Bronze Age Aegean · About 2000-1450 BC

The Minoans of Crete

Palaces with hundreds of rooms, bull-leapers on painted walls and a writing nobody can read: the Minoans of Crete ruled the sea lanes of the Aegean. Students explore Knossos, the volcano of Thera, and the mystery of the Minoans' decline.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 1700 BC to 1600 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Palaces with hundreds of rooms, bull-leapers on painted walls and a writing nobody can read: the Minoans of Crete ruled the sea lanes of the Aegean. Students explore Knossos, the volcano of Thera, and the mystery of the Minoans' decline.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Crete, Knossos and Thera and explain Crete's place in Bronze Age sea trade.
  • Describe what Minoan palaces and art tell us about Minoan life.
  • Weigh explanations for the decline of Minoan power around 1450 BC.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

1700 BC

An island at the crossroads

Open the map in 1700 BC and find Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. Compare the distances from Crete to Greece, Egypt and the Levant coast. Why was this a good home for a sea-trading people?

Open this view on the map
b

1700 BC

The palace of Knossos

Turn on Cities and zoom in on the north coast near Heraklion. Find Knossos, whose palace had more than 1,000 rooms around a central court. Why might later Greeks have told the legend of the Labyrinth here?

Open this view on the map
c

1600 BC

The volcano

Jump to 1600 BC, turn on Historical Events and find the eruption of Thera. Look at the ring of islands that is left today. What happened to the town of Akrotiri?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Minoan palaces had no strong city walls. What could that tell us about the island and its power?
  2. We cannot read Linear A, so we know the Minoans mainly from art and buildings. What can art tell us, and what can it not?
  3. Arthur Evans rebuilt parts of Knossos in concrete and had frescoes repainted. Was that a good idea?
  4. At Akrotiri almost no bodies have been found under the ash. What does that suggest the people did?
  5. Did the Thera eruption end the Minoans? What other causes should historians consider?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Hatshepsut. Tomb paintings of her officials show envoys from the Aegean, called Keftiu, bringing gifts to Egypt. Discuss: what could Egypt and Crete offer each other?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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