. . . is divided into three parts: Cycladic (civilization primarily on the Cyclades island group) the MINOAN AGE (civilization primarily on the island of Crete from c.2000 BC - c.1450 BC) the MYCENEAN AGE (civilization primarily in southern mainland Greece from c.1600-c.1100 BC)

The Minoan "Palaces": more civic centers or grain distribution areas...in every "palace" there appears to be a residential area for royalty, storage areas for grain and liquids, a business center where records of transactions were found, religious areas (called lustral basins), and priest residence quarters, all built around a central court with an altar.

You know a lot about Mycenean culture if you have read Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, since Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus and everyone else who fought in the Trojan War (c. 1250 BC) lived in what is now known as the Mycenean Age. As a matter of fact, the archeologist credited with finding this lost and buried culture, Henriech Schliemann, named the entire age and culture of Homer's Greeks "Mycenean" after Agamemnon's home, Mycenae. Pylos Mycenae Tiryns

On the left, note the "loose octopus" of the Minoan vase (top), as compared to the ram-rod-stiff-at-attention octopuses on the Mycenean sarcophagus (bottom). Although the Myceneans were unlike the Minoans in that they were war-like and lived in fortified citadels and left behind weapons among their bronze tools (hence the name Bronze Age), Mycenean culture had much in common with their predecessors, too, and there is little doubt that they traded with the Minoans before their demise. Cultural similarities range from a shared alphabet (Linear B tablets have been found on both Crete and the mainland) to uncannily similar designs of frescoes used to line the walls of their homes. Two each of the examples below were found in Cnossos (Crete), in Tiryns (mainland), and in Akrotiri (Santorini).  Santorini Santorini Crete Crete Tiryns Tiryns

In 1450 BC, all palaces on Crete were destroyed (evidence of great fires remains). For a long time, archeologists thought that the explosion of the volcano on Santorini (left) accounted for the sudden and utter destruction of Minoan civilization, but this theory has recently been disproven. Stratigraphy studies have shown an era of Minoan settlements after ancient Thera's ash rained upon the island of Crete. Perhaps invading Myceneans were responsible...

Introduce Dark Age

1100-800 BC development of the polis

Hesiod's poems

1100-750 BC - marauding hordes destroyed Mycenean strongholds - from the North, hit Athens and other Mycenean citadels, then Laconian plain (Sparta), then sailed to Crete, then Rhodes and neighboring islands. Complete subjugation, end of Mycenean civ - no more writing, delicate art, no evidence left of architecture. Burned to the ground

1100 - emigration began - many Greeks had flooded Athens for safety and it became overcrowded...so Greeks sailed to found settlements on coast of Asia Minor and nearby islands...came to be called Ionia

mainland politics: lawlessnes ruled - violence and brutality...each city was a garrison, ruled by a monarch - led to hereditary monarchy... Evolution of Athenian Democracy: during the Dark Age, Athens converted from monarchy to oligarchy and created the office of ARCHON (magistrate) to replace the king. Open to aristocrats, more than one at a time.