Greece notes cont.
Mycenaean's
- their influence began around 2000 BCE
- Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus, protected by a 20-foot thick wall
- Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600-1100 BCE
- - controlled trade in the region
- 1400 BCE- Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture (writing system, language, art, politics, literature, religion)
Trojan war
- Greeks have fought in many wars over time
- Trojan War - fought around 1200 BCE
- part of Greek mythology - until the 19th cent. most historians thought it was fictional because gods and goddesses got involved
- the goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera were given the “apple of discord”
- Paris judged Aphrodite as “the fairest”
- Aphrodite made Helen (who was married) fall in love with Paris, who took her back to Troy
- sure… except a war was really fought in Troy! so…?
Dorian's
- around 1200 BCE the mysterious “sea people” began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palace after palace
- so, the Dorians moved into this war-torn region, dominating from 1150 - 750 BCE
- Dorians were far less advanced
- the trade-based economy collapsed
- writing disappeared for 400 years
- talk about a culture in decline… except...
Homer
- Greek oral tradition - stories passed on by word of mouth
- Homer lived at the end of these “Greek Dark Ages”
- he composed stories (epics) of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE
- The Iliad - possibly one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans (the Trojan War)
- The Odyssey - Odysseus attempts to return home after the Trojan War, being thwarted by the angry god of the sea, Poseidon
- The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter
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