The Mycenaeans
 Question:

Where did the Mycenaeans
come from?
 Answer:

They came from the
grasslands of southern
Russia around 2000 B.C.E
Essential Question – What was life like for the
Mycenaean's?
 Question: What did the
Mycenaeans build at the top of
hills?
 The Mycenaeans’ kings built
fortress-palaces on hilltops.
 In times of danger or attack, the
people in the villages outside
the palace walls took shelter
within the palace:
 The chief feature of the palace
is known as the Megaron, or a
square room with a fireplace in
the center.
 Who worked the land on the
estates?
 Land was divided into estates
that were farmed either by
enslaved people or by tenants,
or people who live on and work
another person’s land.
 What is the difference between
a tenant and a slave?
 While slaves are captured
and forced to work the land,
a tenant is like a renter
working someone’s else's
land.
 Question:

Who did the Mycenaeans
adopt their ship building
skills from?
 Answer: The Minoans.
 The Mycenaeans began to
imitate Minoan gold and bronze
work as well.
 What did the Mycenaeans use




olives for?
The Mycenaeans also began to
grow olives. They made presses
to squeeze oil from the olives.
They used the olives:
As oil for cooking,
As fuel for lamps,
To rub on their bodies.
 Question:

Who wrote about the Trojan
war?
 Answer: Homer
 Question

What were the names of the
two poems Homer wrote?
 Answer: The Iliad, Odyssey
 Question

Why was the Trojan war
fought?
 Answer

Over a woman, Helen
 According to Homer’s account
in the Iliad, the Trojan War was
fought over a woman. The king
of Troy had a son named Paris,
who fell in love with Helen.
When Paris took Helen to Troy
her husband (Meneleus) sailed
his army to Troy
 Describe the events of the
Trojan war:
 After ten years of fighting, the
Mycenaeans still had not taken
Troy. Odysseus had the soldiers
build a huge, hollow wooden
horse. The best soldiers hid
inside the horse, while the rest
boarded their ships pretended
and sailed away.
Describe the events of the Trojan war continued:
 The Trojans saw the ships leave
and thought they had won the
war. The Trojans tied ropes to
the wooden horse and pulled it
into the city. When they fell
asleep, the Mycenaean soldiers
hidden inside came out and
opened the city gates
 Question:

Why was the period after the Trojan war known as “a dark age”?
 Answer:

The Mycenaeans did not return to peaceful ways after crushing
Troy. Instead, a series of civil wars, or wars between opposing
groups of citizens broke out.

Soon after, a people called Dorians entered Greece and conquered
the Myceanaeans. Thousands of Myceanaeans fled the Greek
mainland and settled on Aegean islands on the west shore of Asia
Minor. These settlements later became known as Ionia.

As a result of civil wars and the Dorian invasion, the Aegean
World entered a dark age.

The Dark age lasted until 800 B.C.E
1.
2.
3.
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5.
The people had to start over
They became herders and farmers
They stop keeping written records
Local leaders began to rule small areas
The borders were fixed and the people of the small communities
began calling themselves Hellens or Greeks.