Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

fortresses with strong walls. This was

because the Mycenaeans fought many

wars, including—according to legend—

the TrojanWar. There were also landowners,

farmers, slaves, and priests. Like

the Minoans, the Mycenaeans decorated

their walls with paintings. They were

skilled jewelers and goldsmiths.

Mycenaean trade extended to Sicily,

Egypt, Palestine, Troy, Cyprus, and

The throne room of the palace in Knossos

still holds the throne of the ancient Minoan

kings.

Ancient Greek

mythology tells

of the Minotaur,

a fierce

monster of the

Minoan kingdom.

The

Minotaur had

the body of a

man and the

head of a bull.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Aegean civilization 33

 

Macedonia. The Mycenaeans imported

food, cloth, and copper. They probably

exported woolen goods, olive oil, timber,

and silver.

TheMycenaeans adopted theMinoan

system of writing on clay tablets. Unlike

theMinoan language, however, the

Mycenaean language has been translated.

It is the oldest known form of Greek.

Toward the end of the 1200s BC, the

Mycenaean civilization fell apart. Many

people moved away to other lands.

Scholars think that the decline may have

been due to drought, bad harvests, lack

of food, disease, or anger about the high

taxes the people had to pay.

In about 1100 BC Greece was taken over

by tribes from the north. These peoples

were the ancestors of the modern

Greeks. It is with them that the history

of ancient Greece began.

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Aegean Sea • Greece • Greece, Ancient

Aegean Sea

An arm of the Mediterranean Sea, the

Aegean Sea lies between the countries of

Greece and Turkey. The region was the

site of two great ancient civilizations,

those of Crete and Greece.

The Aegean Sea is about 380 miles (610

kilometers) long and 185 miles (300

kilometers) wide. In the northeast it

connects to the Black Sea through a

series of narrow straits. The sea has hundreds

of islands stretching from Greece

to the shores of Asia. The islands are

actually the mountain peaks of an

underwater landmass called Aegeis.

The Aegean contains few nutrients so

very little plant life grows there. Its

warm waters, however, encourage fish to

enter it from the Black Sea to breed.

The chief products of the islands are

wheat, wine, oil, figs, raisins, honey,

vegetables, marble, and minerals. Fishing

and tourism are also important. Visitors

come to see the villages of

whitewashed houses as well as the ruins

of ancient civilizations.

The clear blue waters of the Aegean Sea

lap at the shores of a beach in Greece.

34 Aegean Sea BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Scientists believe that people began to

explore the Aegean about 15,000 years

ago. By the 1st century BC the Roman

Empire ruled over the area of the Aegean

and the Mediterranean. The region later

came under the control of the Byzantine

Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and

finally the independent country of

Greece.

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Aegean Civilization • Greece

Aesop

Hundreds of stories called fables are

credited to a person named Aesop.

Ancient scholars claimed that Aesop

lived in the kingdom of Thrace in the

500s BC. It is now known that many of

the stories are even older and that Aesop

probably never existed. But the fables

that are credited to him are still used to

teach children.

The fables of Aesop were probably part

of an oral history—stories that were told

aloud. About 2,000 years ago the

Roman writer Phaedrus wrote down

some of the fables. Later the stories were

translated into other languages. An early

English-language version of the stories

was published in 1692. The fables familiar

to readers today were translated into

English during the 1800s. Most of the

fables are about animals with human

characteristics. Most end with a moral,

or a statement of the lesson that the

fable teaches.

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Fable • Folktale

In Aesop’s fable of “The Hare and the Tortoise,”

a speedy hare teases a tortoise

about his slow pace. The tortoise challenges

the hare to a race. The hare is so sure that

he will win that he takes a nap. When he

wakes up, the tortoise has already won. The

moral is “Slow but steady wins the race.”

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Aesop 35

 

Afghanistan

The country of Afghanistan lies at the

heart of central Asia. The capital is

Kabul.

Geography

Afghanistan borders Iran, Pakistan,

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

The Amu Darya river forms part of

the northern border. A narrow piece of

land called the Vakhan, orWakhan Corridor,

connects Afghanistan with China.

Afghanistan is a mountainous country.

The main range is the Hindu Kush, in

the northeast. North of the central

mountains are fertile plains. Deserts,

including the sandy Rigestan, lie in the

southwest. Afghanistan generally has a

dry climate with cold winters and hot

summers.

Plants and Animals

Southern Afghanistan has little vegetation.

Cedar, oak, walnut, alder, and ash

trees grow in the north. The mountains

have forests of pine and fir.

Wolves, foxes, hyenas, jackals, bears, and

wild goats roam the mountains.

Gazelles, wild dogs, and wild cats are

widespread. The country’s birds include

vultures and eagles.

People

The people of Afghanistan, known as