Early Greece to the End of the Bronze

Early Greece to the End of the Bronze Age January 16 th , 2012

General Remarks: Features that Shaped Early Greek Civilization Position, topography, and climate of Greece. Developments in Greece before the arrival of the Greeks. Influence of developments in the Near East and Crete (East-West Culture Drift); Hittites; Minoans.

Greece and the Mediterranean

Culture and Geography

Culture and Geography in Ancient Greece Culture, social organization, political organization, economy all dramatically affected by physical geography. Position in the Mediterranean, proximity to island chains (i. e. Cyclades) makes sea travel/trade relatively easy. Ample opportunity foreign contact and influence. Greece mountainous and rocky; overland travel and communication rather difficult. Few broad plains & valleys suitable for agriculture; mostly coastal. Many/most communities are: 1. Coastal. 2. Somewhat isolated from one another. 3. Oriented toward the sea. Fiercely independent communities (the ideal of Autarky). Soils are thin and poor; hot, dry summers; cool, wet winters; poorly irrigated; agriculture tough; olives, grapes, grains. Ideal of autarky never fully realized; trade a necessity. Open to outside influence; East-West Culture Drift.

Greece Before the Greeks Occupied since the Middle Paleolithic period (ca. 40, 000 BCE). Non-Greek population. Hunter-gatherer economy. Tools of stone and bone. Contact with more rapidly developing Near East and Egypt a catalyst for change in Greece ca. 7000 BCE. East-West Culture Drift: Agriculture; Bronze (The Bronze Age, 3000 BCE -1000 BCE); Urban development; Monumental architecture.

The Neolithic (New Stone-age) Defined by the invention of agriculture. Between 10, 000 and 8, 000 BCE in the “Fertile Crescent” (i. e. Mesopotamia = Modern Iraq). Spread west to Asia Minor and Europe by ca. 7, 000 – 6, 000 BCE. IMPLICATIONS: Higher caloric yield person. Can support higher population and population density. Sedentary population. Development of permanent dwellings – Proto-urbanization. The concept of “property”. Increased economic complexity (i. e. division of labor; changed social hierarchies; trade of surplus produce). Part of population not engaged in food production. New Technologies (i. e. Building techniques; irrigation projects; writing). Increased political complexity (i. e. Shift from extended kinship organization to proto-states).

Near Eastern Developments and their Influence in Greece Ca. 3500 -3000 BCE – The first urban settlements emerge in Mesopotamia (i. e. Uruk, Eridu, Sippar, Shuruppak) and Egypt. Ca. 3000 BCE - Uruk = ca. 50, 000 people. Growing political complexity; emergence of city-states (i. e. Large urban center dominating surrounding villages , agricultural lands and hinterlands); creation of law codes (i. e. The Hammurabi Code, Babylon ca. 1760 BCE). Centralized economies controlled from seats of royal power. Monumental architecture (esp. palaces and temples). Close association of kingship, temple cult, and urban development. Increased political and economic complexity a stimulus for technological and economic growth and greater social and political complexity in Greece. (i. e. Lerna – House of the Tiles).

Lerna – The House of the Tiles http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images 2/Lerna. EH 2 phases-01. jpg

The Arrival of the First Greeks Indo-European migrations bring the first speakers of Greek into Greece. Indo-Europeans = Groups of people, probably from the steppes of Southern Russia, who spoke related languages; descended from a common parent language. Ca. 4000 - 1000 BCE: Migrated westward into Europe and south- eastward into Northern Anatolia and India. Entered Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Greece ca. 2300 - 2000 BCE Most powerful of the Indo-European migrants to Asia Minor = the Hittites

Indo-European Migrations

The Hittites (1700 -1180 BCE) Amalgamated their Indo-European cultural forms with those of Anatolia and Mesopotamia (i. e. Adopted cuneiform). History divided into 3 periods: 1. Old Hittite Kingdom (1750 -1500 BCE), 2. Middle Hittite Kingdom (1500 -1430 BCE), 3. New Hittite Kingdom (1430 -1180 BCE). Capital located at Hattusas. Ca. 1600 BCE: Hittites sacked Babylon – spent 1600 -1450 BCE trying to hold on to their gains. Active military expansion east and south under Suppiluliumas I (1358 -1323 BCE) and Mursili II (1322 -1295 BCE). Brought them into confrontation with Egypt in Canaan (i. e. Battle of Kadesh – 1274 BCE). Strong economic and political ties established with Mycenaean Greek population. The Trojan War.

Hittite Empire at Its Peak (ca. 1300 BCE)

The Minoans http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images 2/Minoan. World. jpg

The Minoans Anatolian settlers in Crete; arrived ca. 7000 -6000 BCE. Agriculturalists and pastoralists. Geographical position of Crete ideal nexus for trade between Egypt, Europe, and the Near East. Minoan civ. Begins to flourish ca. 2000 BCE (i. e. urban development, monumental architecture, widespread trade networks). Known exclusively through archaeology. Linear A; Minoan Hieroglyphs.

Knowledge of Minoan Society Discovered and named “Minoans” ca. 1900 by Sir Arthur Evans. Pieced together entirely through art and archaeology. Remains of cities and palace complexes (esp. Knossos). Numerous artifacts, particularly religious (? ) art. Minoan writing – Linear A – Mostly undecipherable.

Social, Political, Economic Structures Uncertain whether Minoan Crete was a unified whole or comprised of independent city-states. Political and economic life centered on palace complexes in urban centers (i. e. Knossos). Redistribution economy (i. e. Tithes paid to palace; goods redistributed; palace center of manufacturing; manufactured goods and surplus produce traded abroad). Kings in palaces are focal point of political, legal, military, and religious power. Polytheistic religion revolving around a principal goddess. Prominence of females in religious iconography and in art suggests relatively egalitarian gender relations.

Knossos (ca. 2000 -1450 BCE) www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images. html

The Palace Complex at Knossos (ca. 2000 – 1450 BCE) http: //www. luc. edu/depts/history/dennis/Visual_Arts/101 Images/page_001_ALL 1. htm

Knossos - Palace Storeroom (ca. 1500 BCE) www. bluffton. edu/~sullivanm/knossos. html

Linear A and Minoan Hieroglyph http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Image: Disque_de_Phaistos_A. jpg http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/introtogreece/lect 3/i. Linear. A 9907230007. jpg

Painted Sarcophagus (Hagia Triada – ca. 1400 BCE) http: //www. daedalus. gr/DAEI/THEME/B 49. jpg

The Snake Goddess (ca. 1500 BCE) http: //www. daedalus. gr/DAEI/THEME/B 27. jpg www. historywiz. com/minoancrete. htm

Minoan Sport (? ) Bull-Leaper Fresco (Knossos – ca. 1500 BCE) http: //www. daedalus. gr/DAEI/THEME/B 30. jpg

The Minoan “Labyrinth” Dance

Mycenaean Greece http: //www. wwnorton. com/literature/images/maps/english 2_3. jpg

Mycenaean Greece Ca. 2200 -2000 BCE – First Greek speakers enter Greece. Archaeological evidence indicates arrival as conquerors (i. e. Destruction of the house of tiles). Mixed with local population. Cultural amalgamation: 1. Greek adopted. 2. Many pre-Greek place names survive. 3. Pre-Greek cult centers continue. 4. Proto-urbanized centers continue. Fl. Ca. 1600 -1100 BCE. Spread to the Aegean islands and Minoan Crete between 1450 BCE and 1350 BCE.

Knowledge of Mycenaean Greece Discovered/named by Heinrich Schliemann (1822 - 1890) – named after the Greek city of Mycenae Archaeology. Linear B Tablets (first decoded in 1952 by Michael Ventris). Homer (? ): 1. Problem of chronology. 2. Evidence of orality. 3. References to Bronze Age circumstances.

Mycenaean Society Not a unified society. Comprised separate kingdoms surrounding palace complexes (i. e. Mycenae, Pylos, Sparta, Tyrins etc. ). Highly martial society : 1. Palaces fortified and located on defensible hilltops (i. e. acropolis). 2. Graves full of implements of war. 3. Art frequently displays military scenes (contrast with Minoan art). 4. Archaeological evidence of frequent military conflict. King (Wanax) a military leader, judge, religious representative. Lawagetas = Supreme general. Hetairoi = Landed warrior aristocracy. Commoners worked the land, paid taxes to the king, worked the land of the king or warrior elites, sometimes served in the army. Slaves. Redistribution economy derived from the Minoan model (Gift-giving culture; xenia). Patriarchal.

Mycenaean Tyrins http: //www. mlahanas. de/Greeks/History/Mycenaean. html

Mycenaean Warrior Vase http: //www. mlahanas. de/Greeks/LX/Mycenian. Warrior. Vase. html

The Mycenaean Tholos Tomb http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images 2/tholos_tomb. jpg

Mycenaean Circle Grave A (ca. 1200 BCE) http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images 2/Myc. Grave. Circ. A. jpg

Contents of Mycenaean Warrior Tombs Mycenaean Armor (ca. 1400 BCE) home. att. net/~a. a. major/shielddag. jpg

Contents of Mycenaean Warrior Tombs Mycenaean Dagger – ca. 1400 BCE home. att. net/~a. a. major/shielddag. jpg

The Mycenaean Oikos (The Palace of Nestor – Pylos) ccwf. cc. utexas. edu/~perlman/history/pylos. html

Plan of Nestor’s Palace http: //www. utexas. edu/courses/classicalarch/images 2/plan. Nestor. Pylos. gif

Interactions and Influences First Greeks influenced heavily from several directions. Pre-Greek population (Intermixing, Cult sites, Cult practices, Place names). Minoans (Trade, political model, economic model, art, architecture, writing). Hittites (Trade, The Trojan War). Eastern Mediterranean highly interconnected politically, economically, culturally.

The Great Collapse Ca. 1200 -1100 BCE – Major instability in Egypt, the Near East, and the Eastern Aegean. Massive contraction in trade and increase in piracy (i. e. the Sea Peoples). Depopulation of many urbanized centers. Disappearance of palace centers. Mass migrations and military conflict. The Trojan War (? ).

The Historicity of the Trojan War General destruction of societies in Eastern Mediterranean (i. e. ca 1180 -1160 BCE Hittite Empire disintegrates; ca 1212 -1150 BCE Egypt in turmoil and economic decline. ). “Troy” = “Wilusa” and “Truwisa”; Homeric names = “(W)Ilios” and “Troia”. Ca. 1290 BCE – Hittite rebel prince (Piyamaradu) seizes kingdom of Mira, supported by the Tawagawala (Etewokleweios – Eteokles), brother of the king of the Ahhiyawa (Achaewa – Achaeans). Tawagawala supported Piyamaradu from Millawanda (Miletus); Hittite armies marched west and took control of Wilusa (Troy). Treaty of 1272 BCE – made Wilusa a vassal of the Hittite kings (guaranteed by the god Apaliunas – Apollo). The Tawagala Letter (ca. 1264 -1239 BCE) refers to armed conflict between the Ahhiyawa and the Hittites over Wilusa (Note: no reference to an Achaean king attacking Wilusa); the letter indicates a peaceful settlement. Heinrich Schliemann (1822 -1890) and Troy VIIa; evidence of destruction ca. 1200 BCE; the “Sea Peoples”.

Incursion of the Sea Peoples http: //darkwing. uoregon. edu/~atlas/europe/static/map 05. html

Ramses III and the Sea Peoples (Harris Papyrus) James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, § 403 I (Ramses III) extended all the boundaries of Egypt; I overthrew those who invaded them from their lands. I slew the Denen in their isles, the Thekel and the Peleset were made ashes. The Sherden and the Weshesh of the sea, they were made as those that exist not, taken captive at one time, brought as captives to Egypt, like the sand on the shore. http: //nefertiti. iwebland. com/sea_peoples. htm Hittite = Ahhiyawa (Achaewa – Achaeans). Egyptian: Denen = Danaan. Homer: Achaeans and Danaans.