Today in class we took notes.

Mycenaeans
- Began areound 2,000 B.C.
- it located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20 ft thick wall
- Mycenaean Kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 B.C. - controlled trade in there region
- 1400 B.C. Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan Culture and language

Culture in Decline

- Around 1200 B.C. sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace
- The dorians moved into the war-torn region
- Far less advanced
- Economy collapsed
- writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer and Myths

- Stories were passed on by word of mouth
- Homer was blind
- Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark ages"
- Recorded stories of the Trojan war in the lliad and the Odyssey (written 750-700 B.C.)
- Trojan war was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans
- Odysssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter

Greek Concepts
- Arete- Virtue and excellence
- Epics- Narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
- Myths were created to explain creation
-Zeus: leader of the gods
- Hera: Zeus' wife
- Athena: Goddess of wisdom