Why did ancient Greek civilization originate on the small island of Crete

Current historical data unearthed by historians show that Cretan civilization was the earliest civilization in ancient Greece, and Greek civilization originated here. , and then spread to mainland Greece and Asia Minor. From 1700 BC to 1400 BC, the Cretan civilization developed to its heyday, but soon suddenly declined, and the center of the Aegean civilization moved to Mycenae on the Greek Peninsula.

Derived knowledge points:

1. Cretan civilization

Cretan civilization, also translated as Minoan civilization or Minoan civilization, is love The ancient civilization in the Qinhai area belongs to the Bronze Civilization before the Mycenaean civilization, which lasted from about 2000 BC to 1450 BC. The development of this civilization was mainly concentrated on the island of Crete. The name "Minos" comes from the Cretan king Minos in ancient Greek mythology.

Cretan culture is divided into four periods. Starting from about 6000 BC, Crete began to enter the Neolithic Age. From 2500 BC, Crete began to enter the period of the use of gold and stone. . Entering the pre-palace period, there were buildings of considerable size; they were destroyed (or due to earthquakes) around the 17th to 16th centuries BC. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, Crete began to develop initially and entered the ancient royal palace period. In Minosas and Phaestos, there appeared huge palace-style buildings, various refined crafts and the linear character "A" (Not yet deciphered); indicating that there was already a class society at that time, and most of its residents are thought to be from West Asia. Beginning in 1700 BC, Minos began to enter the New Palace Period. This period was the heyday of Cretan civilization. At this time, King Minos not only ruled Crete, but also spread throughout the Aegean Sea, including Greece. Athens and the Mycenaean region, at the same time, had very close relations with Egypt. Since 1450 BC, Greek-speaking peoples invaded Crete, which eventually led to the decline of the Cretan civilization. The center of the Aegean civilization moved to the Mycenaean region in mainland Greece.

2. Ancient Greek Civilization - Aegean Civilization

1. Introduction: Ancient Greek culture has had a broad and profound impact on Europe and the world. Therefore, ancient Greece is regarded as The birthplace of Western civilization.

2. Time of emergence: 2000 BC

3. Center: The Aegean civilization was centered on Crete and Mycenae in the southern part of the Greek Peninsula

4. Decline: From about the 15th century BC to the 12th century BC, due to large-scale invasion and destruction by northern tribes, the ancient kingdoms of Crete and Mycenae perished one after another, and the Aegean civilization gradually declined. Ancient Greek civilization originated in

BAegean Civilization Can it be said that ancient Greek civilization originated in Crete?

It can be said that. In 2000 BC, the Aegean civilization originated on the island of Crete. Later, the center of civilization moved to the Greek Peninsula, where the Mycenaean civilization emerged. The Cretan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization are collectively called the Aegean civilization, which lasted for 800 years. It was the beginning of the ancient Aegean civilization. Which civilization did Greek civilization originate from?

In 2000 BC, the earliest civilization and country appeared on Crete, which was the beginning of ancient Greek civilization

The history of ancient Greece can be roughly divided into five stages< /p>

20th century BC to 12th century BC Aegean civilization or Cretan and Mycenaean civilization times

11th century BC to 9th century BC Homeric era

8th century BC - 6th century BC Archaic era

5th century BC - 4th century BC Classical era

Late 4th century BC - mid-2nd century BC Macedonian rule in ancient India And the origin of ancient Greek civilization in ancient Egypt?

1. Greece is not a country, it is the name of a regional cultural body 2. Greece is not an original civilization, but a product of learning from Egypt and the Mesopotamia civilization 3. The civilization is too short 4. Much of the research relies on connecting physical evidence through myths and legends

In addition

Between 7,000 and 4,000 years ago, ancient civilizations successively entered the Bronze Age from the Neolithic Age, and then entered the Iron Age. era. Most social systems adopted slavery, and state power was born later. Nome in ancient Egypt is the earliest known civilization in the world.

The earliest civilization that appeared in Greece was the Minoan civilization in the Aegean Sea. Its existence lasted from about 3000 BC to about 1450 BC. We know very little about the Minoans, and even the name is only a modern title, coming from the legendary King Minos of Crete.

About the Cretan Civilization of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek Civilization: Ancient Greece was located in the northeastern Mediterranean. In addition to the current Greek Peninsula, it also included the Aegean Sea, Macedonia, Thrace, places such as the Italian Peninsula and Asia Minor. This land witnessed the two earliest civilizations in Europe: the Minoan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization. In the fifth and sixth centuries BC, the brilliant Greek civilization emerged.

In the history of world civilization, ancient Greek civilization has been famous for its unique style and outstanding achievements. It is even said that "it must be called Greece". Shelley once chanted in a poem: "We are all Greeks.

"Greece is the birthplace and cradle of European civilization. Without Greece, it is impossible to imagine what European civilization would be like. The tradition of Greek civilization is everywhere in the Western world today. But except for the citizens living on the Greek peninsula who consider themselves Greeks , few people think of themselves as Greeks in philosophical imagination like Shelley. So who are the Greeks?

History shows that the conqueror of Crete and the destroyer of Troy—— The Mycenaeans were one of the earliest inhabitants of Greece and later became slaves of the northern barbarians, and gradually divided into Dorics and Ionians. They all had the same beliefs and language, so they were called They are the Greeks.

In the 12th century BC, the Aegean civilization was seriously damaged by the invasion of northern barbarians, but the unyielding Greeks re-established a splendid civilization on the ruins of this once rich civilization. Greek civilization became the true ancestor of European civilization.

The Greek peninsula entered the slave society and established more than 200 slave city-states. Each city-state formed a country of varying sizes with a city as the center and suburban villages. , the most powerful of which are Athens and Sparta. Because the country is poor and the people are poor, in order to survive and develop, the city-states continue to fight against each other. In order to store themselves and plunder wealth, the city-states implement the strategy of strengthening the country and strengthening the army. Policies, democratic politics are implemented within the city-state, and free people directly participate in the governance of the city-state. They attach great importance to the exercise of national physical fitness, so managing the country and exercising are the sacred duties of every citizen.

Greece has a pleasant climate. The sun is abundant and the temperature is moderate. Such natural conditions are suitable for outdoor naked exercise and competition. Because of naked sports, people's ideas have changed. Instead of being ashamed of being naked, they are proud of having a strong body. This has aroused the concern of aestheticians. Paying attention to the performance of artists, aesthetes discover the beauty of the human body, and artists create beautiful human bodies. The great statesman Pericles said: "We are people who love beauty. "The Greek nation is a nation that loves beauty and creates beauty.

In an environment of democracy, freedom and fierce competition, the Greeks not only discovered, nurtured and created beauty, but also created gods. In the minds of the Greeks, The most perfect person is God. Therefore, the Greeks respected people and raised them to the level of gods to affirm them. Gods and people are of the same shape and nature. The Greeks regarded a strong body as the origin of all goodness and beauty, and regarded Greek mythology as the origin of all goodness and beauty. Regarded as the spiritual origin of art, as Marx pointed out: "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil."

Ancient Greek mythology: Greek mythology originated in the ancient times of Greece. It has been circulated orally for a long time and is a collective creation of the ancient Greeks. It is scattered in Homer's epics, Hesiod's "Theogony" and later literary and historical works. Therefore, the image or storyline of the same mythical character, There are often discrepancies and even contradictions in the writings of different writers. The common systematic Greek myths are compiled by later generations based on ancient books.

Greek myths mainly include stories of gods and heroic legends. The two parts are a collection of stories about gods and heroic legends, scattered in Homer's epics, Hesiod's Theogony, and literature, history and philosophy in the classical period.

The stories of gods mainly include stories about the creation of the world, the birth of gods, the genealogy of gods, the changes in heaven, the origin of mankind and the daily activities of gods. In the imagination of the ancient Greeks, mountains, rivers, trees, sun, moon, sea, land, and even rain. The rainbow at the end and the narcissus by the river are all figures of gods; birth, old age, sickness and death, success or failure, all depend on the will of gods. They created a huge family of gods. Zeus is the head of the gods, and Poseidon is the god of the sea. Ha. Des is the god of the underworld, Apollo is the god of the sun, Artemis is the god of hunting, Ares is the god of war, Hephaestus is the god of fire, Hermes is the god of commerce, and the nine muses is the goddess of literature and art, the three Moiras are the goddesses of destiny, and the gods live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece.

The gods in Greek mythology are different from the gods in other more developed religions. , they are very close to the secular life. Most of the gods are like the nobles in the clan. They are very willful, love pleasure, have strong vanity, jealousy and revenge. They like to fight for power and gain, and they will sneak down from the mountains and have beautiful men and women in the world from time to time. Infidelity. Most gods, represented by Zeus, like to play tricks on humans, and even plan to destroy humans again and again. The ancient Greeks often laughed at the evil of the gods in their myths and accused the gods of injustice. Homer once said, "God gives." While poor people live in fear and pain, God Himself lives happily and without worry. "However, there are also great gods like Prometheus who benefit mankind. Prometheus stole fire from heaven and brought epoch-making progress to mankind. Zeus nailed him to the Caucasus Mountains and released evil eagles to peck at them every day. Eat his liver.

Heroic legends are memories of ancient history, social life and man's struggle against nature. Heroes are regarded as the offspring of gods and humans, and are actually collective. Representatives of strength and wisdom. Heroic legends have formed many systems centered on different families, including the Trojan War, Heracles completing the Twelve Deeds, King Theseus of Athens getting rid of harm to the people, and Jason leading the heroes to capture the gold. Among them, Achilles described in "Homer's History" is said to have two fates: he can live a long life in obscurity; or he can die gloriously on the battlefield because his mother loves her son so much that she disguises him as a hero. A girl, but the wise Odysseus recognized him.

Achilles went to the battlefield to fight the Trojans and made countless feats. His mother predicted that he would be buried under the city of Troy, but he still stood up to fight, which reflected the courageous spirit of the Greeks.

Another example is the widely circulated story of Hercules completing the Twelve Great Deeds. Hercules was a famous strongman who strangled a water snake in his cradle. When he was young, the goddess of evil and virtue came to seduce him to take the path of pleasure, but he followed the advice of the goddess of virtue and determined to defy hardships and benefit everyone. Legend has it that after he became an adult, he killed the nine-headed poisonous dragon and the snake-haired succubus Medusa. He even went to the lower world to defeat Hades, rescued the imprisoned Theseus back to the world, and made them husband and wife. Live a happy life. The story about Hercules is full of heroic spirit and reflects the ancient people's precious qualities of loving labor and cherishing the collective.

Tips on ancient Greek civilization:

Greece: The word "Greece" means elegance and beauty. The ancient Greeks who created a splendid and glorious ancient civilization are worthy of this elegant and beautiful name.

Homer’s epic poem: The blind poet Homer compiled a comprehensive collection of epic short songs circulated orally in Asia Minor, including "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey", which is a milestone in the history of European literature. It is like an encyclopedia, containing knowledge such as astronomy, geography, history, society, philosophy, art and mythology. "The Iliad" describes the story of the Trojan War, and "The Odyssey" describes the story of the Greek hero Odysseus' return home after the Trojan War. The Odyssey is the first work in European literature to feature personal encounters as its main content.

Music: Greece calls music Muse, and Muse refers to the nine goddesses responsible for managing music in Greek mythology. At that time, this word was not what we now refer to as music. Rather, it includes poetry, drama, and all other arts. The word music today refers to comes from this.

Drama: The world’s dramatic art first appeared in ancient Greece about 2,400 years ago. There were three major tragedians in ancient Greece, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as a major comedy writer.

Sappho: the first famous female poet in the history of Western literature. Some people have compared her to Homer, and others have called her the tenth goddess of poetry.

History: Herodotus, who lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, is recognized as the first important historian in ancient Greece. He traveled throughout the East and collected many legends. Later, His work developed into a history of the Greek-Persian wars. His work is fluent and solemn. It is not only an important historical document, but also an important literary work. It can be compared with China's Sima Qian's "Historical Records".

Ancient Greek philosophers:

▼Socrates, Plato and Aristotle together founded today’s Western philosophical thought.

▼Anaximander - the man who drew the first global map.

▼Anaxagoras - the first person to imagine that moonlight is the reflection of sunlight, and also the first to use the idea that the moon's shadow covers the earth and the earth's shadow covers the moon to explain solar eclipses and Lunar eclipse people.

▼Pythagoras - ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician. He was the first to discover the Pythagorean Theorem.

▼Heraclitus - His famous saying is: "One cannot step into the same river twice, because both the river and the person are different."

▼Thales - Thales believed that all things are composed of water, and water is the source of all things.

Cretan Civilization

Cretan civilization began very early, in 3000 BC, it had entered the Bronze Age.

"Between approximately 2250 and 1200 BC, Crete was the center of a maritime empire that expanded its influence politically and culturally to the islands of the Aegean Sea, and The coast of the continent... is worthy of the highest praise for its naturalistic beauty, and it enjoys a civilization that is in many respects more 'modern' in its comforts than anywhere else in the ancient world." (ch. III vol. I, C. , a.h.)

"The ruler of Knossos had the largest navy at the time, forced the Sigaradi Islands (southeast of the Greek peninsula) to surrender, and established the city of Knossos on the Aegean Sea The hegemony... Since the seventeenth century BC, (Crete) has had frequent exchanges with mainland Greece. Cretan navigators have appeared in Mycenae, Tiron, the Isthmus of Corinth, and Boeoti. Asia, Attica, Thessaly and other places...

"In the second millennium BC, there were already the following craftsmen in Crete: weaponsmiths, carpenters, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, pot makers Craftsmen, bronze makers, engravers, ivory technicians, painters, sculptors, etc. "(Sergeev? "History of Ancient Greece", Chapter 3)

Regarding the political system of Crete, the historians infer that the political system of Crete was established in the Second Crete in 1600 BC based on various evidences. The Age of Nossos.

“The socio-political system resembled that of the ancient Eastern kingdoms in many respects. ...Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain where those large buildings, various handicrafts, luxury goods and childish gadgets came from.

… By analogy with Eastern examples, slave labor may be used together with native labor to build official palaces, build roads, open stone mines, do various crafts, and even serve as sailors.

"Like the pharaohs of Egypt, the ruler of the palace of Knossos acted as both priest and military leader. A late Minoan colored relief clearly proves this. This relief depicts There is a person, about three meters tall, wearing a crown, decorated with a bunch of long colorful feathers, long curls exposed under the crown, hanging down on the shoulders, there are several rows of gold necklaces around the neck, and thick bracelets on the wrists. " (ibid.)

The decoration of King Knossos is similar to that of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Some scholars also speculate that the Cretan civilization simply migrated from Egypt.

"The so-called Minoan civilization, which began at the same time as the Bronze Age, flourished in eastern and central Crete...Egyptian influence began during the First Dynasty ( 3500 BC),... Later, in the second pre-Minoan period (2800-2400 BC), the Egyptian element became so strong that an Egyptian colony may have been established in Crete, as far as we can tell As far as we know, it was something under the Sixth Dynasty. Perhaps the unrest (in Egypt) that occurred at the beginning of the First Dynasty and the fall of the Fifth Dynasty drove away a considerable number of people's groups and brought them to Egypt. To find peace and luck, Crete was originally inhabited by a related race. Or we can imagine that the adventurous Cretan sailors sailed south, or they were blown away by a storm. voyage,—discovered the wonders of the Nile Valley, and thus came, either by chance or adventure, the impetus to embark on a path of civilization which Crete had hitherto not enjoyed.” (Wace: "Early Aegean Civilization", Volume 1, Chapter 17, Early Aegean Civilization, by J.B. Wace, ch.17, vol.l, c.a.h.)

The first inhabitants of Crete There is ethnographic evidence that it came from the Asian and African steppes:

“The results of the analysis of the physical remains of the earliest inhabitants of Crete prove that all, or most, of the original inhabitants of the island were Although the 'long-headed' people (the earliest inhabitants of the Asian and African steppes) and the 'broad-headed' people (the earliest inhabitants of Anatolia and Greece) finally gained the upper hand, among the original population of Crete, they had no Representative or only a minority, this ethnographic evidence confirms the conclusion that the first people to live on any of the islands in the Aegean Islands migrated due to the 'drying' of the Asian and African steppes. "(Toynbee, ch.5, p.94-5

The race is the same as Egypt, and the culture is strongly influenced by Egypt. The maritime empire of Crete is similar to the Eastern Kingdom. It seems to be A reasonable conclusion. What is the ancient Greek civilization also called?

When and where did the ancient Greek civilization originate?

The geographical scope of ancient Greece? In addition to the current Greek peninsula, it also includes the entire Aegean Sea area and the Parthenon

Macedonia and Thrace in the north, the Apennine Peninsula and Asia Minor, especially in the 5th and 6th centuries BC. After the Greco-Persian War, the economic life was highly prosperous and the glorious Greek culture was produced, which had a profound impact on later generations. The ancient Greeks had profound attainments in literature, drama, sculpture, architecture, philosophy and many other aspects. After the demise of ancient Greece, the civilizational heritage was destructively continued by the ancient Romans, thus becoming the spiritual source of the entire Western civilization.

Modern Greek archeology in the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC. Excavations revealed that the Greek mainland has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic Age; bronze culture appeared on Crete around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and a country and writing emerged around 2000 BC at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Around the 19th century, some Greek-speaking tribes began to settle in the Greek peninsula. In the middle and late 2nd millennium BC, the Greeks established small countries such as Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos (formerly translated as "Pylos"). There was writing and the splendid Mycenaean civilization was created. From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the Greeks gradually expanded to the islands in the Aegean Sea (including Crete). It is said that the Trojan War took place in Asia Minor. In the second half of the 13th century BC or the early 12th century BC when the Greeks expanded outward, the Mycenaean civilization gradually declined within one or two hundred years after the 12th century BC. The Greek-speaking tribes entered the Greek peninsula from the north, causing many Greek tribes and tribes in Thessaly and its south to migrate in different directions. The state, writing and great palaces all disappeared. It is the "Homeric Era" when the social organization and lifestyle at the end of primitive society dominated the Greek Peninsula, the Aegean Islands, and the areas inhabited by Greeks in Asia Minor. Starting from the mid-6th century BC, Sparta in the southern part of the Peloponnese Peninsula gradually united most of the city-states on the peninsula to form the Peloponnesian League, becoming the leader of a group of city-states in Greece. The uprising of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor led by Miletus to overthrow Persian rule (500 BC to 494 BC) opened the prelude to Greek history in the 5th century BC. The Persian army's invasion of Greece in 492 BC, 490 BC and 480 BC all ended in failure.

In the battles of Marathon, Salamis, Plataea and other battles, the people of dozens of Greek city-states who resisted the invasion showed a high degree of patriotism. The victory of the Greeks had a profound impact both inside and outside the Greek world (see Hippo war). The Greeks in Sicily also achieved a major victory over Carthage in 480 BC. The Rise of the Kingdom of Macedonia and the Hellenistic Era The inhabitants of Macedonia, Greece's northern neighbor, were ethnically and linguistically close to the Greeks and were deeply influenced by advanced Greek culture. The rapid rise of ancient Macedonia under the rule of Philip II (reigned 359 BC to 336 BC) not only greatly promoted the development of Macedonian history, but also integrated the history of the Macedonians with the history of the Greeks for a long time. . Macedonia's outward expansion during the reign of Philip II seriously damaged the interests of many Greek city-states and threatened their survival. The Athenian anti-Macedonians, represented by Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC), fought resolutely inside and outside Athens to resist the Macedonian invasion from the 4th century BC onwards, but ended in failure. Why did European civilization originate in ancient Greece?

Because the earliest civilization in Europe was the Cretan civilization on the island of Crete. At that time, they had cities, writing and pottery, while the rest of Europe was still separate. Savage tribe. Afterwards, barbarian invasions of northern Greece merged with their culture to form true Greek civilization. Afterwards, Greece was occupied by Rome, but it was integrated into Roman civilization. Until the fall of the Roman Empire until now, Greek civilization has always influenced the development of European culture and is the foundation for the development of European culture. Why is ancient Greek civilization the origin of European civilization?

The geographical scope of ancient Greece, in addition to the current Greek Peninsula, also includes the entire Aegean Sea region and Macedonia and Thrace in the north, the Apennine Peninsula and Asia Minor, etc. land. In the 5th and 6th centuries BC, especially after the Greco-Persian War, the economic life was highly prosperous and the splendid Greek culture was produced, which had a profound impact on later generations. The ancient Greeks had profound attainments in literature, drama, sculpture, architecture, philosophy and many other aspects. This civilizational heritage was destructively continued by the ancient Romans after the demise of ancient Greece, thus becoming the spiritual source of the entire Western civilization.