Blog Post #18 -Ancient Greece Part 2-

Mycenaean Civilization Develops

- Mycenaeans were people that settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C. and were from the city Mycenae
- Strong rulers controlled the areas around other Mycenaean cities such as Tiryns and Athens, these kings dominated Greece from about 1600 to 1100 B.C.
- Around 1500 B.C. Mycenaeans came in contact with the Minoan civilization, the Mycenaeans adapted the Minoan writing system to the Greek language and decorated vases with Minoan designs
- During the 1200's B.C. the Mycenaeans fought a 10 year war against Troy, and independent trading city located in Anatolia (The Trojan War)

Greek Culture Declines Under Dorians

- Not long after the war, the Mycenaean civilization collapsed
- A new group of people called the Dorians moved into the war torn countryside
- Greeks appear to have lost the art of writing from 1150 to 750 B.C. so only a little is know about this period inn Greek history
- The greatest storyteller was a blind man named Homer (750-700 B.C.)
- Epics are narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
- The Trojan War comes from one of his great epic poems, Iliad
- Greeks developed a rich set of myths, or traditional stories, about their gods
- Theogony by Hesiod, are the source of much of Greek mythology
- Greeks attributed human qualities such as love, hate, and jeoaulusy to their gods