Do you have a family tradition about your Greco-Roman origins? Did you ever want to be part of great mythology or witness the Trojan War? Do you want to know the people who founded Greek culture, leaving their mark on our language, architecture, and engineering even to this day? This test combines three other tests available on our website for Crete Minoans, Greek Mycenaeans, and Roman Britons.

The island of Crete has been inhabited by humans and pre-humans on and off again for over 6 million years, but the story of the Minoans begins much later. Around 4000 BC, skilled farmers from north and eastern Eurasia were drawn to the island by its comfortable climate and its sea barrier that could provide some protection from invasion. Their farming skills had been passed down from generation to generation for over 6,000 years, yet on Crete, these people craved something more. The people who would become known as the Minoans wanted to create a new civilization. Little could they have imagined that their culture would be considered the first high culture in the Aegean and became world known for its society and religion. Yet, by 1100 BC, their civilization was wiped out. Perhaps it was ash from the volcanic eruption on Thera that destroyed their crops and starved them. Or maybe internal hardship made them vulnerable to the spreading of civilization from mainland Greece. Or maybe they had simply exhausted the resources of the island that had once served them.

The predecessors of the Minoans were the Mycenaeans. Their civilization flourished on mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and parts of the western coast of modern-day Turkey from 1750 to 1050 BC. There they built palaces and citadels, waged war in chariots and ships, and worshiped the gods and goddesses of the Olympian Pantheon. They were idealized by the later classical Greeks, who told stories of the Mycenaeans’ bravery and wealth in their myths and poetry.

Eventually, the Romans conquered Greece and incorporated their culture into theirs. The Romans reached Britain and established various cities. Many graves are rich in goods the men there had been buried with honor and that fact combined with the marks of combat injuries they still bore on their skeletons suggested these men had been fierce and celebrated soldiers in life. Other graves are different. The Britons of Roman Driffield Terrace, for example, were buried without their head, posing a mystery as to why.

Using the DNA of ancient Crete Minoans, Greek Mycenaeans, and Roman Britons from multiple sites in Crete, Greece, and England this compendium test provides a detailed history of the ancient people of Greece and Rome, their haplogroup breakdown, and history of encounters with other people and summarizes the evidence as to their whereabouts. The test includes a detailed historical, archeological, and paleogenetic background on the people, including how they lived, their cultic practices and mysticism, their treatment of others, and their deeds. A detailed profile is available for every person.