Ancient Greece in the Bronze Age (Minoans, Mycenaean Greeks and more!)

In this episode, we start are journey into the world of ancient Greece and Greek civilization! We'll take a look at the Bronze Age cultures of the Cyclades, the Minoans and the Mycenaean Greeks. Before Athens and Sparta became household names, there was the world of Bronze Age Greece!

Have some fun, check out the quiz below:

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Music:
Epidemic Sound

#greece #greek #ancientgreece

[Clemeaux_]

There is something so mystical about the bronze age. I absolutely adore it.

[WorthlessWinner]

The Greece that was ancient to the ancient Greeks

[reginaldbauer]

Regarding the Minoan language: The oldest language was a pictographic writing system developed around 2000 BCE known as the Cretan hieroglyphs. Another group of signs was identified as Linear A, developed around 1700 BCE. While Cretan hieroglyphs have a pictorial appearance, Linear A has a linear appearance. It has been speculated that both Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A represent the same language.

Minoan civilization had trade contacts with the advanced Middle Eastern civilizations, with Egypt being the most influential. It is likely that the earliest Minoan writing (Cretan hieroglyphs) was modelled after the Middle Kingdom Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Although superficially indeed similar to Egyptian symbols, Cretan Hieroglyphs are clearly distinct in both form and phonetic value. Yet the biggest difference lies in the underlying system itself. Egyptian Hieroglyphs are part of a complex writing system, where most signs have more than one possible reading, dependent on context (similarly to the Japanese Kanji characters). Signs could have both a phonetic (single consonant or syllable) value or an ideogrammatic (word) reading, but could even be utilized as phonetic complements or logograms (a written character that represents a word or phrase, like in Chinese), “reinforcing” the reading of words they were attached to. As many of these duplicities could only be interpreted by a native speaker of Old Egyptian, this system was very difficult to utilize for speakers of foreign languages. Also, the Egyptian system had over 800 different signs, which is an extremely large inventory of symbols compared to Cretan Hieroglyphs (roughly 85 or so different signs are known). Linear A signs identified ranges from 77 to 85 according to different scholars, suggesting that this was a syllabic writing system.

Minoan scribes might have took the concept of writing from Egypt, creating their own signs and simplifying the system so that it became almost fully phonetic. Such a low number of individual characters is uncharacteristic of the complex writing systems of the ancient Near East, but it is fully compatible with a simple syllabary (reminiscent of the modern Japanese Hiragana or Katakana writing). Thus, some assume that Cretan Hieroglyphs, similarly to all later Aegean writing systems, were already syllabic in nature.

Other scholars see Semitic influences / a relationship to Mesopotamian writings in the Minoan language, but these depend solely on Semitic loanwords, such as “sesame”, a word that appears in both Linear A and B (and also in ENGLISH).

One thing is clear: After the rebuilding of the palatial complexes on Crete (with the advent of the so-called “New Palace Period”) the Hieroglyphic script fell out of regular use. A new script has taken its place, called Linear A. The relationship of Linear A and Hieroglyphics is probably comparable to the relation between Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Hieratic/Demotic script. Current available evidence suggests that the underlying system remained essentially the same; it is the shape of signs that suffered profound change due to graphical simplification.

Linear A was used much more extensively than Hieroglyphs. Hundreds of clay tablets, inscribed vessels, statues, altarstones and even jewelery testifies its daily use. The triumph of Linear A is also striking in a geographical sense: Wherever Cretan traders went, Linear A followed. Perhaps due to the simplicity of the syllabary, it quickly spread to other regions surrounding Crete. While regularly used on many Aegean islands, sporadic finds suggest that it also reached the Greek mainland as well as the island of Cyprus and the Syrian coast.

[madderhat]

Leaving on a cliffhanger. ( Cy calmly walking away in slo-mo as the Mycenaeans empire burns in the background)

[WanaxTV]

Great video! Greeks in the Bronze Age were known as the Achaeans. According to Homer and early sources they were also known as Danaans (presumably after the Danaan dynasty) and Argives (after Argos/Argolis, their core area). Egyptian sources mention them as "Tanaju" (Danaans), with Thutmosis III of Egypt receiving messengers of the "Tanaju" king in 1437 BC. Some of their locations mentioned by Egyptians were Mycenae, Kythera, Thebaid, Messenia etc. Hittite sources from late 15th century mention them as "Ahhiya" (Achaea) when Achaean generals made their first intrusions into Anatolia and came in conflict with the Hittites.

After the Bronze Age collapse and during the Dark Ages, name "Achaeans" was gradually replaced with more localized names since a lot of their population centers were fairly isolated and grew independently of each other. Only those Achaeans from their original core area (Argos, Laconia, Messenia) carried on their name as prime identity (and kept struggling with the Dorians throughout Dark and Archaic Ages), as well as those that moved to northern Peloponnese which during Dark Ages became known as Achaea.

However, there many examples of Ionian and Aeolian cities tracing their origins to Achaeans. Only the Dorians seem not to be an offshoot of the Achaeans, as they constantly fought each other for those exact reasons. There was even an example of a Spartan king (which was a Doric city) claiming/acknowledging to the Athenians that he was not Dorian, but an Achaean, because of his Heracleid bloodline.

[evilwelshman]

Nice work on summarising Bronze Age Greeks! Really enjoying the series so far. One thing I would really LOVE to see if a video talking about how the various Bronze Age cultures interacted with one another. While we sometimes see snippets on this topic when talking/reading/exploring each culture individually, I think it would be really fascinating and would really help us understand the broader context of the Bronze Age.

From my brief understanding of the topic, and possibly as a starting point, the Bronze Age cultures were actually quite interconnected with one another; stretching from Mycenaeans in present day Greece to the Indus Valley Civilisation in India and Pakistan. And that trade, particularly tin from Afghanistan (tin is needed alongside copper to make bronze), being a major driver.

[HoundofOdin]

I vaguely remember hearing that Kaftor, a place mentioned in Egyptian records, may refer to the kingdom of the Minoans or a Minoan city.

[hildegardvonbangin]

Just starting to get into the ancient Greeks after doing an assignment about the battle of Marathon so this was perfect timing! Very interesting, thank you!!

[HistorywithCy]

Have some fun, check out the quiz for this episode on Greece in the Bronze Age:

[aysseralwan]

It's so fascinating to hear from this time period because we know so little of those civilizations which means that in a way we know little of our own history and that is fascinating in a somewhat scary kind of way

[kkupsky]

Wow. This video is three years old. This video is closer to the ancient Greeks than we are now. I know. Amazing. Great video mate.

[jimmysanchez]

greek history has been my all time favorite since I was a kid, i just wish we had more details on the minoans & myceneans like their kings, battles, stories, politics and all that. Great episode, looking forward to the next one, keep up the good job and stay save Cy! 💯

[Thrashdragon]

I’m so early here, much like the minoans

[napoleonbonaparte]

This is the same quality of my university courses on ancient Greece, found your channel recently and I've been elated at the quality and quantity of content. Thanks for your time.

[ABCshake]

Herodotus and Thucydides might have had some knowledge of the Minoan civilization. They mentioned that King Minos lived 1600 years before their time and he was the first to create a navy. Roughly corresponding to the early Minoan palatial era.

[haditawbe]

Your channel is undoubtedly the most underrated history channel on YouTube. Keep it up 😍

[miguelgrohmannhernandez]

As an archeology major, thanks for the videos, these are a great recap before exams.

[deathblade]

Didn’t Demosthenes write about the Cretans and their impact on law. I am curious how much Minoan government and law influenced the Greeks and in turn us.

[aaronherman]

Thanks for adding in the other ancient civilizations in the Aegean. Everyone else, especially professors, always begin with the Minoans. Respectfully...

[NicleT]

The Mycenaean gold mask shown at 8:21 is not ordinary mask, the legend goes that it was directly embossed from the face of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, at his death.