1. Minoans & Phoenicians

2. The Minoans Lived on the island of Crete
Crete is located on the Southern edge of the Aegean Sea
The Minoans dominated trade in the Mediterranean Sea from 2000 to B.C.E.

3. Pottery & Trade Best pottery of the era
Trade pottery, swords, figurines, and vessels of precious metal.
Along with goods, Minoans also exported their art and cultural.
Trading turned Crete into a kind of “stepping stone” for cultural exchange

4. Knossos Capital City of Minoa, excavated in the 1800s
Appears to be a peaceful culture as there is a lack of fortifications to the city.
Named after their King, King Minos
According to legend, Minos kept a half-human, half-bull monster, called the Minotaur in a labyrinth (a maze)

5. Sports
Boxing
Wrestling
Bull-leaping

6. Mysterious End?!?! Possible Natural Disaster Overpopulated Invaders
Survived earlier disaster in 1700 B.C.E. but they rebuilt the city
Disaster in 1470 B.C.E. was an event that they did not recover from.
Overpopulated
Invaders
Greece may have taken advantage of weakened condition and destroyed them.

7. Phoenicians
Around 1100 B.C.E., after the decline of the Minoans, the Phoenicians take over as the major trader of the area
Located in modern day Lebanon.
Never united as a country
Many wealthy city-states

8. Phoenicians Remarkable shipbuilders and seafarers
First to venture pasts the Straight of Gibraltar and all the way to Britain
They had trading outposts Around the Mediterranean
They are famous for their purple dye created from a sea snail, murex
Most important legacy, the Alphabet
Developed a writing system that used symbols to represent sounds.
One sign = one sound