3200 BC to 1100 BC

Minoans and Mycenaeans

On Crete the Minoans built palaces such as Knossos from about 2000 BC and traded across the Aegean. On the mainland the Mycenaeans, the first Greek speakers we can read, ruled from fortified palaces and took over Knossos around 1450 BC. Their Linear B tablets are the oldest written Greek. Their world collapsed around 1200 BC.