With this class we move from the ancient Near East to the Mediterranean. In this lesson we look at the urban background of Greek civilization: the civilizations of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Almost everything we know about them comes from archaeological data. Primary questions involve the degree to which we can speak about cities in these cultures and the ways in which they provided the basis for developments in later classical Greek civilization.

1. The geographical backgound played an important role in all aspects of Greek and Roman history.

2. Few areas are far removed from the sea and the coast is irregular and broken--providing a natural tendency for people to make use of the sea for transportation, trade, and war.

3. There are many islands in the Aegean Sea and thus it is relatively easy to said from one place to another.

4. The soil is generally light and poor--it is easy to work but not very rich; it looses moisture easily and can be washed away by sudden rainstorms.

5. The land is generaly mountainous, but the mountains are not terribly high; most people lived in the small plains that lie between the mountains.

6. The summers are hot and dry, with little rain, while the winters are cold and rainy; this means that "dry farming" is possible and it is not necessary to irrigate the soil in order to raise crops.

7. In general, the Mediterranean is a naturally poor area, with few natural resources and with natural tendencies toward framentation and small-scale political entities rather than lare empires.

8. Some have suggested that the geography of the Aegean is on a "human scale," as opposed to the landscape of the Near East, which is on a more "monumental" scale.

1. We don't know who the original inhabitants of the Aegean were--they may have come from Asia Minor or from the Balkan Peninsula.

2. It is fairly clear that they were not the ancestors of the later Greeks.

3. Ideas of civilization (organization, government, writing, etc.) seem to have come from Mespotamia (via Syria) and Egypt--the Aegean has a natural connection with Egypt.

4. Nonetheless, the civilizations that developed in the Aegean were very different from those of the Near East.

5. Civilization seems to have begun, in Crete and the Cyclades islands, about 2700 B.C.

1. Known almost entirely from archaeological explorations since 1899; although the Minoans knew how to write, we are not able to read the texts in the writing system called Linear A.

2. The major archaeological sites were palaces:

Knossos in the north central

Phaistos in the south central

Mallia in the north east

Zakro in the east

3. The palaces were all destroyed in some large-scale disaster ca. 1750 B.C., but they were rebuilt and survived until they were destroyed again ca. 1450-1400 B.C.

4. The palaces have similar characterisics:

a. Not fortified.

b. Not arranged on a rectangular plan, the palaces seem to be organic in their organization.

c. On the other hand, considerable attention was paid to the entrances into the palace, and they sometimes provided a monumentalized approach to the interior of the palace.

d. Some scholars have argued that the Minoan palaces were oriented (i.e., built) in order to provide particular views of specific natural phenomena: mountain peaks, caves, etc.

e. A major feature of the palaces was a spaceous central court--although we are not certain what the court was used for.

f. The main rooms of the palace were arranged around the court: offical rooms (throne rooms, reception rooms), the private quarters of the royal family, and workrooms and storage areas.

g. All the palaces had vast storage facilities: it is clear that the Minoans had a palace economy (like the cities of the Near East).

h. The palaces also had sophisticated water and sewage systems.

5. It seems as though the palaces must have been surrounded by urban settlements--i.e., that they were cities. Some excavations have been done outside the palaces, but very few, so we can say little about the non-palatial areas of these settlements.

6. There are some settlements that seem not to be based primarily on a palace--primary example is Gournia that has a palace-like complex at the top of the site, but most of it is made up of apparently "private" houses.

7. There is considerable debate about the nature of the Minoan political structure (ruled by a king or by a queen??) and Minoan military and/or naval power.

1. Civilization developed on the Cyclades islands in the Aegean, north of Crete.

2. Clearly influenced by Minoan Crete, but different from it.

3. Very little is known about their urban or palace sites--Lerna, A. Eirene on Kea, and Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini).

a. Akrotiri is well preserved because it was buried in the catastrophic volcanic eruption in the 17th century B.C.

b. Akrotiri has broad streets and three-story houses.

c. No palace has been found--it seems to have been a trading community, based on trade with Crete.

1. Mycenaean civilization was heavily influenced by Minoan civilization, as it was a later development: 1650-1100 B.C.

2. We can read the Linear B script of the Mycenaeans and the language is an early form of Greek.

3. Mycenaean settlements also were dominated by palaces, with all the same kinds of facilities as in Minoan and Near Eastern palaces -- primarily storage; presumably this is a Near Eastern institution.

3. The Mycenaeans seem to have been very warlike and their palaces and art are dominated by ideas of war and hunting.

4. The Mycenaeans seem to have dominated Crete after ca. 1400 B.C. and they had trading and/or military stations throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

5. Major Mycenaean sites:

Mycenae

Tiryns

Pylos

Orchomenos

Gla

Athens

6. Mycenaean palaces were based on a relatively strict rectangular organization (the so-called megaron): entrance porch and main audience-chamber, all constructed on a rigid axis.

7. Powerful fortifications and elaborate tombs, culminating in the so-called tholos tombs, large "beehive shaped" structures clearly designed to glorify the king while he was still alive.

8. At Mycenae the " shaft-graves" of earlier kings apparently became powerful public monuments, perhaps designed to strengthen the power of the ruling monarchs.

1. The Mycenaen palaces were all destroyed violently between 1200 and 1100 B.C.

2. Culture continued on, but civilization collapsed: the large sites, the political state, writing, monumental architecture came to an end: Greek Dark Ages.

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