The Heroic Age of Ancient Greece

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The Heroic Age of Ancient Greece

• The History of the Hero and Helladic Greece

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Geography

• Greece is located on the Balkan Peninsula.
• Surrounded by water on three sides, the most
  important was the Aegean Sea
• First society to not emerge on a river.

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Geography

• Greece is mostly Mountains, early agriculture had
  to adapt to it.
• Most cities are located on hills, with homes in
  the valleys.

Photo overlooking some mountains and the Aegean
Sea.
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Geography

• Most cities still developed on water, but they
  were coastal communities, not river communities.

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Brief Overview

• The Greeks are known as the ?????e?, or Hellenes.
• The land of Greece, is actually called ?????, or
  Hellas.
• Greece, and Greek are both Latin names given to
  them by the Romans.

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Brief Overview

• There are three distinct Greek time periods.
• The Helladic Age (1500 -700 BC)
• The Hellenic Age (700 - 300ish BC)
• The Hellenistic Age (300ish 100 BC)

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Why Greece?

• The lives of the Ancient Greeks have had the
  largest impact on our lives today.
• Without the Greeks, our culture couldnt exist as
  we know it.
• The Greeks made phenomenal advances in the areas
  of math, art, science, and architecture as well
  as numerous other fields of study.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• Pre-Greece Greeks are known as the Pelasgians.
• Migrated into the Balkans from the Asia Minor.
• Used the Aegean islands as stepping stones.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• The Pelasgians reached Crete, and got stuck.
• No islands to reach North Africa
• Reached the southern Balkans
• No islands in Ionian Sea to reach Italy
• Mountains to the north are to in-hospitable.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• The people had to settle and make the best of
  what they had.
• Only 17 of the land was farmable.
• Early Greeks developed terrace farming.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• How terrace farming worked.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• The Pelasgians built villages on hilltops made of
  adobe mud and thatch roofs.
• Farmed all day.
• Not much trade went on between different
  villages.
• With terrace farming, most villages were
  self-sufficient.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• Around 1800 BC, a warrior tribe know as the
  Achaeans invade the Balkan Peninsula.
• Invade from Scythia (modern day Ukraine, North of
  the Black Sea)
• The Achaeans conquer the Pelasgians very easily
• Used bronze weapons and armor, and fought on
  horse back.
• This is why Early Greek History is also referred
  to as the Bronze Age.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• This was the movement of the Achaeans.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• Pelasgians had no experience with war-fare, so
  they were easily defeated.
• So Achaeans Pelasgians Greeks or Hellenes.

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• Achaeans were now in control, claimed majority of
  the Balkans.
• Valleys
• Coastal Plains
• Aegean Islands (90 of them)
• Achaeans declared Kingship over Balkans

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Early GreecePre-Heroic Age

• Pelasgians were forcibly relocated.
• Shops and homes are built
• Cities emerge in Greece
• Achaean kings rule from Megarons (Palace/
  Fortress)
• Enforce taxes and laws

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Early GreeceMinoan Civilization

• By 1800 BC, a
  Bronze Age civilization
  developed on the island of Crete. This became
  known as the Minoan civilization after King
  Minos.
• The capital of this seafaring civilization was
  Knossos.

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Early GreeceMinoan Civilization

• The Minoans grew wealthy from trade between Egypt
  and Greece.
• Around 1450 BC, the Minoan civilization was
  destroyed by tidal wave from the volcanic
  explosion of Thera, and by invasions of the
  Mycenaeans.

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Early GreeceHeroic Age

• 1800 1600 BC, period of economic expansion
• Crafts and Agriculture expand
• New skills and crafts are introduced
• Metalurgy weapons, armor, tools
• Greeks begin to build monumental architecture
• Stonework, carpentry, scultping, paiting.
• Shipbuilding becomes a popular trade

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Early GreeceHeroic Age

• Greeks begin to trade with one another.
• Eventually The Achaeans decide to conquer Crete
  and Knossos.
• They wanted wealth, power, and resources.
• This age of conquest begins the heroic era.

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The Heroic Age

• Called this because of this is the time of the
  Heroes of Greece.
• Achilles (Acillev)
• Jason (/Iason)
• Agamemnon (Agamemnon)
• Hector (/Ector)
• Paris (Pariv)
• Kratos was not an ancient Greek Hero!

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The Heroic Age

• Also the age of Greek Myth.
• The Epics of Greece happened during this time
  period.
• Jason and the Argonauts, The Trojan War, The
  Odyssey, etc.
• Some Greek myths pre-date even this era.
• i.e. Pygmalion, Narcissus, Prometheus, etc.

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The Heroic AgeMycenae

• Eventually the Achaeans grew into the first city
  state
• Known as Mycenae
• The Mycenaean civilization thrived from 1600
  -1100 BC.
• The Mycenaean's were a confederation, a powerful
  alliance of several monarchies.

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The Heroic AgeMycenae

• The most famous leader of Mycenae was Agamemnon.
• He was the son of King Atreus.
• His closest friend was Menelaus, King of Sparta.
• Together, they invaded and laid siege to the city
  of Troy for ten years.

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The Heroic AgeMycenae

• Mycenae re-organized the way early Greeks lived.
• Government became more centralized from the
  Megarons.
• The kings became known as Wanaks (War-kings).
• Wanaks ruled all of the various cities of the
  Peloponnesus.

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The Heroic AgeMycenae

• The Mycenaes wrote a primitive pictograph form
  of Greek, known as Linear B.
• The war-kings commissioned a tholos, Which was a
  bee-hive shaped tomb for the ruling family.

- A drawing of ancient Mycenae
? The View from Inside a Tholos
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The Siege of Troy

• The most famous war in all of western history
  (excluding WWII) is the Trojan War.
• The Hellenic era poet Homer, is most famous for
  the telling of this story.
• The story was given in the form of an Epic Poem.

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The Siege of Troy

• The city of Troy was located in Ionia, which is
  in Asia Minor.
• The Greek name for Troy is Ilium (Ilium)
• The Trojan War lasted for ten years
• Occurred around 1250 BC
• The war was between the Greeks and the Trojans.
• The Greeks wanted wealth, power, and the control
  of trade.

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The Siege of Troy The mythos of the Trojan War

• How the war started Prince Paris of Troy was
  asked to judge a beauty contest between the
  goddesses.
• Paris choose Aphrodite, and to reward him, she
  promised him the heart of Helen (The most
  beautiful woman in the world)

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The Siege of Troy The mythos of the Trojan War

• When Prince Hector and Paris went to Sparta as
  peace envoys, Helen fell in love with Paris
• She ran off with him to Troy
• Menelaus (King of Sparta) wanted his wife back,
  so he asks Agamemnon to help him, by making war
  with Troy.

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The Siege of Troy The mythos of the Trojan War

• Because of this, Helen is referred to as the
  woman to launch 1000 ships.
• The Greeks wage war with Troy.
• This is the myth, not the reality.

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The Siege of Troy The Reality of the Trojan War

• Agamemnon and Menelaus wanted to control the
  trade routes that ran through Troy.
• The Greeks sought wealth, fame, and honor with
  the war.
• Troy had never been conquered, and The Greeks
  were the best soldiers in the world.

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The Siege of Troy The Reality of the Trojan War

• The Greeks invaded Troy, and for ten years they
  couldnt break Troys defenses.
• Achilles kills Hector in year 6 of the war, and
  Achilles is killed in year 7.
• After this the Greek war effort is weakened.

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The Siege of Troy The Reality of the Trojan War

• Odysseus, king of Ithaca, steps up to figure a
  way into the city.
• Develops the idea of a Trojan horse.
• Not an actual wooden horse, but a siege machine
  disguised as a gift for King Priam.

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The Siege of Troy The Reality of the Trojan War

• Once inside the city walls, the Greeks slaughter
  all of the Trojans.
• The only member of the Trojan royal family to
  escape was Aeneas.
• His story is told in the Aeneid.

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The Siege of Troy The Reality of the Trojan War

• Following the fall of Troy, the kings of Greece
  return home, while Odysseus gets lost at sea.
• His story is told in the Odyssey.
• The Greeks live in relative peace until the
  coming of the sea peoples.

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Greek Dark Ages

• Following the conquests of Troy, the Greek cities
  fall into a period of Dark times
• The Sea-Peoples invade Greece roughly 50 years
  after the Trojan war.
• They destroy all of the Greek Kingdoms.

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Greek Dark Ages

• The era is called the dark ages because no major
  city/empire arises in 400 years.
• They lose their ability to read and write on a
  wide basis.
• No cultural advances during the dark ages.

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Conclusion

• To conclude, the Heroic Age of Greece, also known
  as the Helladic Age, was the foundations for
  everything that would eventually become Greek.
• The heroes of this time became the role models of
  all Greeks, once the dark ages came to an end.