I'm Angela O'Dell and you are listening to real cool history for kids, a podcast show featuring history stories told from a biblical worldview. Welcome to episode 22 of Real Cool history for kids.

In the ancient days of history, a rather mysterious group of people lived in the part of the world that we now call the country of Greece.

Interestingly, it was not until the late 1800s that anyone even knew about these people.

We do not know what they called themselves but there are enough artifacts to give just a small glimpse into their lifestyle.

For example, from these archaeological finds we know that they had beautifully carved statues, pottery, and jewelry.

Historians call these people Mycenians because their civilization was discovered close to the city of Mycinea in Greece.

These people are considered to be the earliest people of Greece,

and they ruled their peninsula for hundreds of years.

Not only did they rule the mainland of Greece,

but they also had taken over a large island country that lies to the south. This island country of Crete had at one

time been a peaceful farming civilization. The people who lived there had lived in peace for centuries because their small island country was completely surrounded by the vast Mediterranean Sea, which protected them from invasion. You may want to take a moment and find

the area that I'm talking about in our episode. You will find it over in the Eastern Hemisphere, and if you find the big Mediterranean Sea it is one of

the peninsulas that juts down into that water. Okay once once you find it, come back here and we'll finish our story.

These people who lived on Crete became known for their skill in shipbuilding and they were also known for

another rather strange and interesting thing. They had an interesting sport which they called bull jumping.

Bull jumping was the Creighton's favorite form of entertainment.

Children were trained from a very young age to perform in this dangerous sport.

As the bull came raging into the ring, the bulljumper grabbed its horns and somersaulted onto its back, flipping up and over the beast landing in the ring behind them.

Wow, how dangerous is that?

The people who lived on Crete were called Minoans. The Minoans lived on Crete for a long time and then something mysterious happened.

Their civilization just seemed to disappear in a really short period of time.

Historians believed that a volcano erupted on an island not far from Crete and the volcanic ash was washed over the sea and destroyed their farmlands and towns.

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