Aegean civilizations, the Stone and Bronze Age civilizations that arose and flourished in the area of the Aegean Sea in the periods, respectively, about 7000–3000 bc and about 3000–1000 bc. The area consists of Crete, the Cyclades and some other islands, and the Greek mainland, including the Peloponnese, central Greece, and Thessaly. The ...

Aegean civilizations, The Bronze Age civilizations that arose and flourished c. 3000–1000 bce in the region bordering the Aegean Sea. They include Crete , the Cyclades, the Greek mainland south from Thessaly, including the Peloponnese, and Macedonia , Thrace , and western Anatolia.

Aegean civilizations - Paleolithic & Neolithic: Chipped stone tools made by Paleolithic hunters have been found in many parts of mainland Greece, but none are yet recorded from Crete or the other islands. As elsewhere in Europe, the latest Lower Paleolithic industries evolved into Upper Paleolithic ones with diminutive stonework.

Aegean civilizations - People, Dress & Trade: The Aegean populations after the Neolithic Period do not conform to a clear ethnic type. The men from small tribal organizations of early times seem to have chosen brides from outside the kin group, at …

Aegean civilizations - The Bronze Age, Crete & Artifacts: The transition from Neolithic to Bronze Age in the Aegean was marked by changes in pottery and other aspects of material culture. These changes may reflect the arrival in Crete and the Cyclades of new people from lands farther east bringing knowledge of metalworking with them.

Two different civilizations flourished in this region from about 3000 bc to 1000 bc. The earliest is known as Minoan, because its center at Knossos (also spelled Cnossus) on the island of Crete was the legendary home of King Minos, who was (according to mythology) the son of the god Zeus and Europa, a Phoenician princess. The later culture is ...

Aegean civilizations - End of the Early Bronze Age & Cultural Changes: The comparative unity of incipient civilization in the Aegean area was eventually shattered by new movements of people into the Cyclades and the southern part of the mainland.

Aegean civilizations - Religion, Deities & Ritual Practices: Little is known about religion in the Cyclades and on the mainland before the period when they came under strong Cretan influence. An open-air sanctuary filled with marble figurines on the island of Kéros (Káros) is assignable to the Early Bronze Age.

Aegean civilizations - Decline, Environmental Factors & Social Change: Cretan civilization reached its highest peak between about 1600 and the later 15th century. An important change of fashion that began about 1600 in Crete was the abandonment of the “light-on-dark” style of vase decoration of Kamáres tradition in favour of a return to ...

Aegean civilizations - Mainland Architecture & Exploration: While there are many signs of mainland influence in Crete in the period after about 1450, the conquest may have helped to spread Cretan fashions and techniques on the mainland through the …