Notes 2-18

• The late Bronze age: 1600-1050 BC
• It is said that King Minos who ruled the entire Aegean Sea demanded sacrifices so that he could feed the minotaur.
• Crete is an island in the Aegean Sea (the large island). In the Middle Bronze age it was the site of the Minoan civilization. The Minoans make very interesting artwork and much of their artwork has animal themes to it, either sea creatures or bull's heads. Minoan culture seems to come to and end at 1100 BC. Theories of the Minoan fall include invasion, the spread of disease, or earthquakes. After that, there is confusion as to who should rule the Aegean Sea. Mycenae steps in.
• The Mycenaean emblem is the lion. Mycenae has a warlike culture, they started the Trojan war. After the fall of Mycenae, the dark ages come. After that, the geometric period. It is called the geometric period because of the artwork created at this time.
• Greeks in the geometric period used great pieces of pottery as grave markers. The pottery tells stories on them. *Remember the vase that shows the great warrior's death, with the mourners and the other warriors that he had fought with. After the very long dark age, we have all of this great art and culture.
• The Archaic period. Or the "old" period. From 700-480 BC.
• There is a big difference between the geometric and the archaic period. The Greeks turn inward and start looking at themselves. They start to depict humans in art. The Greek statues let space between the legs, unlike Egyptian. Also, the people are depicted nude. Also, people other than the Pharaoh could have sculptures of them.
• If there were two warriors on the battlefield, and on is slain, the other warrior strips him of his armor and takes it home as a prize. The sculptures then may depict soldiers, as they were nude when they died. Also, this means that the warrior died in his glory, brave and fighting on the battlefield.
• Greek sculpture also starts picturing the movement of the body. The left leg may be more forward to resemble walking.
• There are hero shrines all throughout Greece.
• The "Age of Tyrants" was from 650 to 500 BC. Tyrants are not necessarily bad. In Greece, it meant the number one guy that was in charge. The first of the tyrants was a guy from Sparta named Lycurgus. He was the first Greek to set up laws that his city would have to abide by. Sparta and Athens were the cities who would rise up and be the power of Greece.
• In Sparta, the most important thing was being prepared for war. In Greece, war was constant. The hoplites were light armed soldiers that could move quickly in square formation. These soldiers were trained from children to fight.
• The Athenians were also warriors, like all Greeks. They were kind of at odds with Sparta. One thing that could unite Greeks no matter what was an invasion by the Persian Empire.
• Ionia was a Greek colony and right on the edge of the Persian empire. Persia attacked or gained control of all the cities all the way up the coast and then up to Thrace, then marched down through lots of cities and are about to get to Athens. they tell Sparta that if the Persians take Athens, all of Greece will be lost. The Athenians completely abandon the city of Athens and hide out in the Islands.
• At the battle of Thermopylae, about 7,000 Greeks confronted the entire Persian invasion force, and every single person died. It held them off long enough for the entire city of Athens to be evacuated though. So the Greeks moved of the coast onto an island. When the Persians get to Athens, they find the city empty, and they are furious. They burn the entire Acropolis down. The Persians destroy Athens, and then they get called out to salamis, where the Greeks are hiding. They take the bait, and the Athenian army and the Greek allies are waiting for them, and they crush the Persians. The Persians barely make it back home. The battle of Salamis is the most important battle in the war. If the Greeks had not won, there would have been so much we would never have had happen or learned. It shows that history is surviving on a thread. No one knows exactly what is going to happen.