myth of her love affair with a young god, who died & was born again every year ( nature’s revival) • Absence of built sanctuaries – Worship in shrines in the palaces, mountain peaks or sacred caves • Ritual processions with gifts for the goddess & ritual objects • Ceremonies aiming to the appearance of the goddess, usually by using special hymns & ecstatic dances • Ritual sacrifice of a bull • Sacred symbols, the double axe & the bull horns

7. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Use of triton shells or likely formed vases, in order to strengthen the human voice • Mostly female priests or sometimes male ones, wearing a long cloth with fringed ends, wrapped several times around the body & tied at different points into “sacred” knots, over a dress with short sleeves • Family circular or triangular graves with burial gifts – Ritual ceremonies for the dead

8. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Textile with multi-colored forms or colored woven bands, fringes and jewels • Golden jewels & other items, sometimes decorated with gemstones • Items (e.g. seals, etc) of ivory or faience • Pottery with elaborate decoration • Vases of stone (e.g. alabaster, etc.) • Metal items, sometimes manufactured by using moulds

9. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Use of some kind of weights & measures with engraved values • Three types of Minoan script, all used to record produced goods: • Hieroglyphic script (NOT readable) • Linear script A (NOT readable) • Linear script B (in the latest Minoan period  Mycenaeans) • PhaistosDisc: disc of fired clay, with an inscription on both sides,integrated into continuous parts of a spiraling band, which should be read starting from the outside & moving towards the centre

10. Helladic Civilization (3.200 – 1.600 BC) • Most important archaeological points:Manica, Argos, Thebe, Lerna, Toumba (Thessaloniki) • Remaining place-names in –ssos, -ttos & -nthos • Movements of the population • Pre-urban status • Unequal distribution of wealth – Significant social status of the craftsmen & wealthy land owners • Settlements without any specific urban plan  Buildings built in small groups with space for small narrow roads and little squares among them or building zones of unequal levels in a radiating arrangement on hill tops and slopes • Fortification finds only in some cases • Earthworks in swampy areas for more land fit for cultivation

11. Helladic Civilization (3.200 – 1.600 BC) • Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding & trade, which was limited to the first two after 2.200 BC • Systematic use of metals (especially bronze), which was limited after 2.200 BC • Domestic economy after 2.200 BC • Agricultural innovations, such as the saw-toothed blades of sickles mainly made of chert & earthworks in swampy areas • Woven textiles, mainly made of flax (rarely of wool) • Development of local style in pottery

12. Helladic Civilization (3.200 – 1.600 BC) • One-room houses with an additional open or closed porch & a smaller room at the back, used as storage place or family workshop ("megaron-type“) • Usually houses with stone foundations and walls from mud-bricks • Built constructions inside the houses, such as hearths and grates for heating and cooking, benches and litter pits • New apsidal type of house • Personal & family simple shaft or cist graves or pith-burials, mostly outside the settlements, with the dead always in a contracted position • Limited knowledge of surgery ( trepanning of the skulls)

13. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • 1876: excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae • Most important archaeological points: Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, etc. • Sources: • the Homeric poems • the tablets of Linear Script B (read in 1952 by M.Ventris & J.Chadwick) • the archaeological finds

14. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Strong influence of the Minoan Crete, which the Mycenaeans dominated in the end of 15th c. BC • Growing wealth inequality & formation of a wealthy powerful leading social group • Marine domination - Development of “international” trade • Development of the arts  Formation of a more simple & conservative civilization, with a more military character than the Minoan one • Lingual, religious & cultural homogeneity among the Mycenaean centers • 12th c. BC Decline after the invasion of the “Tribes of the Sea”

15. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Independent Mycenaean kingdoms in small settlements, situated at the foot of the citadels in the nearby regions and in the countryside • Settlements built on mountain slopes and hillocks, close to fertile valleys and springs or in coastal sites and ports • Mycenae: the most powerful kingdom

16. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Citadel: administrative base & treasury ( Cyclopean walls & imposing gates ), situated in physically fortified locations • Palace of the king located on the highest point of the citadel & based on the architectural type of “megaron”, surrounded by other apartments, rooms for ritual ceremonies, workshops, storage rooms & halls • Higher administrators, priests, specialized craftsmen & artists living inside the citadel, while the rest of the population lived at the foot of the hill • Stairs, wells & corridors for the inner communication & sewage system

17. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Centralized political system, based on land property • “Anax” (wa-na-ka) on the top of the social pyramid, whose power was inherited & unlimited • High social status of “laagetes” (ra-wa-ke-ta), who were local administrators & military chiefs, “epetes” (e-qe-ta), who were equestrian warriors, & “telestes” (te-re-ta), who were administrative officers & priests. • Significant social status of the specialized craftsmen • Lower class of farmers & lowest class of slaves • Military spirit paintings depicting war or hunting scenes – weapons as burial gifts – fortification – expand in the Aegean & the Mediterranean Sea

18. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Import of metals, valuable raw materials (gold, ivory & amber) & tin • Export of oil, aromatic oils, wine, pottery, textile, weapons & wood • Trade with the East & the West ( Trojan War) • Use of sealing, in order to protect the products, & of stirrup jars for liquids • Clothes influenced by the Minoans BUT simpler & more conservative – impressive jewels – Care of the hygiene & the beauty of the body – Use of make-up

19. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Athletic games of wrestling & boxing during religious ceremonies • Chariot races in the later ages • Demonstration of power • Music produced by various instruments, even in religious ceremonies, in order to increase the religious feeling • Pottery & vases also made of stone (alabaster, rock crystal, etc.) • Artistic items made of ivory, metals, etc.

20. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Frescos depicting religious scenes, favorite habits of the higher class or abstract decorative forms • Tablets of unfired clay, inscribed with Linear B script (= developed level of the Minoan Linear A script)  reports of imported & exported products • Indo-European language, closely related to subsequent Greek language

21. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Worship of the Minoan goddess of fertility, sometimes as goddess of war or “PotniaTheron” (= goddess of hunting), in addition to other Indo-European gods • Depiction of “sphinx” & donkey-headed demons • Religious symbols: the sacral knot, the figure-eight shield and the horns of consecration • Offers of agrarian goods, textiles, figurines & animals • Worship outdoors or in special rooms in the palaces

22. Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC) • Cist & shaft graves & chamber tombs (which developed to tholos tombs) • Tholos tombs: chamber of a honeycomb form with big entrance with triangular upper ending, which was almost completely covered with soil after the burial • Precious burial gifts BUT not any protection of the dead body  no belief in life after death • Burial ceremonies, sometimes accompanied by athletic games