Paleolithic and Bronze Age Greece

Question 1

Basis of what was considered “Greek”

Answer 1

• Shared language
• Shared religion

Question 2

Neolithic (7-3000 BCE)

Answer 2

• Plant and animal domestication
• The beginnings of Society

Question 3

Aegean Sea Trade

Answer 3

• Tin and Arsenic
• Knowledge from Mesopotamia: irrigation, cities, government, commerce, writing (cuneiform)
• Tied Greece to near East cultures and more complex societies such as Egypt

Question 4

Divider Between Greeks and Pre-Greeks

Answer 4

• Use of the Indo-European language family
• Aegean languages indicated Cycladics or Minoans rather than Greeks

Question 5

Cycladic Culture

Answer 5

• From the Cycladic Islands
• A united island group which shared a culture that was distinct from those that surrounded it
• Folded arm figurines: Nude female form, painted with faces, clothing jewelry, may have held religious significance

Question 6

Minoans According to Evans

Answer 6

• Where king Minos of Crete lived
• A perfect society that never employed violence or weapons

Question 7

Minoan Palace Structures

Answer 7

• Central court
• Many small rooms and corridors
• “Throne rooms” which are disputed and may have served a religious function

Question 8

Minoan Palace Functions

Answer 8

• May have been residential for aristocrats, but there is no archaeological evidence
• Food collection via taxation, storage, and processing
• Food redistribution
• Place for centralized authority and bureaucrats to gather

Question 9

Knossos

Answer 9

• Largest grand palace on Crete
• Others include Phaistos, Mallia, and Zakro
• Unknown whether Knossos came to rule all of Crete

Question 10

Minoan Social Structures

Answer 10

• Society rigidly separated into social classes
• Wide wealth gaps between aristocracy and commoners
• Willingness of commoners to accept this indicates that they viewed the ruler as an absolute authority and an intermediary with the gods

Question 11

Religion

Answer 11

• Minoans sacrificed many children, with tributes from other societies indicating that they were a powerful kingdom
• Sacrifices always occurred in caves far from the city
• Snake goddess similar to Eastern deities but with different clothing: bare breasts, layered skirts
• Very connected with nature, with most practices occurring outside the city

Question 12

Minoan Art

Answer 12

• Pottery included food containers for sealing and preserving grain and wine
• Egyptian influence in frescoes (papyrus, blue monkeys, brown skin for men and white for women and boys)
• Many depictions of bulls and bull leaping

Question 13

Bull Leaping

Answer 13

• Rite of passage for young men
• Colours of people depicted their age - brown for men and white for boys
• A challenge to prove yourself ready for adult society
• May have had deity connections

Question 14

Linear A

Answer 14

• Mix of syllabic and hieroglyphic
• Language is unknown, so it was never translated
• Influenced by Near East writing systems
• For book keeping in palaces and for economics

Question 15

Heinrich Schliemann

Answer 15

• Found the ruins of Troy
• Kept diaries with many fake accounts of his archaeological progress
• Found Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon

Question 16

Minoan Influence on Mycenaean Culture

Answer 16

• Influenced art and politics
• Trade with the Minoans before the takeover led to Mycenae adopting much of their culture including their state model
• All of the frescoes in Mycenaean palaces were in the Minoan style
• Statuary was influenced, although the women were more modestly dressed

Question 17

Middle Bronze Age Mycenae

Answer 17

• Steady population growth
• Society becoming more complex, with warrior chiefs rising to power
• Cities from Homer’s Iliad active
• Single unified culture fractured into multiple kingdoms with no political union
• Frequent wars

Question 18

Tholos

Answer 18

• Beehive tomb
• For aristocrats and leaders
• Dead laid with many gold plated weapons and other artefacts
• Funerary masks to preserve the faces of the dead
• Indicates that there were wealth classes and an aristocracy

Question 19

Mycenaean Palaces

Answer 19

• Strongly fortified with Cyclopean walls, which boasted of the king’s wealth and power
• Each palace was more like its own citadel
• Megaron in the center
• Similar in style to the first Greek temples
• Contained religious centers within the city
• Mostly located on the mainland

Question 20

Megaron

Answer 20

• Ceremonial center and residence of the chief
• Location for feasts and councils
• Relaced the courtyards present in Minoan palaces