The Greek Empire's Territory in the year 478 BC, was geographically dominated by two peninsulas. Italy splits Europe into the eastern and western half, while Greece consists of two large peninsulas that extend from Europe into the Mediterranean. Separating the eastern region. The Greek world consisted of mainland Greece, the islands off its west coast, and the Aegean Sea, which separated mainland Greece from Asia Minor and was confined to the east by the coast of Asia Minor, the coast of Thrace, and the island of Crete. Mountains separate the Greek mainland into several, mostly minor, livable zones, while sea inlets split it into northern and central Greece and the Peloponnese, which are connected by the Corinth Isthmus. Egypt and the Near East developed advanced civilizations earlier than the northern and western regions. The most notable Greek colonies were in the south and east, and there was a tendency to seek interaction with and embrace the south and east cultures. The earliest sophisticated civilizations emerged in the Greek area during the bronze period. During the second millennium, the Minoan culture in Crete, the Cycladic culture in the Aegean, and the Mycenaean culture on the mainland all existed; starting about 1400, the Mycenaeans influenced Crete and the Cyclades. The Mycenaeans spoke Greek, but the Minoans spoke a different language, and no Cycladic writing remained. This was the location of heroic stories in ancient Greek literature. Large kingdoms supported life, centered on opulent palaces, and were governed by bureaucratic governments. During an era of calamity and population upheavals whose reasons are unclear, this planet vanished between 1200 and 1000 BCE.