Mystic Plants and Nature Goddesses j 175175 175
with the end of the Bronze Age triggered a decline in the population on the mainland by
as much as 75– 90%, as displaced Greeks sought more stable and secure conditions else-
where.^72 Some dispersed to remote or secluded sites on the mainland, but most sought safe
haven overseas. The latter sailed eastward and founded new settlements on Cyprus, Crete,
and other Aegean islands, eventually reaching the western coast of Anatolia, a region that
later came to be known as “Ionia.” Here diaspora Greeks encountered older, more advanced
Near Eastern civilizations— Assyrians, Phoenicians, and others— and the resulting cultural
cross- fertilization was to prove crucial to the development of a new Greek identity during
the so- called “Dark Ages” of Greek history, which lasted from c.1200 to c. 800 bce.
One of the earliest consequences of the turmoil that preceded the Greek Dark Ages was
the complete disappearance of Linear B writing. Linear B had always been restricted to
the Mycenaean ruling elite and their scribes. Thus it is not surprising that Linear B use
was discontinued soon after the fall of the palaces. However, the oral transmission of the
Greek cultural heritage continued through story- telling, music, singing, and the recitation
of poetry. In this way, the most basic ideas the Greeks had about themselves were preserved
and passed on from generation to generation.Notes- A simplified chronology of some of the major events of the Aegean Bronze and Iron Ages
is presented in Table 6.1. - Strictly speaking, there were no “Mycenaeans” until 1600 bce.
- Dickinson, O. (1996), Minoans in mainland Greece, Mycenaeans in Crete? Cretan Studies
5:63– 71. - Hood, M. S. F. (1960), Tholos Tombs of the Aegean. Antiquity 34:166– 176.
- Dickinson, O. (1994), The Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press.
- The Minotaur was the monstrous offspring of the King’s wife, Queen Pasiphaë, and a white
bull, originally presented to the King by the god, Poseidon. When the king failed to sacrifice the
bull to Poseidon, the god caused the queen to lust after the bull, the fulfillment of which was
enabled by yet another technical innovation by Daedalus: a hide- covered wooden framework in
the shape of a cow. - The term “Labyrinth,” from the Greek word labyrinthos, meaning maze, may be related to
the Lydian word labrys, meaning “double- headed axe,” an important religious and royal symbol
that is ubiquitous in the art of Minoan Crete. - Hood, S. (1971), The Minoans. Praeger.
- Warren, P. (1975), The Aegean Civilizations. Elsevier- Phaidon.
- The apparent predominance of men in the audience in the reconstructed sections of the
fresco is purely hypothetical. - See Marinatos, N. (1987), Public festivals in the west courts of the palaces, in R. Hägg and
N. Marinatos, eds., The Function of the Minoan Palaces, Stockholm, pp. 135– 142. - Thera is the ancient name of this Cycladic Island, but it is commonly known today as
Santorini (or officially as Thíra in Greek). The ancient name Thera is still used for the volcano
that destroyed most of the island in the Bronze Age and buried the town of Akrotiri under pum-
ice and ash. The archeological site of the preserved town is called Akrotiri after a modern village
not far away, but the Bronze Age name of the encapsulated town is not known.