Greek Myth 100

Kitchell

Chronology

2100 BCE Greeks arrive/develope

1600-1100 Myceneans were dominant culture

ca. 1400 The Minoans are conquered

1200 Knossos was destroyed- Dorian Invasion

1184 Trojan War

1200-800 Dark Ages

800-490 Archaic Age

-750 Homer -I&O
-700 Hesiod

490-323 Classical Age- not many new myths, most are set and retold
-490 First Persian Invasion under Darias
-480 Second Invasion Greeks win

323-146 Hellenistic Age

146- Roman

Cycladic idols- 90 % female

– found in graves
– usually lying down

Minoan – Covers Crete and the Islands

– Not Greek
– Co-existed with cyclads for a while
– 2200-1400 so part of the Bronze age
– Redistributive economy
- All is brought to the central palace (megaron) and the leader “king” redistributes the wealth as
is deemed nessecarry
-Ruled by a priest king
The palace at Knossos was discovered by Arthur Evans
It existed arpund a central court
-Magazines-> storage containers/rooms of some kind
The Minoans were believed to be peaceful as there were no clear signs of fortifications and a great deal
of evidence that they were primarily traders
Found remnants of Linear A a syllabary (paired letters) but it still cannot be translated

Myceneans
Argolid- refers to Myceneans sites along the Peloponnese
Hieght occurred during the Bronze Age, conquered Minoans in a. 1400
Known warrior culture
-found with full armor and in some cases weapons in the graves
-signs of fighting within themselves as well as everyone else around
-seemed to be a loose fedration more than formal govt all were seen as semi-equal

Their main citadel was on a natural hill, a good defensive position with a palace surrounded by heavily
fortified walls
Tiryns- massive stone walls , so large the next culture believed them to have been built by giants
coinng the term “cyclopian”. These influenced later myths as they stayed visible long after the
civilization was gone

Oral tradition created the Age of Heroes

Epynomous- family ties and foundation myths, the “royal family” used myths to show ties to the gods
and thus the right to rule

The Mycenean sites are where we located remnants of Linear B, still not a greek language and still a
syllabary these showed an organized social system in that the documents recovered apper to be lists and
records. That these were collected on so large a scale indicates the had public administration of some
kind
Ca. 1200 BCE

They appeared to be a Thalassocracy (naval entity)- might have been navy, could have been pirates
On their return from the Trojan war in 1184 disruptions began to break out in their society, palaces
were burned- possibly from invasion-

Dorians- Greek but a different dialect Most likely used iron swords, could've been an immigration not
an invasion

Dark Ages 1200-800 BCE

Athens made it through unscathed- there is eveidence of pretty much continual society and history
as well as the fact that they spoke Attic not Dorian, there is a great deal of eveidence they were
not conquered by the influxing Dorians be they immigrants or invaders
-Society falls, there is a complete collapse in culture and in forms of government as clan chiefs rise to
power, and only over small bands
– Loss of literacy, reading an dwriting were at a low but art was at a high

Archaic Age- 800-490

-Rise of citystates, the creation of the Polis
-Homers Illiad and Oyssey appear around 750 BCE
-Hesiod ca 700 (didactics)
-Thoegony- creation and rise of the gods
 -The Genesis of the Greeks
– Works and Days guide to life based on agriculture many myths are included
– hated his brother for hijacking his inheritance
Classical Age