In the 2nd millennium BC two great civilizations flourished in the Aegean: the Minoan and the Mycenaean. The Minoan civilization was based on Crete, the Mycenaean on mainland Greece.
Economic life was centered in the palace, an imposing building with storage rooms, workshops, interior courtyards, gathering spaces, and sanctuaries. The palace received the agricultural surplus of the region and imports from abroad (e.g. luxurious materials from Egypt, Cyprus and other areas of the East Mediterranean). Early forms of writing were used to support palatial administration. The Minoan scripts (hieroglyphic and Linear A) have not been deciphered yet. The Mycenaean Linear B script recorded an archaic form of Greek.
Art developed immensely in that period. The Minoan and Mycenaean artists excelled in the making of stone vases, ivory objects, gold and glass jewellery, bronze vessels, weapons and tools, clay figurines and vases, sealstones etc., and in the decoration of palatial buildings and sanctuaries with polychrome frescos. The Mycenaeans buried their dead in monumental tholos tombs, many of which survive intact until today.
The palatial economies of the Aegean collapsed at the end of the 13th-beginning of 12th c. BC, as the result of widespread turmoil and population movements all over the Eastern Mediterranean. Gradually Aegean societies disintegrated, population decreased and arts declined. By the mid-11th c. BC, the Bronze Age had come to an end.
ca. 2000-1900 BC | Construction of Minoan palaces in Crete (Knossos, Phaistos, Malia etc.) – use of the Linear A and Hieroglyphic scripts |
ca. 1750 BC | Destruction of Minoan palaces and rebuilding |
ca. 1650 BC | Grave Circles Α and Β at Mycenae |
ca. 1550 BC | Destruction of Cretan palaces and cities – decline of Minoan political and economic power |
ca. 1350 BC | Construction of Mycenaean palaces in Mainland Greece (Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos etc.) – use of Linear B script for administrative purposes |
ca. 1200 BC | Extensive destructions in Mycenaean palatial centers and other sites – gradual decline of Mycenaean civilization |
1194-1184 BC | Conventional dates of the Trojan War |