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Who were the Ancient Greeks?

60 second histories

This video covers:  Explores where Ancient Greek civilization began and discusses the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

Ancient Greece was situated in the Aegean Sea and was part of the Aegean world, which includes all the civilizations in this area. It was the Minoans who were the first civilization of the Aegean world, living on the island of Crete just off the coast of mainland Greece. The Minoans lived a mainly peaceful existence; they built palaces with elegant rooms whose walls were painted in the most elaborate style. The Minoans were traders who traded as far as Egypt, but being a peaceful people it wasn’t long before they were taken over by the Mycenaeans who were a warlike people that lived on mainland Greece. Like the Minoans, the Mycenaeans were traders too, they were excellent crafts people and builders. They built defensive walls around their city of Mycenae and a magnificent gateway to their city called the Lion Gate, as well as underground tombs. Although the Mycenaeans were warlike and had fought in the battle of Troy in the Trojan Wars, they themselves fell under attack and in less than a hundred years they had abandoned their civilization. It is thought that they went back to a tribal way of life, what followed is known as the Greek Dark Ages.
Eras: 
Ancient Greece
Topics: 
Civilizations
Invaders
Character: 
Greek philosopher
Key words: 
Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek, Aegean, Aegean Sea, Minoan, Crete, Greece, Mycenaean, Mycenae, Lion Gate, Troy, Battle of Troy, Trojan, Trojan Wars, Greek dark ages, Traders, Builders, Lion Gate, KS2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Key Stage 2