The Palace Of Knossos By King Minos

For example, as talked about in the second paper for this course, we can use the “Amarna Letters” to surmise what information may be contained in Linear A. From the “Amarna Letters” we see it was important to early civilizations to keep record of negotiations—whether they are of marriage, of shipments, or of war and peace with other empires. One record among the “Amarna Letters” is regarding a shipment of glass: “To the king, my lord, my god… since the king, my lord, has ordered some glass I send it to the king…” (Amarna Letters EA 314). Another record among the “Amarna Letters” is regarding the halt of trade: “He has now stationed ships of Arwada in Ampi and in Sigata so grain cannot be brought into Sumur. Nor are we able to enter Sumur…write to the palace about this matter” (Amarna Letters EA 98). One would assume that in order to create a trading empire, it would be pertinent to know what was being imported and exported thus it’s possible that Linear A represents a shipping record or a trade agreement. It could also serve as a list of trading routes and correspondence about problems with the routes or fighting that would impede trading such as in the latter example from the “Amarna Letters”. Even though the “Amarna Letters” were written much later than Linear A, they can still provide evidence for what type of information

In Ancient times written languages had been some of the tools that they used to communicate. “The designation ‘hieroglyphics’ is a Greek word; the Egyptians referred to their writing as medu-netjer ‘the god’s words’, as they believed writing had been given to them by the great god Thoth” (Mark). The Egyptians believed that hieroglyphics were given to them as a special gifts from their god. Another thing is that they used hieroglyphics to represent their

The first form of writing was created by Sumerians 5,000 years ago called Cuneiform (Document 1). Sumerians used this writing system to keep track of business dealings because they traded with people who lived in lands that were hundreds and even thousands of miles away (Doc. 2). With a written language, ideas could be shared from generation to generation (Doc. 1). To write in cuneiform somebody would need to acquire a clay tablet, then bake it hard in a kiln (Doc. 1). If cuneiform had not been created, there may have not been written languages in the

A type of recordkeeping syllables called Linear B was largely used in Mycenaean palaces. It is also identified as an early form of Greek.

Knossos was excavated by Arthur Evans in 1900. The archaeological evidence suggests that it was first built around 2000 BC. Additionally, it also suggests that it was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt around 1700 BC. On the eastern side of the complex, the palace had four storeys; On the western side of the complex, the palace had three storeys. Additionally, it had a massive central court and storage areas. Knossos is an important site because it tells us about the economic, political and social features of Minoan society. Arthur Evans incorrectly believed that Minos lived at Knossos.

The Minoans were a civilization who flourished from 3000 BCE until 1100 BCE on the island of Crete, were greatly influenced by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians and the Anatolians (Britannica Encyclopedia). This civilization made major contributions to Western European development in the areas of language, architecture and art. It was the famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who made the astounding discoveries at Knossos in the early 1900’s that introduced to the world the fascinating and wonderful sophistication of these early Greeks (Britannica Encyclopedia). The history of the island has been molded by its proximity to the Aegean Sea. Its geographical location gave it control over the sea and the lucrative trade routes. The Minoans traded with Egypt, the Levant, the Aegean, and beyond to Italy, and Sicily.

As an island civilization, the peace-loving Minoans focused almost solely on trade. However, the Mycenaeans were were concerned with warfare and advanced their civilizations through conquest, as well as trade. This is evident in their architectures, as the high walls and narrow passages of Mycenaean architecture appear to be more defensive than aesthetic nature. Furthermore, their home city state was constructed upon a large mountain, aiding the defensive nature of the civilization. Also, their art often depicts forms of warfare, The Warrior Vase and the lion hunt dagger for instance. On the other hand, the Minoans had very open architecture, especially the Palace at Knossos. Moreover, most of the Minoan art depicts different animals and creatures of the sea, as well as people acting to further life, rather than take

2. In the Aegean world, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations emerged. Minoan civilization on the island of Crete was influenced by eastern civilizations as shown in the textbook, “the distribution of Cretan pottery and other artifacts around the Mediterranean and Middle East testifies to widespread trading connections. Egyptian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian influences can be seen in the design of the Minoan palaces, centralized government, and system of writing” page 76,

Minoan civilization was advanced for their time and they had many great achievements. As a result of being an island nation, they built a large sea empire based on trade. There were two versions of Minoan writing: An older script called Linear A, which has never been deciphered. Newer than Linear A, but much older than ancient Greek, which it is the earliest form of, was Linear B, which has been deciphered. The center of their empire was a huge palace located in a place called Knossos. Knossos had a working plumbing system. The palace was between 3 and 4 stories tall, which was large for the time. The minoans painted frescoes on walls of the palace and created art on

Writing was very important to the Ancient Egyptians. It was their way of keeping track of history. For example, they wrote down important documents that they may use later in their life. They wrote down ideas that they later passed on to the next generation. But, they did not use the American alphabet. They used a system containing pictures that made various sounds. But how did scientist understand this language? It was all because of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.

Linear B- a script found on clay tablets, uses pictorial signs to represent syllables, is recognized as an early form of Greek, kept track of people, animals and objects in extreme detail, government kept track and organized the production of grain and wool, tablets say nothing of individual people not even kings, very little about political and legal systems, social structures, gender relations and religious beliefs, (73)

There are a number of art and architectural features found in the Athenian Agora, Kerimeikos and the Acropolis. The Agora or market place has a number of buildings such as the Tholos, The Eponymous Heroes and the Strategion. The Kerimeikos or Ceramicus was the potters ' quarter of the city, from which the word "ceramic" is derived, and was also the site of an important cemetery and numerous funerary sculptures erected around the area. The Acropolis had many major buildings, the most prominent of them being the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike. An evaluation of primary and secondary literary sources gives insight into the main purposes of the buildings and the art within such as pottery and sculptures found within the context of these sites. To an extent the art and architecture in these sites reflect the significant cultural practices and beliefs of the ancient Athenians as it gives insight into what they truly valued.

To begin, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia introduced the first forms of written language-Cuneiform. The beginning of writing was an essential tool that transferred thoughts and speech into text. It was extremely important and allowed for the beginning of record keeping of all sorts. “At this point, writing was used only for record keeping, and thus only concrete words(nouns) such as “ox”,”grain” and “sheep” were needed. As society became more complex, the language evolved enabling signs to be used…and eventually abstract thoughts “(Newman 44). The world came to know a unique way of expressing thoughts and learned to convey messages through writing. From then on, records could be kept, history and stories could be recorded and abstract thinking could shine

Is the development of the writing system the most important factor that led to the rise of a civilization? How does our ancestor learned to write when school is not even available? Understand that writing system that I am referring is not the average of using tools such as ink and paper, but more of creative tool that has developed over time. In this essay, I will cover seven points on the importantance of a writing system in the ancient civilization.

Before delving into Homer’s poems, it is important to first understand the history of Greek civilization because his poems reflect several historic periods spanning hundreds of year. After 2000 B.C.E. Greek-speaking people arrived in what we call Greece, establishing the Mycenaean civilization, which thrived, becoming rich with powerful cities that were military strongholds and international trade centers (Murnaghan l). Through their trade with nearby islands, they adopted a “syllabary” system of writing from the Minoans, who flourished on the island Crete (Murnaghan l). However, the next evidence of Greek writing is not seen until the Phoenician alphabet is