Expanded trade leads to cultural
diffusion in the Mediterranean.
Minoans
Aegean Sea
• Knossos
King Minos
Phoenicians
•
•
•
•
• Lived on the
island of
Crete
• Center or
trade in the
Mediterrane
an
• Knossos
• Peaceful

Through trade their culture and
influence was spread throughout the
Mediterranean
◦ Unique Architecture
◦ Very athletic people
 Boxing, wrestling, bull leaping
◦ King Minos
 Minotaur in a labyrinth

Women had a high rank in Minoan society
◦ Religious ceremonies
◦ Mother Earth Goddess ruled over all the other gods
◦ Head priestesses

Minoan religion practiced ritual sacrifice
◦ Bulls and other animals
◦ Some evidence indicates humans were sacrificed as
well

Why do we have such detailed information
like their views of nature and the sports they
played?

Unclear as to exactly why
◦ Overpopulation?
◦ Invaders?
◦ Natural Disaster?
 1470bc a series of earthquakes rocked Crete
 Caused a volcanic eruption and a tsunami

Unable to recover from the 1470 disasters
◦ Minoan civilization greatly weakened but
remained for about 300 years
◦ Greek invaders may have completely ended
Minoan Civ.



They took advantage of the fall of the
Minoans
In modern day Lebanon
1100 BCE
◦ What allowed the Phoenicians to become so
powerful?
 What
is a city-state?
◦ An autonomous state consisting of a city
and surrounding areas
◦ What are the advantages of NOT creating a
unified state?
◦ What are the disadvantages?
 Byblos,
Tyre and Sidon



First Mediterranean peoples to trade past the
Straight of Gibraltar
Might have traded with southern Britain
May have sailed around tip of Africa and back
up to Straight of Gibraltar
◦ Next evidence of this happening wasn’t for another
2,000 years

Bbblos
◦ Traded papyrus
 What is papyrus? Why is it important?

Sidon and Tyre
◦ Production of red-purple dye
 Why would dye be an important trade commodity?

Carthage (colony) 814 BCE
◦ North Africa and founded by Tyre

Colonies
◦ Northern coast of Africa, coasts of Sicily, Sardinia and
Spain
◦ 30 miles apart. Why?

Dye
◦ Very labor intensive
 What does rarity and labor intensity do to the price of
a commodity?
◦ A red-purple dye
 Made from rotted snails

Wine, Weapons, Precious Metal, Ivory, Wood
(Cedar), Metal, and Glass
◦ What is unique about Ivory as a trade commodity?

How does writing evolve?

Phonetic-one character means one sound
◦ Alphabet= alpha + beth

Phoenician writing system spreads
throughout the Mediterranean
◦ How?

Did Phoenician civilization really
decline?
◦ Babylonians took control of Eastern cities
◦ Persian King Cyrus I took control of Western cities

What did they leave behind?