Greek Civilization essays

Greek Civilization essays 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 Mycenaeans 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 achievements of these people. Most of what we know about both cultures has been gained through archaeology. Though both were literate, Minoan texts are still almost unreadable, and the Mycenaean tablets are mostly bureaucratic inventories. Thus material evidence is critical for understanding and reconstructing these fascinating cultures. About 725 B.C.E, Sparta embarked on a path that made it Greeces most respected military power. The state wanted all of its men to be superb soldiers, and it persuaded them to sacrifice privacy and comfort to physical conditioning, military training, and discipline. Athens evolved slower then Spartan society. Years of consistent cultivation diminished the Athenian fields, which lead them to slavery. Athenians were sold abroad. During the Bronze Age period, Greek civilization was evolving in the Aegean World. The Aegean World was divided into three developing parts: on the island of Crete, on the smaller islands of the Aegean Sea, and on the mainland of Greece. Aegeans first civilization was on Crete, which was a bridge between the older civilization of the East and settled land by the Greeks. Crete was inhabited from the sixth millennium B.C, but it was later, probably around the late fourth-early third millennium that immigra...