Western Civilization

established there by 2800B.C.E. This forgotten civiliza-

tion was rediscovered at the turn of the twentieth cen-

tury by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans, who

named it “Minoan” (mi-NOH-un) after Minos, a legend-

ary king of Crete. In language and religion, the Mino-

ans were not Greek, although they did have some

influence on the peoples of the Greek mainland.

Evans’s excavations on Crete led to the discovery of

an enormous palace complex at Knossus (NOSS-suss),

near modern Heraklion, that was most likely the center

of a far-ranging “sea empire,” probably largely commer-

cial. We know from archaeological remains that the

people of Minoan Crete were accustomed to sea travel

and had made contact with the more advanced civiliza-

tion of Egypt. Minoan Cretans also made contact with

and exerted influence on the Greek-speaking inhabi-

tants of the Greek mainland.

The Minoan civilization reached its height between

2000 and 1450B.C.E. The palace at Knossus, the royal

seat of the kings, demonstrates the prosperity and

power of this civilization. It was an elaborate structure

built around a central courtyard and included numer-

ous private living rooms for the royal family and work-

shops for making decorated vases, small sculptures,

PELOPONNESUS

ATTICA

MACEDONIA

THRACE

BOEOTIA

MESSENIA LACONIA

THESSALY

EPIRUS

Gulf of IONIA

Corinth

Propontis

(Sea of Marmara)

Aegean

Sea

Hellespont

Bosporus

Ionian

Sea

Sea of Crete

Mediterranean

Sea

Sparta

Olympia

Corinth

Argos

Delphi

Athens Miletus

Lesbos

Chios

Amorgos

Paros

Rhodes

Delos

Corcyra

Euboea

Mt

Olympus

Mt

Parnassus

Thebes

Halicarnassus

Knossus

Crete

Troy

Samos

0 100 200 Miles

0 100 200 300 Kilometers

MAP 3.1Ancient Greece (ca. 750–338B.C.E.).Between 750 and 500B.C.E., the city-state

emerged as the central institution in Greek life. Classical Greece lasted from about 500 to 338B.C.E.

and encompassed the high points of Greek civilization in the arts, science, philosophy, and politics,

but also the Persian wars and the Peloponnesian War.

Q How does the geography of Greece help explain the rise and development of the

Greek city-state?

50 Chapter 3 The Civilization of the Greeks

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