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
