Greeks 

Mycenaeans 

• began around 2000 BC
• made them selves into a fortress with a 20 ft. wall
• controlled Greek trading 
• dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BC 
• controlled Crete and absorbed there culture 
• teamed up with the people they conquered

Culture in Decline 

• the sea people invaded the Mycenaeans around 1200 BC 
•  The Dorians moved into the war-town 
• less advanced
• collapsing economy
• writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer 

• Homer may be a myth 
• Homer was an old blind poet 
• composed the Iliad and the Odyssey 
• Iliad 
• about the Trojan Wars
• included gods fighting in the wars
• Odyssey 
• about a war hero who angered Pisiden   
• blown off course by the water god
• goes on a 10 year journey to get home to his wife and son

Greek Concepts 

• Arete 
• virtue and excellence
• Epics 
• narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
• Myths
• created to explain creation and origin