Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece

Lecture 3

Minoans and Mycenaeans

I. Minoan Civilization (see Lect. 2) 

II. Mycenaean (or Helladic) Civilization 

A. Origins and history (c. 2,000 - 1,050 B.C.); Hittites 

B. Archaeology; Heinrich Schliemann at Mycenae (1870's) and Tiryns (1880's); megaron 

C. Religion; interaction with Minoan religion 

1. Olympian deities (Zeus, Hera, Apollo, etc.) vs. chthonic/nature deities
2. funerary customs; shaft graves and tholoi ("beehive tombs") 

D. Social organization; bureaucracy; war and trade; Agamemnon 

E. Arts and crafts 

III. From Mycenean to Greek civilization: continuities and discontinuities; the Dark Ages and the "Doric invasion" (c. 1,100-800 B.C.) 

 Lecture 3 Images

Forward to Lecture 4