Seafaring Traders Traders spread knowledge of reading and writing, including an ancient form of the alphabet that we use today.

Minoans in the Mediterranean -2000-1400 BC

-Lived in Crete, a large island on the southern edge of the Aegean Sea

-Produced pottery

-Considered a “stepping stone” for cultural exchange throughout the Mediterranean world

Minoans continued...-Capital→ Knossos

-Peaceful, no signs of fortifications around city

-Archaeologists named the city after King Minos

-King Minos→ Owned a half-human, half-bull monster called Minotaur and he kept the monster in a labyrinth

-Wall paintings, official seals, and vases were found at site

-Loved sports such as boxing, wrestling and bull leaping

Minoans continued...

-Art depicted women had a role in religious ceremonies

-Suggests that women held a higher rank than most other civilizations

-Mother Earth Goddess--> ruled over other gods of Crete

-Priestesses were in charge of some shrines with male assistants

Bull Leapers of Knossos What was the reason for this bull leaping?

Was it a sport?

Just a “fun” activity?

An initiation for young warriors?

Or a religious ritual?

End of Minoan Civilization

-1200 BC ended

-Reasons are unclear

-Lingered for almost 300 years

-Some believe could have been a powerful earthquake or invaders from Greece that took advantage of their weakened civilization

Phoenicians -1100 BC, after Crete’s decline

-Area known today as Lebanon

-Wealthy city-states

-Phoenicia, Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon were important trading centers

Phoenicians continued...-Remarkable ship builders/seafarers

-First Mediterranean people to venture beyond the Strait of Gibraltar

-Sidon and Tyre→ known for production of red-purple dye

-Byblos→traded papyrus

-Also expanded cities into northern Africa

-Carthage→ greatest Phoenician city in North Africa, founded 814 BC

Phoenicians continued...-Traded wine, weapons, precious metals, ivory, and slaves

-Worked good with wood, metal, glass and ivory

-Red-purple dye

-Produced from murex, a kind of snail that lived in the waters off Sidon and Tyre

-60,000 snails were needed to produce one pound of dye

-Only royalty could afford the dyed cloth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOdmEd0HxnM

Phoenician Alphabet -Needed a way of recording transactions quickly

-Used symbols to represent sound

-Phonetic→ one sign was used for one sound

-Alphabet directly from the first two letters in the Phoenician alphabet→ aleph and beth

-Introduced it to others their trading partners who adopted it

Phoenician Collapse

-842 B.C.→ Eastern cities were captured by the Assyrians

-Their homeland then became controlled by the Babylonians and the Persian Empire under King Cyrus I