Instructions

• Take jot notes during the power-point!

Greece is a country in Europe. In ancient times, people lived along the huge coastline where food

was plentiful.

Geography• Located on the Balkan Peninsula

• Many islands made it easier to travel to other countries for trade.

Cut off by mountains and the seas:

Isolated– Led to the formation of city-states– Limited interaction and unity of Ancient Greece– Created fierce rivalries

Sea became a vital link– Hundreds of bays to provide safe harbor for ships– Skilled sailors

• Traded olive oil, wine, and marble• Returned with grains, metals, and ideas

– Adapted the Phoenician alphabet– Became basis for all Western alphabets

Geography

What did the Greeks do?• They were isolated• They had nice weather • They had fierce rivalries

What Ancient Greeks did• Went to war

– Peloponnesian, Trojan, and Persian Wars• Developed great thinkers

– Homer, Socrates, Plato – Herodotus- Father of history– Archimedes- Archimedes Screw

• Built temples to the gods and goddesses

The Minoan Civilization

The Minoan CivilizationIsland of Crete

• Became one of the most important links in the cultural exchange between Greece and Asia

• Knosses was located in central Crete

• The Palace of Minos was located in Knosses, which was named after King Minos (greatest ruler of Crete)

• The ancient civilization of Crete was also given the name Minoan after the King Minos

• The Minoans were a very advanced civilization for the times. They had a strong navy, which is probably why the Greeks never succeeded in colonizing the Minoan people. 

The Island of Crete

Who discovered them?

Heinrich Schliemann • A brilliant pioneer in field

archaeology, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, is best known for his excavations at ancient Troy, Mycenae & Crete. His discoveries there were later to establish a historical background for the stories and legends told by Homer and Virgil

What were the Minoans Like?• What we know of the Minoans comes from what has been left

behind, which is mostly frescoes.

• Since Crete is an island, they were not as concerned about invasion.

• They were a farming society that emerged into a mercantile society largely as a result of the introduction of bronze.

• For many centuries they prospered and thrived.

• They exported oil, wine, jewelry and crafts.

• They were the center of trade for the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor.

What were the Minoans Like?Wealth produced by trade had 2 effects:

• They had social equality and leisure time

• They enjoyed bull-jumping! Some walls were painted with pictures of young people, both boys and girls, jumping over bulls.

The Palace of Knossos

The Minoan king lived in a maze of a palace with 1500 rooms! The walls were painted with pictures of people jumping over bulls!

Even poor people had four-room stone houses withrunning water and bathrooms that flushed!

Palace at Knossos

Palace at Knossos

• What has told us a great deal about these ancient people are the paintings on the walls of the palace at Knossos.

The Throne of Minos

Religious Images = Female Priestesses & Double Axe

Myth of the Minotaur

Greek Myth:• The wife of King Minos gave birth to a monster,

half-man and half-bull• The Minotaur was imprisoned in a labyrinth.• His food was unmarried men & women. 7 men

and 7 women were sacrificed each year.• A hero, Theseus, volunteered to go as a

sacrifice. • With the help on the king’s daughter, he was

able to kill the minotaur and escape by following a string he had unwound on his way in.

What happened to Minoans?

Natural disasters hit Crete!• Earthquake (around 1700 BCE)

• Volcanic eruption (around 1500 BCE)

• Tidal waves (following volcanic eruption)

• The Minoans disappear