Minoan and Mycenean Civilizations

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No one can deny that Greek civilization has had an impact on western civilization.

If it wasn't for Archeology and the scientists involved in that field; all we would know about the History of Ancient Greece would be based on conjectures, myths, and the stories of ancient historians like Erothotos and Thikithithis, which although would help a great deal about the times they were living in; it would be useless for the period's before they lived. An example would be the Bronze age; which is the time period that the famous Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations flourished. These civilizations remained virtually undiscovered and the legends surrounding them were thought to be just that, legends. It wasn't until the late 19th century and early 20th century with the works of archeologists such as Sir Arthur Evans, and Heinrich Schliemann that these two civilizations came to light. In fact many similarities as well as differences have been found between these two civilizations.

Both the Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations flourished during the bronze age and were separated by only 300(approximately 180miles) kilometers of ocean. This means that they were in close proximity to each other to warrant interaction between these two thriving civilizations. The Minoan culture thrived on Crete between 2000 and 1450 B.C.E when it was taken over by the Mycenaean's who flourished between 1600 and 1100 B.C.E. on what is now called the Peloponnesos. The Minoans were a very cultured people in which the least of their worries was making war, instead they were more interested in the Art's. Up until the Mycenaean occupation, all the motifs in the palace at Knossos depict scenes of nature, such as Dolphins, fish, birds, etc. their religious system was based upon an early version of the Olympian God's. The economic system was based on a system we now call the re-distributive system. This distributive system was based around the Palace, which by the way was not defended any walls or defenses. People would bring their good's to be stored in the palace; in turn those in control would stockpile the food and good's to be traded for something that was lacking, or hold it in reserve just in case famine struck. It is unsure what language the Minoans spoke, since their language, now called Linear A, remains un-deciphered. The Minoan's were great sailor's and traded all over the Mediterranean.

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