What did Crete and the Greek mainland benefit from the prosperity in the15th century BC?

The prosperity of Crete and mainland Greece in15th century BC largely benefited from the general development of trade, which was a major feature of the maturity of the bronze age civilization in the Near East. In this trade, metal exchange occupies a very important position, whether it is sold in batches or in the form of weapons, tools and jewelry.

Egypt is particularly rich because Nubia is rich in gold. She exported gold to Babylon and other regions, and mainly imported silver from Asia Minor. Although she has copper mines in Sinai, she also imports copper from Cyprus and Syria. Further east, the Mesopotamian Civilization Center obtained the copper they needed from Arabia, Transcaucasia and Asia Minor. Crete has played an important role in the development of copper weapons since a long time ago.

The triangular dagger she invented was popular in Spain, Italy and the Danube Valley as early as the early Bronze Age. Copper mines in Spain, Elba, Idalarea, Hungary and Travania were successively developed in these places. Therefore, the exchange of metals and weapons between Europe, Asia and Africa is growing day by day, and Minos Crete and Troy get a lot of gold, silver and copper from it.

As an alloy of copper and tin, bronze may first be widely used and developed in Syria or Asia Minor. Its popularity in other places has greatly increased the importance of Europe, because there are the most abundant tin mines in Cornwall, Spain, Ida, Larea and Hungary. The earliest bronze weapons brought to Europe from the eastern Mediterranean spread along the following three main routes: from Troy to the lower reaches of the Danube; From Greece and Adriatic Sea to Italy and Central Europe; From Spain to northern western Europe.

For example, a light bronze rapier was first produced in Crete around 2000 BC and spread to the middle reaches of the Danube River through Greece and Italy. Hundreds of years later, this thin sword developed into a wide sword in Hungary and was gradually adopted by Italy. It first appeared in Greece around 1375 BC.

Although the turnover rate of trade is not fast, the area it covers extends from the Baltic Sea where amber is produced to the vast areas of the two river basins. The richest exchange centers are Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor. Moreover, in15th century BC, Egypt was at the peak of political power, ruling Palestine and Syria, and making alliances with Babylon and Mitanni in the northeast of Syria. Cyprus considers itself a vassal state, and the Hittite kingdom in central Asia Minor fell before its force.

In this century, Egypt has become the center of civilized world. Its fleet and army control various trade routes, which can reach Ethiopia and Africa, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, the southern Mediterranean and the interior of Palestine and Syria.

In the 0/5th century BC/KLOC-,Crete and mainland Greece did not get rich because of their own mineral resources. In Silla near Delphi, tin may have been mined, but the copper mine in Crete and the silver mine in Attica may not have been developed. Therefore, Minos and Mycenae were the middlemen and beneficiaries of commercial trade that reached Egypt and the Near East through the Mediterranean, while local craftsmen were good at making weapons and precious jewels.

They also exported leather, wood, wine, olive oil and purple dyes to Egypt in exchange for precious metals, linen, papyrus and ropes. During this period, Crete's trade route in the Mediterranean was in a particularly favorable position, because Egypt and Syria were the main exchange centers at that time. Crete and its dependencies control the gateway to the southern Aegean Sea, as well as the navigation channel from Syria, Cyprus and Rhodes to the west.

It was not until around 1450 BC that Mycenae's power developed and began to claim its territory. In this way, the maritime hegemony of Knossos was finally destroyed around 1400 BC. The palaces and possessions of Crete were looted and its political organization collapsed. The disaster did not touch the source of its wealth, but it provided an opportunity for others to usurp the central position of Crete, which has existed for hundreds of years.

The Greek countries on the mainland are just qualified to inherit Knossos' leading position in the South Aegean Sea. After two centuries of contact with Minoan civilization, they greatly accelerated their own development. They made a kind of exquisite Mycenae-style pottery, which combined the mainland pattern form and the tradition of exquisite craftsmanship with the good decoration and modeling of Minos. Before Knossos was attacked, this kind of pottery had been exported in large quantities, and then Mycenae's export wave was even higher, flowing through the relay stations of Milos Island, Serra Island and Rhodes Island and reaching all parts of the Near East.

As more Greeks immigrated, Rhodes became more and more powerful and became an important trade center. Greek immigrants also reached the southern and eastern coasts of Cyprus and gradually spread to other parts of the island. In Silesia, the remains of Mycenae found Hutarssus, Kazari and Mersing; In Kalia, Mycenae's remains were found in Yasus. Ugarit once accepted Greek merchants, and their pottery spread all the way back to the cities on the Syrian plateau in the Orente River basin. Recently, Mycenae artifacts were discovered in Poseidon, Syria.

Mycenae pottery also spread from Askalon to the interior of southern Palestine, and to a lesser extent from Haifa to northern Palestine. Taylor El Amanai was in Egypt (about 65438 BC+0374 BC? Before 1362, it was not Thebes, but the capital of Egypt), and a large number of Mycenae pottery was imported, and a small amount was imported from Gulobu near the delta. Throughout the 4th century BC/KLOC-0, Mycenae pottery remained generally consistent, but there were few regional features. Rhode Island and Cyprus, as major trade centers, are particularly prosperous and may be the centers of pottery production.

In the second half of this century, quite a few mainlanders moved to Crete. They built ceremonial houses and buried the dead with arched tombs and open-air tombs. They may have ruled the primitive Minoan people on the island, and they have regained their vitality and made a lot of transactions with the Egyptians at that time.

In the northern Aegean Sea, the Greek countries further developed their trade with the rich city of Troy. At the end of 14 BC, the six-story city of Troy was destroyed by the earthquake, but its successor, Troy VII A, was still as rich as ever and began to trade with the Greek mainland.

This trade may be carried out along the coastal trade routes of Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace, which makes Mycenae culture spread rapidly in Thessaly and Lower Macedonia. A small amount of Mycenae pottery was unearthed in Syracuse Islands (except Milos and Serra Islands) and North spola Des Islands, mainly in Tyrol Island. Residents of these islands and the coast of Asia Minor in the west (except Miletus) may be outside the trade and cultural center of Mycenae.

Although Minos and Mycenae's pottery once reached Libana and Ischia, and Ricsli stones produced in the Libari Islands were also sold to Crete, the earliest sign of emigration to the west was in14th century BC. Mycenae pottery and dome tombs of this period were found in Accra and Rakus in Sicily, and a large number of Mycenae pottery were unearthed in Aurea and Taras in southern Italy. Obviously, there were Greek immigrants in these two places, who settled in convenient places along the trade routes to Libya and Ischia, just as their successors did six hundred years later.

The expansion of Mycenae world and its direct contact with Egypt, Syria, Troy, Italy and Sicily brought more and more financial resources to all ethnic groups in the Greek mainland. BC 1600? Before 1400, the advanced culture found in the palace only slowly spread to the affiliated places, but after 1400 BC, a unified Mycenaean culture grew rapidly, covering the whole of Greece except Epirus and Macedonia, and extended to ionian islands and some islands in the Aegean Sea except Corsila.

However, the situation changed again from BC 1300, when the trade between Greece and Egypt dropped sharply. Cyprus became an independent center, exporting its products to Syria and Palestine, and the capital of Nkomi built a fortress to protect its bronze manufacturing industry.

The integrated culture has also split. For example, Cyprus has developed its own local Mycenae pottery. Therefore, the Greek mainland lost a lot of markets in the East, and the opponent may be the Phoenicians in Bieber. Since15th century BC, it has stopped importing pottery from Greece and may compete with Mycenae in entrepot trade. Troy also reduced the import of Mycenae pottery after 1300 BC, and in the west, it cut off its ties with Sicily, Libana and Ischia around 1300 BC (but still kept in touch with Greek settlements in southern Italy).

The wealth of the Greek mainland gradually declined with the deterioration of overseas trade, and the relative peace maintained in the heyday of Mycenae civilization began to give way to a turbulent era. The castle was built stronger than before to protect the rulers of the palace.