Bronze Age Greece

Question 1

What is the Peloponnese?

Answer 1

A large mountainous body of land jutting southward

Question 2

What flourished on the Peloponnese?

Answer 2

Mycenaean civilization in the 2nd millenium at Mycenar, Tiryns, and Pylos; Sparta also dominated here during Greece’s Classical period

Question 3

Why is Rhodes important?

Answer 3

Mycenaean and Cretan colonies settled there, and it was a maritime power in Classical times. It was also a powerful independent kingdom with a late Bronze Age culture

Question 4

When did Rhodes’ alliances shift?

Answer 4

During the Classical period, its alliances shifted with Athens, Sparta and Persia, in attempts to keep a balance of power

Question 5

What is Miletus?

Answer 5

Greatest Greek city (before 500 BCE) located in Turkey; it was an Ionian city that later came under Persian rule

Question 6

What did Miletus do?

Answer 6

It led the Ionian revolt against Persia and then joined the Delian League after the Persian wars

Question 7

Who did Miletus side with in the Peloponnesian War?

Answer 7

Sparta

Question 8

What is Ephesus?

Answer 8

Ionian city in Asia Minor; Temple of Artemis located there; was part of the Ionian revolt against Persia; sided with Sparta in second Peloponnesian War and remained their ally

Question 9

Who stopped in Ephesus?

Answer 9

Xerxes stopped there to honour Artemis of Ephesus

Question 10

What is Syros?

Answer 10

A Cycladic island with a cemetery in Chalandriani

Question 11

What types of graves were discovered in Syros?

Answer 11

Corbelled graves - small graves that held a single body or pair and were circular in shape and built into mounds

Question 12

Who was Sir Arthur Evans?

Answer 12

English archaeologist who uncovered the palace at Knossos; he also discovered clay tablets with the first positive evidence for Bronze Age writing in the Aegean

Question 13

Who was King Minos?

Answer 13

Mythical king of Knossos and Crete, who expelled Carians from the Cycladic islands according to Thucydides; possibly where the name Minoan came from

Question 14

What is pictographic?

Answer 14

One symbol or image represents one idea or referent; it is one of the oldest types of writing; pictographs often originate as the literal drawings of what they depict but they gradually become more abstract

Question 15

What is Linear-Syllabic (Linear A)?

Answer 15

Found on Crete and other islands in the Aegean; its relation to Minoan hieroglyphic script is uncertain; it is written left to right and the language written is unknown, but it shares similarities with Linear B

Question 16

What is Macedonia?

Answer 16

Greek Macedonia concentrated around the city of Thessaloniki, the administrative, industrial, and commercial centre of Northern Greece; Mount Olympus lies within the region; also where King Philip and Alexander the Great came from

Question 17

What is Thessaly?

Answer 17

Located in Northern Greece; it had some Mycenaean settlements; plains in and around Thessaly proved well for horse breeding so Thessalians were stronger in cavalry; more politically unstable and isolation kept it aloof from main currents in Classical Greek life

Question 18

Who was Heinrich Schliemann?

Answer 18

A German archeologist who discovered and excavated Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns; he discovered forifications and remains of antiquity at Troy, believing it to be Homeric Troy (actually the 6th layer)

Question 19

What did Schielmann discover at Mycenae?

Answer 19

Shaft graves which had 16 bodies as well as treasure of gold, silver, bronze, and ivory (he had hoped to find the tombs of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

Question 20

What is a shaft grave?

Answer 20

Roomy shafts cut into rock, often with pebble floors and slab roofs; they were used for multiple burials over a course of at least several years; both men and women were buried there; some large slabs were set above some of the graves with carvings of vivid images

Question 21

What is the Shaft Grave Period?

Answer 21

c. 1600-1450 BCE shaft graves were packed with gold, silver, and bronze; many were discovered at Myncenae in different parts of a large cemetery area; each group was eventually surrounded by a circular enclosure wall and wealthy burials belonged to leading, if not royal, families of the place

Question 22

What is the Palace Period?

Answer 22

c. 2000-1700 BCE Crete built great palaces of a distinctive type that were built around large rectangular open courts; They were constructed at Knossos, Phaistos, and Mallia; first art of writing was confirmed in Crete at beginning of this period; Crete advanced rapidly in this period in both agriculture, art and pottery; they had communal tombs and no identification of royal tombs

Question 23

What is the Late Period?

Answer 23

c. 1700-1450 various disasters occurred in Crete at turn of 18th + 17th centuries - uncertain of what caused these events, the damage at Knossos may have been an earthquake; Cretan civilization reached its zenith a few centuries later; Frescoes introduced and decorated the walls of palaces and many were concerned with religion; Linear A emerged at Phaistos

Question 24

What is panoply?

Answer 24

Fully equipped armour for a soldier/complete suit of armour

Question 25

What was warrior panoply?

Answer 25

Axes, adzes, small daggers; double headed axe specific to Crete;

Question 26

What was dendra panoply?

Answer 26

Heavy metal collar or neckguard, swords, bodyshields

Question 27

What is the Warrior Vase?

Answer 27

From the 12th century, it was discovered by Schliemann at Mycenae and is part of Late Helladic pottery. It depicts friezes of soldiers with spears from the Protoattic period (7th century)