Ancient Greece Exam Study Notes
Section A
Part 1
Bronze Age – c 3000-1600 BC
- Tools n weapons made more efficient than those of stone/bone/copper
- By 2500 BC metal workers mastered led, silver, gold
- ↑ing demand 4 metal goods accelerated trade in Mediterranean region
- Early Bronze Age 3000-2000 BC
- Crete n mainland Gr owed rise 2 close contact w/ palace kingdoms of E
- Late Bronze Age referred 2 as “Mycenaean Period”
Cnossus – Minoan palace complex on Crete discovered 1899 by Sir Arthur Evans
- Grave credence 2 legend that it had been part of powerful naval state
- By 1900 BC was town of several 1000 ppl
- Had palace economy based on storage n redistribution
o Food n other products collected as taxes, stored n used 2 sustain palace, n
its craft workers n redistributed 2 villagers as rations n wages
o Product goods manufactured in palace went in ships in Mediterranean
trade network 4 foreign metals n luxury items
- By 1375 BC burned n looted
Cyclades – organized societies scatters thru Aegean basin were 1st Gr speakers arrived in
Gr
- Inhabitants sailed seas in sleek galleys
- Tombs deposited w/ elegant looking marble sculptures of standing males n
females n complex figures of lyre players
Heinrich Schliemann – 1870 excavated ruins of Troy n NW Anatolia
- Most hist regarded story of Troy as just fables
- 4 yrs l8er turned 2 Mycenae (city of Agamemnon) in S Gr
- His excavation discovered large fortified palace complexes worthy of mighty king
warrior
o Immense quantities of good confirmed Gr’s belief that Late Bronze Age
was time of wealth n splendour
Indo-Europeans - homeland may b located in vast steppes N of Black n Caspian Seas
- Gr n other Indo-Eur lang evolved from long waves of emigration from original
homeland
- Eventually Gr lang completely submerged non-Ind-Eur ‘Aegean’ lang
- Subsisted as herders n farmers, practiced metallurgy, pottery, cloth making
- Society was patriarchal n patrilinear
- Believed in fertility goddesses
Lerna – in Argolis, large town w/ stone fortification walls n monumental buildings
- Largest may have belonged 2 head chief
- Destroyed
- Marks stagnation following Middle Bronze Age associated w/ incursion of new
ppl who spoke early form of Gr
- Define part of lengthy ancient migration of Indo-Eur ppl
Linear A – writing style Cretans developed 2 administer their complicated economies
1
, - Comprised of specific signs that stood 4 sounds of spoken words n syllables,
remains untranslated
- Main purpose 4 keeping economic n administrative records
Linear B – Evans found 3000 clay tablets w/ more elaborate version of linear script in
1939 in Mycenaean palace of Pylos on Gr mainland
- 1950s Michael Ventris demonstrated lang of Linear B was not Cretan, but early
form of Gr
- Decipherment of Linear B illuminated working of Mycenaean palace system n
has confirmed Mycenaean palaces ruled by kings
Megaron – large rectangular hall in Mycenaean palace complexes
- Ceremonial center used 4 feasts, council n reception of visitors
- In middle, would b large, raised circular hearth flanked by 4 columns that
supported open balcony
- Would survive in form of chieftain’s house during long Dark Age n as essential
plan of Gr temple from 18th cent onwards
Minoans – name given 2 1st Aegean civilization discovered @ Cnossus by Sir Arthur
Evans
- Named after mythical king Minos of Cnossos
- Art n architecture owe large debt 2 civilizations of near E, esp Egy.
- Gr adopted whole model of Minoan state down 2 writing system
Mycenae – Late Bronze Age = Mycenaean period
- City of king Agamemnod
- Invaded Crete n took over palace structures
- Early Mycenaean Civ 1600-1400 BC
o Knowledge revealed mostly thru graves n offerings interred w/ bodies of
deceased
- Later Mycenaeans (1440-1200 BC) built palace complexes
o Much smaller n located on commanding hill
- Not unified politically, but divided in2 special kingdoms
Pylos – reached zenith b/n 1400-1200
- Nestor’s palace built ca 1300
- Contained over 20 villages n towns over 1400 sq miles, divided in2 provinces,
each divided in2 several districts
- Palace strictly supervised production
- Truly oppressed were slaves
o Mycenaean warrior aristocrats active in slavery business
- Leading exports: textiles, metal work, olive oil, wine, hides, leather
- Leading imports: copper, tin, gold, ivory, amber, dies, spices, wine, jewellery
- 2 appease gods ppl made communal displays if respect (sacrifice of food, animals
n humans); honoured gods w/ procession, music, dance
o Mycenaean shrines confined 2 palace center
o Worshipped many gods of l8er Gr religion
- 1200 BC almost all palace centers n many outlying towns n villages attacked n
destroyed/abandoned
o Many centers (Pylos) never reoccupied
Shaft graves – found in early Mycenaean civilization 1600-1500 BC
2
, - Deep rectangular pits in2 which bodies lowered
o L8er graves held arsenal of weapons n hundreds of expensive items
o Attest 2 growth of Mycenaean trade n >er control by ruling class over
economy n society
Thera – island w/ remarkable example of Minoan cultural influence
- Akrotiri discovered 1967
- Destroyer by powerful volcanic eruption 1682 BC (preserved it)
- Distinctly local features suggest they were independent societies; trading partners,
not colonial outposts of Cretan empire
Wanax – Mycenaean king
- Was warrior king, took part in fighting along w/ commander n subordinate
commander
Alphabet – most successful achievement from Dark Age
- made by borrowing letters from Phoenician alphabet & adding vowels ca. 800 BC
- earliest uses: writing verses 4 poetry, record ownership of personal property, keep
commercial accounts
Basileus
- paramount figure that lead new communities
- leader of ppl
- had 2 b good warrior & persuasive speaker
- ne chief must raise his own following of hetaroi (companions) & go on raids
against villages of other demos 2 even score in quarrel/ acquire livestock,
valuables, women
- has limited ability 2 coerce others 2 do his bidding (chief, not king)
Dark Age – 1100-700 BC, period of steep decline & slow recovery
- leads 2 emergence of polis
- art & writing lost, vital trade routes broken, towns & villages abandoned
- rhythm & activities of agricultural yr & farming remained unchanged
- faster potters wheel invented
- Gr metal workers mastered difficult process of smelting & working iron
- Former centers & political villages found themselves widely on their own
politically & economically
Geometric style – evolves from Protogeometric style 900 BC
- new aesthetic spirit & artist evident
- circles & semicircles → angular motifs, “meander pattern”
- renewed availability of materials from abroad (bronze)
- fine gold, jewelry, ivory carvings & bronze vessels produced 4 domestic
consumption & long-distance trade
Hesiod – helped create theogony for Gr: gave gods names, decided their special skills &
what honors they should b given, every community had own protecting gods
Homer – poet of Iliad & Odyssey
- revered as gr8est by l8er Gr
- know nothing about him except from tradition was blind & Ionian
- poems dated b/n l8 8th & early 7th cent BC
Iron – iron weapons & tools harder than bronze & kept edges better
- by 950 BC, almost every tool & weapon found in graves iron
3
Section A
Part 1
Bronze Age – c 3000-1600 BC
- Tools n weapons made more efficient than those of stone/bone/copper
- By 2500 BC metal workers mastered led, silver, gold
- ↑ing demand 4 metal goods accelerated trade in Mediterranean region
- Early Bronze Age 3000-2000 BC
- Crete n mainland Gr owed rise 2 close contact w/ palace kingdoms of E
- Late Bronze Age referred 2 as “Mycenaean Period”
Cnossus – Minoan palace complex on Crete discovered 1899 by Sir Arthur Evans
- Grave credence 2 legend that it had been part of powerful naval state
- By 1900 BC was town of several 1000 ppl
- Had palace economy based on storage n redistribution
o Food n other products collected as taxes, stored n used 2 sustain palace, n
its craft workers n redistributed 2 villagers as rations n wages
o Product goods manufactured in palace went in ships in Mediterranean
trade network 4 foreign metals n luxury items
- By 1375 BC burned n looted
Cyclades – organized societies scatters thru Aegean basin were 1st Gr speakers arrived in
Gr
- Inhabitants sailed seas in sleek galleys
- Tombs deposited w/ elegant looking marble sculptures of standing males n
females n complex figures of lyre players
Heinrich Schliemann – 1870 excavated ruins of Troy n NW Anatolia
- Most hist regarded story of Troy as just fables
- 4 yrs l8er turned 2 Mycenae (city of Agamemnon) in S Gr
- His excavation discovered large fortified palace complexes worthy of mighty king
warrior
o Immense quantities of good confirmed Gr’s belief that Late Bronze Age
was time of wealth n splendour
Indo-Europeans - homeland may b located in vast steppes N of Black n Caspian Seas
- Gr n other Indo-Eur lang evolved from long waves of emigration from original
homeland
- Eventually Gr lang completely submerged non-Ind-Eur ‘Aegean’ lang
- Subsisted as herders n farmers, practiced metallurgy, pottery, cloth making
- Society was patriarchal n patrilinear
- Believed in fertility goddesses
Lerna – in Argolis, large town w/ stone fortification walls n monumental buildings
- Largest may have belonged 2 head chief
- Destroyed
- Marks stagnation following Middle Bronze Age associated w/ incursion of new
ppl who spoke early form of Gr
- Define part of lengthy ancient migration of Indo-Eur ppl
Linear A – writing style Cretans developed 2 administer their complicated economies
1
, - Comprised of specific signs that stood 4 sounds of spoken words n syllables,
remains untranslated
- Main purpose 4 keeping economic n administrative records
Linear B – Evans found 3000 clay tablets w/ more elaborate version of linear script in
1939 in Mycenaean palace of Pylos on Gr mainland
- 1950s Michael Ventris demonstrated lang of Linear B was not Cretan, but early
form of Gr
- Decipherment of Linear B illuminated working of Mycenaean palace system n
has confirmed Mycenaean palaces ruled by kings
Megaron – large rectangular hall in Mycenaean palace complexes
- Ceremonial center used 4 feasts, council n reception of visitors
- In middle, would b large, raised circular hearth flanked by 4 columns that
supported open balcony
- Would survive in form of chieftain’s house during long Dark Age n as essential
plan of Gr temple from 18th cent onwards
Minoans – name given 2 1st Aegean civilization discovered @ Cnossus by Sir Arthur
Evans
- Named after mythical king Minos of Cnossos
- Art n architecture owe large debt 2 civilizations of near E, esp Egy.
- Gr adopted whole model of Minoan state down 2 writing system
Mycenae – Late Bronze Age = Mycenaean period
- City of king Agamemnod
- Invaded Crete n took over palace structures
- Early Mycenaean Civ 1600-1400 BC
o Knowledge revealed mostly thru graves n offerings interred w/ bodies of
deceased
- Later Mycenaeans (1440-1200 BC) built palace complexes
o Much smaller n located on commanding hill
- Not unified politically, but divided in2 special kingdoms
Pylos – reached zenith b/n 1400-1200
- Nestor’s palace built ca 1300
- Contained over 20 villages n towns over 1400 sq miles, divided in2 provinces,
each divided in2 several districts
- Palace strictly supervised production
- Truly oppressed were slaves
o Mycenaean warrior aristocrats active in slavery business
- Leading exports: textiles, metal work, olive oil, wine, hides, leather
- Leading imports: copper, tin, gold, ivory, amber, dies, spices, wine, jewellery
- 2 appease gods ppl made communal displays if respect (sacrifice of food, animals
n humans); honoured gods w/ procession, music, dance
o Mycenaean shrines confined 2 palace center
o Worshipped many gods of l8er Gr religion
- 1200 BC almost all palace centers n many outlying towns n villages attacked n
destroyed/abandoned
o Many centers (Pylos) never reoccupied
Shaft graves – found in early Mycenaean civilization 1600-1500 BC
2
, - Deep rectangular pits in2 which bodies lowered
o L8er graves held arsenal of weapons n hundreds of expensive items
o Attest 2 growth of Mycenaean trade n >er control by ruling class over
economy n society
Thera – island w/ remarkable example of Minoan cultural influence
- Akrotiri discovered 1967
- Destroyer by powerful volcanic eruption 1682 BC (preserved it)
- Distinctly local features suggest they were independent societies; trading partners,
not colonial outposts of Cretan empire
Wanax – Mycenaean king
- Was warrior king, took part in fighting along w/ commander n subordinate
commander
Alphabet – most successful achievement from Dark Age
- made by borrowing letters from Phoenician alphabet & adding vowels ca. 800 BC
- earliest uses: writing verses 4 poetry, record ownership of personal property, keep
commercial accounts
Basileus
- paramount figure that lead new communities
- leader of ppl
- had 2 b good warrior & persuasive speaker
- ne chief must raise his own following of hetaroi (companions) & go on raids
against villages of other demos 2 even score in quarrel/ acquire livestock,
valuables, women
- has limited ability 2 coerce others 2 do his bidding (chief, not king)
Dark Age – 1100-700 BC, period of steep decline & slow recovery
- leads 2 emergence of polis
- art & writing lost, vital trade routes broken, towns & villages abandoned
- rhythm & activities of agricultural yr & farming remained unchanged
- faster potters wheel invented
- Gr metal workers mastered difficult process of smelting & working iron
- Former centers & political villages found themselves widely on their own
politically & economically
Geometric style – evolves from Protogeometric style 900 BC
- new aesthetic spirit & artist evident
- circles & semicircles → angular motifs, “meander pattern”
- renewed availability of materials from abroad (bronze)
- fine gold, jewelry, ivory carvings & bronze vessels produced 4 domestic
consumption & long-distance trade
Hesiod – helped create theogony for Gr: gave gods names, decided their special skills &
what honors they should b given, every community had own protecting gods
Homer – poet of Iliad & Odyssey
- revered as gr8est by l8er Gr
- know nothing about him except from tradition was blind & Ionian
- poems dated b/n l8 8th & early 7th cent BC
Iron – iron weapons & tools harder than bronze & kept edges better
- by 950 BC, almost every tool & weapon found in graves iron
3
