ancient Greece – Historical Debate Society for Girls and Boys

History of Mycenaean Greece

The Mycenaean Greek history was split into two eras. It started in around 1600BC in the Shaft Grave Era that ended in 1450BC at the collapse of the Minoan civilisation. The Shaft Grave period was when MycenaeanGreeks were the underdogs in the Aegean world with the Minoans ruling the seas while the Mycenaeans were minor trade partners. While on land they lived in simplistic citadels and they were influenced by the Minoan in ships, palaces and writing. The elite were buried in elegant shafts dug into the ground with great treasures. After the eruption of the volcanic island Theya, the Minoan civilization went into a steep decline and the with the loss of the sea domination and no army to speak of, they were quickly conquered by the militarisedMycenaeans. This started the Koine era, which was their hay day. From 1450 to 1250 they ruled the seas, built giant palaces, and fought great wars. But in 1250 the troubles started when most palaces were destroyed by natural disasters and unknown armies. However, they repaired the palaces and although they lost mastery of the sea to the sea people, they carried on until 1100 BC, when all palaces were destroyed or abandoned.

Ancient greek olympics

In an ancient Greek Olympics there was a mystery competition a bit like a Triathalon called a

Pentathlon in which athletes competed in running, long-jump, discus, javelin and wrestling.

It first appeared at the Olympics in 708 BC. We do not know how people won or the order of the events except we do know that wrestling came last. Which order do you think they competed in and how might they have decided who won overall?

The Real Trojan War

The Trojan war is thought to be historically a conflict between the Assuwa confederation and the Ahhiyawa kingdom [Mycenaeans]. The Assuwa was a confederation of 22 cities including Wilusa, which is also known as Troy. Historians say the conflict ran from 1278BC to 1184BC. The Assuwa confederation broke off from the Hittite empire after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites in 1274BC when it gave up the Aegean coastal lands.

The Lycians and the Pelasgians (allies of Troy) in the legend were the Luka and the Palest tribes of sea people. The evidence for the Mycenaeans attacking the confederation rather than just Troy was when they destroyed the land of the confederation and a little bit beyond.

Do you know any good facts about the Trojans?

Greek trade

In ancient Greece, international trade began about 750BC because of factors like colonisation, spread of coinage, less pirates and interstate alliances. Greek pottery was in great demand and has been found on the Atlantic coast of Africa. The most important exports were wine and olives, while cereals, spices and precious metals were imported. Most traders didn’t have their own vessel so they rented a ship from a special ship-dealer. If the boat sank the trader didn’t have to pay, so some traders deliberately scuttled their ship!

Archimedes’ Mirror(s)

According to historians, Archimedes [A famous inventor] created a mirror[s] that deflected the sun’s rays and used them to burn ships of the invading Romans. Modern reenactors try to recreate it, but they can’t make it work at the range of 100 feet what was the range according to historians. There could have been more than one mirror. The first account of a mirror was 800 years after the siege of Syracuse! Do you think it is a myth?

Ancient Greek week

This week will be about ancient Greece, hope you like it.

Hoplites

Today I will be talking about Hoplites. A Hoplite is a foot soldier in ancient Greece with heavy bronze armour, a large shield called a hoplon (or aspis), a spear and a sword. Hoplites fight in a formation called a phalanx, a formation where the shields are tightly overlapping. The question is when did proto phalanxes (lots of little formations working together) become a major phalanx (one big formation)? There are three theories: 1. Between 750 BC-650 BC because of a change in weapons and armour. 2. Between 800 BC-750 BC because the major phalanx got shown as the better one of the two and rapidly spread through Greece. 3. Between 750 BC – 450 BC because the true major phalanx never emerged until the large scale fighting against the Persians. Which one do you think is right?

Triremes

It is a mystery is that the triremes ships are the largest Greek warship to be pictured but there are larger ships like the quadireme and the quinquereme. There is even a tessarakonteres that is a “forty”! The translation for the Greek word for quadireme is “four oar” we assume it means four banks of rowers but who would make a ship with forty banks! What do you think?