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1.1 Greek Bronze Age and Dark Age

Hi guys, this is the chapter one, earlier Greece. And the first topic, Bronze Age and Dark Age

1. What is west? This class is called the history of Western Civilization. Today the Western world includes Europe, the Americas, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They have the same identity, Christian and western democracy.

2. Europe is the origin of the Western Civilization; Europe culture started from the ancient Greece, after that the Ancient Rome, Middle Ages, and modern Europe.

The name of Europe came from Europa.

3. In Greek myth Europa was a princess from Phoenicia, we know Zeus, the king of the gods was always looking for beautiful girls and this made his queen Hera very angry. One day Zeus found this beautiful Europa, He changed himself into a white bull, seduced her ride the bull and flew to an island, Crete. Zeus and Europa had three sons, one of them Minos became king of Crete. The name of Europe came from Europa, at the beginning only means Crete, gradually the whole Greece, after the expansion of the Roman Empire it extended to its modern boundaries.

4. Ancient Greece is the cradle of Western civilization, the birthplace of Western democracy, philosophy, literature, historiography, major scientific and mathematical principles, and the Olympic Games.

5. Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, to the east the Aegean Sea, to the west the Ionian Sea, and the to the south the  sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea .

Other ancient civilizations all arose in the rich soil plain along big rivers, China-Yellow River, India- Indus River, Mesopotamia-Tigris and Euphrates. But Greece is a stark world of mountains and sea. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous; the highest mountain is Olympus, 2,918 metres, the home of the Greek gods. Greece has thousands of islands, Crete is the largest.

6. Ancient Greece covers 5 periods: Bronze Age, Dark Age, Archaic Greece, Classical Greece and Hellenistic Greece.

7. Bronze Age from 2500 B.C.—1100B.C. two civilizations have been found. First the Minoan civilization in Crete began in 2500 B.C. Minoan refers to the King Minos, the son of Zeus and Europa. In 1899 the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the legendary palace of Minos. This civilization was peaceful and vulnerable, it ended around 1400 BC, the reason may be Mycenaean invasions from mainland Greece, maybe a volcanic eruption. The second civilization is Mycenaean civilization arose at 8.Mycenae on the Peloponnesus around 1600 B.C. This is a powerful warrior civilization. Many graves have been found and inside there were many swords, axes and armor. This civilization fell around 1100 B.C.

9. Dark Age, also called Homeric Age, from 1100 to  700 B.C.

Because Mycenaean culture had disappeared, the population decreased significantly, the great palaces and cities destroyed or abandoned, the Linear B writing of the Greek language ceased, very little cultural progress or growth. This is why it was called a Dark Age.

But there are two great legacies from this age, one is Homer’s epic poems, and this is why it is called Homeric Age, another legacy is the Greek mythology.

Homer was a wandering bard, bard means poet. His two epic poems Iliad and Odyssey were written around 750 B.C, near the end of the Dark Age. The themes of Homer’s poems: relation between Gods and human being, love, life and death, glory and dignity, patriotism and heroism. Now, the story time

10. Golden Apple of Discord There was a goddess called Eris, the goddess of strife and discord Eris was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Peleus a god, Thetis a human, they would have a son the greatest hero Achilles. But Eris was not invited but he did come with a golden apple and said it is only for the most beautiful lady. Hera, the queen, Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and warfare, and Aphrodite the Goddess of love all wanted it, they asked Zeus to judge. But he refused because Hera his wife, Athena and Aphrodite his daughters. Zeus ordered Paris, a prince of Troy to judge. Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia Minor, Athena said I can give you the wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite said I can give you the most beautiful woman Helen, wife of the king Menelaus of Sparta. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite and he went to Sparta, brought Helen to Troy. This is the reason of the Trojan War. Homer’s first epic poem is The Iliad.

11. Iliad means the song of Ilion, Ilion is the Greek name of Troy. The Iliad covers only a few weeks near the end of the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states. The leader of the Greeks was Agamemnon – King of Mycenae, greatest warrior Achilles from Phthia, Odysseus – King of Ithaca, Menelaus – King of Sparta, husband of Helen and brother of Agamemnon. On the other side, Priam, king of Troy, prince Hector, and Prince Paris. Paris was the one who brought Helen from Sparta to troy.

12. The Iliad started with the Wrath of Achilles, Achilles’s war price, a girl was taken by Agamemnon. He was very angry and refuses to fight. You see, he nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon, but he is suddenly stopped by Athena the Goddess of warfare.

13. But when his friend Patroclus was killed by the Trojan prince Hector, Achilles returned to fight. Hector knew he would be killed by Achilles, he asked Achilles to treat his body with respect. But Achilles was mad "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me". Achilles killed Hector and tied the dead body to the back of his chariot and dragged it three times around his friend’s tomb. And that’s the tomb and that’s the dead body, and Achilles. This was so horrible. Zeus sent Achilles his messenger Iris to Hector’s mother, the queen Hecuba, She urged the queen to bag to Achilles. Hector’s father, the old king Priam went to Achilles tent. Achilles showed his pity and honorably gave it back.

The second epic poem of Homer is The Odyssey, it tells how the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, going home after the Trojan War. It takes him ten years to go home. Gods set up many difficulties along the journey. This likes the Chinese classic Journey to the west, remember there was a monkey king, there was a monk Xuanzang. There were many many monsters along the way. And this is Odysseus and the Sirens. Sirens were dangerous winged creatures; they lured sailors with their beautiful songs to cause shipwreck. Leonardo da Vinci believed the siren sings so sweetly that she lulls the sailors to sleep; when the sailors slept, she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping sailors. Odysseus ordered his sailors plug their ears, and tied himself to the mast. When he heard the beautiful singing, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they didn’t listen to him. Today we use the Siren’s song to describe something seductive, dangerous or deceptive.

15. This is the Key words: Europa, Aegean Sea, Golden Apple of Discord, The Iliad. The Odyssey