Ancient Greece

Early Bronze Age (begins)

3000 BCE

Bronze = Copper + Tin

1st Palatial Period - Island of Crete (begins)

2000 BCE

Lots of palaces
Mosaics and pottery
Minoan double-ax (pictured)
Minoan snake goddesses

2nd Palatial Period - Island of Crete (begins)

1700 BCE

Neopalatial Knossos
Light and airy and open
Minoans - thought of as nature lovers
Palace was unfortified. Why?
Theories
1. Sea Empire - Not afraid of being attacked from overseas
2. Minoans were peaceful and therefore wouldn’t fight with other Crete islands
3. One ruling family controlled all islands
4. Matriarchy - Women were in charge and women don’t fight
Very advanced society: Drainage system, Indoor toilets, Glazed window panes

Late Bronze Age (Begins)

1700 BCE

Divided into three periods but they don't really mean anything since culturally not much changed.
Late helladic 1 - 17th century
Late helladic 2 - 16th century
Late helladic 3 - 15th century
Ended around 1400 BCE

City of Mycenae Founded

1700 BCE

Heinrich Schliemann (1800s CE) discovered Troy and Mycenae

Post Palatial Period - Island of Crete (begins)

1400 BCE

Mycenaean take over Crete
What changed?
New pottery, weapons, graves, items in graves, writing system (Linear B)

Heyday of Mycenae

1300 BCE

palace renovation, Lion Gate built, water tunnel dug, tholos tomb built (looks like you’re inside a giant beehive)

Trojan War

1250 BCE

Story of Trojan War from Iliad and Odyssey by Homer.
Menelaus and Helen ruled southern Greece. Alexander (Paris) came over to trade/visit. Menelaus goes on a trip to Crete. Alexander either kidnapped Helen or they fell in love. Menelaus wanted to get Helen back so he asked Agamemnon for help with ships and men. They crossed the Aegean and takes them ten years to capture Troy. First mission failed but 9 years later and attacked again by tricking them with the Trojan Horse and brought Helen home.

Fall of Mycenaeans and beginning of Dark Ages

1200 BCE

Mycenaean and Minoan centers are all destroyed 1275-1175 BCE
Possible causes: 1. Sea People destroyed all the cities 2. Drought and earthquake storms caused trade routes that Mycenaeans depended on to be cut off. This led to a systems collapse.
Dark Ages:
Pottery less elegant
Writing is lost
Couldn’t build large buildings
No representational art
No longer interacting with other civilizations
A time of wanderings and migrations

Rise of Athens Democracy - The Beginnings (800 BCE - 682 BCE)

800 BCE

800 BCE - One of the kings agreed to step down and become Archon for Life
752 BCE - Time of being Archon limited to 10 years
~700 BCE - Office was opened up to more people, not just from certain families. Later opened up to anyone and changed annually.
~682 BCE
1. 9 Archons at the same time; elected annually
2. Boule - Council that meets on the Areopagus (area next to the Acropolis)
3. Council of 500 - Set agenda, oversee domestic affairs
4. General Assembly - Every male citizen 18+

End of Dark Ages

800 BCE

Pottery coming back, imports from near East, international contact and trade, some Greeks going back overseas, writing starts up (Alphabet borrowed from the Phoenicians - 22 letters)

Greek Renaissance Begins

800 BCE

Emergence of Greek city-state (polis)

Early city-states

800 BCE

Kings in city states but by 700 BCE - oligarchies took over and tyrants emerged.
Social mobility fluid
Women relatively free and respected (limited roles)
Dwellings - modest/simple
Food - Fish, grain, bread, olive oil
Citizens expected to contribute to public affairs
If you kept to yourself you were called “idiotes” which meant someone who didn’t want to partake in public life
The Agora, or marketplace, was the center of Greek life

Rise of Sparta

800 BCE

Small but powerful
Occupied ⅖ of Peloponnese
Far south of Greece
Leader of Dorian states
Becoming rigid, militaristic, oligarchy
Rigorously trained children, avoid foreign contact, no music/art
Not a democracy: Two kings, 5 Ephors, Council of Elders - Gerousia, and Assembly
Spartans were the most feared warriors in Greece

First Olympic Games

776 BCE

Take place at Olympia
Foot races and wrestling at first, then horse races, chariot races, boxing, javelin throwing, race run in full armor, all events done naked, no women allowed at the events
In honor of Zeus
Anyone travelling to or from the games were protected and no one was allowed to attack or rob.
If you won, you were given valuable prizes and lifelong glory.
Plays, recitals, and singing events
Games ended in 394 CE, revived in 1896
You had to be Greek to be in these games

Greek Expansion (750 BCE - 600 BCE)

750 BCE

Greek population was growing but there weren't enough resources.
Greeks beginning to establish colonies throughout the Mediterranean
Result - growing trade, prosperity, foreign influences

Mycenaean War (735 BCE - 715 BCE)

735 BCE

Spartans beat the Mycenaeans who were next door and made them slaves. This started the helot slave system.
In the 2nd Mycenaean War the Mycenaeans tried to rebel against the Spartans

Homer

700 BCE

Greek poet
Wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
Not sure if Homer was one person, many people, or a word to describe a profession

Coins invented

700 BCE

Each city-state had their own set of coins (God on one side; king on other)

Kylon (Athens)

632 BCE

Aristocrat attempted to seize power and become the tyrant
Olympic victor
Married to daughter of the tyrant of Megora
He and his band of followers seized the Acropolis. He surrendered on condition they’d be allowed to leave unharmed. The followers were murdered but he and his brother escaped.
Archon who was responsible was banished along with his family
Why was he trying to establish himself as tyrant? Why didn’t Athenians want a tyrant?

Draco (Athens)

621 BCE

Don’t know much about him
Lawgiver who introduced new laws around 621 BCE
First time Athenian laws were written down
Severe penalties
Murder and stealing a grapefruit both punishable by death
“His laws were written in blood.”
He made a distinction between premeditated murder and accidental homicide

Solon (Athens)

594 BCE

1 of the 7 wise men of antiquity
Athenian lawgiver
Issued series of reforms to help Athenian society
Reforms
1. Cancelled all debts
2. Prohibited all future loans based on securing a person (making someone a slave)
3. Abolished slavery - New census with four classes of Athenian society
4. New coinage
5. Altered the system of weights and majors
6. Couldn’t export anything except olive oil
7. Gave citizenship to immigrant craftsmen
8. Reformed constitution

Athens - Birth of True Democracy

508 BCE

Cleisthenes
All free men able to serve on juries and hold office and rotate who held office
Isonomia - everyone is equal under the law
Reforms:
1. Reorganized people depending on where they lived instead of families
2. Replaced council of 400 with council of 500
3. Everyone is equal and has to participate
4. Ostracism
5. One man, one vote principle
6. Reorganized the political structure that Solon put in place

Persian Wars (490 BCE and 480 BCE)

490 BCE