Greek Civilization

A. Decline of the Minoan Civilization

In 2000 B.C.E, the Greeks settled the lands that were surrounded by the waters of the Aegean Sea and created a culture that shaped Western heritage forever. The Greeks made history when they settled in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria-Palestine.

The first cultures in Greece arose in the later 3rd and 2nd millennia: the Minoans on Crete and the Mycenaean’s on the mainland. These are the cultures that were the source of later Greek myths, and whose religious and social structures influenced so much of later Greece and Europe. The great palaces, fortifications and tombs are testimony to the achie

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The others obeyed his commands and bore such punishments as he decided they should have. Minoans also added inked Linear A inscriptions to stone and terra-cotta vessels. As the population began to thrive, it also began to increase, and it is evident that the resources of the island became increasingly insufficient to handle the increased population.

The Mycenaeans’ most impressive legacy is magnificent gold jewelry and ornaments, most of which can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The Minoans were known for their palace sites at Cnossus, their workshops for making pottery and jewelry, and their cellars that were filled with oil and grain. Under Cleisthenes' system, all men 18 years of age and older were registered as citizens and as members of the deme (village or town) in which they lived. According to tradition, the first king of Athens was named Cecrops. , the Athenians adopted a new constitution proposed by Cleisthenes, which made the state a democracy (Nystrom 36). They enslaved the earlier Greek peoples of Laconia, the Achaeans and Ionians. All the gentler feelings were suppressed. The numbers of the three classes varied widely during Sparta's long history. From about 1100 to 1400, during the Middle Ages, Athens declined even further.

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