Monday, February 1, 2016

Mycenaeans & Warring City-State Class note (Feb, 1st)

Mycenaeans:
 - began around 2000 BCE
 - located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus projected by 20 foot thick wall
 - king dominate Greece from 1600-1100 BCE (controlled trade in region)
 - 1400 BCE invaded Crete and absorbed
 - Minoan culture (writing system, language, art, politics, literature, religion)

Trojan War
 - fought in 12th and 13th cent. BCE
 - part of Greek mythology -until the 19th cent.
 - Paris got an apple and the goddesses he gave the apple to is the most beautiful goddesses
 - Paris judge Aphrodite as "the fairest"
 - Aphrodite made Helen (who was married) fall in love with Paris, who took her back to Troy

"sea people" & Dorians
 - 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
 - Dorians moved into this war-torn region, dominating 1150-750 BCE
  - Dorians were far less advanced
  - the trade-based economy collapsed
  - writing disappeared 400 year
  - talk about culture decline

Homer-the blind storyteller
 - Greek oral tradition
  - stories passed on by word of mouth Homer lived at the end of these "Greek Dark Ages"
 - composed stories of the Troy War 750-700 BCE
  - the lliad: last conquest of Mycenaeans the Troy War
  - the odyssey: Odyssey attempt to returned home after Troy War, but being thwarted by Poseidony


Warring City-State
 - polis: fundamental political unit, made up of a city and surrounding countryside
 - monarchy: ruled by single king
 - aristocracy: ruled by small group of noble,  very rich, landowning families
 - oligarchy: wealthy group. dissatisfied with aristocratic rule
                     who seized power (often with military help)
 - tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support

No comments:

Post a Comment