Blog #3

Notes for Ancient Greece:

Mycenaeans - their influence began around 200 B.C. Mycenae was located on a rock ridge on Peloponnesus, protected by a 20 for thick. Mycenaean king dominated Greece form 1660-1100 BCE. They controlled trade in the region.

In 1440 BCE, the Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture.


The Trojan War.

The Trojan war is believed to have been fought in the 12th or 13th century BCE. It was thought to only be part of Greek mythology until the 19th century when evidence of a real war during the assumed time period it occurred was found. The reason people thought of it as a myth was due to the fact that the story of the Trojan War had to do with a quarrel between the Gods and Goddesses when Paris decided to judge who among the Goddesses was the fairest. Paris judged Aphrodite as the fairest, who then made Helen fall in love with Paris, who took her back to Troy. This is how, in Ancient Greek Mythology, the Trojan War started.

But now today, we do know for a fact there was some kind of large scale war fought in the time period. It's highly likely the Trojan War was a real conflict in Ancient Greece.

Around 2000 BCE, a mysterious culture only known as "the sea people" began to invade Mycenae and burn down palaces and other buildings.

The Dorians, seeing an opportunity, moved into the war torn region and claimed it as their own, dominating form 1150 - 750 BCE.

Of course, the Dorians weren't necessarily beneficial to Ancient Greek society. The Dorians were far less advanced than the Mycenaeans and other Greek states. They hadn't developed the skill of writing, and due to this, the art of writing disappeared for 400 years in the Dorian dominated region. They also eliminated one of the best economies of the Ancient world by allowing the trade business to collapse. These times were known as the "Dark Ages." We have little knowledge of what actually happened during these dark ages due to the lack of written records.

There was, however, one man, or possibly several people, who are believed to have composed and passed down the famous stories of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey".  The man most associated with creating and telling these stories through Greek Oral Tradition, was a blind wanderer named Homer. It is said that he would go from town to down, presenting his incredibly long stories to audiences, in return for money, food clothes, etc. Whether Homer existed is still a mystery. It seems that he, in the classical sense, may be some kind of mythological figure. A blind man who wanders around, telling amazing, detailed stories of the warriors and adventurers of the past, seems like some kind of Hero form Greek mythology.

If Homer possibly didn't create these stories, then who did? Some theories suggest the stories are a product of several people telling different and similar stories, which through centuries of Oral Tradition, developed and amalgamated into what we now call The "Iliad" and "Odyssey".



That's it for now, have fun reading.