Name: _________________
Pd. _____
Date: ______
The Earliest Greeks:
1. The Minoans (2000 BCE - 1450 BCE)
 Settled on Crete, their largest city was Knossos
 Famous for the Minotaur, the monster with a bull's
head, and human body who ate people
-Minotaur lived under King Minos' palace
 Peaceful people who used their plentiful
farmland
to grow olives, grapes and grains.
-Used the calm waters of the Mediterranean to
trade for other resources & fish
 Famous for their jewelry and pottery
 Enjoyed boxing and bull jumping/fighting
 Women treated almost as equals
 Wrote in Linear A
 Volcano on Thera (nearby island), followed by an
earthquake, then followed by invasion of the
Mycenaeans brought about end of the Minoans
The Mycenaeans are on the next page!
2. The Mycenaeans (1450 BCE - 1150 BCE)
 Conquered Minoans, took over Crete but most lived
on Peloponnesus.
 Appreciated Minoan legacy. Language, architecture,
trade over the Mediterranean were all adopted.
 Named after their town, Mycenae, right outside of
Argos
-This location had far fewer resources than Crete,
relied more on trade than farming
-Also became far more war-like
 Famous for their jewelers and weapons-makers.
Fantastic bronze weapons and tools!
 The constant fighting left them weak, and vulnerable
to the “sea peoples” and the Dorians in the north
with Iron weapons.
-All Mycenaean cities fell EXCEPT Athens which had
a hidden water supply
- Dorians were a simple farming people with
little culture, and no written language.
- Greece entered the Greek Dark Ages from 1100
BCE - 800 BCE when written language completely
vanished
*Stories were passed down verbally, until
written language returned from the Ionian
region and could be written down (Homer)
Name ____________________ Pd. ____ Date: _________
Do I understand the Minoans and Mycaeanans (Big Ideas)?
1. What were some contributions of the Minoans &
Mycenaeans to Greek culture?
2. How were the Mycenaeans different from the Minoans?
How were they similar?
Minoan
–
Both
Mycenaean
3. What happened to the Mycenaean civilization?
4. What was the Dark Age?
5. How did culture and trade return to Greece?
Name: __________________ Pd. ___
Date: __________
The Earliest Settlers of Greece
1. The Minoans (2000 BCE - 1450 BCE)
 Settled on Crete, their largest city was Knossos
 Famous for the Minotaur, the monster with a bull's
head, and human body who ate people
-Minotaur lived under King Minos' palace
 Peaceful people who used their plentiful farmland to
grow olives, grapes and grains.
-Used the calm waters of the Mediterranean to
trade for other resources
 Famous for their jewelry and pottery
 Enjoyed boxing and bull jumping/fighting
 Women treated almost as equals
 Wrote in Linear A
 Volcanic eruption on Thera (a nearby island), followed
by an earthquake, & then an invasion of the
Mycenaeans brought about end of the Minoans
The Mycenaeans are on the next page!
2. The Mycenaeans (1450 BCE - 1150 BCE)
 Conquered the Minoans, took over Crete but most
lived on the Peloponnesus.
 Appreciated the Minoan legacy. Language,
architecture, trade over the Mediterranean were all
adopted.
 Named after their town, Mycenae, right outside of
Argos
-This location had far fewer resources than Crete,
relied more on trade than farming
-Also became far more war-like
 Famous for their jewelers and weapons-makers.
Fantastic bronze weapons and tools!
 The constant fighting left them weak, and vulnerable
to the “sea peoples” and the Dorians in the north
with Iron weapons.
-All Mycenaean cities fell EXCEPT Athens which had
a hidden water supply
- Dorians were a simple farming people with
little culture, and no written language.
- Greece entered the Greek Dark Ages from 1100
BCE - 800 BCE when written language completely
vanished
*Stories were passed down verbally, until
written language returned from the Ionian
region and could be written down (Homer)
Do I understand the big ideas?
1. What were some contributions of the Mycenaeans to
Greek culture?
- Distributed goods across Agean world, fine jewelry, pottery,
bronze tools, architecture writing, and tech advances like
plumbing
2. How were the Mycenaeans different from the Minoans?
How were they similar?
- Both groups traded, farmed, were ruled by a king and were taken
over by another people.
-The Minoans were peaceful farmers and fishermen from Crete
-Mycenaeans were more warlike peasant farmers from the
mainland.
3. What happened to the Mycenaean civilization?
- It was conquered by the “sea peoples” and the Dorians from
the North.
4. What was the Dark Age?
- The Greek Dark Ages were when the Dorians were in control
of most of Greece, and lacked any written language and much
culture.
5. How did culture and trade return to Greece?
- Culture and trade returned when the Ionians swept across
the Peloponnesus and took control away from the Dorians.