Introduction
It is to the Greeks that we look for the intellectual and artistic legacy
that forms the Western cultural heritage, including politics, philosophy,
science and art. Their supreme
achievement was the development of rational thought.
"They saw human beings as having a capacity for rational thought, a
need for freedom, and a worth as individuals.
Although the Greeks never dispensed with the gods, they increasingly
stressed the importance of human reason and human decisions; they came to assert
that reason is the avenue to knowledge and that people--not the gods--are
responsible for their behavior. In
this shift of attention from the gods to human beings, the Greeks broke with the
myth-making orientation of the Near East and created the rational outlook that
is a distinctive feature of Western civilization" (Perry, 44-45).
"The outstanding characteristic that distinguishes the three
civilizations in question [Greek, Hellenistic, Roman] from those that had
gone before was their secularism. No
longer did religion absorb the interests and expend the wealth of humans
to the extent that it did in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The state now became much more independent of the priesthood, and
the life of the mind was freed from the dictates of organized
belief-systems. In addition, ideals of human freedom and an emphasis on the
welfare of the individual superseded the despotism and collectivism that
characterized the civilizations of the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile”
(Learner 96).
Until
about 100 years ago, historians placed the beginning of Greek history in the 8th
century BC, 776 BC the beginning of the Olympic Games.
But in the early 1870's Heinrich Schliemann, a German merchant, shocked
the world with his discovery of Troy, a city famous from the
Iliad of Homer as the city whose prince had stolen Helen from Greece over
whom the Trojan War began between Troy and the Greeks.
Schliemann then found Mycenae, the city Homer says was the city of
Agamemnon the leader of the Greek expedition against Troy.
Soon other cities were found until a whole civilization hitherto unknown
was unearthed by archaeologists. It
soon became apparent that the ancient stories of the Greeks were not totally
fantasy and actually may reflect this ancient bronze age.
I. Crete: Europe's
First Commercial Empire
A.
The legends of Greece spoke of a king Minos of Crete who in very early
times ruled over a great kingdom from his palace at Knossos.
In the best known legend Minos defeated the Athenians in a war and
ordered them to send 7 youths and 7 girls as sacrifices to a monster every year.
This monster, the Minotaur, had the head of a bull but the body of a
human. Poseidon, the god of the
sea, had sent up a bull from the waves in answer to Minos' prayer for a sign
proving that the gods had given him his throne.
When Minos failed to fulfill his promise to sacrifice the bull, Poseidon
punished him by making Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, fall in love with it.
So she gave birth to the Minotaur. The
monster was imprisoned in the labyrinth--a maze so complicated that none who
entered it could ever find the way out again.
One day Theseus, son of the king of Athens, came as
part of the annual offering to the Minotaur. Ariadne, Minos' daughter, fell in love with him and saved him
by giving him a thread, which he tied to the door of the labyrinth and trailed
after him as he went in. He then
killed the Minotaur and found his way safely back by means of the thread. More
credible are the references in Thucydides, who wrote:
For
Minos was the first person we hear of to acquire a fleet:
he had over-riding control of the Aegean Sea, governed the Cycladic
islands and was the first to colonize most of them...he also eliminated
piracy as far as possible, so that more revenue should come to him.
But the Greeks were largely ignorant of detailed factual knowledge of
Minos and his kingdom.
B.
Sir Arthur Evans and Knossos: Now
we know that Minoan civilization was one of the earliest in the history of the
world. As far back as 3000 BC the
natives of Crete had made the transition from the Neolithic stage to the age of
metals and probably to the age of writing.
By 2000 BC this civilization reached its peak after being stimulated
by contacts with Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Sir Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, began to excavate on the site of
Knossos in 1900 and over a period of years brought to light a civilization that
was previously unknown to us other than the legends and vague references in
ancient authors. These discoveries have confirmed the traditions of a
great king with a large navy ruling Crete.
The
centers of Minoan civilization were magnificent palace complexes (e.g., Knossos,
Phaestos, Haghia Triada) whose construction was evidence of the wealth and power
of the Minoan kings.
The
palace at Knossos was begun sometime after 2000 BC and was enlarged and rebuilt
over the years (particularly after damage by earthquakes).
During late 19th and 18th BC there were three devastating earthquakes. The last one required complete reconstruction of the palaces;
cultural life had to be restored also since the palaces were central to Cretan
civilization as well as economic life. The
palaces 1) housed royal families, priests, government officials; 2) contained
workshops where they decorated silver vessels, daggers, jewelry, and pottery for
export as well as local use. Minoan
exports have been found in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and Greece.
Knossos
dominated Crete from around 1650-1450 BC. The
palace at Knossos has been reconstructed. The
western side of the palace was the official quarters, incl. a throne room
and capacious store-rooms. Royal
ceremonies took place here and this was the place of the administrative offices.
To the east, beyond a large courtyard was the domestic area.
The
palace contained an elaborate water and drainage system, including a type of
flushing lavatory. The architects
and artists were sensitive to beauty: the
walls were painted with elaborate frescoes:
dancing, festivals, athletic contests (bull-leaping, running, boxing). Impressively, the painting was not done just to glorify
religion or rulers but to express the delight of the ordinary man in the world
of beauty around him.
C.
Religion: Minoan religion
was matriarchal: the chief deity
was not a god, but a goddess who ruled the entire universe (earth, sky and sea). The king performed priestly functions. Sacred symbols found in palaces and homes reveals that
religions and life were closely integrated as in all early civilizations.
D.
Status of women: It was
high. We know this because:
1) crowds in painting show a high proportion of women; 2) women are shown
doing the dangerous bull-leaping. The
hairstyles are elaborate, and they wore "topless" dresses with
flounced (pleats) skirts, narrow waists and puffed sleeves.
E.
Linear A: The writing of the
Minoans remains undeciphered.
NOTE: Judging by
archaeological evidence Minoans were peaceful and therefore vulnerable to the
warlike Mycenaeans: 1) Minoan art
generally did not depict military scenes; 2) Minoan palaces (unlike Mycenaean)
did not have defensive walls or fortifications.
II. Mycenae
The first Greeks to enter the area of modern Greece were Indo-European
tribes that spoke an early form of Greek, but they absorbed a number of words
into their language from the people already in Greece whom they conquered (ex.
place names ending in -nthos, -sos, Korinthos and Mt. Parnassos; the Greek name
for sea--thalassa--and island--nesos; i.e., Mycenaean civilization was a
combination of pre-Greeks and Indo-European Greek speakers).
They
were very war-like and survived on piracy as well as trade. By the 15th BC they were very powerful and their leading city
Mycenae dominated the Aegean (conquered Knossos c. 1450 BC); therefore, Late
Helladic Period called Mycenaean Period (1600-1100).
A.
Heinrich Schliemann: The
discoverer of ancient Troy was also the discoverer of Mycenae in 1876. These are the cities and the civilization that existed at the
time of the Trojan War that Homer describes as fought over the abduction of
Helen by the Trojan Prince Paris. In
fact, Schliemann is more famous as the man who shocked the world with his
discovery of Troy. Until Schliemann
found Troy (actually Schliemann thought the wrong Troy II of 2200 BC was Homer's
Troy), Greek history began in the 8th BC (776) with the establishment of the
Olympic Games.
Archaeologists have done much work on Mycenae as well as
Tiryns, Pylos and other sites.
B. Linear B: Pylos is important because a number of tablets were
discovered with writing on them designated as Linear B.
It seems to be based on the Cretan script. Thanks to a british architect named Michael Ventris (1952)
these tablets can be read and have revealed much about this Bronze Age culture.
These texts were administrative documents and inventories that have
revealed that these palaces were just that, royal residences, and not true
cities. The rich kings used the
script to keep track of their accumulated wealth.
So Mycenae and other Mycenaean centers were not so much cities as
fortresses with most of them consisting of royal palaces.
Most of the population lived in villages in the surrounding countryside.
C.
These kingdoms were very highly organized and kept careful records of
taxes, palace stores, slaves and animals owned. land-holdings, offerings to
gods, military equipment, etc.--these are recorded on the Linear B tablets as
found at Pylos which tell us:
1.
society = royalty, nobility, peasants, slaves, various officials
[herdsmen of villages, priests, craftsmen (chariot builders), scribes who alone
had skill of writing and kept these royal records]
2.
agricultural products: wheat, barley, olive oil, wool.
3.
names of gods and goddesses:
Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Artemis, even Dionysus who had been thought to be a
late arrival in Greece, and Potnia--mother goddess.
D. trade and piracy:
wealth was mostly acquired by trade, not just pillage (Odysseus =
"sacker of cities"). Imports:
copper and tin to make bronze. Exports:
jewelry, bronze weapons, wine and wool.
III. Summary
A.
5 characteristics of Minoan civilization:
1.
palace civilization
2.
happy, peaceful civilization
3.
high status of women:
women enjoyed a freedom and dignity unknown
elsewhere in the ancient Near East or Classical Greece.
4.
matriarchal religion (snake goddess)
5.
glory of Minoan culture was its art (a part of everyday life, not an
adjunct to religion and/or state)
B.
5 characteristics of Mycenaean civilization:
1.
fortified palace civilization
2.
prosperity based on trade and piracy
3.
writing, Linear B, was an early form of Greek
4.
patriarchal religion: left a
legacy of patriarchal religion, myths and legends to Hellenic Greece
5.
sophisticated art forms
(incl. monumental architecture)
