Western Civilization

and jewelry. The complex even included bathrooms

with elaborate drains. The rooms were decorated with

frescoes in bright colors showing sporting events and

naturalistic scenes that have led some observers to con-

clude that the Cretans had a great love of nature.

The centers of Minoan civilization on Crete suffered

a sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450B.C.E.

Many historians believe that a tsunami triggered by a

powerful volcanic eruption on the island of Thera was

responsible for destroying towns and ships on the

north coast of Crete, while volcanic ash devastated the

land. Although people began to rebuild, there is evi-

dence that mainland Greeks known as the Mycenaeans

invaded and pillaged many centers, including Knossus,

which was destroyed around 1400B.C.E.

The First Greek State: Mycenae

The termMycenaean(my-suh-NEE-un) is derived from

Mycenae (my-SEE-nee), a remarkable fortified site first

excavated by the amateur German archaeologist Hein-

rich Schliemann (HYN-rikh SHLEE-mahn). Mycenae was

one center in a Greek civilization that flourished

between 1600 and 1100B.C.E. The Mycenaean Greeks

were part of the Indo-European family of peoples (see

Chapter 2) who spread from their original location into

southern and western Europe, India, and Iran. One

group entered the territory of Greece from the north

around 1900B.C.E. and managed to gain control of the

Greek mainland and develop a civilization.

Mycenaean civilization, which reached its high point

between 1400 and 1200B.C.E., consisted of a number of

powerful monarchies based in fortified palace com-

plexes. Like Mycenae itself, the palaces

were built on hills and surrounded by

gigantic stone walls. These various cen-

ters of power probably formed a loose

confederacy of independent states, with

Mycenae being the strongest. Next in

importance to the kings in these states

were the army commanders, the priests,

and the bureaucrats who kept careful

records. The free citizenry included

peasants, soldiers, and artisans, and the

lowest rung of the social ladder con-

sisted of serfs and slaves.

The Mycenaeans were, above all, a

warrior people who prided themselves on their heroic

deeds in battle. Some scholars believe that the Myce-

naeans, led by Mycenae itself, spread outward militarily,

conquering Crete and making it part of the Mycenaean

world. The most famous of all their supposed military

adventures has come down to us in the epic poetry of

Homer (discussed in the next section). Did the Myce-

naean Greeks, led by Agamemnon (ag-uh-MEM-non),

king of Mycenae, sack the city of Troy on the northwest-

ern coast of Asia Minor around 1250B.C.E.? Scholars

have debated this question ever since Schliemann began

his excavations in 1870. Some believe that Homer’s

account does have a basis in fact.

By the late thirteenth century B.C.E., Mycenaean

Greece was showing signs of serious trouble. Mycenae

itself was torched around 1190B.C.E., and other Myce-

naean centers show similar patterns of destruction as

new waves of Greek-speaking invaders moved in from

the north. By 1100B.C.E., the Mycenaean culture was

coming to an end, and the Greek world was entering a

new period of considerable insecurity.

The Greeks in a Dark Age

(ca. 1100–ca. 750B.C.E.)

Q FOCUSQUESTION: Who was Homer, and why was his

work used as the basis for Greek education?

After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, Greece

entered a difficult period in which the population

declined and food production dropped. Because of the

difficult conditions and our lack of knowledge about

the period, historians refer to it as the Dark Age. Not

until 850B.C.E. did farming revive. At the same time,

some new developments were forming the basis for a

revived Greece.

During the Dark Age, large numbers

of Greeks left the mainland and

migrated across the Aegean Sea to vari-

ous islands and especially to the west-

ern shores of Asia Minor, a strip of

territory that came to be called Ionia

(eye-OH-nee-uh). Based on their dia-

lect, the Greeks who resided there were

called Ionians. Two other major groups

of Greeks settled in established parts

of Greece. The Aeolian (ee-OH-lee-un)

Greeks, located in northern and central

Greece, colonized the large island of

Lesbos and the adjacent territory of

the mainland. The Dorians (DOR-ee-unz) established

themselves in southwestern Greece, especially in the

Peloponnesus, as well as on some of the islands in the

south Aegean Sea, including Crete and Rhodes.

MYCENAEAN

GREECE

Sea of Crete

Thera

Pylos

Orchomenos Tiryns

Knossus

Mycenae

0 50 100 Miles

0 50 100 150 Kilometers

Minoan Crete and Mycenaean

Greece

The Greeks in a Dark Age (ca. 1100–ca. 750B.C.E.) 51

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