The Minoans and the Mycenaeans – Bronze Age Greece

 

 

The Minoans and the Mycenaeans were two major Bronze Age civilizations.

The Minoans, based on the island of Crete, were known for their artistic culture, ostentatious palaces (like Knossos) and their seafaring trade.

 The Mycenaeans, on mainland Greece in the north-eastern Peloponnese, were a more military-minded and colonial society, known for their impregnable fortresses and warrior culture.

 

 

The Minoan civilization, considered the first advanced civilization in Europe, emerged on the island of Crete from around 2700 BC to 1450 B.C. before the Mycenaean civilization hit the scene in around 1600 BC to 1100 B.C. on the Greek mainland.

The Minoan’s title derives from the name of the mythical King Minos, who was believed to have ruled Knossos.

The Mycenaeans, who are said to have been influenced by the Minoans, were named after the famous city of Mycenae located in the north-eastern Peloponnese.

Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece.

 

The Minoan Civilization

 Around 2700 BC to 1450 B.C.

 

 

 The Minoan civilization, which controlled the island of Crete, located in the south of the Aegean, is located along major maritime trade routes which connect to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

The Minoans, who were skilled seafarers, used this to their advantage by trading widely, exporting goods like pottery, wine, and olive oil in exchange for raw metals which were difficult to obtain on Crete.

 

 

Through traders and artisans, their cultural influence reached beyond Crete to the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

They were well-known for their dynamic frescoes, pottery and complex seals depicting scenes of nature, religious rituals and daily life and many Minoan artists were employed by foreign nobility, one example being the frescos they painted at Avaris in Egypt.

 

 

They were also known for their architecture and built magnificent palaces such as Knossos, Phaistos, and Malia, which served as administrative, economic, and religious centers.

 

 

Most Minoan sites are found in central and eastern Crete but are also to be found in the western part of the island, especially to the south.

The Minoans developed two writing systems known as Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A.

 As neither script has been fully deciphered, the identity of the Minoan language is unknown.

 After 1450 BC, a revised version of Linear A known as Linear B was used to write Mycenaean Greek, which had become the official language of Crete.

 

The Decline of the Minoans

 

 

In around 1,600 BC, the Minoan colony and trading center of Thera, today known as Santorini, experienced one of the largest volcanic eruptions in ancient times.

The entire island was destroyed as shockwaves sent enormous tsunamis hurtling toward coastal settlements on the Minoan mainland of Crete.

Their fleets were wrecked and entire structures were washed out to sea.

This destruction would have been unlike anything the Minions ever lived through and most certainly this weakened their civilization.

 Not ones to be put down, the Minoans began to rebuild their empire from ground zero, only this time they would have their Mycenaean neighbors on the mainland to contend with.

The Mycenaeans had risen to power with a naval fleet of their own!

 In the centuries to follow, the Mycenaeans systematically conquered the Minoan islands one by one and slowly took control of the major trade routes that the Minoans had carefully created and controlled for over a thousand years.

Just when the Minoans thought they were at rock bottom, they were dealt another devastating blow; Crete was hit by several enormous earthquakes!

Thousands died as the Earth shook and the partly rebuilt ruins once again became rubble.

Crete had become a mish-mash of second-rate Mycenaean states during the Mycenaean rise to power.

For over 2,000 years, the power of this outstanding civilization, who had spread culture throughout the whole of the Aegean, was to end abruptly and they would be forced to bow down to their new Mycenaean masters.

 

The Mycenaean Civilization

 Around 1600 BC to 1100 B.C.

 

 

The Mycenaean civilization, located in the north-eastern Peloponnese, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south-west of Athens, was the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece.

The Mycenaeans, fierce warriors, were noted for by their palatial centers such as Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and and Midea in the Peloponnese and Orchomenos, Thebes, and Athens in Central Greece and Iolcos in Thessaly.

 

 

Mycenaean palaces were built atop high hills which gave them commanding views of the Mycenae landscape.

 Throughout southern Greece, many of the Mycenaean palaces have similar architecture.

 All had a megaron or throne room, the center of power and authority, which contained a raised central hearth carefully positioned below an opening in the roof.

A royal throne was often placed against a central wall just to the side of the hearth, allowing the King to observe those who approached the entrance.

 Meticulously painted frescoes often covered the walls and sometimes the floor, portraying images of battles, warriors, hunting, animals and religious processions.

 Inside the palace, industries, including the manufacturing of goods and weapons, olive oil, textiles and perfume, were all carefully managed.

 

 

Magnificent tholos (beehive) tombs, such as the tholos tomb of Atreus (Treasury of Atreus), the Vapheio tholos tomb at Laconia and the tholos tombs of mythical Iolkos in Thessaly were reserved for the eternal homes of the ruling elite.

 

 

 

The remains of these fascinating constructions can be seen today at the archaeological site of Mycenae

Their syllabic script, Linear B, offers the first written records of the Greek language and their religion already included several deities also to be found in the Olympic pantheon.

Linear B tablets, discovered at many sites, give us valuable understandings into their language, administration, and economic activities.

 As extensive traders their influence stretched from across the Aegean, including Crete and the Cycladic islands, to Asia Minor, the Near East and Egypt to the Western Mediterranean and North-western Europe.

The beginning of the Mycenaean civilization was marked by the rise of groups of warrior kings who were most likely influenced by the already advanced Minoan civilization of Crete, with whom they had good relations.

The Mycenaean period significantly influenced later Greek culture, particularly in the development of myths and legends about heroes like Achilles and Odysseus and their involvement in the Trojan War.

 The epic poems of Homer, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, draw heavily on Mycenaean themes and characters.

 

The Decline of the Mycenaean civilization

The End of the Bronze Age

 

 

 The demise of Mycenaean Greece came with the collapse of Bronze Age which was followed by the Greek Dark Ages.

No one can say for sure what caused the end of this civilization, many answers have been put forward; the Dorian invasion or actions connected to the “The Sea People”, a group of tribes thought to have attacked Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions in the 12th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age.

Other theories such as natural disasters and climatic changes have also been put forward however the consensus is that it was a little bit of everything; internal conflicts, political instability and social unrest that may have weakened the Mycenaean kingdoms from within.

These changes heralded the beginning of a new period in Greece during the 12th century BC, the last century of the Mycenaean civilization.

The end of the Mycenaean civilization brought about a cultural decline; however, during the Geometric period and until the 8th century BC the way was paved for the birth of the Greek city.

 

The Dark Ages – 1100 B.C – 800 B.C

Endings and New Beginnings

 

 

 Following the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, in around 1100 B.C, came the Dark Ages (1100 B.C – 800 B.C).

This period in history was defined by a decline in population, trade and artistic expression, along with a loss of literacy and contemporary written accounts which is why we know so little about the aptly-named “Dark Ages”.

Despite the decline, local communities accepted the change and new political and social structures, like the early forms of city-states (poleis), began to emerge.

New forms of art such as the Proto-geometric and Geometric pottery styles emerged and the use of iron for tools and weapons marked a major technological advancement during this period.

The development of the Greek alphabet from the Phoenician script began to spread, playing a vital role in the development of Greek culture and identity as well as strengthening communication between city-states and other civilizations.

In Greece the end of the Dark Ages marked the beginning of a new era; the Archaic period, spanning from roughly 800 B.C to 480 B.C (preceding the Classical period).

This era saw the revival of Greek culture and the rise of city-states in around 800 BC.