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Readings for Ancient Greece I Unit 3 - Helladic and Mycenaean

Contents:
1  Helladic Period
2  Heinrich Schliemann
3  Dendra Panoply
4  Early Bronze Age
5  Middle Bronze Age
6  Pelasgians
7  Dorian "Invasion"
8  Mycenaean Language
9  Early Thebes
10 Mycenae
11 Mycenae Grave Circle A
12 Mycenae Grave Circle B
13 Mycenae Shafr Grave
14 Mycenae Religion
15 Treasury of Atreus
16 Mycenae Megaron
17 Helladic Bronze Age Pottery
18 Mycenaean Frescoes
19 Mycenaean Weapons Manufacture
20 Lefkandi
21 Illiad - Greek Bronze Age
22 Some External Internet Links


1.  Helladic period – Greek Mainland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helladic_period

 

Period

Bronze Age Europe

Dates

circa 3,200 B.C.E. — circa 1,050 B.C.E.

Major sites

Thebes, Tiryns

Preceded by

Neolithic Greece

Followed by

Greek Dark Ages

 

Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history. It was intended to complement two parallel terms, "Cycladic", identifying approximately the same sequence with reference to the Aegean Bronze Age, and "Minoan", with reference to the civilization of Crete.

The scheme applies primarily to pottery and is a relative dating system. The pottery at any given site typically can be ordered into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" on the basis of style and technique. The total time window allowed for the site is then divided into these periods proportionately. As it turns out, there is a correspondence between "Early" over all Greece, etc. Also, some "absolute dates", or dates obtained by non-comparative methods, can be used to date the periods and are preferable whenever they can be obtained. However, the relative structure was devised before the age of carbon-dating (most of the excavations were performed then as well). Typically, only relative dates are obtainable and form a structure for the characterization of Greek prehistory. Objects are generally dated by the pottery of the site found in associative contexts. Other objects can be arranged into early, middle and late as well, but pottery is used as a marker.

Helladic society and culture have antecedents in the Neolithic period in Greece with many innovations being developed and manifesting during the second and third phases of the Early Helladic period (2650–2050/2000 BC) such as bronze metallurgy, monumental architecture and fortifications, a hierarchical social organization, and vigorous contacts with other areas of the Aegean. These innovations would undergo further changes during the Middle Helladic period (2000/1900–1550 BC), marked by the spread of Minyan ware, and the Late Helladic period (1550–1050 BC), which was the time when Mycenaean Greece flourished.

 

Contents

         1 Etymology

            2 Periodization

            3 Settlements of the Helladic period

            4 Early Helladic (EH)

                        4.1 Early Helladic I (EHI)

                        4.2 Early Helladic II (EHII)

                        4.3 Early Helladic III (EHIII)

            5 Middle Helladic (MH)

            6 Late Helladic (LH)

                        6.1 Late Helladic I (LHI)

                        6.2 Late Helladic II (LHII)

                        6.3 Late Helladic III (LHIII)

            7 Fortified settlements

            8 Population

            9 See also

            10 References

                        10.1 Citations

                        10.2 Sources

            11 Further reading

            12 External links

 

Etymology

The three terms "Helladic", "Cycladic", and "Minoan" refer to location of origin. Thus "Middle Minoan" objects might be found in the Cyclades, but they are not on that account Middle Cycladic. The scheme tends to be less applicable in areas on the periphery of the Aegean, such as the Levant. Pottery there might imitate Helladic or Minoan cultural models and yet be locally manufactured.

 

Periodization

The "Early", "Middle" and "Late" scheme can be applied at different levels. Rather than use such cumbersome terms as "Early Early", archaeologists by convention use I, II, III for the second level, A, B, C for the third level, 1, 2, 3 for the fourth level and A, B, C for the fifth. Not all levels are present at every site. If additional levels are required, another "Early", "Middle" or "Late" can be appended. The Helladic period is subdivided as:

 

Period

Approximate Date

Early Helladic I

3200/3100–2650 BC[1]

Early Helladic II

2650–2200/2150 BC[2]

Early Helladic III

2200/2150–2050/2000 BC[3]

Middle Helladic

2000/1900–1550 BC[3][4]

Late Helladic I

1550–1500 BC

Late Helladic II

1500–1400 BC

Late Helladic III

1400–1050 BC

 

Settlements of the Helladic period

These are the estimated populations of hamlets, villages, and towns of the Helladic period over time. Note that there are several problems with estimating the sizes of individual settlements, and the highest estimates for a given settlements, in a given period, may be several times the lowest.

Table 1: 3700–2600 BCE

City/Settlement

3700 BCE

3400 BCE

3100 BCE

2800 BCE

2600 BCE

Agios Dimitrios[5]

 

 

 

120–180

120–180

Askitario[5]

 

 

 

90–135

90–135

Eutresis[5]

 

 

 

1,600–2,400

1,600–2,400

Lerna[5]

 

 

 

200–700

200–700

Manika[5][6]

 

 

 

6,000–13,500

6,000–13,500

Raphina[5]

 

 

 

600–900

600–900

Thebes[5]

 

 

 

4,000–6,000

4,000–6,000

Tiryns[5]

 

 

 

1,180–1,170

1,180–1,170

Early Helladic (EH)

Further information: Aegean civilization and Proto-Greek

The Early Helladic period (or EH) of Bronze Age Greece is generally characterized by the Neolithic agricultural population importing bronze and copper, as well as using rudimentary bronze-working techniques first developed in Anatolia with which they had cultural contacts.[7] The EH period corresponds in time to the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Important EH sites are clustered on the Aegean shores of the mainland in Boeotia and Argolid (Manika, Lerna, Pefkakia, Thebes, Tiryns) or coastal islands such as Aegina (Kolonna) and Euboea (Lefkandi) and are marked by pottery showing influences from western Anatolia and the introduction of the fast-spinning version of the potter's wheel. The large "longhouse" called a megaron is introduced in EH II. The infiltration of Anatolian cultural models (i.e. "Lefkandi I") was not accompanied by widespread site destruction.

 

Early Helladic I (EHI)

The Early Helladic I period (or EHI), also known as the "Eutresis culture", is characterized by the presence of unslipped and burnished or red slipped and burnished pottery at Korakou and other sites (metal objects, however, were extremely rare during this period).[8] In terms of ceramics and settlement patterns, there is considerable continuity between the EHI period and the preceding Final Neolithic period (or FN); changes in settlement location during the EHI period are attributed to alterations in economic practices.[8]

 

Early Helladic II (EHII)

The transition from Early Helladic I to the Early Helladic II period (or EHII) occurred rapidly and without disruption where multiple socio-cultural innovations were developed such as metallurgy (i.e. bronze-working), a hierarchical social organization, and monumental architecture and fortifications.[9] Changes in settlement during the EHII period were accompanied with alterations in agricultural practices (i.e. oxen-driven plow).[10]

 

Early Helladic III (EHIII)

The Early Helladic II period came to an end at Lerna with the destruction of the "House of Tiles", a corridor house.[11] The nature of the destruction of EHII sites was at first attributed to an invasion of Greeks and/or Indo-Europeans during the Early Helladic III period (or EHIII);[12] however, this is no longer maintained given the lack of uniformity in the destruction of EHII sites and the presence of EHII–EHIII/MH continuity in settlements such as Lithares, Phlius, Manika, etc.[13] Furthermore, the presence of "new/intrusive" cultural elements such as apsidal houses, terracotta anchors, shaft-hole hammer-axes, ritual tumuli, and intramural burials precede the EHIII period in Greece and are in actuality attributed to indigenous developments (i.e. terracotta anchors from Boeotia; ritual tumuli from Ayia Sophia in Neolithic Thessaly), as well as continuous contacts during the EHII–MH period between mainland Greece and various areas such as western Asia Minor, the Cyclades, Albania, and Dalmatia.[14] Changes in climate also appear to have contributed to the significant cultural transformations that occurred in Greece between the EHII period and the EHIII period (ca. 2200 BCE).[15]

 

Middle Helladic (MH)

Further information: Minyans and Minyan ware

In Greece, the Middle Helladic period (or MH) was a period of cultural retrogression, which first manifested in the preceding EHIII period.[3][4] The MH period is characterized by the wide-scale emergence of Minyan ware, which may be directly related to the people whom ancient Greek historians called Minyans; a group of monochrome burnished pottery from Middle Helladic sites was conventionally dubbed "Minyan" ware by Troy's discoverer Heinrich Schliemann.

 

Gray Minyan ware was first identified as the pottery introduced by a Middle Bronze Age migration;[16] the theory, however, is outdated as excavations at Lerna in the 1950s revealed the development of pottery styles to have been continuous (i.e. the fine gray burnished pottery of the EHIII Tiryns culture was the direct progenitor of Minyan ware).[17] In general, painted pottery decors are rectilinear and abstract until Middle Helladic III, when Cycladic and Minoan influences inspired a variety of curvilinear and even representational motifs.

 

The Middle Helladic period corresponds in time to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Settlements draw more closely together and tend to be sited on hilltops. Middle Helladic sites are located throughout the Peloponnese and central Greece (including sites in the interior of Aetolia such as Thermon) as far north as the Spercheios River valley. Malthi in Messenia and Lerna V are the only Middle Helladic sites to have been thoroughly excavated.

 

Late Helladic (LH)

Further information: Mycenaean Greece

The Late Helladic period (or LH) is the time when Mycenaean Greece flourished, under new influences from Minoan Crete and the Cyclades. Those who made LH pottery sometimes inscribed their work with a syllabic script, Linear B, which has been deciphered as Greek. LH is divided into LHI, LHII, and LHIII; of which LHI and LHII overlap Late Minoan ware and LHIII overtakes it. LHIII is further subdivided into LHIIIA, LHIIIB, and LHIIIC. The table below provides the approximate dates of the Late Helladic phases (LH) on the Greek mainland.

 

Period

Approximate Date

LHI

1550–1500 BC

LHIIA

1500–1450 BC

LHIIB

1450–1400 BC

LHIIIA1

1400–1350 BC

LHIIIA2

1350–1300 BC

LHIIIB1

1300–1230 BC

LHIIIB2

1230–1190 BC

LHIIIC (Early)

1190–1130 BC

LHIIIC (Middle)

1130–1090 BC

LHIIIC (Late)

1090–1060 BC

Sub-Mycenean

1060–1000 BC

Proto-Geometric

1000 BC

Late Helladic I (LHI)

The LHI pottery is known from the fill of the Shaft Graves of Lerna and the settlements of Voroulia and Nichoria (Messenia), Ayios Stephanos, (Laconia) and Korakou. Furumark divided the LH in phases A and B, but Furumark's LHIB has been reassigned to LHIIA by Oliver Dickinson. Some recent C-14 dates from the Tsoungiza site north of Mycenae indicate LHI there was dated to between 1675/1650 and 1600/1550 BCE, which is earlier than the assigned pottery dates by about 100 years. The Thera eruption also occurred during LHI (and LCI and LMIA), variously dated within the 1650–1625 BCE span.

 

Not found at Thera, but extant in late LHI from Messenia, and therefore likely commencing after the eruption, is a material culture known as "Peloponnesian LHI".[18] This is characterised by "tall funnel-like Keftiu cups of Type III"; "small closed shapes such as squat jugs decorated with hatched loops ('rackets') or simplified spirals"; "dark-on-light lustrous-painted motifs", which "include small neat types of simple linked spiral such as varieties of hook-spiral or wave-spiral (with or without small dots in the field), forms of the hatched loop and double-axe, and accessorial rows of small dots and single or double wavy lines"; also, the "ripple pattern" on "Keftiu" cups. These local innovations continued into the LHIIA styles throughout the mainland.

 

Late Helladic II (LHII)

The description of the LHIIA is mainly based on the material from Kourakou East Alley. Domestic and Palatial shapes are distinguished. There are strong links between LHIIA and LMIB. LHIIB began before the end of LMIB, and sees a lessening of Cretan influences. Pure LHIIB assemblages are rare and originate from Tiryns, Asine and Korakou. C-14 dates from Tsoungiza indicate LHII was dated to between 1600/1550 and 1435/1405 BCE, the start of which is earlier than the assigned pottery date by about 100 years, but the end of which nearly corresponds to the pottery phase. In Egypt, both periods of LHII correspond with the beginning of its "Imperial" period, from Hatshepsut to Tuthmosis III (r. 1479–1425 BCE).

 

Late Helladic III (LHIII)

LHIII and LMIII are contemporary. Toward LMIIIB, non-Helladic ware from the Aegean ceases to be homogeneous; insofar as LMIIIB differs from Helladic, it should at most be considered a "sub-Minoan" variant of LHIIIB.

 

The uniform and widely spread LHIIIA:1 pottery was originally defined by the material from the Ramp house at Mycenae, the palace at Thebes (now dated to LHIIIA:2 or LHIIIB by most researchers) and Triada at Rhodes. There is material from Asine, Athens (wells), Sparta (Menelaion), Nichoria and the 'Atreus Bothros', rubbish sealed under the Dromos of the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae as well. C-14 dates from Tsoungiza indicate LHIIIA:1 should be more nearly 1435/1406 to 1390/1370 BCE, slightly earlier than the pottery phase, but by less than 50 years. LHIIIA:1 ware has also been found in Maşat Höyük in Hittite Anatolia.[19]

 

The LHIIIA:2 pottery marks a Mycenaean expansion covering most of the Eastern Mediterranean. There are many new shapes. The motifs of the painted pottery continue from LHIIIA:1 but show a great deal of standardization. In Egypt, the Amarna site contains LHIIIA:1 ware during the reign of Amenhotep III and LHIIIA:2 ware during that of his son Akhenaten; it also has the barest beginnings of LHIIIB. LHIIIA:2 ware is in the Uluburun shipwreck, which sank in the 14th century BCE. Again, Tsoungiza dates are earlier, 1390/1370 to 1360/1325 BCE; but LHIIIA:2 ware also exists in a burn layer of Miletus which likely occurred early in the reign of Mursili II and therefore some years prior to Mursili's eclipse in 1312 BCE. The transition period between IIIA and IIIB begins after 1320 BCE, but not long after (Cemal Pulak thinks before 1295 BCE).

 

The definition of the LHIIIB by Furumark was mainly based on grave finds and the settlement material from Zygouries. It has been divided into two sub-phases by Elizabeth B. French, based on the finds from Mycenae and the West wall at Tiryns. LHIIIB:2 assemblages are sparse, as painted pottery is rare in tombs and many settlements of this period ended by destruction, leaving few complete pots behind.

 

LHIIIB pottery is associated in the Greek mainland palaces with the Linear B archives. (Linear B had been in use in Crete since Late Minoan II.) Pulak's proposed LHIIIA/B boundary would make LHIIIB contemporary in Anatolia with the resurgent Hittites following Mursili's eclipse; in Egypt with the 19th Dynasty, also known as the Ramessides; and in northern Mesopotamia with Assyria's ascendancy over Mitanni. The end of LHIIIB is associated with the destruction of Ugarit, whose ruins contain the last of that pottery. The Tsoungiza date for the end of LHIIIB is 1200/1190 BCE. The beginning of LHIIIC, therefore, is now commonly set into the reign of Queen Twosret. The LHIIIC has been divided into LHIIIC:1 and LHIIIC:2 by Furumark, based on materials from tombs in Mycenae, Asine, Kephalonia, and Rhodes. In the 1960s, the excavations of the citadel at Mycenae and of Lefkandi in Euboea yielded stratified material revealing significant regional variation in LHIIIC, especially in the later phases. Late LHIIIC pottery is found in Troy VIIa and a few pieces in Tarsus. It was also made locally in the Philistine settlements of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza.

 

Fortified settlements

During the Helladic period, a number of major advances were developed including fortified urban settlements with monumental buildings such as corridor houses, which may prove the existence of complex societies organized by an elite or at least achieving corporate, proto-city state form.[20][21] One of these settlements was Manika, located in Euboea, dated to the Early Helladic period II (2800–2200 BC). The settlement covered an area of 70-80 hectares, was inhabited by 6,000–13,500 people, and was one of the largest settlements of the Bronze Age in Greece.[20][5]

 

Another settlement was Lerna in the Argolid region, which was perhaps the most important and wealthiest of Early Helladic sites.[22] The settlement has a monumental building known as the House of the Tiles, a "corridor house",[23] notable for several architectural features that were advanced for its time, such as its roof being covered by baked tiles, which gave the building its name.[24] The structure dates to the Early Helladic II period (2500–2300 BC) and is sometimes interpreted as the dwelling of an elite member of the community, a proto-palace, or an administrative center. Alternatively, it has also been considered to be a communal structure or the common property of the townspeople.[25] The exact functions of the building remain unknown due to a lack of small finds indicating the specific uses of the building.[25] The house had a stairway leading to a second story, and was protected by a tiled roof.[26] Debris found at the site contained thousands of terracotta tiles having fallen from the roof.[27] Although such roofs were also found in the Early Helladic site of Akovitika,[28] and later in the Mycenaean towns of Gla and Midea,[29] they only became common in Greek architecture in the 7th century BC.[30] The walls of the House of the Tiles were constructed with sun-dried bricks on stone socles.[24]

 

Other fortified settlements include Tiryns, which covered an area of 5.9 hectares sustaining 1,180–1,770 people,[5] and had an large tiled two-storeyed "round house" (or Rundbau) with a diameter of 28 m on the upper citadel. It may have served as a palace or temple or perhaps it was a communal granary.[31][32] Other sites include Ayia Irini, which covered an area of 1 hectare and had a population of perhaps up to 1,250,[33] Eutresis covering 8 hectares with an estimated population of 1,600–2,400, Thebes covering 20 hectares with a population of 4,000–6,000,[5] Lefkandi (unknown in size and population), and Kolonna (or Aegina), a densely populated settlement with impressive fortifications, monumental stone buildings and sophisticated town planning.

 

Already before 2500–2400 BC, Kolonna experienced remarkable economic growth and had its own administrative "Corridor House", the so-called "Haus am Felsrand".[34] During the phase Aegina III 2400–2300 BC, which corresponds to the transition phase Lefkandi I-Kastri, the evidence of the economic structure and administrative and social organization of the community become more clear.[34] The "White House" (Weisses Haus; 165 square metres) constitutes the monumental community building that succeeds the "Haus am Felsrand", which had the same function.[34] Kolonna may constitute the Aegean's first state as it appears to be the earliest ranked society in the area outside Minoan Crete and perhaps a political center in the Middle Helladic period where it achieved state-level after the Minoans but before the Mycenaeans.[35]

 

Population

Multivariate analyses of craniometric data derived from Helladic skeletal material indicate a strong morphological homogeneity in the Bronze Age osteological record, disproving the influx of foreign populations between the Early Helladic and Middle Helladic periods; ultimately, the Bronze Age inhabitants of mainland Greece (including the Mycenaeans) represent a single and homogeneous population of Mediterranean provenance.[36]

 

See also

·      Aegean civilization

·      Cyclades

·      History of Greece

·      Linear B

·      Minoan civilization

·      Mycenaean Greece

·      Mycenaean language

·      Pelasgians

 

References

Citations

1.    
^ "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Early Bronze Age – Early Helladic I". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

2.    
^ "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Early Bronze Age – Early Helladic II". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

3.    ^   a b c "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Early Bronze Age – Early Helladic III". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

4.    ^   a b "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Middle Bronze Age – Introduction". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

5.    ^   a b c d e f g h i j k MacSweeney 2004, Table 1. Population estimates for Aegean sites in EB II, p. 57; MacSweeney dates the Early Bronze II period (or EB II) to circa 2800–2200 BC (see p. 53).

6.    
^ Sampson 1987, p. 19.

7.    
^ Pullen 2008, p. 20; van Andels & Runnels 1988, "The transition to the Early Bronze Age", pp. 238–240; French 1973, p. 53.

8.    ^   a b Pullen 2008, pp. 21–22.

9.    
^ Pullen 2008, pp. 24–26; Whittaker 2014, p. 49: "The second half of the Early Helladic period is characterized by monumental architecture and fortifications, a hierarchical social organization, widespread metallurgy and lively contacts with other parts of the Aegean."

10. 
^ Pullen 2008, pp. 27–28.

11. 
^ Pullen 2008, pp. 36, 43 (Endnote #22): "A corridor house is a large, two-story building consisting of two or more large rooms flanked by narrow corridors on the sides. Some of those corridors held staircases; others were used for storage."

12. 
^ Caskey 1960, pp. 285–303.

13. 
^ Pullen 2008, p. 36; Forsén 1992, pp. 251–253.

14. 
^ Pullen 2008, p. 36; Forsén 1992, pp. 253–257.

15. 
^ Pullen 2008, p. 36.

16. 
^ Mellaart 1958, pp. 9–33.

17. 
^ Pullen 2008, p. 40; French 1973, pp. 51–57; Caskey 1960, pp. 285–303.

18. 
^ Lolos 1990, pp. 51–56.

19. 
^ Kuniholm 1998, pp. 3–4.

20. ^   a b Sampson 1987, p. 19.

21. 
^ Bintliff 2012, p. 107: "Taken together, the Mainland Early Helladic Corridor Houses, Anatolian Troy, the Northeast Aegean fortified villages, and perhaps also Manika, may well evidence complex societies, either organized by an elite, or at least achieving corporate, proto-city state form."

22. 
^ Bryce 2006, p. 47: "Lerna in the Argolid region was probably the most important and the wealthiest of all Early Helladic II sites. Founded originally in the Neolithic period (represented by Levels I and II on the site), it was abandoned at the end of this period and was subsequently reoccupied at the beginning of Early Helldaic II (Level III)."

23. 
^ Shaw 1987, pp. 59–79.

24. ^   a b Overbeck 1963, p. 5.

25. ^   a b Overbeck 1963, p. 6.

26. 
^ Overbeck 1963, p. 5; Shaw 1987, p. 59.

27. 
^ Caskey 1968, p. 314.

28. 
^ Shaw 1987, p. 72.

29. 
^ Shear 2000, pp. 133–134.

30. 
^ Wikander 1990, p. 285.

31. 
^ Chapman 2005, p. 92; Hornblower, Spawforth & Eidinow 2012, "Tiryns", p. 1486.

32. 
^ Tiryns. Reconstructed Groundplan of the Circular Building (Rundbau). Early Helladic II.

33. 
^ Weisman, Stefanie (2008). "An Analysis of the Late Bronze Age Site of Ayia Irini, Keos" (PDF). Institute of Fine Arts.

34. ^   a b c "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Early Bronze Age – Aegina". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

35. 
^ Chapman 2005, p. 93.

36. 
^ Forsén 1992, p. 247; Xirotiris 1980, p. 209; Musgrave & Evans 1981, pp. 75, 80.

 

Sources

·      Bintliff, John (2012). The Complete Archaeology of Greece: From Hunter-Gatherers to the 20th Century A.D. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-40-515419-2.

·      Bryce, Trevor (2006). The Trojans and their Neighbours. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41-534955-0.

·      Caskey, John L. (July–September 1960). "The Early Helladic Period in the Argolid". Hesperia (The American School of Classical Studies at Athens) 29 (3): 285–303. doi:10.2307/147199.

·      Caskey, John L. (1968). "Lerna in the Early Bronze Age". American Journal of Archaeology 72: 313–316. doi:10.2307/503823.

·      Chapman, Robert (2005). "Changing Social Relations in the Mediterranean Copper and Bronze Ages". In Blake, Emma; Knapp, A. Bernard. The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 77–101. ISBN 978-1-40-513724-9.

·      Forsén, Jeannette (1992). The Twilight of the Early Helladics. Partille, Sweden: Paul Aströms Förlag. ISBN 91-7081-031-1.

·      French, D.M. (1973). "Migrations and 'Minyan' pottery in western Anatolia and the Aegean". In Crossland, R.A.; Birchall, Ann. Bronze Age Migrations in the Aegean. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press. pp. 51–57.

·      Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (2012) [1949]. The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8.

·      Kuniholm, Peter Ian (1998). "Aegean Dendrochronology Project December 1996 Progress Report" (PDF). Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University): 1–7.

·      Lolos, Y.G. (1990). "On the Late Helladic I of Akrotiri, Thera". In Hardy, D.A.; Renfrew, A.C. Thera and the Aegean World III. Volume Three: Chronology – Proceedings of the Third International Congress, Santorini, Greece, 3–9 September 1989. London: Thera Foundation. pp. 51–56.

·      MacSweeney, Naoise (2004). "Social Complexity and Population: A Study in the Early Bronze Age Aegean". Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 15: 52–65. doi:10.5334/256.

·      Mellaart, James (January 1958). "The End of the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Aegean". American Journal of Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 62 (1): 9–33. doi:10.2307/500459.

·      Musgrave, Jonathan H.; Evans, Suzanne P. (1981). "By Strangers Honor’d: A Statistical Study of Ancient Crania from Crete, Mainland Crete, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt". Journal of Mediterranean Anthropology and Archaeology 1: 50–107.

·      Overbeck, John Clarence (1963). A Study of Early Helladic Architecture. University of Cincinnati.

·      Pullen, Daniel (2008). "The Early Bronze Age in Greece". In Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–46. ISBN 978-0-521-81444-7.

·      Sampson, Adamantios (1987). "The Early Helladic Graves of Manika: Contribution to the Socioeconomic Conditions of the Early Bronze Age" (PDF). Aegaeum 1: 19–28.

·      Shaw, Joseph W. (1987). "The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form". American Journal of Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 91 (1): 59–79. doi:10.2307/505457.

·      Shear, Ione Mylonas (January 2000). "Excavations on the Acropolis of Midea: Results of the Greek–Swedish Excavations under the Direction of Katie Demakopoulou and Paul Åström". American Journal of Archaeology 104 (1): 133–134.

·      van Andels, Tjeerd H.; Runnels, Curtis N. (1988). "An Essay on the 'Emergence of Civilization' in the Aegean World". Antiquity (Antiquity Publications Limited) 62 (235): 234–247.

·      Whittaker, Helène (2014). Religion and Society in Middle Bronze Age Greece. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10-704987-1.

·      Wikander, Örjan (January–March 1990). "Archaic Roof Tiles the First Generations". Hesperia 59 (1): 285–290. doi:10.2307/148143.

·      Xirotiris, Nicholas I. (Spring–Summer 1980). "The Indo-Europeans in Greece: An Anthropological Approach to the Population of Bronze Age Greece". Journal of Indo-European Studies 8 (1–2): 201–210.

 

Further reading

    Weiberg, Erika (2007). Thinking the Bronze Age: Life and Death in Early Helladic Greece (Boreas: Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 29) (PDF). Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-6782-1.

 

External links

·      "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000.

·      Horejs, Barbara; Pavúk, Peter, eds. (2007). "The Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory Project". The Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory Team.

·      Rutter, Jeremy B. "Prehistoric Archeology of the Aegean". Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College


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2. Heinrich Schliemann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schliemann

 

Heinrich Schliemann (German: [ˈʃliːman]; 6 January 1822 – 26 December 1890) was a German businessman and a pioneer of field archaeology. He was an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Hissarlik, now presumed to be the site of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid reflect actual historical events. Schliemann's excavation of nine levels of archaeological remains with dynamite has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artifacts, including the level that is believed to be the historical Troy.[1]

 

Along with Arthur Evans, Schliemann was a pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. The two men knew of each other, Evans having visited Schliemann's sites. Schliemann had planned to excavate at Knossos, but died before fulfilling that dream. Evans bought the site and stepped in to take charge of the project, which was then still in its infancy.

 

Contents  

         1 Childhood and youth

         2 Career and family

         3 Life as an archaeologist

                  3.1 Priam's Treasure

         4 Death

         5 Criticisms

         6 Bibliography

         7 In popular culture

         8 See also

         9 References

         10 External links

 

Childhood and youth

Schliemann was born in Neubukow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1822. His father, Ernst Schliemann, was a Protestant minister. The family moved to Ankershagen in 1823 (today in their house is the museum of Heinrich Schliemann).[2] Heinrich's mother, Luise Therese Sophie, died in 1831, when Heinrich was nine years old. After his mother's death, his father sent Heinrich to live with his uncle. When he was eleven years old, his father paid for him to enroll in the Gymnasium (grammar school) at Neustrelitz. Heinrich's later interest in history was initially encouraged by his father, who had schooled him in the tales of the Iliad and the Odyssey and had given him a copy of Ludwig Jerrer's Illustrated History of the World for Christmas in 1829. Schliemann later claimed that at the age of 8, he had declared he would one day excavate the city of Troy.

 

However, Heinrich had to transfer to the Realschule (vocational school) after his father was accused of embezzling church funds[3] and had to leave that institution in 1836 when his father was no longer able to pay for it. His family's poverty made a university education impossible, so it was Schliemann's early academic experiences that influenced the course of his education as an adult. In his archaeological career, however, there was often a division between Schliemann and the educated professionals.

 

At age 14, after leaving Realschule, Heinrich became an apprentice at Herr Holtz's grocery in Fürstenberg. He later told that his passion for Homer was born when he heard a drunkard reciting it at the grocer's.[4] He laboured for five years, until he was forced to leave because he burst a blood vessel lifting a heavy barrel.[5] In 1841, Schliemann moved to Hamburg and became a cabin boy on the Dorothea, a steamer bound for Venezuela. After twelve days at sea, the ship foundered in a gale. The survivors washed up on the shores of the Netherlands.[6] Schliemann became a messenger, office attendant, and later, a bookkeeper in Amsterdam.

 

Career and family

On March 1, 1844, 22-year old Schliemann took a position with B. H. Schröder & Co., an import/export firm. In 1846, the firm sent him as a General Agent to St. Petersburg. In time, Schliemann represented a number of companies. He learned Russian and Greek, employing a system that he used his entire life to learn languages—Schliemann claimed that it took him six weeks to learn a language[7] and wrote his diary in the language of whatever country he happened to be in. By the end of his life, he could converse in English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Italian, Greek, Latin, Russian, Arabic, and Turkish as well as German.

 

Schliemann's ability with languages was an important part of his career as a businessman in the importing trade. In 1850, Heinrich learned of the death of his brother, Ludwig, who had become wealthy as a speculator in the California gold fields. Schliemann went to California in early 1851 and started a bank in Sacramento buying and reselling over a million dollars' worth of gold dust in just six months. When the local Rothschild agent complained about short-weight consignments he left California, pretending it was because of illness.[8] While he was there, California became the 31st state in September 1850 and Schliemann acquired United States citizenship.

 

According to his memoirs, before arriving in California he dined in Washington with President Millard Fillmore and his family,[9] but Eric Cline says that he didn't attend but simply read about it in the papers. He also published what he said was an eyewitness account of the San Francisco fire of 1851 which he said was in June although it took place in May. At the time he was actually in Sacramento and used the report of the fire in the Sacramento Daily Journal to write his report.

 

On April 7, 1852, he sold his business and returned to Russia. There he attempted to live the life of a gentleman, which brought him into contact with Ekaterina Lyschin, the niece of one of his wealthy friends. Schliemann had previously learned that his childhood sweetheart, Minna, had married.

 

Heinrich and Ekaterina married on October 12, 1852. The marriage was troubled from the start. Schliemann next cornered the market in indigo dye and then went into the indigo business itself, turning a good profit. Ekaterina and Heinrich had a son, Sergey, and two daughters, Natalya and Nadezhda, born in 1855, 1858 and 1861 respectively.[10] Schliemann made yet another quick fortune as a military contractor in the Crimean War, 1854-1856. He cornered the market in saltpeter, sulfur, and lead, constituents of ammunition, which he resold to the Russian government.

 

By 1858, Schliemann was wealthy enough to retire. In his memoirs, he claimed that he wished to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Troy.

 

As a consequence of his many travels, Schliemann was often separated from his wife and small children. He spent a month studying at the Sorbonne in 1866, while moving his assets from St. Petersburg to Paris to invest in real estate. He asked his wife to join him, but she refused.[10] Schliemann threatened to divorce Ekaterina twice before actually doing so. In 1869, he bought property and settled in Indianapolis for about three months to take advantage of the liberal divorce laws of Indiana, although he obtained the divorce by lying about his residency in the U.S. and his intention to remain in the state.[11] He moved to Athens as soon as an Indiana court granted him the divorce and married again three months later.

 

Life as an archaeologist

Schliemann's first interest of a classical nature seems to have been the location of Troy.

 

At the time Schliemann began excavating in Turkey, the site commonly believed to be Troy was at Pınarbaşı, a hilltop at the south end of the Trojan Plain.[12] The site had been previously excavated by archaeologist and local expert, Frank Calvert. Schliemann performed soundings at Pınarbaşı, but was disappointed by his findings.[12] It was Calvert who identified Hissarlik as Troy and suggested Schliemann dig there on land owned by Calvert's family.[13] In 1868, Schliemann visited sites in the Greek world, published Ithaka, der Peloponnesus und Troja in which he asserted that Hissarlik was the site of Troy, and submitted a dissertation in Ancient Greek proposing the same thesis to the University of Rostock. In 1869, he was awarded a PhD in absentia[14] from the university of Rostock for that submission.[10] David Traill wrote that the examiners gave him his PhD on the basis of his topographical analysis of Ithaca, which were in part simply translations of another author's work or drawn from poetic descriptions by the same author.[15]

 

Schliemann was at first skeptical about the identification of Hissarlik with Troy but was persuaded by Calvert[16] and took over Calvert's excavations on the eastern half of the Hissarlik site. The Turkish government owned the western half. Calvert became Schliemann's collaborator and partner.

 

Schliemann needed an assistant who was knowledgeable in matters pertaining to Greek culture. As he had divorced Ekaterina in 1869, he advertised for a wife in a newspaper in Athens. A friend, the Archbishop of Athens, suggested a relative of his, seventeen-year-old Sophia Engastromenos (1852–1932). Schliemann, age 47, married her in October 1869, despite the 30 year difference in age. They later had two children, Andromache and Agamemnon Schliemann; he reluctantly allowed them to be baptized, but solemnized the ceremony in his own way by placing a copy of the Iliad on the children's heads and reciting one hundred hexameters.

 

Schliemann began work on Troy in 1871. His excavations began before archaeology had developed as a professional field. Thinking that Homeric Troy must be in the lowest level, Schliemann and his workers dug hastily through the upper levels, reaching fortifications that he took to be his target. In 1872, he and Calvert fell out over this method. Schliemann was angry when Calvert published an article stating that the Trojan War period was missing from the site's archaeological record.

 

Priam's Treasure

A cache of gold and other objects appeared on or around May 27, 1873; Schliemann named it "Priam's Treasure". He later wrote that he had seen the gold glinting in the dirt and dismissed the workmen so that he and Sophia could excavate it themselves, removing it in her shawl. However, Schliemann's oft-repeated story of the treasure being carried by Sophia in her shawl was untrue. Schliemann later admitted fabricating it; at the time of the discovery Sophia was in fact with her family in Athens, following the death of her father.[17] Sophia later wore "the Jewels of Helen" for the public. Those jewels, taken from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin by the Soviet Army (Red Army) in 1945, are now in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Schliemann published his findings in 1874, in Trojanische Altertümer ("Trojan Antiquities").

This publicity backfired when the Turkish government revoked Schliemann's permission to dig and sued him for a share of the gold. Collaborating with Calvert, Schliemann smuggled the treasure out of Turkey. He defended his "smuggling" in Turkey as an attempt to protect the items from corrupt local officials. Priam's Treasure today remains a subject of international dispute.

 

Schliemann published Troja und seine Ruinen (Troy and Its Ruins) in 1875 and excavated the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenus. In 1876, he began digging at Mycenae. Upon discovering the Shaft Graves, with their skeletons and more regal gold (including the so-called Mask of Agamemnon), Schliemann cabled the king of Greece. The results were published in Mykenai in 1878.

 

Although he had received permission in 1876 to continue excavation, Schliemann did not reopen the dig site at Troy until 1878–1879, after another excavation in Ithaca designed to locate an actual site mentioned in the Odyssey. This was his second excavation at Troy. Emile Burnouf and Rudolf Virchow joined him there in 1879. Schliemann made a third excavation at Troy in 1882–1883, an excavation of Tiryns with Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1884, a fourth excavation at Troy, also with Dörpfeld (who emphasized the importance of strata), in 1888–1890.

 

Death

On August 1, 1890, Schliemann returned reluctantly to Athens, and in November travelled to Halle, where his chronic ear infection was operated upon, on November 13. The doctors deemed the operation a success, but his inner ear became painfully inflamed. Ignoring his doctors' advice, he left the hospital and travelled to Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris. From the latter, he planned to return to Athens in time for Christmas, but his ear condition became even worse. Too sick to make the boat ride from Naples to Greece, Schliemann remained in Naples, but managed to make a journey to the ruins of Pompeii. On Christmas Day he collapsed into a coma and died in a Naples hotel room on December 26, 1890. The cause of death was cholesteatoma. His corpse was then transported by friends to the First Cemetery in Athens. It was interred in a mausoleum shaped like a temple erected in ancient Greek style designed by Ernst Ziller in the form of a pedimental sculpture. The frieze circling the outside of the mausoleum shows Schliemann conducting the excavations at Mycenae and other sites. His magnificent residence in the city centre of Athens, the Iliou Melathron (Ιλίου Μέλαθρον, "Palace of Ilium") houses today the Numismatic Museum of Athens.

 

Criticisms

Further excavation of the Troy site by others indicated that the level he named the Troy of the Iliad was inaccurate, although they retain the names given by Schliemann. In an article for The Classical World, D. F. Easton writes that Schliemann "was not very good at separating fact from interpretation." [18] He goes on to claim that "Even in 1872 Frank Calvert could see from the pottery that Troy II had to be hundreds of years too early to be the Troy of the Trojan War, a point finally proved by the discovery of Mycenaean pottery in Troy VI in 1890." [18] "King Priam's Treasure" was found in the Troy II level, that of the Early Bronze Age, long before Priam's city of Troy VI or Troy VIIa in the prosperous and elaborate Mycenaean Age. Moreover, the finds were unique. The elaborate gold artifacts do not appear to belong to the Early Bronze Age.

 

His excavations were condemned by later archaeologists as having destroyed the main layers of the real Troy. Kenneth W. Harl in the Teaching Company's Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor lecture series sarcastically claims that Schliemann's excavations were carried out with such rough methods that he did to Troy what the Greeks couldn't do in their times, destroying and levelling down the entire city walls to the ground.[19]

In 1972, Professor William Calder of the University of Colorado, speaking at a commemoration of Schliemann's birthday, claimed that he had uncovered several possible problems in Schliemann's work. Other investigators followed, such as Professor David Traill of the University of California.

 

An article published by the National Geographic Society called into question Schliemann's qualifications, his motives, and his methods:

In northwestern Turkey, Heinrich Schliemann excavated the site believed to be Troy in 1870. Schliemann was a German adventurer and con man who took sole credit for the discovery, even though he was digging at the site, called Hisarlik, at the behest of British archaeologist Frank Calvert. ... Eager to find the legendary treasures of Troy, Schliemann blasted his way down to the second city, where he found what he believed were the jewels that once belonged to Helen. As it turns out, the jewels were a thousand years older than the time described in Homer's epic.[1]

 

Another article presented similar criticisms when reporting on a speech by University of Pennsylvania scholar C. Brian Rose:

German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was the first to explore the Mound of Troy in the 1870s. Unfortunately, he had had no formal education in archaeology, and dug an enormous trench “which we still call the Schliemann Trench,” according to Rose, because in the process Schliemann “destroyed a phenomenal amount of material.” ... Only much later in his career would he accept the fact that the treasure had been found at a layer one thousand years removed from the battle between the Greeks and Trojans, and thus that it could not have been the treasure of King Priam. Schliemann may not have discovered the truth, but the publicity stunt worked, making Schliemann and the site famous and igniting the field of Homeric studies in the late 19th century.[20]

 

Schliemann's methods have been described as "savage and brutal. He plowed through layers of soil and everything in them without proper record keeping—no mapping of finds, few descriptions of discoveries." Carl Blegen forgave his recklessness, saying "Although there were some regrettable blunders, those criticisms are largely colored by a comparison with modern techniques of digging; but it is only fair to remember that before 1876 very few persons, if anyone, yet really knew how excavations should properly be conducted. There was no science of archaeological investigation, and there was probably no other digger who was better than Schliemann in actual field work."[21]

 

Bibliography

·      La Chine et le Japon au temps présent' (1867)

·      Ithaka, der Peloponnesus und Troja' (1868) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01682-7)

·      Trojanische Altertümer: Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in. Troja (1874) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01703-9)

·      Troja und seine Ruinen' (1875). Translated into EnglishTroy and its Remains (1875) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01717-6)

·      Mykena (1878). Translated into English Mycenae: A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns (1878) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01692-6)

·      Ilios, City and Country of the Trojans (1880) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01679-7)

·      Orchomenos: Bericht über meine Ausgrabungen in Böotischen Orchomenos (1881) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01718-3)

·      Tiryns: Der prähistorische Palast der Könige von Tiryns (1885) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01720-6). Translated into English Tiryns: The Prehistoric Palace of the Kings of Tiryns (1885)

·      Bericht über de Ausgrabungen in Troja im Jahre 1890 (1891) (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01719-0).

·       

In popular culture

·      Schliemann is the subject of Irving Stone's novel The Greek Treasure (1975).

·      Stone's book is the basis for the German television production Der geheimnisvolle Schatz von Troja (Hunt for Troy) from 2007.

·      He is also the subject of the novel The Lost Throne by American author Chris Kuzneski.

·      The novel The Fall of Troy by Peter Ackroyd (2006) is based on Schliemann's excavation of Troy. Schliemann is portrayed as "Heinrich Obermann".

….

 

References

Notes

1.    ^  a b Stefan Lovgren. "National Geographic News". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 2012-12-18.

2.    
^ Cornelia Maué,www.cornelia-maue.de. "website of schliemann-museum Ankershagen". Schliemann-museum.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.

3.    
^ Robert Payne, The Gold of Troy: The Story of Heinrich Schliemann and the Buried Cities of Ancient Greece, 1959, repr. New York: Dorset, 1990, p. 15.

4.    
^ Payne, p. 70.

5.    
^ "Schliemann, Heinrich" in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, at de.wikisource. (German)

6.    
^ Payne, p. 25.

7.    
^ Payne, p. 30.

8.    
^ Allen, Susan Heuck (1999). Finding the walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-520-20868-1.

9.    
^ Leo Deuel, Memoirs of Heinrich Schliemann: A Documentary Portrait Drawn from his Autobiographical Writings, Letters, and Excavation Reports, New York: Harper, 1977, ISBN 0-06-011106-2, p. 67; he also mentions meeting President Andrew Johnson, p. 126.

10. ^  a b c Allen, Susan Heuck (1999). Finding the walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-520-20868-1.

11. 
^ http://blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/so-she-went-heinrich-schliemann-came-to-marion-county-for-a-copper-bottom-divorce/

12. ^  a b Easton, D.F. (May–June 1998). "Heinrich Schliemann: Hero or Fraud?". The Classical World 91 (5): 339. doi:10.2307/4352102.

13. 
^ Allen, Susan Heuck (1999). Finding the walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. University of California Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-520-20868-1.

14. 
^ Bernard, Wolfgang. Homer-Forschung zu Schliemanns Zeit und heute at the Wayback Machine (archived June 9, 2007) (in German).

15. 
^ Allen, Susan Heuck (1999). Finding the walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. University of California Press. p. 312. ISBN 978-0-520-20868-1.

16. 
^ Bryce, Trevor (2005). The Trojans and their neighbours. Taylor & Francis. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-415-34959-8.

17. 
^ Moorehead, Caroline, The Lost Treasures of Troy (1994) page 133, ISBN 0-297-81500-8

18. ^  a b Easton, D.F. (May–June 1998). "Heinrich Schliemann: Hero or Fraud?". The Classical World 91 (5): 341. doi:10.2307/4352102.

19. 
^ Kenneth W. Harl. "Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor". Retrieved November 23, 2012.

20. 
^ Lauren Stokes. "Trojan wars and tourism: a lecture by C. Brian Rose". Swarthmore College Daily Gazette. Retrieved 2012-12-18.

21. 
^ Rubalcaba, Jill; Cline, Eric. Digging for Troy. Charlesworth. pp. 30, 41. ISBN 978-1-58089-326-8.

 

Further reading

·      Boorstin, Daniel (1983). The Discoverers. Random House. ISBN 0-394-40229-4.

·      Durant, Will (1939). The Life of Greece: Being a history of Greek civilization from the beginnings, and of civilization in the Near East from the death of Alexander, to the Roman conquest. Simon & Schuster. OCLC 355696346.

·      Easton, D.F. (May–June 1998). "Heinrich Schliemann: Hero or Fraud?". The Classical World 91 (5): 335. doi:10.2307/4352102.

·      Poole, Lynn; Poole, Gray (1966). One Passion, Two Loves. Crowell. OCLC 284890..

·      Silberman, Neil Asher (1990). Between Past and Present: Archaeology, Ideology, and Nationalism in the Modern Middle East. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-41610-5.

·      Tolstikov, Vladimir; Treister, Mikhail (1996). The Gold of Troy. Searching for Homer's Fabled City. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-3394-2.

·      Traill, David A. (1995). Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-14042-8.

·      Wood, Michael (1987). In Search of the Trojan War. New American Library. ISBN 0-452-25960-6.

·       

External links

·      Media related to Heinrich Schliemann at Wikimedia Commons

·      Works written by or about Heinrich Schliemann at Wikisource

·      Works by Heinrich Schliemann at Project Gutenberg

·      Works by or about Heinrich Schliemann at Internet Archive

·      American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Heinrich Schliemann and Family Papers at the Wayback Machine (archived October 5, 2007).

·      Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Schliemann, Heinrich". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

·      "Schliemann, Heinrich". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.


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3Dendra Panoply – LH III (1400 BC)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendra_panoply

 

The Dendra panoply or Dendra armour is an example of Mycenean-era full-body armour ("panoply") made of bronze plates uncovered in the village of Dendra in the Argolid, Greece.

 

Description

Several elements of body armour (body cuirass, shoulder guards, breast plates and lower protection plates) from the late Mycenaean period have been found at Thebes, some bronze bands have been also found at Mycenae and Phaistos.[1] Bronze scales were found at Mycenae and Troy; scale armour, the oldest form of metal body armour, was used widely throughout the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. In May 1960[2] Swedish archaeologists discovered the earliest example of a beaten bronze cuirass at Dendra, dated to the end of the fifteenth century BC.[3] It forms part of the Late Helladic (LHIIIa) Dendra Panoply, which consists of fifteen separate pieces of bronze sheet, held together with leather thongs, that encased the wearer from neck to knees.[4] The panoply includes both greaves and lower arm-guards. The arm-guard is unique but greaves, probably made of linen, are often depicted in late Mycenaean art. The few bronze examples that have been found only covered the shins and may have been worn over linen ones, as much for show of status Diane Fortenberry has suggested,[5] as for protection. Although we have only this one complete panoply to date, armor of similar type appears as an ideogram on Linear B tablets from Knossos (Sc series), Pylos (Sh series) and Tiryns (Si series).[6]

 

The panoply’s cuirass consists of two pieces, for the chest and back. These are joined on the left side by a hinge. There is a bronze loop on the right side of the front-plate and a similar loop on each shoulder. Large shoulder-guards fit over the cuirass. Two triangular plates are attached to the shoulder-guards and gave protection to the wearer’s armpits when his arms were in the raised position. There is also a deep neck-guard. The Linear B ideogram depicting armour of this type makes the neck-guard clearly discernible, and protection by a high bronze collar was a typical feature of Near Eastern body armour. Three pairs of curved plates hang from the waist to protect the groin and the thighs. All these pieces are made of beaten bronze sheet and are backed with leather and loosely fastened by ox-hide thongs to allow some degree of movement. The complete panoply thus forms a cumbersome tubular suit of armour, which fully protects the neck and torso, and extends down to the knees. It appears that lower arm-guards and a set of greaves further protected the warrior, all made of bronze, as fragments of these were also found in the grave at Dendra. Slivers of boars’ tusks were also discovered, which once made up a boars’-tusk helmet.

 

The figures on the Warrior Vase (Mycenae, ca 1200 BC, National Archaeological Museum, Athens)[7] are wearing body armour. However, this armour is different. It may be either an embossed waist-length leather corslet with a fringed leather apron that reaches to mid-thigh and possible shoulder-guards, very much like that worn by the Peoples of the Sea depicted on the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (died c. 1155 BC) at Medinet Habu, Lower Egypt, or, alternatively, the body armour may be a ‘bell’ corselet of beaten bronze sheet, a type also found in central Europe at that time.

 

 

Notes

·       
^ One from the Late Geometric Period, found at Argos, is dated to the eighth century BC.

·       
^ Cynthia King, "The Homeric Corslet" American Journal of Archaeology 74.3 1970:294-96

·       
^ Isolated bronze shoulder pieces and apron plates are known from Dendra, Thebes and Phaistos in Crete: they "extend the chronological range of the Dendra type back to 1450 and forward to 1350", according to King 1970.

·       
^ Dendra panoply: illustration; Dendra panoply modern reconstruction; modern recreation

·       
^ Fortenberry, "Single Greaves in the Late Helladic Period" American Journal of Archaeology 95.4 (October 1991:623-627).

·       
^ M. Snodgrass, "The Linear B Arms and Armour Tablets— Again, Kadmos 4 (1965:97-98).

 

References

·      Paul Åstrom, The Cuirass Tomb and Other Finds at Dendra Part I: The Chamber Tombs (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, iv) (Göteborg) 1977. The official publication.

·      Nicolas Grguric, The Mycenaeans: c 1650-1100 BC, "the Dendra armour" (Osprey)

·      Anthony Snodgrass, Early Greek Armour and Weapons: From the End of the Bronze Age to 600 B.C. (Edinburgh/Chicago) 1964: 71-73, 76f.

·       

External links

·      Dendra panoply, Nafplion Museum, on YouTube.


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4.  EH - Early Bronze Age

From http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/eh/index.html

 

Introduction

The Early Bronze Age in the Helladic region covers roughly the period 3200-2100 BC. The main characteristic of this period is the intensification of the use of metals and particularly the extension of metalworking by the mixing of copper and tin for the manufacture of tools and weapons of durable brass (bronze). This brought about the improvement of the Neolithic agricultural and animal husbandry economy, the increase of production, the creation of surplus of goods and the development of productive activities. The quest for metals and other raw materials as well as the necessity of promoting exchangeable goods led to the intensification of commercial contacts, the development of navigation and the exchange of technological and cultural experience.

 

The beginning of the use of metals (gold, silver, copper) for the manufacture of jewellery and tools dates to the Final Neolithic Age which is named Chalcolithic (4500-3200 BC) for this reason. The transition from the Neolithic agrarian economy to the Bronze Age is not abrupt and does not occur at the same time in the various geographic areas of the Aegean. In addition every area is ruled by different geomorphological factors and forms its own cultural character.

 

On mainland Greece, three large cultural groups are distinguished during the Early Bronze Age. These are developed in Thrace and Macedonia, in Thessaly and in the central and southern mainland. The 3rd millenium in central and southern Greece which is known as the Early Helladic period is of particular importance for the Aegean Prehistory. The Early Helladic period is distinguished in the following chronological-cultural phases: Early Helladic I (EH I), Early Helladic II (EH II), the transition phase Lefkandi I-Kastri and the Early Helladic III (EH III) period.

 

The traits of this period are: the increase of population which is proportional to the increase of settlements in coastal areas or in the inland, the remarkable town planning, the increase of production and surplus of produce, specialization, the technological development (metallurgy, pottery) and industrial production, the control of the goods' distribution (use of seals), the intensification of commercial exchange and the increase of privilege goods.

During the EH II period a particular economic prosperity is observed with direct effect on the social and political organization of the settlements. In Thebes, Manika, Aegina, Tiryns, Lerna and other places, densely populated settlements of an urban character are developed. This trait is apparent in the town planning, the community buildings ("Corridor Houses"), the constructions of public interest (fortifications), the technological specialization, and the particular economic-administrative importance in their greater region (regional hierarchy).

 

Early Helladic I

 

 

The Early Helladic I (EH I) (3200-3100-2650 BC) succeeds the Final Neolithic (4500-3200 BC) and presents a close cultural relation with it. This is apparent in the settlement of Neolithic sites during this period as well (e.g. Eutresis), in agriculture and in the still limited use of metals.

 

The EH I archaeological remains are very few and are found in few archaeological sites of eastern Central Greece (Eutresis, Lithares, Perachora, Palaia Kokkinia, Zagani) and the Peloponnese (Korakou, Tsoungiza, Talioti, Lerna, Tiryns). The EH I signs were first indicated in 1915-1916 in the Korakou settlement in Corinthia. The correct stratigraphic integration of Eutresis of Boeotia was defined after the Final Neolithic period and before the EH II. This is the reason for which this period is known as the "Eutresis culture". During this period regional variations in pottery, took place. These were first observed in the ceramic production of the Argolid, which is defined as "Talioti phase".

 

The settlement architecture of this period is slightly known since intense building activity took place during the subsequent phases of the EH period in the same sites. The hill Zagani constituted the most significant monument of the EH I period. But it was completely levelled for the construction of the new airport of Spata in Attica. In the brief research which preceded its construction, remains of houses, EH I pottery and a stone wall which enclosed the settlement were recovered. This wall is the earliest to have been unearthed to date in any EH settlement and it precedes those of Raphina and Lerna.

 

Until today, there is no evidence on the burial customs of this period. The handmade pottery with the intense red burnished surface is a diagnostic element of the period. Finally, it is worth mentioning the limited practice of metalworking, in comparison with the remarkable development it experiences from the beginning of the 3rd millenium in settlements of the northeastern Aegean (Troy, Poliochni, Thermi).

 

 

Early Heladic II

 

The EH II period (2650-2200/2150 BC) is the best substantiated phase of the EH period as far as excavations are concerned. The rich settlement and burial remains, pottery, artifacts made of clay, stone and metal from the Spercheios valley upto the south Peloponnese indicate that it is the first phase of cultural flourishing of south Greece before the glorious Mycenaean period (1550-1050 BC).

 

During the EH II period the increase of population is followed by the development of densely populated settlements and the very significant economic thriving which brings about innovations in the administrative organization and social composition of the EH communities. During this period settlements of an urban character are developed. They are distinguished for their town planning community works (e.g. fortifications, community buildings), the technological specialization and further manufacturing development (metalworking), and the intense practice of trade. In settlements of Boeotia, the Peloponnese and on Aegina buildings of the same type dominate. These are known as the "Corridor Houses" and are considered community-administrative and economic centres of the communities. Certain settlements, such as Lerna, seem to have particular economic and administrative importance in the greater region and lead to the development of regional hierarchies. Similar phenomena are not observed in settlements of the Early Bronze Age in Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace.

 

The exhaustive study of stratigraphy (Korakou, Eutresis, Lerna, Tiryns) and in general of the EH II archaeological remains (architecture, pottery) render the distinction in two cultural sub-phases clear. The earliest is known as the "Korakou culture" (2650-2450 BC) and corresponds to the ( Lerna ΙΙΙA-B architectural phases. The late one (2450/2350-2200/2150 π.Χ.) corresponds to the Lerna IIIC-D architectural phases and is characterized of the strong presence of elements of the Lefkandi I-Kastri phase.

 

During the EH II period as well as the EH III some settlements present marks of partial or total destruction by fire. These traces in combination with the appearance of new elements in architecture (apsidal buildings), the burial customs (tumuli), pottery (Lefkandi I, Gray wheelmade, incised/impressed), tool manufacture (stone and bronze axes with a hole for fixing a handle) and the use of clay anchor shaped objects, led the researchers to the observation of many opposing theories about the time of penetration of new populations of Indo-European origin in the Greek mainland. The overall consideration of the evidence renders clear that at the end of the EH II and the beginning of the EH III the south Helladic region is influenced by two different cultural regions: western Asia Minor and the islands of the northeastern Aegean, and the south Balkans (Adriatic coast). These influences are indicated on the eastern coast of Central and south Greece (Lefkandi I-Kastri phase), and on the Ionian islands and the northwestern Peloponnese respectively.

 

 

Transitional Phase Lefkandi I - Kastri

 

Toward the end of the EH II (2450/2350-2200/2150 BC) certain elements in the architecture, pottery and metalworking of the central and southern mainland appear for the first time and present similarities with settlements of the north and eastern Aegean (late phase of Troy II, Red-Yellow Poliochni) and the Cyclades (Kastri on Syros, Skarkos on Ios). A group of researchers associate these similarities with population movement from the north Aegean and western Asia Minor toward the Cyclades and the coastal mainland. Nevertheless, according to the prevalent opinion these similarities result from the intensive commercial contacts which began much earlier than the 3rd millenium BC and led to the formation of a common culture in the Aegean, described by the term "international spirit".

 

Evidence of this phase exist on the coast of Thessaly (Pefkakia), Boeotia (Lithares), in coastal settlements and cemeteries of eastern Attica (Agios Kosmas), western Euboea (Lefkandi, Manika) and the Argolid (Lerna, Tiryns), and on Aegina. In the west and south Peloponnese these signs do not occur. Conversely, there is evidence verifying the contacts of these regions with the Adriatic and the south Balkans.

 

Typical examples of the "easternlike" phase are the handmade red and black burnished ceramics and the use of the potter's wheel for the first time. The first ceramic category includes cups with one or two handles, depata amphikypella, beak spouted and wide-mouthed jugs with round bodies. The potter's wheel is used in the manufacture of open bowls. Finally, archaeometric study on the bronze objects from sites of the islands and the Greek mainland verifies the use of alloys of brass with tin of the same origin.

 

 

 

 

 

Early Helladic III

 

The EH III (2200/2150-2050/2000 BC) succeeds the glorious EH II period and is characterized of the decrease of the number and size of settlements and of the decrease of population. The abandonment of EH II settlements due to various destructions is not a general phenomenon. Powerful settlements such as Tiryns and Lerna in the Argolid are still occupied. The widespread use of apsidal and pottery, which were initially considered sparse, are discerned in their remains. The exhaustive study of the evidence shows respectively that these were either already known or that they constitute new expressions of elements known from the EH II period. In addition, the preservation in Lerna IV ruins of the administrative centre, the "House of the Tiles" and its forming into a tumulus of a symbolic-ritual character indicates the continuous use of the area from the same population.

 

The use of tumuli on Lefkas and in Olympia/Pelopeio is notable but it does not occur for the first time. The cemetery of the tumuli R of Lefkas was organized already from the end of the EH II period and included grave types which occurred on the rest Greek mainland as well. The form of the tumulus is a result of trade contacts or even of population penetrations that took place at the end of the EH II period.

 

Recent studies prove that apart from the apsidal buildings and the burial or ritual tumuli, elements such as the clay anchor-shaped objects, the eastern-Balkan type stone and bronze axes or the use of storage pits which were considered in the past as traits of the EH III period and were associated with the penetration of Indo-European races, existed from the EH II and were simply established during the EH III period.

 

The architecture, the burial customs and pottery show that during the EH III various regional cultural variations occur. For example, although the form of the settlements changes in the Argolid with the apsidal buildings, Aegina maintains the fortified settlements with the organized EH II town planning. The pottery of this period is the painted style in two variations: light-on-dark (Agia Marina style) and the dark-on-light (Tiryns style). The wheelmade fine gray burnished ware is a new ware deriving from Asia Minor which reaches the eastern mainland country. It is the precursor of the typical MH ceramics, the Minyan pottery. Finally, a basic trait of the ceramic production of the Ionian islands and the northwestern Peloponnese is the handmade pottery with fine incised or impressed decoration which comes from the Adriatic.

 

The cultural retrogression which begins at the end of the EH III and characterizes the MH period (2000/1900-1550 BC) is interrupted by the beginning of the glorious Mycenaean period (1550-1050 BC).

 

 

 

Social stratification

Indicative elements for the composition of the society of the Early Bronze Age on the mainland are drawn from the settlement and funerary architecture and from mobile finds, particularly from their distribution in the settlements and cemeteries. According the the archaeological remains, during the EH II period particular economic prosperity was achieved. This prosperity is characterized of the increase of the surplus of agricultural produce, specialization in handicraft production (pottery, metalworking, stone carving) and the expansion of commercial exchange and cultural contacts. These changes have a direct impact on the social composition of the communities of south Greece.

 

The existence of "Corridor Houses", such as the " House of the Tiles" in Lerna III and the "White House" at Kolonna of Aegina make clear the presence of a powerful family which has political-administrative power and partly controls production. This family coordinates the construction of community works (fortifications, the Tirynthian "Rundbau", roads, etc.) and the trading of goods (use of seals) and possesses part of the wealth of the community.

 

The craftsmen, such as the metal workers and stone carvers have a particular economic and therefore social position in the community. In the framework of ensuring the necessary raw materials they are also involved in trading activities. The discovery, for example, of objects imported from the Cyclades in the specialized workshops of Aegina and Manika verifies the existence of a class of craftsmen-tradesmen in the EH communities. The imported objects are prestige goods and prove the economic and social status of their possessors. The Balkan type single or double axes with a hole for fixing a handle from Sitagroi and Lerna respectively as well as the so-called "treasures" of bronze implements and weapons found in Thebes and Petralona of Chalkidike are also considered as prestige goods.

 

Finally, the coexistence of simple graves with poor grave goods and rich, simple or family ones in the cemeteries of Attica (Agios Kosmas, Tsepi), in Manika, Thebes, Lithares and in the cemetery of the tumuli R of Lefkas reflects the unequal distribution of wealth and by extension the social multiformity of the members of the EH communities.

 

Society

Information on the organization and social composition of the communities of the Early Bronze Age on mainland Greece is drawn from the settlement and burial architecture, from the kind of mobile finds and especially from the way these are distributed in the settlements and cemeteries.

 

The communities are organized in small and large settlements which number 300 to 1000 people on average. The settlements of south Greece present town planning, economic and social features that conform to their definition as "early urban settlements".

 

The archaeological remains of the EH II-III provide clear indications on the social composition and structure. The EH II society and that of the transition phases Lefkandi II-III include a political- administrative-economic authority of a coordinating role which is attributed to a family. The families of specialized workers-merchants which concentrate the most "privilege goods" have a special position in the society of this period. The degree of distribution of the community wealth to those occupied exclusively in agriculture cannot be diagnosed with certainty. The above mentioned social categories are not so discernible in the archaeological remains of the EH III which is characterized of economic decline.

 

The burial customs include child burials in the settlement and adult and children burials in cemeteries outside the settlement. The cemeteries, known mainly from the EH II period, include simple or built pits, cist graves or chamber tombs hewn into rock and pithos burials. Graves are made for one person or families. During the EH III period tumuli inhumations occur. The examination of the anthropological material from cemeteries and isolated graves provides information on the anthropological type, the nutrition and diseases of the people of that time.

 

Finally, the elements that reveal the religious beliefs and the practice of some kind of cult are few and partially unreliable. The burial customs ascertain the respect to human life and the belief of life after death.

 

 

Demography

The evidence from the excavations of a restricted scale in settlements and cemeteries of the Early Bronze Age, as well as the observations from surface surveys, mainly in the Peloponnese (Nemea, Argolid, Messenia, Laconia) and Central Greece (Oropos, Perachora, Phocis) allow a first indicative, but not global, approach of the demographic evidence of that period. According to the evidence that results from the study of the settlements we can say that the EH communities are organized in small settlements, (0,64 hectares-Aegina) or larger ones (45 hectares-Manika, 3,5-Lithares, 2,5-Lerna) which number an average of 300 to 1000 persons.

 

The density of the settlements differs from one region to another and from time to time while it depends on the geomorphology of the area and the climatic conditions. Geoarchaeological studies in the Argos plain showed that the area between Argos and Lerna was a large lake of about 5 kilometres diametre during the EH I period. This justifies the small number of settlements of that period in the region. In the EH II the alluvium deposits transformed the lake into a fertile plain. As a result, the number of settlements increased and powerful settlements were developed (Lerna, Tiryns). Moreover, regional hierarchies were created. Sudden floods of streams and rivers at the end of the EH II in the Argolid (Tiryns) and in other regions (Strephi of Elis, Akovitika of Messenia, Rouph of Attica) made these populations abandon the neighbouring settlements.

 

From the end of this period and during the EH III the number of the settlements decreased thus leading to the decrease of population. This decrease, which is observed during the EH III in south Greece in general is opposed to the theories about penetration of new populations, and to the burial evidence. The comparative study of skulls from graves of the EH II (Agios Kosmas) and MH period (Lerna and Mycenae) verify the homogeneity of the populations of Attica and the Argolid during these periods and disproves the opinion of the penetration of new populations. In addition, none of the excavated cemeteries to date presents sudden increase of dead bodies. Moreover, possible diseases which could have caused unexpected or mass deaths toward the end of the EH II period were not detected by the examination of the palaeoanthropolical material.

 

The examination of the anthropological material from cemeteries and isolated graves provides information on the anthropological characteristics, nutrition and the diseases of the people of the EH period. For example, the inhabitants of Agios Kosmas in Attica were of medium height, suffered from osteoporosis and had a short life of 30-40 years. The inhabitants of Manika were also of medium height and had strong teeth, a sign indicating that they followed a balanced diet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economy

The main feature of the Early Helladic economy is the intensification of the use of metals via the expansion of metalworking by the mixing of copper and tin for the manufacture of tools and weapons from durable bronze. The economy of the 3rd millenium BC is based on three factors: agrarian economy (agriculture and animal husbandry), trade and artisanship.

 

Agrarian economy includes the cultivation of the cereals and legumes that were known from the Neolithic period (6880-3200 BC). At the same time, the cultivation of the olive tree and vine begin. The climatic conditions and the improved tools (bronze tools, use of the plough) contribute to the increase of the production and agricultural surplus particularly during the EH II period. Animal husbandry includes the breeding of sheep and goat and cattle, the products of which are neccessary for nutrition and the textile manufacture (wool).

 

The quest of metals and other raw materials (obsidian) and the necessity of promotion of commercial agricultural and handicraft products brings about the intensification of the trade contacts and the exchange of technological and cultural experience in general, thus creating small exchange networks (in the Argosaronikos gulf) or large ones (Argolis-Cyclades-northern Aegean). The need of control of the production and movement of the goods leads to the use of the seals.

 

The main specialized production activities of the EH settlements are pottery, stone carving, bone carving, textile manufacture and metalworking. These activities may occupy one person, a small group, or one or more families of a community.

The new economic conditions bring changes in the social and political organization of the settlements especially during the EH II period.

 

 

Burial Customs

The burial customs of the Early Bronze Age do not differ considerably from the ones of the last phases of the Neolithic Age (4800-3200 BC). These include burials of infants and children within the limits of the settlement and in cemeteries while it was mainly the adults that were buried outside the settlement.

Infants and children were buried in their homes, in vessels or simple pits dug under the floor for this purpose (e.g. Asine, Lerna). The cemeteries, known mainly from the EH II period, were situated far from the settlement and include simple or built pits, cist graves (e.g. Agios Kosmas) or chamber tombs, hewn into rock (e.g. Manika). There were graves for one or more than one person, for both men and women (family graves). Some were used as ossuaries. They contained the bones - mainly the skulls and the long bones - from other graves which were emptied for new burials. During the EH III period, in western Greece the dead are buried in tumuli (e.g. Nidhri on Lefkas, Olympia/Pelopeio).

The dead were placed on the ground or in pithoi, in an intense contracted position. In order to achieve this position, the stiff muscles of the dead were probably cut with obsidian knives. Specific bones from the cemetery of Manika of Euboea bear such traces. As the traces of material on a bone from Manika reveal the dead were buried with their clothes or wrapped in a piece of cloth. Finally, tumuli in Nidhri and Olympia as well as pithos burials found in Macedonia at the mouth of the Strymon river present evidence on incineration of the dead. Ordinary burials in pithoi are also known from the cemetery of the Early Bronze Age in Agios Mamas/Nea Olynthos of Chalkidike.

The grave goods depend on the gender and social status of the dead. These include pottery, marble statuettes, obsidian or bronze tools, cosmetic articles and jewellery of clay, stone, bone, bronze and precious metals.

 

Religion

The archaeological evidence that indicates the religious beliefs and the practice of some kind of cult of the inhabitants of the Helladic region during the Early Bronze Age is inadequate and unreliable. It is restricted to architectural constructions (hearths, benches, pits), to anthropomorph or zoomorph figurines and rhyta and to the burial customs.

 

Cult function is attributed to a room of 17 square metres which is accessible from the main road of Lithares of Boeotia. Seventeen small bull figurines were found around burnt earth which was most likely a hearth. The mass presence of these figurines led to the definition of this place as the "Sanctuary of the Bulls". Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the presence of zoomorph figurines in a farming community is normal. However, we must refer ti the theory that claims that this area was the workshop of the maker of these figurines.

 

In House L of Eutresis (room III), which dates to the EH II period, a stone bench, two bothroi, a zoomorph rhyton, a figurine and a perforated vase were found close to a hearth. The co-existence of these elements, in combination with the practice of a chthonic cult in the area of this settlement (Chasma) during the Mycenaean period, led the excavators to the dating of this cult to the EH period.

 

A clay hearth with impressed rim and a double axe carving in the centre, found in the "Building BG" of Lerna III, was probably related to rituals that may have taken place in this building. The existence of central clay hearths with cylinder seal decoration in these "Corridor Houses" led to the attribution of another function to these buildings, the religious function.

 

The particular importance of the "Corridor Houses" becomes clear in the settlement of Lerna IV, when, after the destrution of the "House of the Tiles" caused by fire, its ruins are maintained and defined by a stone circle composing an imposing tumulus (21 diametre) of a symbolic importance. The tumulus in Altis of Olympia seems to be of the same character.

 

The burial customs provide clear indications on the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of south Greece during the EH period. Inhumations inside the houses, the existence of family graves, the collection of relics, skulls and long bones, to ossuaries, the offering of grave goods, the fires in the tumuli of Lefkas, verify the respect to the value and the miracle of the human life, and the belief in life after death.





 

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5.  MH – Middle Bronze Age

From http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mh/index.html

 

The Middle Bronze Age on Mainland Greece is also known as the Middle Helladic period. The chronological framework of this period extends from the beginnings of the second millenium - roughly 1900 - until 1550 BC, that is until the beginnings of the Mycenaean period. The Middle Helladic period is considered as the dark period of the cultural decline. The remains of the material culture reveal a clear retrogression while the information available on the social stratification and economy are so few and problematic in interpretation that this period is considered as the "Middle Age of Greek Prehistory".

 

About 1900 BC, the period during which the first palaces of Crete were being built, Mainland Greece was entering a long period of decline during which economic features changed radically. The amount of metals and imported products became particularly rare while composite forms of economic administration, e.g. the administrative buildings and the the sealing of products, were abandoned. The economic decline of the Middle Bronze Age effected the social stratification as well. The changes in social stratification appear in a series of completely new burial customs which show the prevalence of social equality. Conversely, as far as Middle Helladic art is concerned, although it did not reach the high artistic standard of its contemporary Minoan art, it is characterized of significant technological innovations and of the appearance of new serviceable articles. The number of these objects increased and their quality was improved considerably toward the end of this period.

 

The profound cultural innovations of the Middle Helladic period were initially interpreted as a result of violent population movement and troubles provoked by the coming of the first Indo-European races. However, this matter does no more constitute one of the main objectives of this study since the archaeological evidence does not support the massive transfer of foreign cultural elements.

 

During the last period of the Middle Bronze Age (1650-1550 BC), despite the fact that the traits of the Middle Helladic culture were maintained, more intense contacts are observed with the Cyclades and Crete, an unexpected concentration of wealth and the creation of a prominent social class. Through these new phenomena, a harmonical and gradual evolution from the Middle Helladic toward the Mycenaean civilization is discerned. Thus, although the Middle Helladic period is considered as a period of economic and social decline it was the time during which the mainland features merged with the insular influence, that is all the Aegean elements which led to the creation of the Mycenaean civilization were mixed in a creative way.

 

Middle Helladic Society

The image that results from the social evidence of the Middle Helladic period is that destitution and social insecurity prevailed. This was due to economic factors or social changes. The inhabitants of Mainland Greece made great efforts to survive. Via these efforts they managed to create remarkable technological achievements or forms of high art. Apart from certain burial practices which can be considered as examples of cult there are no indications on the religious beliefs of the Middle Helladic society.

 

Of all the aspects of the Middle Helladic culture the burial customs which are well known from the innumerable burials of that period provide a clearer picture of the Middle Helladic society and reflect the survival conditions of the population. The demographic information which results from the graves as well as the settlement density imply a considerable increase of population comparison to the Early Bronze Age and a slight increase of life expectancy despite the fact that mortality, particularly child mortality, was rather high.

 

In the Middle Helladic settlements there are no buildings distinguished from the rest because they appear more important while the cemeteries do not provide signs of an apparent social stratification. These elements indicate that the Middle Helladic society was characterized of a relative equality of its members. Nevertheless, the image of this equality changes in the second fourth of the 16th century that is during the transition to the early Mycenaean period. Now all cemeteries of the mainland reveal examples of intense social stratification. The sumptuous grave goods and the grades of luxury according to the social status of the dead reveal an unexpected concentration of wealth and its unequal distribution.

 

 


 

Coming of the Indo-Europeans

The search of evidence on the first Indo-European inhabitants of the European region is centred on the study of Hellenic Prehistory. This is attributed to the fact that the Greek races of the Bronze Age are the only Indo-European races for which adequate and important evidence exists, namely from the traditions which are preserved by Homer and the Greek myths.

 

From the moment that the Mycenaean language was identified as Greek, the study gained another element which associates the Helladic civilizations of the Bronze Age with the Indo-European question.

 

The Greek language which belongs to the Indo-European family is considered to have been spoken by races of Indo-European origin which established their language when they entered Mainland Greece, gradually supplanting the prehellenic dialects that were spoken in the region until that time. From the beginning of our century research was considerably concerned with this question, that is the dating of the entrance of the Indo-European races on the Greek peninsula.

 

The "coming of the Indo-Europeans" is considered to have provoked great disturbance to the autochtone population and must not have been completely pacific. Thus, the period during which violent population movements had to be discovered. Many researchers associate this historic moment with the period around 2000 BC, that is the Middle Helladic period because the subsequent phase presents intense evidence of social reforms. The poor examples of the material culture, the retrogression of social organization and technology and the need for fortification works were considered as phenomena caused by the violent invasion of new races.

 

Considering this general evidence of the Middle Helladic culture as a starting-point, a series of theories that sought evidence of the coming of the Indo-Europeans in the archaeological remains were created. Some newly imported elements and customs that were considered to have been brought to Mainland Greece by the first Greeks such as the horse, the use of the tumuli or even the appearance of the wheelmade Minyan pottery, are indications that suggest the Indo-European invadors.

 

However, these theories present many substantiation problems. The place of origin of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has not yet been determined with accuracy. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the people that spoke the Proto-Indo-European language all belonged to a specific race. In addition, the destructions in Mainland Greece took place presumably in different periods and the most significant ones before the last period of the Early Helladic period (about 2300 BC). It is often verified that the elements that had been considered as newly imported constitute in reality the continuation of the domestic Aegean tradition.

 

The association of the social evidence of the Middle Helladic period with the coming of the first Indo-European races is now considered as an overrating of certain archaeological elements and to their hasty connection to the linguistic and historic elements. Thus, during the last decades the trend that has dominated suggests that the results of the archaeological research must be studied irrespectively to the question of the "coming of the first Greeks".

 

The demographic and anthropological evidence on the Middle Helladic period result from the rich material of the cemeteries and from the indications of the surface surveys. The population of the Middle Helladic settlements rarely exceeded 500 inhabitants. The density of the population in Messenia is estimated to have been approximately 130 persons per hectare.

 

Most demographic evidence derives from the cemeteries of two Middle Helladic sites in the Argolid, Lerna and Asine. The statistic surveys of the osteological material of Lerna reveal that child mortality was very high. More than half of the inhabitants of Lerna died under the age of 15. 36% of the children died at infantile age while 21% under the age of five. The average life expectancy was 30 for women and 35 for men. Women gave birth to usually three children - their first at the age of approximately 19 - and they usually died around 30 years old. The anthropological evidence from the cemetery of Asine indicate that most men died around 30 to 40 years old. Nonetheless, in spite of the high mortality that results from the anthropological surveys, the average life expectancy of the Middle Bronze Age seems to be higher than the one of the Early Bronze Age.

 

The osteological analyses from these cemeteries reveal the types of diseases from which the inhabitants suffered. Thus, we know that during their childhood the inhabitants of Asine had a low caloric intake and their nutrition was inadequate in meat protein. Pathological disfigurements of the shoulders and hands of adults were observed, suggesting a kind of osteoarthritis caused by heavy work. The inhabitants often suffered from different epidemic diseases. Anemia, dysentery, infantile diarrhoea and child diseases were very common while both men and women suffered from tooth diseases. The inhabitants of Lerna often suffered from Mediterranean anemia and malaria which was favoured by the climatic conditions in this swampy area of the valley of Argos.

 

Apart form the traces of chronic ailments, injuries which may have been caused by accidents during work or violent conflicts were also observed on the skeletons. The trepining of the skulls observed on skeletons from Lerna reveals that the inhabitants possessed technical knowledge of surgical operations.


Religion

Archaeological evidence suggesting religious beliefs of the Middle Helladic society is virtually inexistent since this period of Prehistory includes no sign of material culture which usually imply worship. In contradiction to Minoan Crete and the Mycenaean period, the Middle Helladic settlements do not have buildings with the characteristic arrangement and special installations which could be considered as temples. Moreover, there are no cult vessels such as those used during the entire Bronze Age in Minoan Crete and the Mycenaean Greece. The anthropomorphic cult figurines, which were made in Mainland Greece and the Cyclades during the Early Bronze Age disappear in the Middle Bronze Age and do not re-appear until the mature phases of the Mycenaean period.

 

The absence of all these elements shows that during the Middle Helladic period profound changes in the social and religious customs take place. Despite the various interpretations, the burial customs remain the only aspects of human activities which reveal the radical changes in the beliefs of the society.

 

The way the dead were deposited in the grave, the orientation of the graves and the offering of the few grave goods may reflect specific practices that may resulted from the principles of a common religious faith.

 

Burrial Customs

In contradiction to other periods of Prehistory which do not provide sufficient information on the burial customs, the Middle Helladic period presents a great number of burial monuments which are the best witnesses of the burial practices but also of the social and economic conditions of that time. The Middle Helladic burial customs reflect in a most live way the image of social reforms and the economic decline of the Middle Helladic period as well as the gradual concentration of wealth and formation of privileged classes during the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.

 

The distinction in two basic burial practices which must have been employed at the same time is easy thanks to the great number of Middle Helladic graves. There were the intramural burials and the burials in cemeteries. A special category of cemeteries are the tumuli which were widespread from the south Peloponnese to Epirus and Thessaly. The most common burials were the those in simple pits, in cist graves and the pithos burials where the dead were always placed on their side contracted position. The graves of the adults were generally given greater care and include offerings more frequently than child graves.

 

The frequent absence of grave goods or the very few finds in the Middle Helladic graves render the chronological classification of the graves and the study of the evolution of the burial customs much more difficult. The earlier burials of this period indicate that the Middle Helladic burial customs were fully developed already from the beginning of the second millenium BC. Sometimes regional different trends and preferences in the types of graves and burial customs are observed. But this variety seems to depend on accidental circumstances since the burial customs sometimes differ in their details even with those of adjacent settlements.

 

When comparing the Middle Helladic burial customs with other cultures, it is observed that there are completely different influences coming from the Cyclades, Asia Minor or even south Europe. However, the similarities with the burial customs of these regions seem indirect since they have the character of distant influences. Therefore it appears that during the Middle Bronze Age the previous burial traditions were influenced by the customs of different cultures and that their final form crystallized in Mainland Greece. During the end of the Middle Helladic period the use of the tholos tombs was adopted as well. This custom was imported from Crete, completing the picture of the burial customs of the Helladic region during the Mycenaean period.

 

Positions of the dead

During the Middle Helladic period the dead were deposited in the graves on their side, in a contracted position. The body was leaned on one side, the legs were bent and the hands were brought close to the face. The legs were either slightly bent or completely bent with the knees brought to the chin which presupposes presumably that dead body was placed in a sack or tied with a rope before inhumation. All elements to date indicate that there was no particular orientation of the head.

 

Many opinions have been stated on the specific deposition of the dead and some of them relate it to social or religious beliefs and practices for the dead. According to one opinion the apparent similarity of the position of the dead with the position of the foetus includes the symbolism of the return of the dead to mother earth. Another more practical opinion suggests that the contracted position indicates merely the effort to fit the dead in the smallest possible graves to gain space and time from digging other graves. This simplicity of the deposition of the dead along with the often absence of grave goods is considered to fit with the general image of lack of the necessary means which characterizes the largest part of the Middle Helladic period.

 

According to another intermediate version of the contracted and supine position, the dead were placed with the legs bent to the side and the hands crossed on the belly. The explanation of this position is that the dead had been initially placed in a supine position with legs bent, but the legs fell to the side during decomposition. This way of deposition is also identified in the skeletons found with legs bent and open. The dated grave goods that accompanied burials of such kind reveal that the custom of the supine inhumation became generalized during the early Mycenaean period and this is the reason for which this type of deposition now constitutes a criterion for chronological classification of the graves.

 

Grave goods

Most of the Middle Helladic graves included no grave goods or had very few. The most common offerings to the dead were ceramics while jewellery and tools made of bone occurred more infrequently. The ceramic offerings were usually tableware drinking vessels, such as flasks and kantharoi, and libation vessels, such as jugs and amphoras. The great frequency of spouted and drinking vessels leads to the conclusion that ritual dinners presumably took place during the burial procedure. Some types of vessels as the amphoriskoi which were virtually found only in graves may have been made especially for burial use.

 

The finds around the graves which were mainly shells, animal bones and broken vessels infer that libations were made occasionally in the area surrounding the graves to honour the dead. The discovery of whole animal skeletons in certain cemeteries indicates that sometimes animals which must have belonged to the dead person, horses, goat and dogs, were buried near by.

 

The number of the grave goods and their quality increases greatly toward the end of the Middle Helladic period. At the same time, the number of metal offerings - often including jewellery and vases made of gold - as well as the objects made of imported precious materials raises. The graves of the warriors buried with their armament and the so-called shaft graves date to the same period. In addition, the most sumptuous of these shaft graves were found in the Grave Circles at Mycenae.

 

Grave Types

The graves of the Middle Helladic period present a wide range of types. The different grave types which were employed at the same time, the simple shaft graves, the cist graves and the pithos burials were imposed by the various traditions and custom practices.

 

The factors that effected the selection of the type of grave were the features of the area, e.g. the hardness of the soil and the availability of the building materials as well as the facts of each case such as the height of the dead and the degree of luxury imposed by the person's social prestige. In addition, the need for regular access to the grave was also taken into account.

 

The frequency of the grave types differs slightly from one region to another. Thus, the cist grave was common in Central Greece and Thessaly while in the Peloponnese people were buried in simple pits.

 

Middle Helladic Economy

The economy of the Middle Helladic period was pre-monetary, which means that all the commercial transactions were made by exchanging agricultural and manufactured products. Compared with the evidence on the Early Bronze Age economy, Middle Helladic economy appears considerably undeveloped. The advanced forms of economic administration, such as the storage system and the sealing of product which were widespread in Minoan Crete and Mainland Greece in the Early Bronze Age are completely absent in Middle Helladic settlements. Economy seems to have reacquired its Neolithic agrarian character. The inhabitants of Mainland Greece with the simple exploitation of natural resources, fishing, hunting and timber lived on animal and agricultural products they produced.

 

Many everyday household objects such as textiles and simple household ware must have been made by domestic industries. But the manufacture of large quantities of certain objects such as the fine ceramics, proves that these were examples of mass handicraft production. Specifically, the ceramics production presents strong regional features which means that the geographically restricted regions had their own workshops and traded their products in a confined region.



 

The appearance of certain wares of Middle Helladic pottery of high quality in distant regions reveals that some ceramics were popular commercial articles and that they may have had great commercial value. These products were probably exchanged along with metals which were also undoubtedly available despite the fact that they have not left abundant archaeological remains due to the economic decline of that time.

 

The relatively confined diffusion of regional pottery indicates the small scale trading activities which were probably performed by the coastal settlements, as the diffusion of the commercial products is more dense in the coastal settlements than in the inland. We do not know whether trade was carried out via a central authority which also possessed political power or whether there was a separate mercantile class. In any case, the needs of marine trade presupposed the specialization of at least one specific group of seamen. The relatively restricted commercial activities of the Middle Helladic period show that a great part of the Middle Bronze Age marine trade was in the hands of the inhabitants of the Cyclades or Minoan Crete.

 

Agrarian Economy

The development of the towns and the thriving of artisanship production which are observed in this period are not accompanied by the development of agricultural cultivations. The stone tools of this period are similar to the Early Helladic ones, indicating that no remarkable technological progress in the evolution or the type of cultivations took place. But during this period a new type of agricultural tool appears: the saw-toothed blades of sickles mainly made of chert. This innovation may reflect a greater degree of specialization of the agricultural activities.

 

Certain elements, such as earthworks in swampy areas for more land fit for cultivation, such as that of the Kopais lake, reveal a remarkable technological specialization in land reclamation works which led to the admirable irrigation works of the Mycenaean period. The technological developments in agricultural economy are considered to have resulted from the communication with more advanced regions or countries.

 

The more general economic changes during the transition to the Late Bronze Age indicate the gradual commercial exploitation of agricultural products, which led to the systematic storage of agricultural surplus ascertained in the perfectly organized storerooms of the Mycenaean citadels.

 

Trade and Communications

The commercial activities and movement are verified mainly from the diffusion of the Middle Helladic pottery in the Aegean area. The regional ceramic workshops are easily discerned from their typical style of their ceramic production This permits the observation of commercial exchange.

 

The poor presence of Middle Helladic pottery in distant regions, far from their place of production reveals that the exchange network and the movement of people were geographically restricted whereas there is no indication concerning international contacts similar to those of Minoan Crete. The imported ceramic products are more common in coastal areas which means that the sea routes were an easier way of access to other regions in order to accomplish commercial exchange or even other kinds or movement.

 

Arts and Crafts

The technological remains provide information on the agrarian economy and the simple social organization of the Middle Helladic period. The development of the arts is characterized by a considerable retrogression in comparison with the Early Helladic period, by the rareness of the raw materials and the lack of high artistic creation such as the artistic expression of Minoan Crete. This general image of retrogression is due to presumably important but still unknown economic and social factors which led the populations of Mainland Greece to incapacity of social and economic administration. Thus, they were unable to ensure the necessary raw materials and to promote the development of the arts at a great extent.

 

The use of metals appears rather restricted. Metal finds are sparsely unearthed in Middle Helladic settlements and graves. The metal grave goods are rare because metal objects were very few to be offered as grave gifts to the dead. The rareness of metals is the reason metal finds are rarely found in settlements. This shows that the metal tools were not thrown away to no purpose but were almost all recycled to be reused. During the largest part of the Middle Helladic period there is also total absence of rare materials such as semiprecious stones and ivory.

 

Most information on the artistic creation and technology of the Middle Helladic period derive from the study of pottery, the production of which implies important technological and artistic innovations despite its uniformity and conservatism. The great diffusion of certain Middle Helladic pottery wares in different regions of the Aegean indicates the considerable commercial competitiveness of certain regional workshops.

 

During the last phase of the Middle Helladic period, particularly during the Shaft Grave period, a larger number of vases of improved quality, bronze tools and weapons,as well as a great number of jewellery made of precious metals and other rare materials are found in the graves. This rich artistic production, the advanced technology and the richness of the grave goods show that apart from articles of everyday usage a constantly increasing reserve of economic resources could now be offered as grave gifts. In addition, a great number of imported articles shows the relation of the Mainlanders with the Minoan culture of Crete as well as the more intense contacts with the Cycladic culture. The technologies of pottery, metalworking and other arts of the Middle Helladic period reached the fine artistic creation of the Mycenaean period through these fruitful interconnections.

 

Metalurgy

Despite the fact that there is no specific evidence from the the Middle Bronze Age on the function of mines it is certain that the mines of Laurion and Siphnos, from which silver and lead were extracted during the Early Helladic period, were still in use.

 

It is very hard to detect the metallurgical activities in the archaeological remains because the metal works were situated far from inhabited areas to prevent fires. However, kilns, special tools and slag have been found in certain settlements, providing clear indications on metallurgical works.

 

At Lerna and Pefkakia metallurgical crucibles, were found. At Sesklo stone dies for the manufacture of metal objects as well as a crucible with traces of brass were unearthed while at Nichoria and Midea brass slag has been indicated. At Thorikos, an important Middle Helladic settlement in Acarnania, lead monoxide slag has been detected, a find which suggests silver smithing activities.

 

Metal Working

There is very little information on the Middle Helladic metallurgical activities and metalworking. The general impression resulting from the metal finds of that time is that a small number of the inhabitants of the Greek Mainland were occupied with the extraction, trade and processing of metals. Metals were rare while most of the metal objects seem to have been recycled to be reused as unprocessed materials. The main types of metals from which mainly jewellery, tools and weapons were made were copper and bronze. Lead was used for making sheets to mend broken vases.

 

The most common metal objects discovered in the Middle Helladic settlements are copper and bronze wires and metal sheets. The most technologically advanced metal objects were jewellery and copper weapons found in graves. Jewellery were usually made of wire and metal sheets which were given the appropriate shape by bending. This technique was employed in the manufacture of rings, bracelets, earrings, and hair-coils, while pins and beads were made by metal casting. Toward the end of the Middle Helladic period jewellery made of precious metals such as gold, silver and electrum. appear.

 

The use of the same metal tools which were already known from the Early Bronze Age, such as knives, awls, chisels and tweezers indicates that the typology of the Early Helladic tool manufacture was also preserved during the Middle Bronze Age. Among the Middle Helladic copper tools is a typical type of dagger, the spears and the arrowheads. The daggers are an evolution of Early Helladic daggers and are also related with Minoan dagger types. But the manufacture of the long bronze swords which is confirmed in Middle Minoan Crete and Aegina has not been indicated on the Greek Mainland before the Shaft Grave period. During the Middle Helladic period a new type of bronze spear defined as "Sesklo type" spear appears.

 

No metal vessels dating from the largest part of the Middle Helladic period have been found. Nevertheless, during Middle Helladic III (1700-1600 BC) a number of silver, gold and electrum metal vessels appear, revealing strong influence from Minoan art. From this period onward, mainland metalworking developed rapidly. In fact, in the early Mycenaean period it reached the point of competing with Minoan metalworking.

 

Stone working

Although the use of metal tools had begun already from the Early Bronze Age, stone tools made of obsidian and chert had still an important role in the households, agricultural activities and artisanship. Stone tools are distinguished in two basic categories according to the raw material they were made of and the manufacture procedure. Thus, there are tools of chipped stone and tools of polished stone.

 

 

 

Bone working

Very often, objects and mainly tools made of bones are discovered in Middle Helladic settlements. The basic raw material were the bones of domestic animals and fish. Articles made of horns, teeth of wild animals and sea shells are also examined as bone objects.

 

The manufacture technique of bone articles was simple. Their surface was carved with stone or metal tools. That is why their processing was presumably made in settlements. In Lerna, Eutresis and Asine areas of bone processing were indicated. Many tools and bone remains were concentrated in these areas.

 

The most common bone tools were the long pins and awls, which were tools for sewing and hide processing, and the bone polishers which were probably used in pottery burnishing. Bone was also used for making spindle whorls for the spinning of thin fibres because of its lightness. Another rather widespread type of bone tool was a kind of tubular tool which is believed to have been used in weaving, as it bears clear traces of use in its inside. Pickaxes were made of antlers while perforated plates of boar's tusks covered the helmets which became one of the most characteristic elements of Mycenaean military equipment.

 

The bone pins which often had decorated heads present a great variety of shapes and materials. Their large number reveals a specific dressing tradition. Most pins are found in settlements and only a few come from graves, which means that the dead were not buried with their clothes but were most likely wrapped in materials. Simple jewellery made of bone, beads, rings and sea shells which hung on thread were also found in graves.

 

Ivory is a rare material of this period on Mainland Greece and its possession must have been considered as a symbol of social prestige. The first examples of ivory objects, which were hilts of luxury weapons and tools, derive from the last phase of the Middle Helladic period. Ivory was also used for the manufacture of plaques with incised decoration of circles or spiral jewellery, which were engraved with compasses. These objects were used as inlaid decorative plaques in metal or wooden articles.

 

Weaving

The earliest examples of Aegean textiles which were preserved because of favourable environmental conditions belong to the last period of the Middle Bronze Age. The probably most early one was found in a grave of the Grave Circle B at Mycenae. All the textile finds of this period have been woven with the simple weaving technique. Flax is considered to have remained the main raw material for weaving while the wool of sheep and goat was used on a smaller scale.

 

The weaving devices found in Middle Helladic settlements give an image of the processing steps of weaving materials and methods. The most usual weaving devices are the spindle whorls for the spinning and the loomweights which indicate the use of the vertical loom. The spindle whorls of this period are of a conical, biconical or flat shape and were often decorated with incisions filled with white colour. The loomweights rarely occur in Middle Helladic settlements. These were made of clay or burnished rocks and their spherical or tubular shape represents the mainland loomweight type. At Lerna Minoan loomweights were found; these are easily distinguished by their typical discoid shape.

 

Very often these weaving devices were supplanted by bases of broken vases which were previously detached from the rest of the vase and perforated in the centre so that the thread could pass through. The perforated or solid spools, which were probably used for the winding of the yarn and for joining different yarns for the extension of the woof are also considered as loom devices. Some of the solid spools may have been used as small pestles for the crushing of fine materials.

 

There is virtually no information on the use of the woven products and the kinds of dressing except for very few dressing accessories such as buttons and pins. The pins found in some graves indicate that some clothes were not sewn but fixed on the body with different attachments. The Middle Helladic clothes were probably similar to a certain type of Mycenaean clothes which differed greatly from the common Minoan-like costumes of the Mycenaean period. The type of this costume which is a long and large garment with short sleeves is considered representative of a previous dressing tradition of Mainland Greece which was presumably formed during the Middle Helladic period.

 

 


 


 

 

 

 

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6.  Pelasgians

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelasgians

 

The name Pelasgians (/pəˈlæzdʒiənz, -dʒənz, -ɡiənz/; Greek: Πελασγοί, Pelasgoí; singular: Πελασγός, Pelasgós) was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that either were the ancestors of the Greeks or preceded the Greeks in Greece, "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world".[1] In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all the indigenous inhabitants of the Aegean Sea region and their cultures before the advent of the Greek language.[2]

 

During the classical period, enclaves under that name survived in several locations of mainland Greece, Crete, and other regions of the Aegean. Populations identified as "Pelasgian" spoke a language or languages that at the time Greeks identified as "barbaric", even though some ancient writers described the Pelasgians as Greeks. A tradition also survived that large parts of Greece had once been Pelasgian before being Hellenized. These parts generally fell within the ethnic domain that by the 5th century BC was attributed to those speakers of ancient Greek who were identified as Ionians.

 

Etymology

Much like all other aspects of the "Pelasgians", their ethnonym (Pelasgoi) is of extremely uncertain provenance and etymology. Michel Sakellariou collects fifteen different etymologies proposed for it by philologists and linguists during the last 200 years, though he admits that "most...are fanciful".[3]

 

An ancient etymology based on mere similarity of sounds linked pelasgos to pelargos ("stork") and postulates that the Pelasgians were migrants like storks, possibly from Egypt, where they nest.[4] Aristophanes deals effectively with this etymology in his comedy The Birds. One of the laws of "the storks" in the satirical cloud-cuckoo-land, playing upon the Athenian belief that they were originally Pelasgians, is that grown-up storks must support their parents by migrating elsewhere and conducting warfare.[5]

 

Gilbert Murray summarizes the derivation from pelas gē, ("neighboring land"):[6]

"If Pelasgoi is connected with πέλας, 'near', the word would mean 'neighbor' and would denote the nearest strange people to the invading Greeks ..."

Julius Pokorny derives Pelasgoi from *pelag-skoi ("flatland-inhabitants"); specifically "Inhabitants of the Thessalian plain".[7] He details a previous derivation, which appears in English at least as early as William Gladstone's Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age.[8] If the Pelasgians were not Indo-Europeans, the name in this derivation must have been assigned by the Hellenes.

 

The ancient Greek word for "sea", pelagos, comes from the same root, *plāk-, as the Doric word plagos, "side" (which is flat), appearing in *pelag-skoi. Ernest Klein therefore simply interprets the same reconstructed form as "the sea men", where the sea is the flat.[9]

 

Klein's interpretation does not require the Indo-Europeans to have had a word for "sea", which living on the inland plains (if they did) they are likely to have lacked. On encountering the sea they simply used the word for plain, "the flat". The flatlanders also could acquire what must have been to the Hellenes a homonym, "the sea men". Best of all, if the Egyptians of the Late Bronze Age encountered maritime marauders under this name they would have translated as Sea People.

 

Ancient literary evidence

 

Literary analysis has been going on since classical Greece, when the writers of those times read previous works on the subject. No definitive answers were ever forthcoming by this method; rather, it served to define the problems better. The method perhaps reached a peak in the Victorian era when new methods of systematic comparison began to be applied in philology. Typical of the era is the long and detailed study of William Ewart Gladstone, who among his many talents was a trained classicist.[10] Until further ancient texts come to light, advances on the subject cannot be made. The most likely source of progress regarding the Pelasgians continues to be archaeology and related sciences.

 

Poets

Homer

The Pelasgians first appear in the poems of Homer: those who are stated to be Pelasgians in the Iliad are among the allies of Troy. In the section known as the Catalogue of Trojans, they are mentioned between mentions of the Hellespontine cities and the Thracians of south-eastern Europe (i.e., on the Hellespontine border of Thrace).[11] Homer calls their town or district "Larisa"[12] and characterises it as fertile, and its inhabitants as celebrated for their spearsmanship. He records their chiefs as Hippothous and Pylaeus, sons of Lethus son of Teutamus, thus giving all of them names that were Greek or so thoroughly Hellenized that any foreign element has been effaced.

 

In the Odyssey, Odysseus, affecting to be Cretan himself, instances Pelasgians among the tribes in the ninety cities of Crete, "language mixing with language side by side".[13] Last on his list, Homer distinguishes them from other ethnicities on the island: "Cretans proper," Achaeans, Cydonians (of the city of Cydonia/modern Chania), Dorians, and "noble Pelasgians."[14]

 

The Iliad also refers to "Pelasgic Argos",[15] which is most likely to be the plain of Thessaly,[16] and to "Pelasgic Zeus", living in and ruling over Dodona,[17] which must be the oracular one in Epirus. However, neither passage mentions actual Pelasgians; Myrmidons, Hellenes, and Achaeans specifically inhabit Thessaly and the Selloi are around Dodona. They all fought on the Greek side.

 

Hesiod

Later Greek writers offered little unanimity over which sites and regions were "Pelasgian". One of the first was Hesiod; he calls the oracular Dodona, identified by reference to "the oak", the "seat of Pelasgians",[18] clarifying Homer's Pelasgic Zeus. He mentions also that Pelasgus (Greek: Πελασγός, the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians) was the father of King Lycaon of Arcadia.[19]

 

Asius of Samos

Asius of Samos (Ancient Greek: Ἄσιος ὁ Σάμιος) describes Pelasgus as the first man, born of the earth.[20]

 

Aeschylus

In Aeschylus's play, The Suppliants, the Danaids fleeing from Egypt seek asylum from King Pelasgus of Argos, which he says is on the Strymon including Perrhaebia in the north, the Thessalian Dodona and the slopes of the Pindus mountains on the west and the shores of the sea on the east;[21] that is, a territory including but somewhat larger than classical Pelasgiotis. The southern boundary is not mentioned; however, Apis is said to have come to Argos from Naupactus "across" (peras),[22] implying that Argos includes all of east Greece from the north of Thessaly to the Peloponnesian Argos, where the Danaids are probably to be conceived as having landed. He claims to rule the Pelasgians and to be the "child of Palaichthon (or 'ancient earth') whom the earth brought forth".

 

The Danaids call the country the "Apian hills" and claim that it understands the karbana audan[23] (accusative case, and in the Dorian dialect), which many translate as "barbarian speech" but Karba (where the Karbanoi live) is in fact a non-Greek word. They claim to descend from ancestors in ancient Argos even though they are of a "dark race" (melanthes ... genos).[24] Pelasgus admits that the land was once called Apia but compares them to the women of Libya and Egypt and wants to know how they can be from Argos on which they cite descent from Io.[25]

 

In a lost play by Aeschylus, Danaan Women, he defines the original homeland of the Pelasgians as the region around Mycenae.[26]

 

Sophocles

Sophocles presents Inachus, in a fragment of a missing play entitled Inachus,[27] as the elder in the lands of Argos, the Heran hills and among the Tyrsenoi Pelasgoi, an unusual hyphenated noun construction, "Tyrsenians-Pelasgians". Interpretation is open, even though translators typically make a decision, but Tyrsenians may well be the ethnonym Tyrrhenoi.

 

Euripides

Euripides calls the inhabitants of Argos "Pelasgians" in his play entitled Orestes.[28] In a lost play entitled Archelaus, he says that Danaus, on coming to reside in the city of Inachus (Argos), formulated a law whereby the Pelasgians were now to be called Danaans.[26]

 

Ovid

The Roman poet Ovid describes the Greeks of the Trojan War as Pelasgians in his Metamorphoses:[29]

 

"Sadly his father, Priam, mourned for him, not knowing that young Aesacus had assumed wings on his shoulders, and was yet alive. Then also Hector with his brothers made complete but unavailing sacrifice, upon a tomb which bore his carved name. Paris was absent. But soon afterwards, he brought into that land a ravished wife, Helen, the cause of a disastrous war, together with a thousand ships, and all the great Pelasgian nation."

 

"Here, when a sacrifice had been prepared to Jove, according to the custom of their land, and when the ancient altar glowed with fire, the Greeks observed an azure colored snake crawling up in a plane tree near the place where they had just begun their sacrifice. Among the highest branches was a nest, with twice four birds--and those the serpent seized together with the mother-bird as she was fluttering round her loss. And every bird the serpent buried in his greedy maw. All stood amazed: but Calchas, who perceived the truth, exclaimed, "Rejoice Pelasgian men, for we shall conquer; Troy will fall; although the toil of war must long continue--so the nine birds equal nine long years of war." And while he prophesied, the serpent, coiled about the tree, was transformed to a stone, curled crooked as a snake."

 

Historians

Hecataeus of Miletus

Hecataeus of Miletus in a fragment from Genealogiai states that the genos ("clan") descending from Deucalion ruled Thessaly and that it was called "Pelasgia" from king Pelasgus.[30] A second fragment says that Pelasgus was the son of Zeus and Niobe and that his son Lycaon founded a dynasty of kings of Arcadia.[31]

 

Acusilaus

A fragment from the writings of Acusilaus asserts that the Peloponnesians were called "Pelasgians" after Pelasgus, a son of Zeus and Niobe.[32]

 

Hellanicus

Hellanicus of Mytilene, in Fragment 7 of the Argolica, concerns himself with one word in one line of the Iliad, "pasture-land of horses", applied to Argos in the Peloponnesus.[33] What is said about it is reported by different authors and all accounts differ. The explanation is trivial and mythical, but all accounts agree Hellanicus said the term Argeia (gē) or Argolis once applied to all Peloponnesus and that Pelasgus and his two brothers received it as an inheritance from their father, named either Triopas, Arestōr or Phorōneus. Pelasgus built the citadel Larissa of Argos on the Erasinus river, whence the name Pelasgic Argos (of the Peloponnesus), but later resettled inland, built Parrhasia and named the region or caused it to be named Pelasgia, to be renamed Arcadia with the coming of the Greeks.[34]

 

According to Fragment 76 of Hellanicus's Phoronis, from Pelasgus and his wife Menippe came a line of kings: Phrastōr, Amyntōr, Teutamides and Nasas (kings of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly).[35] The Pelasgians under Nasas "rose up" (anestēsan) against the Hellenes (who presumably had acquired Thessaly) and departed for Italy where they first took Cortona and then founded Tyrrhenia. The conclusion is that Hellanicus believed the Pelasgians of Thessaly (and indirectly of Peloponnesus) to have been the ancestors of the Etruscans.

 

Herodotus

In the Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote, with uncertainty, about the language of the Pelasgians:[36]

 

"I am unable to state with certainty what language the Pelasgians spoke, but we could consider the speech of the Pelasgians who still exist in settlements above Tyrrhenia in the city of Kreston, formerly neighbors to the Dorians who at that time lived in the land now called Thessaliotis; also the Pelasgians who once lived with the Athenians and then settled Plakia and Skylake in the Hellespont; and along with those who lived with all the other communities and were once Pelasgian but changed their names. If one can judge by this evidence, the Pelasgians spoke a barbarian language. And so, if the Pelasgian language was spoken in all these places, the people of Attica being originally Pelasgian, must have learned a new language when they became Hellenes. As a matter of fact, the people of Krestonia and Plakia no longer speak the same language, which shows that they continue to use the dialect they brought with them when they migrated to those lands."

 

Herodotus alludes to other districts where Pelasgian peoples lived on under changed names; Samothrace[37] and "the Pelasgian city of Antandrus"[38] in the Troad probably provide instances of this. He mentions that there were Pelasgian populations on the islands of Lemnos and Imbros.[39] Those of Lemnos he represents as being of Hellespontine Pelasgians who had been living in Athens but whom the Athenians resettled on Lemnos and then found it necessary to reconquer.[40] This expulsion of (non-Athenian) Pelasgians from Athens may reflect, according to the historian Robert Buck, "a dim memory of forwarding of refugees, closely akin to the Athenians in speech and custom, to the Ionian colonies".[41] Herodotus also mentions the Cabeiri, the gods of the Pelasgians, whose worship gives an idea of where the Pelasgians once were.[42]

 

Another claim made by Herodotus entails the Hellenes (associated with the Dorians[43]) having separated from the Pelasgians with the former surpassing the latter numerically:[44]

 

"As for the Hellenes, it seems obvious to me that ever since they came into existence they have always used the same language. They were weak at first, when they were separated from the Pelasgians, but they grew from a small group into a multitude, especially when many peoples, including other barbarians in great numbers, had joined them. Moreover, I do not think the Pelasgian, who remained barbarians, ever grew appreciably in number or power."

 

He states that the Pelasgians of Athens were called "Cranai"[45] and that the Pelasgian population among the Ionians of the Peloponnesus were the "Aegialian Pelasgians".[46] Moreover, Herodotus mentions that the Aeolians, according to the Hellenes, were known anciently as "Pelasgians".[47]

 

Thucydides

In the History of the Peloponnesian War, the Greek historian Thucydides wrote about the Pelasgians stating that:[48]

 

"Before the time of Hellen, son of Deucalion...the country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all."

 

He regards the Athenians as having lived in scattered independent settlements in Attica but at some time after Theseus they changed residence to Athens, which was already populated. A plot of land below the Acropolis was called "Pelasgian" and was regarded as cursed, but the Athenians settled there anyway.[49]

 

In connection with the campaign against Amphipolis, Thucydides mentions that several settlements on the promontory of Actē were home to:[50]  "...mixed barbarian races speaking the two languages. There is also a small Chalcidian element; but the greater number are Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once settled in Lemnos and Athens, and Bisaltians, Crestonians and Eonians; the towns all being small ones."

 

Ephorus

The historian Ephorus, building on a fragment from Hesiod that attests to a tradition of an aboriginal Pelasgian people in Arcadia, developed a theory of the Pelasgians as a people living a "military way of life" (stratiōtikon bion) "and that, in converting many peoples to the same mode of life, they imparted their name to all," meaning "all of Hellas". They colonized Crete and extended their rule over Epirus, Thessaly and by implication over wherever else the ancient authors said they were, beginning with Homer. The Peloponnese was called "Pelasgia".[51]

 

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

In the Roman Antiquities, Dionysius of Halicarnassus in several pages gives a synoptic interpretation of the Pelasgians based on the sources available to him then, concluding that Pelasgians were Greek:[52]

 

"Afterwards some of the Pelasgians who inhabited Thessaly, as it is now called, being obliged to leave their country, settled among the Aborigines and jointly with them made war upon the Sicels. It is possible that the Aborigines received them partly in the hope of gaining their assistance, but I believe it was chiefly on account of their kinship; for the Pelasgians, too, were a Greek nation originally from the Peloponnesus..."

 

He goes on to add that the nation wandered a great deal. They were originally natives of "Achaean Argos" descended from Pelasgus, the son of Zeus and Niobe. They migrated from there to Haemonia (later called Thessaly), where they "drove out the barbarian inhabitants" and divided the country into Phthiotis, Achaia, and Pelasgiotis, named after Achaeus, Phthius and Pelasgus, "the sons of Larissa and Poseidon." Subsequently, "...about the sixth generation they were driven out by the Curetes and Leleges, who are now called Aetolians and Locrians..."

 

From there, the Pelasgians dispersed to Crete, the Cyclades, Histaeotis, Boeotia, Phocis, Euboea, the coast along the Hellespont and the islands, especially Lesbos, which had been colonized by Macar son of Crinacus. Most went to Dodona and eventually being driven from there to Italy then called Saturnia. They landed at Spina at the mouth of the Po River. Still others crossed the Apennine Mountains to Umbria and being driven from there went to the country of the Aborigines. These consented to a treaty and settled them at Velia. They and the Aborigenes took over Umbria but were dispossessed by the Tyrrhenians. The author continues to detail the tribulations of the Pelasgians and then goes on to the Tyrrhenians, whom he is careful to distinguish from the Pelasgians.

 

Geographers

Pausanias

In his Description of Greece, Pausanias mentions the Arcadians who state that Pelasgus (along with his followers) was the first inhabitant of their land.[53]

 

Upon becoming king, Pelasgus was responsible for inventing huts, sheep-skin coats, and a diet consisting of acorns. Moreover, the land he ruled was named "Pelasgia".[54] When Arcas became king, Pelasgia was renamed "Arcadia" and its inhabitants (the Pelasgians) were renamed "Arcadians".[55] Pausanias also mentions the Pelasgians as responsible for creating a wooden image of Orpheus in a sanctuary of Demeter at Therae,[56] as well as expelling the Minyans and Lacedaemonians from Lemnos.[57]

 

Strabo

Strabo dedicates a section of his Geography to the Pelasgians, relating both his own opinions and those of prior writers. Of his own opinions he says:[26]

"As for the Pelasgi, almost all agree, in the first place, that some ancient tribe of that name spread throughout the whole of Greece, and particularly among the Aeolians of Thessaly."

 

He defines Pelasgian Argos as being "between the outlets of the Peneus River and Thermopylae as far as the mountainous country of Pindus" and states that it took its name from Pelasgian rule. He includes also the tribes of Epirus as Pelasgians (based on the opinions of "many"). Lesbos is named Pelasgian. Caere was settled by Pelasgians from Thessaly, who called it by its former name, "Agylla". Pelasgians also settled around the mouth of the Tiber River in Italy at Pyrgi and a few other settlements under a king, Maleos.[58]

 

Mythology

In 1955, Robert Graves in his mythography The Greek Myths claims that the Pelasgian creation myth involves a singular creatrix goddess who dominates man and predates other deities. The goddess gives birth to all things, fertilised not by any male opposite but by symbolic seeds in the form of the wind, beans, or insects.[59]

 

Language

[Further information: Aegean languages]

In the absence of certain knowledge about the identity (or identities) of the Pelasgians, various theories have been proposed. Some of the more prevalent theories supported by scholarship are presented below. Since Greek is classified as an Indo-European language, the major question of concern is whether Pelasgian was an Indo-European language.

 

Pelasgian as pre-Indo-European

Unknown origin

[Main article: Dorian invasion § Kretschmer's external Greeks]

One major theory utilizes the name "Pelasgian" to describe the inhabitants of the lands around the Aegean Sea before the arrival of proto-Greek speakers, as well as traditionally identified enclaves of descendants that still existed in classical Greece. The theory derives from the original concepts of the philologist Paul Kretschmer, whose views prevailed throughout the first half of the 20th century and are still given some credibility today.

Though Wilamowitz-Moellendorff wrote them off as mythical, the results of archaeological excavations at Çatalhöyük by James Mellaart and Fritz Schachermeyr led them to conclude that the Pelasgians had migrated from Asia Minor to the Aegean basin in the 4th millennium BC.[60] In this theory, a number of possible non-Indo-European linguistic and cultural features are attributed to the Pelasgians:

 

    Groups of apparently non-Indo-European loan words in the Greek language, borrowed in its prehistoric development.

 

    Non-Greek and possibly non-Indo-European roots for many Greek toponyms in the region, containing the consonantal strings "-nth-" (e.g., Corinth, Probalinthos, Zakynthos, Amarynthos), or its equivalent "-ns-" (e.g., Tiryns); "-tt-", e.g., in the peninsula of Attica, Mounts Hymettus and Brilettus/Brilessus, Lycabettus Hill, the deme of Gargettus, etc.; or its equivalent "-ss-": Larissa, Mount Parnassus, the river names Kephissos and Ilissos, the Cretan cities of Amnis(s)os and Tylissos etc. These strings also appear in other non-Greek, presumably substratally inherited nouns such as asáminthos (bathtub), ápsinthos (absinth), terébinthos (terebinth), etc. Other placenames with no apparent Indo-European etymology include Athēnai (Athens), Mykēnai (Mycene), Messēnē, Kyllēnē (Cyllene), Cyrene, Mytilene, etc. (note the common -ēnai/ēnē ending); also Thebes, Delphi, Lindos, Rhamnus, and others.

 

    Certain mythological stories or deities that seem to have no parallels in the mythologies of other Indo-European peoples (e. g., the Olympians Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, and Aphrodite, whose origins seem Anatolian or Levantine).

 

    Non-Greek inscriptions throughout the Mediterranean, such as the Lemnos stele.

 

 

The historian George Grote summarizes the theory as follows:[61]

"There are, indeed, various names affirmed to designate the ante-Hellenic inhabitants of many parts of Greece — the Pelasgi, the Leleges, the Curetes, the Kaukones, the Aones, the Temmikes, the Hyantes, the Telchines, the Boeotian Thracians, the Teleboae, the Ephyri, the Phlegyae, &c. These are names belonging to legendary, not to historical Greece — extracted out of a variety of conflicting legends by the logographers and subsequent historians, who strung together out of them a supposed history of the past, at a time when the conditions of historical evidence were very little understood. That these names designated real nations may be true but here our knowledge ends."

 

The poet and mythologist Robert Graves asserts that certain elements of that mythology originate with the native Pelasgian people (namely the parts related to his concept of the White Goddess, an archetypical Earth Goddess) drawing additional support for his conclusion from his interpretations of other ancient literature: Irish, Welsh, Greek, Biblical, Gnostic, and medieval writings.[62]

 

Ibero-Caucasian

Some Georgian scholars (including R. V. Gordeziani and M. G. Abdushelishvili) connect the Pelasgians with the Ibero-Caucasian peoples of the prehistoric Caucasus, known to the Greeks as Colchians and Iberians.[63]

 

Pelasgian as Indo-European

Anatolian

In western Anatolia, many toponyms with the "-ss-" infix derive from the adjectival suffix also seen in cuneiform Luwian and some Palaic; the classic example is Bronze Age Tarhuntassa (loosely, "City of the Storm God Tarhunta"), and later Parnassus may be related to the Hittite word parna- or "house". These elements have led to a second theory, that Pelasgian was to some degree an Anatolian language.

 

Thracian[

Vladimir I. Georgiev asserted that the Pelasgians were Indo-Europeans, with an Indo-European etymology of pelasgoi from pelagos, "sea" as the Sea People, the PRŚT of Egyptian inscriptions, and related them to the neighbouring Thracians. He proposed a soundshift model from Indo-European to Pelasgian.[64]

 

Albanian

In 1854, an Austrian diplomat and Albanian language specialist, Johann Georg von Hahn, identified the Pelasgian language with Ur-Albanian. This theory has been rejected by modern scholars but is still supported by some Albanian nationalists.[65]

 

Undiscovered Indo-European

Following Vladimir I. Georgiev,[66] who placed Pelasgian as an Indo-European language "between Albanian and Armenian",[67] Albert Joris Van Windekens (1915—1989) offered rules for an unattested hypothetical Indo-European Pelasgian language, selecting vocabulary for which there was no Greek etymology among the names of places, heroes, animals, plants, garments, artifacts, social organization.[68] His 1952 essay Le Pélasgique was critically received.[69]

 

 

Archaeology

Attica

During the early 20th century, archaeological excavations conducted by the Italian Archaeological School and by the American Classical School on the Athenian Acropolis and on other sites within Attica revealed Neolithic dwellings, tools, pottery and skeletons from domesticated animals (i.e., sheep, fish). All of these discoveries showed significant resemblances to the Neolithic discoveries made on the Thessalian acropolises of Sesklo and Dimini. These discoveries help provide physical confirmation of the literary tradition that describes the Athenians as the descendants of the Pelasgians, who appear to descend continuously from the Neolithic inhabitants in Thessaly. Overall, the archaeological evidence indicates that the site of the Acropolis was inhabited by farmers as early as the 6th millennium BCE.[70][Note 1]

 

It should be noted, however, that contrary to what Prokopiou suggests about the results of the American excavations near the Clepsydra, Sara Imerwahr in her definitive publication of the prehistoric material unequivocally states that no Dimini-type pottery was unearthed.[71]

 

Lemnos

In August and September 1926, members of the Italian School of Archaeology conducted trial excavations on the island of Lemnos. A short account of their excavations appeared in the Messager d'Athénes for 3 January 1927. The overall purpose of the excavations was to shed light on the island's "Etrusco-Pelasgian" civilization. The excavations were conducted on the site of the city of Hephaisteia (i.e., Palaiopolis) where the Pelasgians, according to Herodotus, surrendered to Miltiades of Athens. There, a Tyrrhenian necropolis (c. 9th-8th centuries BC) was discovered revealing bronze objects, pots, and more than 130 ossuaries. The ossuaries contained distinctly male and female funeral ornaments. Male ossuaries contained knives and axes whereas female ossuaries contained earrings, bronze pins, necklaces, gold diadems, and bracelets. The decorations on some of the gold objects contained spirals of Mycenean origin, but had no Geometric forms. According to their ornamentation, the pots discovered at the site were from the Geometric period. However, the pots also preserved spirals indicative of Mycenean art. The results of the excavations indicate that the Tyrrhenians or Pelasgians of Lemnos were a remnant of a Mycenean population.[72][Note 2]

 

Boeotia

During the 1980s, the Skourta Plain Project identified Middle Helladic and Late Helladic sites on mountain summits near the plains of Skourta in Boeotia. These fortified mountain settlements were, according to tradition, inhabited by Pelasgians up until the end of the Bronze Age. Moreover, the location of the sites is an indication that the Pelasgian inhabitants sought to distinguish themselves "ethnically" (a fluid term[73]) and economically from the Mycenaean Greeks who controlled the Skourta Plain.[74][Note 3]

 

See also

Barbarian

Dacians

Etruscan civilization

Leleges

Minyans

Names of the Greeks

Old European culture

Paleo-Balkan languages

Pelasgian Creation Myth

Philistines

Pre-Greek substrate

Sea peoples

Faliscans

Thracians

Tyrsenian

 

Notes

 According to Prokopiou: "Some forty years ago excavations on the Athenian Acropolis and on other sites in Attica brought to light many indications of neolithic life - dwellings, vases, tools, skeletons of sheep - which confirmed the traditions recorded by Herodotus that the Athenians were descended from the Pelasgians, the neolithic inhabitants of Thessaly. Indeed the neolithic vases of Attica date from the earliest neolithic age (5520–4900) like the ceramics from the Thessalian acropolis of Sesclos, as well as from the later neolithic age (4900–3200) like those from the other Thessalian acropolis of Dimini...The search for traces of the neolithic age on the Acropolis began in 1922 with the excavations of the Italian Archaeological School near the Aesclepium. Another settlement was discovered in the vicinity of the Odeion of Pericles where many sherds of pottery and a stone axe, both of Sesklo type, were unearthed. Excavations carried out by the American Classical School near the Clepshydra uncovered twenty-one wells and countless pieces of handmade pottery, sherds of Dimini type, implements of later Stone Age and bones of domestic animals and fish. The discoveries reinforced the theory that permanent settlement by farmers with their flocks, their stone and bone tools and ceramic utensils had taken place on the rock of the Acropolis as early as the sixth millennium."

Professor Della Seta reports: "The lack of weapons of bronze, the abundance of weapons of iron, and the type of the pots and the pins gives the impression that the necropolis belongs to the ninth or eighth century BC. That it did not belong to a Greek population, but to a population which, in the eyes of the Hellenes, appeared barbarous, is shown by the weapons. The Greek weapon, dagger or spear, is lacking: the weapons of the barbarians, the axe and the knife, are common. Since, however, this population...preserves so many elements of Mycenaean art, the Tyrrhenians or Pelasgians of Lemnos may be recognized as a remnant of a Mycenaean population."

French reports: "The fourth and final season of the survey of the Skourta plain was conducted in 1989 by M. and M.L.Z. Munn (ASCS). Explorations begun in 1985 and 1987 were extended into new parts of the plain and surrounding valleys, so that by now a representative portion (approximately 25%) of most of the inhabitable areas of the three koinotites of Pyli, Skourta, and Stefani have been examined intensively. 66 sites were discovered or studied for the first time in the course of this highly productive season, yielding a total of 120 premodern sites studied by our survey since 1985. The survey should have identified all major settlement sites (over 5 ha) and a representative sample of smaller sites in the study area. A summary of the chief conclusions to be drawn from the four seasons can be made...MH settlement is established on two summits overlooking the plain...one of which, Panakton...becomes the most substantial LH site in the area. A fortified MH settlement is also established on a peak in rugged country beyond the NE edge of the plain...between the Mazareika and Vountima valleys, in which other settlements are established in the LH era...The remoteness of this NE sector, and the great natural strength of the MH site and a nearby LH IIIC citadel...suggest that the inhabitants of these glens and crags sought to protect and separate themselves from peoples beyond the peaks that surrounded them, perhaps because they were ethnically distinct and economically more or less independent of the Myc Greeks who dominated the plains. Traditions of Pelasgians in these mountains at the end of the BA raise the possibility that these may have been Pelasgian sites. Once abandoned, in the LH IIIC or PG eras, most of these sites in the NE sector are not again inhabited for well over a millennium. Elsewhere, within the more accessible expanse of the Skourta plain itself, LH settlements are established on many sites which are later again important in the C era..."


References

Citations

1 . Rhodios & Green 2007, p. 223 (Commentary on I.987)

2 . "Pelasgian". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved 15 January 2008. "A member of a people living in the region of the Aegean Sea before the coming of the Greeks."

3. Sakellariou 1977, pp. 101–104.

4 . Strabo. Geography, 5.2.4.

5 . Aristophanes. The Birds, 1355ff.

6. Murray 1960, p. 43.

7. Pokorny 1969, pp. 831–832.

8. Gladstone 1858, Chapter 2, Section 3, "Derivation of the Pelasgian Name", pp. 211–215.

9.   Klein 1966, "Pelasgian and Pelagic".

10 . Gladstone 1858. The Pelasgians are covered especially in Volume I.

11. Homer. Iliad, 2.840–2.843. The camp at Troy is mentioned in Iliad, 10.428–10.429.

12 . Not the same as the Larissa in Thessaly, Greece. Many towns bearing the same (or similar) name existed.

13 Homer. Odyssey, 19.175–19.177 (Robert Fagles's translation).

14 . Homer. Odyssey, Book 19 (T.E. Lawrence's translation).

15 . Homer. Iliad, 2.681–2.684.

16. The location is never explicitly given. Gladstone shows, by process of elimination, that it must be in the north of Thessaly. (Gladstone 1858, pp. 100–105.)

17 . Homer. Iliad, 16.233–16.235.

18 . Hesiod fr. 319 M–W = Strabo 7.7.10.

19. Catalogue of Women fr. 161 = Strabo 5.2.4

20. Prichard 1841, p. 489.

21. Aeschylus. The Suppliants, Lines 249–259.

22. Aeschylus. The Suppliants, Lines 262–263.

23. Aeschylus. The Suppliants, Lines 128–129.

24. Aeschylus. The Suppliants, Lines 154–155.

25 . Aeschylus. The Suppliants, Lines 279–281.

26.a b c Strabo. Geography, 5.2.4.

27. Sophocles & Dindorf 1849, Fragment 256 (p. 352).

28.   Euripides. Orestes, Lines 857 and 933.

29.   Ovid. Metamorphoses, 12.1.

30. Hecataeus of Miletus & Klausen 1831, Fragment 224 (p. 140).

31. Hecataeus of Miletus & Klausen 1831, Fragment 375 (p. 157).

32. Mentioned in Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.

33. Homer. Iliad, 3.75.

34.   Hellanicus, Sturz & Canteri 1826, pp. 49–51.

35.   Hellanicus, Sturz & Canteri 1826, pp. 108–109.

36 . Herodotus. Histories, 1.57. (Herodotus & Strassler 2009, p. 32).)

37 . Herodotus. Histories, 2.51. The text allows two interpretations, that Pelasgians were indigenous there or that they had been resettled by Athens.

38. Herodotus. Histories, 7.42.

39 Herodotus. Histories, 5.26.

40. Herodotus. Histories, 6.137–6.140.

41. Buck 1979, p. 79.

42. Herodotus. Histories, 2.51.

43. Herodotus. Histories, 1.56. (Herodotus & Strassler 2009, p. 32.)

44. Herodotus. Histories, 1.58. (Herodotus & Strassler 2009, p. 33.)

45. Herodotus. Histories, 8.44.

46. Herodotus. Histories, 7.94.

47. Herodotus. Histories, 7.95. (Herodotus & Strassler 2009, p. 533.)

48. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.1.3.

49 . Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.16–2.17.1

50. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 4.14.109.

51. Strabo. Geography, 5.2.4.

52 . Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities, 1.17.

53. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 8.1.4.

54. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 8.1.5 and 8.1.6.

55. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 8.4.1.

56. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 3.20.5.

57. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 7.2.2.

58. Strabo. Geography, 5.2.8.

59 . Graves 1990, Volume I.

60 . Schachermeyr 1976; Mellaart 1965–1966; Mellaart 1975, "Southeastern Europe: The Aegean and the Southern Balkans".

61. Grote 1862, pp. 43–44.

62. Graves 1990, Volume 1.

63. Gordeziani 1985; Kaigi 1969, M. G. Abdushelishvili, "The Genesis of the Aboriginal Population of the Caucasus in the Light of Anthropological Data".

64. Georgiev 1961; Georgiev 1977.

65 . Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers and Bernd Jürgen Fischer, editors of Albanian Identities: Myth and History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2002), present papers resulting from the London Conference held in 1999 entitled "The Role of Myth in the History and Development of Albania". The "Pelasgian" myth of Albanians as the most ancient community in southeastern Europe is among those explored in Noel Malcolm's essay, "Myths of Albanian National Identity: Some Key Elements, As Expressed in the Works of Albanian Writers in America in the Early Twentieth Century". The introductory essay by Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers establishes the context of the "Pelasgian Albanian" mythos, applicable to Eastern Europe generally, in terms of the longing for a stable identity in a rapidly opening society.

66. Georgiev 1937; Georgiev 1941.

67. Georgiev 1941, p. 63, quoted in H. M. Hoenigswald's review in Language 19.3 (July–September 1943) p. 270.

68. Van Windekens 1952; Van Windekens 1960.

69 . As, for example, in Gordon Messing's extended review, criticizing point-by-point, in Language 30.1 (January–March 1954), pp. 104–108.

70. Prokopiou & Smith 1964, pp. 21–22.

71. Immerwahr 1971, p. 19: "It is the Late Neolithic period that provides most of our parallels, yet, curiously, the striking Dimini-type painted wares of Thessaly are completely lacking, and there is only one small recognisable sherd of the related Mattpainted ware of Central and Southern Greece."

72. Heffner 1927, pp. 123–124.

73. The American Forum for Global Education 2000.

74. French 1989–1990, "Skourta Plain project", p. 35.

 

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    Pokorny, Julius (1969). Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German). New York, New York: French and European Publications, Incorporated. ISBN 0-8288-6602-3.

    Prichard, James Cowles (1841). Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind: Containing Researches into the History of the European Nations III (3rd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper.

    Prokopiou, Angelos; Smith, Edwin (1964). Athens: City of the Gods from Prehistory to 338 B.C. New York, New York: Stein and Day. OCLC 1016679.

    Sakellariou, Michael B. (1977). Peuples Préhelléniques d'Origine Indo-Européennee (in French). Athens, Greece: Ekdotike Athenon.

    Schachermeyr, Fritz (1976). Die Ägäische Frühzeit: Forschungsbericht über die Ausgrabungen im letzten Jahrzehnt und über ihre Ergebnisse für unser Geschichtsbild. Bd. I. Die Vormykenischen Perioden des Griechischen Festlandes und der Kykladen (in German). Vienna, Austria: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

    Sophocles; Dindorf, Wilhelm (1849). ΣΟΦΟΚΛΗΣ: Sophoclis Tragoediae Superstites et Deperditarum Fragmenta: Editio Secunda Emendatior. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

    The American Forum for Global Education (2000). "Foreigners and Barbarians (Adapted from Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks)". The American Forum for Global Education. Retrieved 1 July 2011.

    Van Windekens, Albert Joris (1952). Le Pélasgique: Essai sur une Langue Indo-Européenne Préhéllenique (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Université de Louvain, Institut Orientalistique.

    Van Windekens, Albert Joris (1960). Études Pélasgiques (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Université de Louvain, Institut Orientalistique.

 

 

Further reading

·      Christopoulos, George A.; Bastias, John C. (1974) [1970]. "Pelasgians". History of the Hellenic World: Prehistory and Protohistory. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 368–370. ISBN 0-271-01199-8.

·      Mackenzie, Donald Alexander (1917). Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe. London, United Kingdom: Gresham Publishing Company.


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7.  Dorian “Invasion”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorian_invasion

The Dorian invasion[1] is a concept devised by historians of Ancient Greece to explain the replacement of pre-classical dialects and traditions in southern Greece by the ones that prevailed in Classical Greece. The latter were named Dorian by the ancient Greek writers after the historical population that owned them, the Dorians.

 

Greek legend asserted that the Dorians took possession of the Peloponnesus in an event called the Return of the Heracleidae (Ancient Greek: Ἐπιστροφὴ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν). Classical scholars saw in the legend a hypothetically real event they termed the Dorian invasion. The meaning of the concept has changed several times, as historians, philologists and archaeologists used it in attempts to explain the cultural discontinuities expressed in the data of their fields. The pattern of arrival of Dorian culture on certain islands in the Mediterranean, such as Crete, is also not well understood. The Dorians colonised a number of sites on Crete such as Lato.[2]

 

Despite nearly 200 years of investigation, the actuality of the Dorian invasion has never been established. The meaning of the concept has become to some degree amorphous. The work done on it has mainly served to rule out various speculations. The possibility of a real Dorian invasion remains open. Likewise, there have been attempts to link them or their victims with the emergence of the equally mysterious Sea Peoples.

 

Contents   

         1 Return of the Heracleidae

            2 The term "invasion"

            3 Kretschmer's external Greeks

            4 Greek origin in Greece

            5 Destruction at the end of Mycenaean IIIB

            6 Invasion or migration

            7 Closing the gap

            8 See also

            9 Notes

            10 Bibliography

            11 External links

 

Return of the Heracleidae

The ancient tradition tells that the descendants of Heracles (the Heracleidae), exiled after his death, returned after some generations in order to reclaim dominion their ancestor Heracles had held in the Peloponnesus. The Greece to which the traditions refer is the mythic one, now considered to be Mycenaean Greece. The theme of the "return of the Heracleidae" is considered legendary. The exact descent differs from one ancient author to another, the salient point being that in each case a traditional ruling clan traced its origin, thus its legitimacy, to Heracles.

 

The translation of "return" is strictly English; the Greek connotations are quite different. The Greek words are katienai[3] and katerchesthai, literally "to descend", "come down" or "go down" or less commonly "be brought down." It means a descent from uplands to lowlands, or from the earth to the grave, or a rushing down upon as a flood, or sweeping down upon as a wind or a ship, or those returning from exile (which typically would have to be by ship). It is never used as a simple return home, which is a nostos[4] (as in nostalgia or the "returns from Troy"). The Heracleidae are not returning to a former home for which they are homesick, they are sweeping down upon the Peloponnesus in war, thus inviting the English translation of invasion.

 

There is, however, a distinction between Heracleidae and Dorians. George Grote summarizes the relationship as follows:[5]

 

"Herakles himself had rendered inestimable aid to the Dorian king Aegimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithae .... Herakles defeated the Lapithae and slew their king Koronus; in return for which Aegimius assigned to his deliverers one third part of his whole territory and adopted Hyllus as his son."

 

Hyllus, a Perseid, was driven from the state of Mycenae into exile after the death of Heracles by a dynastic rival, Eurystheus, another Perseid:[6]

 

"After the death ... of Herakles, his son Hyllos and his other children were expelled and persecuted by Eurystheus ... Eurystheus invaded Attica, but perished in the attempt .... All the sons of Eurystheus lost their lives ... with him, so that the Perseid family was now represented only by the Herakleids ...."

 

The Pelopid family now assumed power. The Heraclids "endeavored to recover the possessions from which they had been expelled" but were defeated by the Ionians at the Isthmus of Corinth. Hyllus staked peace for three generations against immediate reoccupation on a single combat and was killed by Echemus of Arcadia.

 

The Heracleidae now found it prudent to claim the Dorian land granted to Heracles:[5] "and from this moment the Herakleids and Dorians became intimately united together into one social communion." Three generations later the Heracleidae with Dorian collusion occupied the Peloponnesus, an event Grote terms a "victorious invasion."[6]

 

The term "invasion

The first widespread use of the term "Dorian invasion" appears to date to the 1830s. A popular alternative was the "Dorian migration". For example, in 1831 Thomas Keightly was using "Dorian migration" in Outline of History; by 1838 in The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy he was using "Dorian invasion".

 

Neither of those two words exactly fits the events, as they imply an incursion from outside a society to within; but the Dorians were not outside of either Greece or Greek society. William Mitford's History of Greece (1784–1810)[7] described a "Dorian conquest" followed by "a revolution in Peloponnesus so complete that, except in the rugged province of Arcadia, nothing remained unaltered."[8]

 

In 1824 Karl Otfried Müller's Die Dorier was published in German and was translated into English by Tufnel and Lewis for publication in 1830. They use such terms as "the Doric invasion"[9] and "the invasian of the Dorians"[10] to translate Müller's "Die Einwanderung von den Doriern" (literally: "the migration of the Dorians"),[11] which was quite a different concept.

 

On one level the Einwanderung meant no more than the Heraklidenzug, the return of the Heracleidae. However, Müller was also applying the sense of Völkerwanderung to it, which was being used of the Germanic migrations. Müller's approach was philological. In trying to explain the distribution of tribes and dialects he hypothesized that the aboriginal or Pelasgian population was Hellenic. His first paragraph of the Introduction asserts:[12]

 

"The Dorians derived their origin [der Ursprung des dorischen Stammes] from those districts in which the Grecian nation bordered toward the north upon numerous and dissimilar races of barbarians. As to the tribes which dwelt beyond these borders we are indeed wholly destitute of information; nor is there the slightest trace of any memorial or tradition that the Greeks originally came from those quarters."

 

Müller goes on to propose that the original Pelasgian language was the commo

n ancestor of Greek and Latin,[13] that it evolved into Proto-Greek and was corrupted in Macedon and Thessaly by invasions of Illyrians. This same pressure of Illyrians drove forth Greeks speaking Achaean (including Aeolian), Ionian, and finally Dorian in three diachronic waves, explaining the dialect distribution of Greek in classical times.[14]

 

Following this traditional view, Thumb noticed that in the Peloponnesus and in the islands, where the Dorians established themselves, their dialect showed elements of the Arcadian dialect. This can be explained if the Dorians conquered a Pre-Doric population, which was pushed into the Arcadian mountains. Where the Dorians were a minority, there is a mixed dialect, as in Boeotia, or the Dorians adopted the existing dialect, as in Thessaly.[15] To the Achaeans described by Homer belongs the Aeolic-Arcadian dialect in the whole of eastern Greece, with the exception of Attica, where the Ionians were confined. The Ionians must be considered the oldest first wave of the Greek migration.[16]

 

In 1902, K. Paparigopoulos, calling the event the "Descent of the Heraclidae", stated that the Heraclidae came from Thessaly after being expelled by the Thessalians living in Epirus.[17]

 

Kretschmer's external Greeks

Toward the end of the 19th century the philologist Paul Kretschmer made a strong case that Pelasgian was a pre-Greek substrate, perhaps Anatolian,[18] taking up a classical theme of remnant populations existing in pockets among the Greek speakers, in mountainous and rural Arcadia and in inaccessible coasts of the far south. This view left Müller's proto-Greeks without a homeland, but Kretschmer did not substitute the Heracleidae or their Dorian allies from Macedon and Thessaly. Instead he removed the earliest Greeks to the trail leading from the plains of Asia, where he viewed the Proto-Indo-European language as having broken up about 2500 BC. Kretschmer suggested that somewhere between that Asian homeland and Greece a new cradle of the Greek tribes developed, from which Proto-Ionians at about 2000 BC, Proto-Achaeans at about 1600 BC and Dorians at about 1200 BC came to swoop down on an increasingly less aboriginal Greece as three waves of external Greeks.[19]

 

Kretschmer was confident that if the unknown homeland of the Greeks was not then known, archaeology would find it. The handbooks of Greek history from then on spoke of Greeks entering Greece. As late as 1956 J.B. Bury's History of Greece (3rd edition) wrote of an "invasion which brought the Greek language into Greece". Over that half-century Greek and Balkan archaeology united in an effort to locate the Dorians further north than Greece. The idea was combined with a view that the Sea Peoples were part of the same north-south migration about 1200 BC.

 

The weakness in this theory[20] is that it requires both an invaded Greece and an external area where Greek evolved and continued to evolve into dialects contemporaneously with the invaded Greece. However, although the invaded Greece was amply represented by evidence of all sorts, there was no evidence at all of the external homeland. Similarly, a clear Greek homeland for the Sea Peoples failed to materialize. Retaining Müller's three waves and Kretschmer's Pelasgian pockets the scholars continued to search for the Dorians in other quarters. Müller's common ancestor of Greek and Latin had vanished by 1950; and by 1960, although still given lip service, the concept of Greek developing outside of Greece was in decline.[21]

 

Greek origin in Greece

Additional progress in the search for the Dorian invasion resulted from the decipherment of Linear B inscriptions. The language of the Linear B texts is an early form of Greek now known as Mycenaean Greek. Comparing it with the later Greek dialects scholars could trace the development of the dialects from the earlier Mycenaean. For example, classical Greek anak-s (ἄναξ), "king", was postulated to be derived from a reconstructed form *wanak- (Fάναξ). In the Linear B texts appears the form wa-na-ka, sometimes accompanied by the wa-na-sa (Fάνασσα, "queen").

 

Ernst Risch lost no time in proposing that there was never more than one migration, which brought proto-Greek into Greece. Proto-Greek is the assumed last common ancestor of all known varieties of Greek and then dissimilated into dialects within Greece.[22] Meanwhile the linguists closest to the decipherment were having doubts about the classification of proto-Greek. John Chadwick summarizing in 1976 wrote:[23]

 

"Let us therefore explore the alternative view. This hypothesis is that the Greek language did not exist before the twentieth century B.C., but was formed in Greece by the mixture of an indigenous population with invaders who spoke another language .... What this language was is a difficult question ... the exact stage reached in development at the time of the arrival is difficult to predict."

 

Georgiev suggested that:[24]

 

"The Proto-Greek region included Epirus, approximately up to Αυλών in the north including Paravaia, Tymphaia, Athamania, Dolopia, Amphilochia, and Acarnania, west and north Thessaly (Hestiaiotis,, Perrhaibia, Tripolis, and Pieria), i.e. more or less the territory of contemporary northwestern Greece"

 

In another ten years the "alternative view" was becoming the standard one. JP Mallory wrote in 1989 concerning the various hypotheses of proto-Greek that had been put forward since the decipherment:[25]

 

"Reconciliation of all these different theories seems out of the question ... the current state of our knowledge of the Greek dialects can accommodate Indo-Europeans entering Greece at any time between 2200 and 1600 BC to emerge later as Greek speakers."

 

By the end of the 20th century the concept of an invasion by external Greek speakers had ceased to be the mainstream view, (although still asserted by a minority); thus Geoffrey Horrocks writes:[26]

 

"Greek is now widely believed to be the product of contact between Indo-European immigrants and the speakers of the indigenous languages of the Balkan peninsula beginning c. 2,000 B.C."

 

If the different dialects had developed within Greece no subsequent invasions were required to explain their presence.

 

Destruction at the end of Mycenaean IIIB

Meanwhile the archaeologists were encountering what appeared to be a wave of destruction of Mycenaean palaces. Indeed, the Pylos tablets recorded the dispatch of "coast-watchers", to be followed not long after by the burning of the palace, presumably by invaders from the sea. Carl Blegen wrote:[27]

 

"the telltale track of the Dorians must be recognized in the fire-scarred ruins of all the great palaces and the more important towns which ... were blotted out at the end of Mycenaean IIIB."

 

Blegen follows Furumark[28] in dating Mycenaean IIIB to 1300–1230 BC. Blegen himself dated the Dorian invasion to 1200 BC.

 

A destruction by Dorians has its own problems (as discussed in the next section) and is not the only possible explanation. At approximately this time Hittite power in Anatolia collapsed with the destruction of their capital Hattusa, and the late 19th and the 20th dynasties of Egypt suffered invasions of the Sea Peoples. A theory, reported for instance by Thomas and Conant, attributes the ruin of the Peloponnesus to the Sea Peoples:[29]

 

"Evidence on the Linear B tablets from the Mycenaean kingdom of Pylos describing the dispatch of rowers and watchers to the coast, for instance, may well date to the time that the Egyptian pharaoh was expecting the arrival of foes."

 

The identity of the foes remained a question. The evidence suggests that some of the Sea Peoples may have been Greek. However, most of the destroyed Mycenaean sites are far from the sea, and the expedition against Troy at the end of this period shows that the sea was safe. Desborough believes that the sea was safe in central and south Aegean in this period.[30]

Michael Wood suggests relying on tradition, especially that of Thucydides:[31]

 

"[L]et us not forget the legends, at least as models for what might have happened. They tell us of constant rivalries with the royal clans of the Heroic Age – Atreus and Thyestes, Agamemnon and Aigisthes, and so on ...."

 

In summary, it is possible that the Mycenaean world disintegrated through "feuding clans of the great royal families".[31] The possibility of some sort of internal struggle had long been under consideration. Chadwick, after following and critiquing the development of different views, in 1976 settled on a theory of his own:[32] there was no Dorian invasion. The palaces were destroyed by Dorians who had been in the Peloponnesus all along as a subservient lower class (Linear B: do-e-ro, "male slave"; latter Greek form: δοῦλος),[33] and now were staging a revolution. Chadwick espoused the view that northern Greek was the more conservative language, and proposed that southern Greek had developed under Minoan influence as a palace language.

 

Mylonas joins two of the previous possibilities. He believes that some developments in Argolis and attempts for recovery after 1200 BC, can be explained by an internal fighting, and by an enemy pressure, by the Dorians. Even if the Dorians, were one of the causes of the Bronze age collapse, there is evidence that they brought with them some new elements of culture. It seems that the Doric clans moved southward gradually over a number of years, and they devastated the territory, until they managed to establish themselves in the Mycenaean centres.[34]

 

Invasion or migration

After the Greek Dark Ages, much of the population of the Peloponnesus spoke Dorian, while the evidence of Linear B and literary traditions, such as the works of Homer, suggests that the population spoke AchaeanMycenaean Greek – before. In addition, society in the Peloponnesus had undergone a total change from states ruled by kings presiding over a Palace economy to a caste system ruled by a Dorian master ethnos at Sparta.

 

According to the scholar H. Michell:[35] "If we assume that the Dorian invasion took place some time in the twelfth century, we certainly know nothing of them for the next hundred years." Blegen admitted that in the sub-Mycenaean period following 1200:[27] "the whole area seems to have been sparsely populated or almost deserted."

 

The problem is that there are no traces of any Dorians anywhere until the start of the Geometric period about 950 BC. This simple pottery decoration appears to be correlated with other changes in material culture, such as the introduction of iron weapons and alterations in burial practices from Mycenaean group burials in tholos tombs to individual burials and cremation. These can certainly be associated with the historical Dorian settlers, such as those of Sparta in the 10th century BC.[35] However, they appear to have been general over all of Greece; moreover, the new weapons would not have been used in 1200.

 

The scholars were now faced with the conundrum of an invasion at 1200 but a resettlement at 950. One explanation is that the destruction of 1200 was not caused by them, and that the quasi-mythical return of the Heracleidae is to be associated with settlement at Sparta c. 950. It is possible that the destruction of the Mycenaean centres, was caused by the wandering of northern people (Illyrian migration). They destroyed the palace of Iolcos (LH III C-1), the palace of Thebes ( late LH III B), then they crossed Isthmus of Corinth (end of LH III B) they destroyed Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos, and finally they returned northward. However Pylos was destroyed by a sea-attack, the invaders didn't leave behind traces of weapons or graves, and it cannot be proved that all the sites were destroyed about the same time.[36] It is also possible that the Doric clans moved southward gradually over a number of years, and they devastated the territory, until they managed to establish themselves in the Mycenaean centres.[34]

 

Closing the gap

The quest for the Dorian invasion had begun as an attempt to explain the differences between Peloponnesian society depicted by Homer and the historical Dorians of classical Greece. The first scholars to work on the problem were historians researching the only resources available to them: the Greek legends. The philologists (later linguists) subsequently took up the challenge but in the end only brought the problem into sharper definition. Finally the archaeologists have inherited the issue. Perhaps some distinctively Dorian archaeological evidence will turn up or has turned up giving precise insight as to how and when Peloponnesian society changed so radically.

 

The historians had defined the Greek Dark Ages, a period of general decline, in this case the disappearance of the palace economy and with it law and order, loss of writing, diminishment of trade, decrease in population and abandonment of settlements (destroyed or undestroyed), metals starvation and loss of the fine arts or at least the diminution of their quality, evidenced especially in pottery. By its broadest definition the dark age lasted between 1200 and 750, the start of the archaic or orientalizing period, when influence from the Middle East via the overseas colonies stimulated a recovery.

 

A dark age of poverty, low population and metals starvation is not compatible with the idea of great population movements of successful warriors wielding the latest military equipment sweeping into the Peloponnesus and taking it over to rebuild civilization their way. This dark age consists of three periods of art and archaeology: sub-Mycenaean, Proto-geometric and Geometric. The most successful, the Geometric, seems to fit the Dorians better, but there is a gap, and this period is not localized to and did not begin in Dorian territory. It is more to be associated with Athens, an Ionian state.

 

Still, the Dorians did share in the Geometric period and therefore to find its origin might be perhaps to find the origin of the Dorians. The Geometric originated by clear transition from the Proto-geometric. The logical break in material culture is the start of the Proto-geometric at about 1050 BC, which leaves a gap of 150 years. The year 1050 offers nothing distinctively Dorian either, but if the Dorians were present in the Geometric, and they were not always in place as an unrecorded lower class, 1050 is most likely time of entry. Cartledge says humorously:[37]

 

"It has of late become an acknowledged scandal that the Dorians, archaeologically speaking, do not exist. That is, there is no cultural trait surviving in the material record for the two centuries or so after 1200 which can be regarded as a peculiarly Dorian hallmark. Robbed of their patents for Geometric pottery, cremation burial, iron-working and, the unkindest prick of all, the humble straight pin, the hapless Dorians stand naked before their creator – or, some would say, inventor."

 

C.Mossè suggests that there is not any archaeological evidence that a "Doric civilization" substituted the "Achaean civilization, and that the Dorian methods of a war-society, was a myth created by the scientists who were based on the "Spartan delusion". The Dorians who spoke a different dialect were mixed with the local population, when they migrated to the new lands [38]

 

The question remains open to further investigation.

 

See also

·      Ancient Greek dialects

·      Comparative method

·      Dorians

·      Doric Greek

·      Doris

·      Dorus, the eponymous founder

·      Greek Dark Ages

·      Historical linguistics

·      Sparta

·      Vedic Period

 

Notes

1.    
^ About the so-called "Dorians' Issue" cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Sulle piste dei Dori. Ipotesi a confronto tra Linguistica, Archeologia e Storia [On the Traces of the Dorians. Compared Hypotheses According to Linguistics, Archaeology, and History], Pisa University Press (Edizioni PLUS), Pisa 2009, link book.

2.    
^ Hogan, C. Michael (10 January 2008). "Lato Hillfort". The Modern Antiquarian. Julian Cope.

3.    
^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (2007) [1940]. "κατεῖναι". Greek-English Lexicon. Medford: Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University.

4.    
^ "νόστος". Liddell & Scott.

5.    ^ a b George Grote, Greece Part I, Chapter XVIII, Section I: "Return of the Herakleids into Peloponnesus."

6.    ^ a b George Grote, Greece Chapter IV: "Heroic Legends : Exile of the Herakleids."

7.    
^ Mitford's single-volume first edition came out in 1784 to be followed by a second edition containing Volumes I and II in 1789. The remainder of the initial 8-volume set was published by 1810. The third edition of 1821 had more volumes. Some 29 editions more followed. Mitford's work features marginal notes stating the ancient sources.

8.    
^ Mitford, William. The History of Greece. Volume I. Boston: Timothy Bedlington and Charles Ewer, Cornhill. p. 197.

9.    
^ Müller 1830, p. 107.

10. 
^ Müller 1830, p. 97.

11. 
^ Müller 1844, p. 85.

12. 
^ Müller 1830, p. 1.

13. 
^ Müller 1830, pp. 6–7.

14. 
^ Müller 1830, pp. 11–19.

15. 
^ A.Thumb: Handbuch der griechischen Dialekte 1932 : Martin Nilsson Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion C.F.Beck Verlag, Munchen, p. 330

16. 
^ J.L.Myres, Who were the Greeks? 1930 : Martin Nilsson Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion C.F.Beck Verlag, Munchen, p. 330

17. 
^ Paparigopoulos, K., 1902, History of the Greek Nation, (re-edited in demotic Greek, 1995), v. 1, p. 189

18. 
^ Hall, Jonathan M. (2002). Between Ethnicity and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 40. ISBN 0-226-31329-8. “Paul Kretschmer ... had pointed to elements in Greek vocabulary ... that appeared to be non-Hellenic, and therefore pre-Hellenic ... for example, the -nth- suffix in Tirynthos ... which Kretschmer believed had been transmitted to Greece from Anatolia.”

19. 
^ Drews 1988, p. 8. "Paul Kretschmer concluded that there had been three Greek invasions of Greece during the Bronze Age. The last of these, ca. 1200 B.C., was surely the Dorian Invasion."

20. 
^ A survey of the problems connected with the historicity of the "Dorian invasion" may be found Hall, J.M. (2007). A History of the Archaic Greek World ca. 1200–479 BCE. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 3. A number of ISBN's, including 0631226672.

21. 
^ Drews 1993, p. 63. "The old view — that the Dorian invasion proceeded from the central Balkans and that it occurred ca. 1200 — is now maintained by only a few archaeologists and against increasing evidence to the contrary."

22. 
^ Risch, Ernst (1955). "Die Gliederung der griechischen Dialekte in neuer Sicht". Museum Helveticum 12: 61–75. The argument is summarized, and Risch is cited, in Drews 1988, p. 39.

23. 
^ Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-521-21077-1.

24. 
^ Georgiev, Vladimir Ivanov (1981). Introduction to the history of the Indo-European languages. Pub. House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. p. 156.

25. 
^ Mallory, J.P. (1991). In Search of the Indo-Europeans:Language, Archaeology and Myth. New York: Thames and Hudson. p. 71. ISBN 0-500-27616-1.

26. 
^ Horrocks, Geoffrey (1997). "Homer's Dialect". In Morris, Ian; Powell, Barry B. A New Companion to Homer. Leiden, Boston: Brill. pp. 193–217. ISBN 90-04-09989-1.

27. ^ a b Blegen, Carl (1967), "The Mycenaean Age: The Trojan War, the Dorian Invasion and Other Problems", Lectures in Memory of Louise Taft Semple: First Series, 1961–1965, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 30, LC 67-14407.

28. 
^ Furumark, Arne (1972). Mycenaean Pottery. Svenska institutet i Athen. ISBN 91-85086-03-7. This book, a pottery lookup reference, arranges pottery by stylistic groups, assigning relative dates correlated when possible to calendar dates, along with the evidence. It is the standard pottery reference for Mycenaean times.

29. 
^ Thomas, Carol G.; Craig Conant (2005). The Trojan War. Westport, Connecticut: The Greenwood press. p. 18. ISBN 0-313-32526-X.

30. 
^ G.Mylonas (1966) "Mycenae and the Mycenaean age", Princeton University Press pp. 230,231

31. ^ a b Wood, Michael (1987). In Search of the Trojan War. New York: New American Library. pp. 251–252. ISBN 0-452-25960-6.

32. 
^ Chadwick, John (1976). "Who were the Dorians?". Parola del Passato 31: 103–117. Chadwick's point of view is summarized and critiqued in Drews 1988, Appendix One: The End of the Bronze Age in Greece

33. 
^ "Paleolexicon".

34. ^ a b G. Mylonas, "Mycenae and the Mycenaean age", pp. 231, 232

35. ^ a b Michell, H. (1964). Sparta. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 7.

36. 
^ G. Mylonas "Mycenae and the Mycenaean age", pp. 227, 228

37. 
^ Cartledge, Paul (2002). Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History, 1300–362. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 0-415-26276-3.

38. 
^ C.Mossè (1984). La Grèce archaique, d' Homére à Eschyle. Editions du Seuil, p.p 34,35

 

Bibliography

·      Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Sulle piste dei Dori. Ipotesi a confronto tra Linguistica, Archeologia e Storia [On the Traces of the Dorians. Compared Hypotheses According to Linguistics, Archaeology, and History], Pisa University Press (Edizioni PLUS), Pisa 2009, link book.

·      Drews, Robert (1988). The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02951-2.

·      Drews, Robert (1993). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe CA. 1200 B.C. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

·      Hall, Jonathan M. (2000). "Dorians and Heraklidai". Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 56–65. ISBN 0-521-78999-0.

·      Hall, Jonathan M. (2006). "Dorians: Ancient Ethnic Group". In Wilson, Nigel. Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 240–242. ISBN 0-415-97334-1.

·      Müller, C.O.; Henry Tufnell (Translator); George Cornewall Lewis (Translator) (1830). The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race. Volume I. London: John Murray.

·      Müller, Karl Otfried (1844). Geschichten hellenischer Stämme und Städte. Zweiter Band: Die Dorier. Breslau: J. Max and Company.

·      Mylonas, George E. (1966). Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age. Princeton UP. ISBN 0-691-03523-7.

·      Pomeroy, Sarah B.; Stanley M. Burstein; Walter Donlan; Jennifer Tolbert Roberts (1999). Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509742-4.

 

External links

·      Casson, Stanley (July 1921). "The Dorian Invasion reviewed in the light of some New Evidence". The Antiquaries Journal (London and elsewhere: Oxford University Press) I (No. 1): 199–221.

·      Jacob-Felsch, Margrit (2000). "Problems in Mycenaean Chronology" (PDF). Hephaistos (18)..

·      Thomas, Carol (Spring 1978). "Found: the Dorians" (PDF). Expedition Magazine (Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania): 21–25.


-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

8.  Mycenaean Language

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/achievements/language/index.html

 

The discovery of inscribed tablets in the excavation site of Knossos verified the organized

use of an advanced writing system which was initially considered to have expressed, as the previous ones, a pre-Hellenic dialect. The decipherment of the Mycenaean Linear B in 1953 by M. Ventris and J. Chadwick revealed - to the great surprise of the Greek scholars of that time - that the syllabic signs of Linear B composed words of the Greek language.

 

The gradual decipherment of many Linear B texts revealed that the Mycenaean world is undoubtedly associated with the language and culture of Greek Antiquity. Hellenic names of personalities and deities, which later composed the most important figures of the Greek twelve-god system, were identified in the Mycenaean texts. The placenames referred to on the tablets facilitated the identification of many Mycenaean settlements with sites known from historical topography. The professions, the institutions and the hierarchy of the Mycenaean society of mainly the 13th century BC shed light on the aspects of political and social organization which would have been impossible to approach only through archaeological evidence.

 

The Mycenaean language is the earliest known dialect and it also includes many pre-Hellenic elements. It does not fully correspond to any of the later dialects but it is most similar to the Arcado-Cypriot. Moreover, its vocabulary includes words of Greek origin which do not appear in the ancient Greek language. It is considered that these words disappeared in the course of the Geometric and Archaic period.

 

The syntax of the Mycenaean texts is very difficult to study since the texts of the tablets are mainly simple lists. Elements of structure occur only on one tablet from Pylos, on which a temporal clause begins with o-te (when), while in another part the accusative case of reference, known from ancient Greek, is employed. The singular, plural and dual numbers coexist but are often used in the same way because in all cases they function as titles. Furthermore, structural incoherence due to the epigrammatic nature of the texts or to careless mistakes frequently occur.

 

 

Writing

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/achievements/writing/index.html

 

The first writing systems in the Aegean occur in Minoan Crete during the second millenium BC. The first form of writing is preserved on the Phaistos disk. The Hieroglyphic and Linear A succede. Linear B is the offering of the Mycenaeans to the intellectual achievements of the Prehistoric Aegean.

 

This writing, an evolution of Linear A, was created probably because of the need for systematizing at a greater degree the commercial exchange and for organizing more efficiently storage and archive keeping of the goods traded in the palaces. The Linear B texts come mainly from tablets of the archives of Pylos, Knossos and Thebes. More than 1.000 tablets come from Pylos and more than 3.000 from Knossos. The palaces of Mycenae and Tiryns have a smaller deposit of archives.

 

The texts were incised on unfired clay tablets with a pen made probably of bone. These tablets are discerned according to their shape in rectangular "page" tablets and in "palm-leaf" tablets. The fact that they have been preserved until today is due to the fire which destroyed the palaces around 1200 BC and solidified the mass of the tablets rendering them more resistant to wear and tear. The tablets are often concentrated in the antechambers of the palace storerooms but also in areas which had no connection with the official archives of the state, such as the homes of merchants.

 

Moreover, the Mycenaean writing occurs also on inscribed seals, many of which have been found in the Mycenaean Kadmeia and the inscribed amphoras. The inscriptions on these vases had been written with colour before the firing of the vases and functioned as labels that bore inscription on the content of the vases or the place of origin of the products. In total, approximately 140 of this type have been found all over the Aegean, in sites of mainland Greece such as Thebes, Eleusis, Tiryns and in Cretan sites, Knossos and Chania. The period of their use dates to the 14th and 13th centuries BC.

 

Linear B, as Linear A, was written from left to right. The rectangular "page" tablets which provided plenty of space for long texts were divided by horizontal lines. In some cases paragraphs are separated from one another by blank lines. The more detailed study of the tablets led to the identification of specific scribes. Thirty-two different writing styles have been discerned on the tablets of Pylos while those of the palace at Knossos number one hundred.

 

 

Linear B

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/achievements/writing/index1.html

 

The Mycenaean Linear B writing was given this name by the excavator of Knossos Arthur Evans as opposed to the first kind of Minoan Linear A. The similarities of the two writings lead to the assumption that Linear B resulted from Linear A. But they also present clear differences which are indicated in the internal structure and external form of their signs. Both writings use the same number of phonetic symbols some of which are common for both writings while some do not occur in the other. Today it is believed that the structure of Linear B derived from Linear A but was modified in order to better express the Greek language.

 

Linear B is structured by groups of phonetic symbols which are followed by ideograms.

 

The phonetic symbols and the respective ideogram refer to the same object. The syllabic signs, as are named the successive phonetic signs, are represented by vowels and open syllables in combination with one consonant and one vowel, the last one always ending in a vowel. Forty-five out of the eighty-nine signs present parallels with signs of Linear A and ten more present parallels with elements of earlier Minoan writings. Apart from the phonetic symbols there are more than one-hundred ideograms which represent objects and numbers of the decimal system as well as weight and capacity. measurement units. Many syllabic signs, ideograms or measurement units have not yet been deciphered. These unknown elements are gradually completed with the decipherment of more new texts.

 

The archaeological evidence reveals that the last period of use of Linear B was by the end of the 13th century BC, that is the final phase before the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces. However, we do not know exactly the period of its creation. The tablets of Knossos date to the period 1425-1385 BC. Therefore, its use is verified already from the 15th century BC while it may have been invented even earlier. Its appearance on tablets of the palace centres of the mainland is estimated around 1350-1300 BC.

 

The use of the Linear B writing form ceased upon the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces. It was supplanted by another writing not until the adoption of the Phoenician alphabet in the 8th century BC. This means that the Mycenaean writing existed only to serve the administrative functions of the palaces. The later "dark ages" are characterized of total absence of written sources. Nevertheless, the Mycenaean linguistic tradition was preserved in oral speech. Some of the traits of the Mycenaean dialect were preserved in the Homeric epics and in the later poetry which maintained the epic traits.

 

Metrical Systems:  Weights and Measures

In Linear B weights and measures are represented by specific symbols. We do not know the names of the units in the Mycenaean language but we know that there were numbers that followed the decimal system and units of weight and capacity measurement.

 

The symbols of the units were sometimes the same with the Minoan ones, which means that the Mycenaeans used the Minoan measurement units. The subdivisions of the weight and capacity units were also represented by specific symbols. It is still rather difficult to estimate the correspondence of these two systems because of the variability of the agricultural products' weight.

 

The evidence on the measurement units resulting from the Mycenaean texts are completed by certain archaeological finds such as the weights and ingots, objects of a stable weight which were used in commercial exchange.

 

 

Weights

The weight measurement units were represented in the Mycenaean texts by specific symbols. The largest unit was represented by the balance. The ingot of the Classic period, which was also considered as a balance corresponds to the Mycenaean balance. The basic unit was divided in thirty smaller ones. The second largest subdivision was divided in fourths and each fourth into twelves. There was also a smaller unit which was used for weighing the saffron crocus and an even smaller one for gold.

 

Apart from the Linear B symbols, there is also a small group of archaeological objects, the ingots and the weights. The ingots are flat bronze fusiform plaques, which weigh about 29 kilograms. The weight of the ingots, which was stable in order to serve the trade of this metal, is considered to correspond to the basic weight unit. The Mycenaean weights are round lead plaques of different sizes. Some bore impressed circles and dots representing their weight. The weight of the ingots today does not always correspond to their primary weight since these finds may have been altered by wear and tear.

 

The weight of the weights also presents small differences in the various regions of the Aegean. Comparing the weight of the Minoan and Mycenaean weights, specialists conclude that the Mycenaeans had chosen one of the existing variations of the Minoan system maintaining the basic unit identical and slightly modifying its subdivisions.

 

The fine gold balance which had been deposited as a grave good in a Mycenaean grave is an early Mycenaean find associated with weight measurement. The two fine scales could weight materials of just a few grams. Despite its ritual and perhaps symbolic character, this find reveals that accuracy in the weighing of precious materials was very important for the Mycenaeans.

 

Measures

The Mycenaean writing system provided for measurement units for liquid and dry goods and for products in the form of grains, such as cereals and spices. These products were measured in volume and not in weight because this was changeable depending on the condition and quality of the product.

 

The basic capacity unit of the solid goods was represented by the cup. A schematic or even verbal parallel with the "kotyle", the capacity unit of classic times, is observed. Based on the units of the Classic period we can assume that the kotyle was equal to roughly 270 to 388 cubic cm [@ 9 - 13 fluid ounces – tkw]. Four kotyle units formed a larger unit whereas the smallest subdivision of the basic unit was the one-sixth.

 

Liquid measurement was partly the same with dry measurement. The largest liquid measurement unit corresponded to 30% of the highest unit of dry product measurement. This difference shows that the capacity units were adjusted to the highest load that man can bear which is not the same for liquid and dry products.

 

The capacity measures are not known perhaps because they were made of perishable materials. A specific type of vase which was found on Thera, may have served this purpose. But the Theran finds were mostly, adjusted to the Minoan models. Thus they do not constitute reliable sources of information for the Mycenaean measurement systems.

 

The purely transport vessels of the Mycenaeans are considered to be the stirrup jars. These vessels were of a specific capacity and occur in two basic sizes. The larger ones contained 12 to 14 litres and the smaller ones 6 to 7 litres of oil. Comparing the capacity of the large storage vessels it seems that 0.8 of the litre was of a specific importance for measuring capacity while it is estimated that the lowest unit varied from 200 to 500 cubic cm.


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9.  Early Thebes (until the end of the Bronze Age)

Excerpted from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,_Greece

 

Thebes (/ˈθiːbz/; Ancient Greek: Θῆβαι, Thēbai, Greek pronunciation: [tʰɛ̂ːbai̯];[2] Modern Greek: Θήβα, Thíva [ˈθiva]) is a city in Boeotia, central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a Mycenaean settlement and clay tablets written in the Linear B script, indicating the importance of the site in the Bronze Age.

….

The modern city contains an Archaeological Museum, the remains of the Cadmea (Bronze Age and forward citadel), and scattered ancient remains. Modern Thebes is the largest town of the regional unit of Boeotia.

….

Geography

Thebes is situated in a plain, between Lake Yliki (ancient Hylica) to the north, and the Cithaeron mountains, which divide Boeotia from Attica, to the south. Its elevation is 215 m above mean sea level. It is about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Athens, and 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Lamia.

….

History

Mythic record

For a discussion of the many mythical kings of Thebes and their individual feats, see Theban kings in Greek mythology.

 

The record of the earliest days of Thebes was preserved among the Greeks in an abundant mass of legends which rival the myths of Troy in their wide ramification and the influence which they exerted upon the literature of the classical age. Five main cycles of story may be distinguished:

1         The foundation of the citadel Cadmeia by Cadmus, and the growth of the Spartoi or "Sown Men" (probably an aetiological myth designed to explain the origin of the Theban nobility which bore that name in historical times).

2         The building of a "seven-gated" wall by Amphion, and the cognate stories of Zethus, Antiope and Dirce.

3         The tale of Laius, whose misdeeds culminated in the tragedy of Oedipus and the wars of the "Seven Against Thebes", the Epigoni, and the downfall of his house; Laius' pederastic rape of Chrysippus was held by some ancients to have been the first instance of homosexuality among mortals, and may have provided an etiology for the practice of pedagogic pederasty for which Thebes was famous. See Theban pederasty and Pederasty in ancient Greece for detailed discussion and background.

4         The immolation of Semele and the advent of Dionysus.

5         The exploits of Heracles.

 

The Greeks attributed the foundation of Thebes to Cadmus, a Phoenician king from Tyre (now in Lebanon) and the brother of Queen Europa. Cadmus was famous for teaching the Phoenician alphabet and building the Acropolis, which was named the Cadmeia in his honor and was an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center.

 

Early history

Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed cist graves dated to Mycenaean times containing weapons, ivory, and tablets written in Linear B. Its attested name forms and relevant terms on tablets found locally or elsewhere include te-qa-i,[n 1] understood to be read as *Tʰēgʷai̮s (Ancient Greek: Θήβαις, Thēbais, i.e. "at Thebes", Thebes in the dative-locative case), te-qa-de,[n 2] for *Tʰēgʷasde (Θήβασδε, Thēbasde, i.e. "to Thebes"),[2][6] and te-qa-ja,[n 3] for *Tʰēgʷaja (Θηβαία, Thēbaia, i.e. "Theban woman").[2]

 

It seems safe to infer that *Tʰēgʷai was one of the first Greek communities to be drawn together within a fortified city, and that it owed its importance in prehistoric days — as later — to its military strength. Deger-Jalkotzy claimed that the statue base from Kom el-Hetan in Amenhotep III's kingdom (LHIIIA:1) mentions a name similar to Thebes, spelled out quasi-syllabically in hieroglyphs as d-q-e-i-s, and considered to be one of four tj-n3-jj (Danaan?) kingdoms worthy of note (alongside Knossos and Mycenae). *Tʰēgʷai in LHIIIB lost contact with Egypt but gained it with "Miletus" (Hittite: Milawata) and "Cyprus" (Hittite: Alashija). In the late LHIIIB, according to Palaima,[7] *Tʰēgʷai was able to pull resources from Lamos near Mount Helicon, and from Karystos and Amarynthos on the Greek side of the isle of Euboia.

 

As a fortified community, it attracted attention from the invading Dorians, and the fact of their eventual conquest of Thebes lie behind the stories of the successive legendary attacks on that city.

 

The central position and military security of the city naturally tended to raise it to a commanding position among the Boeotians, and from early days its inhabitants endeavoured to establish a complete supremacy over their kinsmen in the outlying towns. This centralizing policy is as much the cardinal fact of Theban history as the counteracting effort of the smaller towns to resist absorption forms the main chapter of the story of Boeotia. No details of the earlier history of Thebes have been preserved, except that it was governed by a land-holding aristocracy who safeguarded their integrity by rigid statutes about the ownership of property and its transmission over time.

….

*********
Theban kings in Greek mythology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theban_kings_in_Greek_mythology

 

                            Greek Mythology

 

                                            Primordial Titans

                                            Zeus Olympians

                                            Pan Nymphs

                                            Apollo Dionysus

                                            Sea-deities Earth-deities

                   

          Heroes and heroism

            Heracles / Hercules (Labors)

                        Achilles Hector (Trojan War)

 

            Odysseus (Odyssey)

                        Jason Argonauts (Golden Fleece)

 

                        Perseus (Medusa Gorgon)

 

            Pirithous (Centauromachy)

            Oedipus (Sphinx)

            Orpheus (Orphism)

            Theseus (Minotaur)

            Bellerophon (Pegasus)

            Triptolemus (Eleusinian Mysteries)

                        Atalanta Hippomenes (Golden apple)

 

            Cadmus (Thebes)

            Pelops (Ancient Olympic Games)

            Daedalus (Labyrinth)

            Aeneas (Aeneid)

            Amphitryon (Teumessian fox)

            Narcissus (Narcissism)

            Meleager (Calydonian Boar)

 

           Related

                Satyrs  

          Centaurs

           Dragons

           Demogorgon

 

            Religion in Ancient Greece

            Mycenaean gods

 

The dynastic history of Thebes in Greek mythology is crowded with a bewildering number of kings between the city's new foundation (by Cadmus) and the Trojan War (see Ogyges). This suggests several competing traditions, which mythographers were forced to reconcile.[1]

 

Contents  

           1 The rulers

            2 List of rulers

            3 Royal House of Thebes family tree

            4 See also

            5 References

 

The rulers

The first king of Thebes was Cadmus, after whom the city was originally called Cadmeia. It only became known as Thebes during the reign of Amphion and Zethus, after the latter's wife Thebe. The first kings of Boeotia before Cadmus and the flood of Deucalion were Calydnus and Ogyges (Ogygos).

 

When Cadmus died, his son Polydorus was still a minor and hence Pentheus, a son of Cadmus' daughter Agaue and one of the Spartoi, became king. He met a tragic end after falling foul of the young god Dionysus.

 

Polydorus succeeded his nephew but only reigned for a short while. At his death, the kingdom was entrusted to his father-in-law, Nycteus, who acted as guardian for the young Labdacus, the son of Polydorus and Nycteis. During the regency of Nycteus, Thebes (Cadmea) made war against Epopeus, the king of Sicyon, who had abducted Nycteus' daughter, Antiope. (However, an alternate account says that Antiope fled Thebes to evade her father's wrath, and sought refuge with King Epopeus after finding herself pregnant by the god Zeus.) Nycteus and the Thebans were defeated, and Nycteus himself died of his battle wounds. He was succeeded as ruler of Thebes by his brother, Lycus.

 

Labdacus eventually became king. Another war erupted, this time over a boundary dispute between Thebes and Athens; once again, Thebes was defeated after King Pandion II of Athens received aid from the Thracian king Tereus. Labdacus himself survived the war. However, following in the footsteps of Pentheus, King Labdacus opposed the cult of Dionysus, and was killed by Dionysus' enraged devotees, the Maenads. Labdacus left behind a young son, Laius. Lycus again took control of Thebes, this time as a usurper, and denied Laius his birthright. This inaugurated a new dynasty. Lycus is said to have reigned for twenty years.

 

Lycus, as king and ruler of Thebes, waged war against Sicyon to avenge his brother and niece. This time, the result went in Thebes' favor, and King Epopeus was slain. However, Lycus and his wife Dirce proceeded to treat Antiope cruelly. Antiope was imprisoned, but she later contrived to escape, and was reunited with her twin sons, Amphion and Zethus.

 

Amphion and Zethus were the sons of Zeus by Antiope, conceived while Antiope was still in Thebes; they were born in secret and raised by shepherds in the vicinity of Mount Cithaeron. After their tearful reunion with their mother, Amphion and Zethus marched on Thebes and slew King Lycus and Dirce.

 

Lycus' death did not restore Laius to the throne. Amphion and Zethus seized power, ruling as joint kings of Thebes, and expelled Laius. Amphion's wife was Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, and they had seven sons and seven daughters together. Amphion and Zethus expanded the city (and renamed it Thebes) and built the seven gates of Thebes, naming them after Amphion's daughters (Thera, Cleodoxa, Astynome, Astycratia, Chias, Ogygia, Chloris). Niobe, a boastful woman, attracted the wrath of the goddess Artemis, who killed all of her children. Amphion committed suicide after the death of his beloved children. Zethus' son and only child had been killed earlier, and Zethus had died of a broken heart.

 

Thus, the throne of Thebes was vacant and the Thebans invited back Laius, who resided in the Peloponnesus under the protection of King Pelops, thereby restoring the original dynasty of Cadmus. When Laius became king, he married Jocasta, daughter of Menoeceus, son of Pentheus. Given that the Delphic oracle warned Laius not to have a son because that son was fated to kill his own father, Laius exposed his newborn son - who nevertheless survived, and grew up under the name of Oedipus. In a tragic tale - in which every step Oedipus took to avoid the oracle's predictions brought him closer to his fate - Oedipus killed King Laius and married Jocasta. Oedipus then became king of Thebes, as husband of the widowed Jocasta. The couple had four children, including two sons, Polyneices and Eteocles.

 

When the seer Teiresias revealed Oedipus' horrible crimes - patricide, regicide and incest, no less - Oedipus was forced to abdicate. Jocasta killed herself, and Oedipus was shunned by his own children. Oedipus responded by cursing his sons Polyneices and Eteocles.

 

Polyneices and Eteocles made a pact that each should rule alternately for one year at a time. But Eteocles reneged on the pact, and Polyneices was banished from Thebes. Polyneices fled to the court of King Adrastus of Argos to raise an army, known as the "Seven Against Thebes". In this war, Polyneices and Eteocles were each slain by the other, thus fulfilling Oedipus' curse.

 

After the deaths of Polyneices and Eteocles, Jocasta's brother Creon, who before had governed Thebes after the death of Laius and after the exile of Oedipus, became regent for Eteocles' son Laodamas. It was during one of Creon's reigns that Heracles was born in Thebes. Creon served as protector of Heracles, his stepfather Amphitryon, and mother Alcmene. Creon even gave his daughter Megara in marriage to Heracles. In return, Heracles defended Thebes in two more wars that Thebes became entangled in, first against King Erginus of Minyan Orchomenus, then against King Pyraechmus of Euboea.

 

After the death of Eteocles and Polynices, Creon prohibited a proper burial of Polyneices and his Argive allies. Theseus, King of Athens, led an army against Thebes and compelled Creon to give the fallen heroes the correct rites. When Eteocles' son Laodamas came of age, Creon resigned the rule to him. Like his father, King Laodamas was confronted with an attack by the Epigoni, the sons of the Seven led by Polyneices' son Thersander. The Epigoni succeeded, and Thersander was installed as king of Thebes. King Laodamas was killed during this war.

 

Thersander joined the Greek forces in the Trojan War, but he was killed on the shores of Mysia before ever reaching Troy (by Telephus, a son of Heracles). His son Tisamenus was too young at the time to lead the Theban contingent; but he later came of age while the war was still going on, and entered the war close to its conclusion. This is the explanation given for why no Theban leader is mentioned by Homer in the Iliad.

 

 

List of Theban rulers

 

   Cadmus

   Pentheus

   Polydorus

   Nycteus (regent for Labdacus)

   Lycus (regent for Labdacus)

   Labdacus

   Lycus (regent for Laius)

   Amphion and Zethus (joint rulers)

   Laius

   Oedipus

   Creon (regent for Eteocles & Polynices)

   Eteocles & Polynices

   Creon (regent for Laodamas)

   Laodamas

   Thersander

   Peneleos (regent for Tisamenus)

   Tisamenus

   Autesion

   Damasichthon

   Ptolemy

   Xanthos

 

 

See also

Queen of Thebes

References[edit]

Jump up 
^ Hard, Robin; Rose, Herbert Jennings (2004). The mythical history of Thebes. In. The Routledge handbook of Greek mythology, pp. 294 ff. Psychology Press, ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0

 

Kings of Thebes

 

Kings

Calydnus Ogyges Cadmus Pentheus Polydorus Nycteus (regent for Labdacus) & Lycus I (regent for Labdacus) Labdacus Lycus I (regent for Laius) Laius Amphion and Zethus Laius (second rule) Creon Oedipus Creon (second rule) (regent for Eteocles & Polynices) Polynices and Eteocles Creon (third rule) (regent for Laodamas) Lycus II (usurper) Laodamas Thersander Peneleos (regent for Tisamenus) Tisamenus Autesion Damasichthon Ptolemy Xanthos

 

 

In literature

     Antigone Antigone (Euripides) The Bacchae Herakles Iliad Oedipus Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus the King The Phoenician Women Seven Against Thebes The Thebans

 

Related articles

Thebes Necklace of Harmonia

 

Theban plays

 

Antiquity

Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes

Sophocles: Antigone Oedipus the King Oedipus at Colonus

Euripides: Antigone Oedipus The Phoenician Women

Seneca: Oedipus

 

Other (Oedipus)

Oedipus (Dryden)

Oedipus (Voltaire)

The Infernal Machine

 Greek

 The Gospel at Colonus

 

Other (Antigone)

Antigone

 

The Burial at Thebes

Operas

Antigona Œdipe à Colone Oedipus rex Œdipe Greek

 

Films

Antigone Oedipus Rex Funeral Parade of Roses Night Warning Voyager Edipo Alcalde

 

Other works

Oedipodea Thebaid Theban Cycle Lille Stesichorus The Gods Are Not To Blame Oedipus Tex

 

Related

Oedipus complex Electra complex Feminism and the Oedipus complex Hamlet and Oedipus Jocasta complex Phaedra complex

 
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10.  Mycenae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenae

 

Μυκῆναι  Μυκήνη

 

Location

Argolis, Greece

Coordinates

37.730792°N 22.756382°E

Type

Settlement

History

Periods

Bronze Age

Cultures

Ancient Greece




 

Mycenae (/maɪˈsiːni/; Greek: Μυκῆναι Mykēnai or Μυκήνη Mykēnē) is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 kilometres (56 miles) southwest of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 kilometres (7 miles) to the south; Corinth, 48 kilometres (30 miles) to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located, one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf.

In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 32 hectares.[1]

 

Contents  

         1 Name

            2 History

                        2.1 Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age

                        2.2 Late Bronze Age

                                    2.2.1 Late Helladic I (LHI)

                                    2.2.2 Late Helladic II (LHII)

                                    2.2.3 Late Helladic III (LHIII)

                        2.3 Decline

                        2.4 Archaic and Classical Periods

                        2.5 Revival and Abandonment

            3 Political organization

            4 Religion

            5 Mycenae in Greek mythology and legends

                        5.1 Perseid dynasty

                        5.2 Atreid dynasty

                        5.3 Atreids in Asia Minor

            6 Excavation

            7 See also

            8 References

                        8.1 Citations

                        8.2 Sources

            9 Further reading

            10 External links

 

Name

Although the citadel was built by Greeks, the name Mukanai is thought not to be Greek but rather one of the many pre-Greek place names inherited by the immigrant Greeks.[2][3]

 

Legend has it that the name was connected to the Greek word mycēs (μύκης, "mushroom"). Thus, Pausanias ascribes the name to the legendary founder Perseus, who was said to have named it either after the cap (mycēs) of the sheath of his sword, or after a mushroom he had plucked on the site.[4]

 

The earliest written form of the name is Mykēnē (Μυκήνη), which is found in Homer.[5] The reconstructed Mycenaean Greek name of the site is Mukānai, which has the form of a plural like Athānai. The change of ā to ē in more recent versions of the name is the result of a well-known sound change in later Attic-Ionic.

 

History

Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age

Mycenae, an acropolis site, was continuously inhabited from the Early Neolithic (EN) down through the Early Helladic (EH) and Middle Helladic (MH) periods; EN Rainbow Ware constitutes the earliest ceramic evidence discovered so far.[6] Pottery material spanning the entire EHI through EHIII period was discovered in 1877–1878 by Stamatakis at a low depth in the sixth shaft grave in Grave Circle A; further EH and MH material was found beneath the walls and floors of the palace, on the summit of the acropolis, and outside the Lion Gate in the area of the ancient cemetery.[7] An EH–MH settlement was discovered near a fresh-water well on top of the Kalkani hill southwest of the acropolis.[7] The first burials in pits or cist graves manifest in the MH period (circa 1800–1700 BC) on the west slope of the acropolis, which was at least partially enclosed by the earliest circuit wall.[7]

 

Late Bronze Age

During the Bronze Age, the pattern of settlement at Mycenae was a fortified hill surrounded by hamlets and estates, in contrast to the dense urbanity on the coast (cf. Argos). Since Mycenae was the capital of a state that ruled, or dominated, much of the eastern Mediterranean world, the rulers must have placed their stronghold in this less populated and more remote region for its defensive value. Since there are few documents on site with datable contents (such as an Egyptian scarab) and since no dendrochronology has yet been performed upon the remains here, the events are listed here according to Helladic period material culture.

 

Late Helladic I (LHI)

Outside the partial circuit wall, Grave Circle B, named for its enclosing wall, contained ten cist graves in Middle Helladic style and several shaft graves, sunk more deeply, with interments resting in cists. Richer grave goods mark the burials as possibly regal. Mounds over the top contained broken drinking vessels and bones from a repast, testifying to a more than ordinary farewell.[8] Stelae surmounted the mounds.[9]

 

A walled enclosure, Grave Circle A, included six more shaft graves, with nine female, eight male, and two juvenile interments. Grave goods were more costly than in Circle B. The presence of engraved and inlaid swords and daggers, with spear points and arrowheads, leave little doubt that warrior chieftains and their families were buried here. Some art objects obtained from the graves are the Silver Siege Rhyton, the Mask of Agamemnon, the Cup of Nestor, and weapons both votive and practical.

 

Late Helladic II (LHII)

Alan Wace divided the nine tholos tombs of Mycenae into three groups of three, each based on architecture. His earliest – the Cyclopean Tomb, Epano Phournos, and the Tomb of Aegisthus – are dated to LHIIA.

 

Burial in tholoi is seen as replacing burial in shaft graves. The care taken to preserve the shaft graves testifies that they were by then part of the royal heritage, the tombs of the ancestral heroes. Being more visible, the tholoi all had been plundered either in antiquity, or in later historic times.

 

Late Helladic III (LHIII)

At a conventional date of 1350 BC, the fortifications on the acropolis, and other surrounding hills, were rebuilt in a style known as cyclopean because the blocks of stone used were so massive that they were thought in later ages to be the work of the one-eyed giants known as the Cyclopes (singular: Cyclops).[10] Within these walls, much of which can still be seen, successive monumental palaces were built. The final palace, remains of which are currently visible on the acropolis of Mycenae, dates to the start of LHIIIA:2. Earlier palaces must have existed, but they had been cleared away or built over.

 

The construction of palaces at that time with a similar architecture was general throughout southern Greece. They all featured a megaron, or throne room, with a raised central hearth under an opening in the roof, which was supported by four columns in a square around the hearth. A throne was placed against the center of a wall to the side of the hearth, allowing an unobstructed view of the ruler from the entrance. Frescos adorned the plaster walls and floor.

The room was accessed from a courtyard with a columned portico. A grand staircase led from a terrace below to the courtyard on the acropolis.

 

In the temple built within the citadel, a scarab of Queen Tiye of Egypt, who was married to Amenhotep III, was placed in the Room of the Idols alongside at least one statue of either LHIIIA:2 or B:1 type. Amenhotep III's relations with m-w-k-i-n-u, *Mukana, have corroboration from the inscription at Kom al-Hetan - but Amenhotep's reign is thought to align with late LHIIIA:1. It is likely that Amenhotep's herald presented the scarab to an earlier generation, which then found the resources to rebuild the citadel as Cyclopean and then, to move the scarab here.

 

Wace’s second group of tholoi are dated between LHIIA and LHIIIB: Kato Phournos, Panagia Tholos, and the Lion Tomb. The final group, Group III: the Treasury of Atreus, the Tomb of Clytemnestra and the Tomb of the Genii, are dated to LHIIIB by a sherd under the threshold of the Treasury of Atreus, the largest of the nine tombs. Like the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenus the tomb had been looted of its contents and its nature as funerary monument had been forgotten. The structure bore the traditional name of "Treasury".

 

The pottery phases on which the relative dating scheme is based (EH, MH, LH, etc.) do not allow very precise dating, even augmented by the few existing C-14 dates due to the tolerance inherent in these. The sequence of further construction at Mycenae is approximately as follows. In the middle of LHIIIB, around 1250 BC or so, the Cyclopean wall was extended on the west slope to include Grave Circle A.[12] The main entrance through the circuit wall was made grand by the best known feature of Mycenae, the Lion Gate, through which passed a stepped ramp leading past circle A and up to the palace. The Lion Gate was constructed in the form of a "Relieving Triangle" in order to support the weight of the stones. An undecorated postern gate also was constructed through the north wall.

 

One of the few groups of excavated houses in the city outside the walls lies beyond Grave Circle B and belongs to the same period. The House of Shields, the House of the Oil Merchant, the House of the Sphinxes, and the West House. These may have been both residences and workshops.

 

Citadel Facts and Figures

Circuit length: 1105M

Preserved height: up to 12.5M

Width: 7.5-17M

Minimum stone required: 145,215 Cu.M or 14,420 average stones (10 tons)

Time to move 1 Block using men: 2.125 days

Time to move all Blocks using men: 110.52 years

Time to move 1 Block using oxen: 0.125 days

Time to move all Blocks using oxen: 9.9 years

Based on 8-hour work day.

 

The largest stones including the lintels and gate jambs weighed well over 20 tonnes; some may have been close to 100 tonnes.[13]

 

Somewhat later, toward the end of LHIIIB,[when?] another extension to the citadel was undertaken. The wall was extended again on the northeast, with a sally port and also a secret passage through and under the wall, of corbeled construction, leading downward by some 99 steps to a cistern carved out of rock 15 m below the surface. It was fed by a tunnel from a spring on more distant higher ground.

 

Already in LHIIIA:1, Egypt knew *Mukana by name as a capital city on the level of Thebes and Knossos. During LHIIIB, Mycenae's political, military and economic influence likely extended as far as Crete, Pylos in the western Peloponnese, and to Athens and Thebes. Hellenic settlements already were being placed on the coast of Anatolia. A collision with the Hittite Empire over their sometime dependency at a then strategic location, Troy, was to be expected. In folklore, the powerful Pelopid family ruled many Greek states, one branch of which was the Atreid dynasty at Mycenae.

 

Decline

Homeric Greece.

By 1200 BC, the power of Mycenae was declining; finally, during the 12th century BC, Mycenaean dominance collapsed entirely. The eventual destruction of Mycenae formed part of the general Bronze Age collapse in the Greek mainland and beyond. Within a short time around 1200 BC, all the palace complexes of southern Greece were burned, including that at Mycenae. This was traditionally attributed by scholars to a Dorian invasion of Greeks from the north, although many historians now doubt that this invasion caused the destruction of the Mycenaean centres. Displaced populations escaped to former colonies of the Mycenaeans in Anatolia and elsewhere, where they came to speak the Ionic dialect.

Emily Vermeule suggests that the disruption of commercial networks at the end of the 13th century BC, was disastrous for Greece and this was followed by the coming of the mysterious "Sea Peoples", who caused chaos in the Aegean.[14] According to Egyptian records, the "Sea Peoples" destroyed the Hittite Empire then attacked the 19th and the 20th dynasties of Egypt, (circa 1300–1164). They may be related with the destruction of the Mycenaean centers (the records of Pylos mention sea-attack). However at the end of LHIIIB period, the Mycenaeans undertook an expedition against Troy, which meant that the sea was safe with no indication of destruction in the Aegean islands.[15]

 

Another theory has drought as the primary cause behind the Mycenaean decline, but there is no climatological evidence to support this. Manolis Andronikos claimed that internal conflicts involving social revolutions were the sole cause behind the destruction of Mycenaean sites,[16] but this is contradicted by the fact that all the Mycenaean centers throughout Greece were destroyed almost simultaneously.[17] George E. Mylonas noticed that after 1200 BC, some attempt was made for recovery in Mycenae. He believes that in the Argolid there was internal fighting, and this was followed by the Dorian invasion. It seems that the Dorians moved southward gradually in small clans, until they managed to establish themselves.[18]

 

Amos Nur argues that earthquakes played a major role in the destruction of Mycenae and many other cities at the end of the Bronze Age.[19] However, no conclusive evidence has been brought forward to confirm any theory of why the Mycenaean citadel and others throughout Greece fell almost simultaneously at this time.

 

Whatever the cause, by the LHIIIC period (whose latest phase is also termed "Submycenaean"), Mycenae was no longer a major power. Pottery and decorative styles were changing rapidly with craftsmanship and fine art undergoing a decline. Although settlements were significantly reduced in size, the citadel remained occupied but never regained its earlier importance.

 

Archaic and Classical Periods

A temple dedicated to Hera was built on the summit of the Mycenaean citadel during the Archaic Period. A Mycenaean contingent fought at Thermopylae and Plataea during the Persian Wars. In 468 BC, however, troops from Argos captured Mycenae, expelled the inhabitants and slighted the fortifications.[20]

 

Revival and Abandonment

Mycenae was briefly reoccupied in the Hellenistic period, when it could boast a theatre (located over the Tomb of Clytemnestra). The site was subsequently abandoned, and by the Roman period in Greece its ruins had become a tourist attraction. The ancient travel writer Pausanias, for example, visited the site and briefly described the prominent fortifications and the Lion Gate, still visible in his time.[21]

 

Political organization

It appears that the Mycenaean state was ruled by kings identified by the title wa-na-ka ("wanax') in the Linear B inscriptions at Knossos and Pylos. In the Homeric poems, the word form is anax (ἄναξ), often translated in English as "lord". Some inscriptions with a list of offerings indicate that the king was probably divine, but the term "for the king" is usually accompanied by another name.[22] It is doubtful that the wanax was responsible for religious matters, but probably his title indicates that his right to rule was given by the god.[23] The term 𐀣𐀯𐀩𐀄, qa-si-re-u (cf. βασιλεύς, "basileús"), which was later used in Greece for "king", was apparently used for the "chief" of any group of people, or for a provincial official. (Homer mentions many basilees in Ithaca).[22]

 

The land possessed by the king is usually called 𐀳𐀕𐀜, te-me-no (τέμενος, "témenos"), a word that survived in classical Greece (the temenos placed by Hephaestus on the shield of Achilles is called "royal").[23] Other important landowners were the 𐀨𐀷𐀐𐀲, ra-wa-ke-ta ("lāwāgetas"), the leader of the people, and the 𐀳𐀩𐀲, te-re-ta ("telestai"), the officials. Lawagetas is placed next to the king and he could be the leader of the army, but this is not confirmed by the inscriptions.[22] Leonard Robert Palmer suggests that the "telestai were the men of telos- the fief holders".[23] The 𐀁𐀤𐀲, e-qe-ta (equetai, "companions" or "followers") were a group of nobles (aristocrats), who followed the king in peace and war. There is also at least one instance of a person, Enkhelyawon at Pylos, who appears titleless in the written record but whom modern scholars regard as being probably a king.[24]

 

From the existing evidence, it seems that the kingdom was further subdivided into sixteen districts. The 𐀒𐀩𐀮, ko-re-te was the "governor of the district" and the 𐀡𐀫𐀒𐀩𐀮, po-ro-ko-re-te was the "deputy". It is possible that the real names were koreter and prokoreter. The 𐀅𐀗𐀒𐀫, da-mo-ko-ro (damokoros) was an official appointment but his duties are not very clear. The communal land was held at the hands of 𐀅𐀗, da-mo (literally, "people", cf. δῆμος, dễmos), or "plot holders". It seems that "damo" was a collective body of men, representing the local district.[22] It is suggested that qa-si-re-u had a council of elders, a 𐀐𐀫𐀯𐀊, ke-ro-si-ja, (later "γερουσία", gerousia), but Palmer believes that it was an organization of "bronze smiths".[23]

 

Religion[edit]

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Mycenaean deities.

Much of the Mycenaean religion survived into classical Greece in their pantheon of Greek deities, but it is not known to what extent Greek religious belief is Mycenaean, nor how much is a product of the Greek Dark Ages or later. Moses I. Finley detected only few authentic Mycenaean beliefs in the 8th-century Homeric world,[25] but Nilsson suggested that the Mycenean religion was the mother of the Greek religion.[26] Through oral tradition, Homer transferred the beliefs during the Dark Ages, but he kept in memory the confederacy of the Greeks under the powerful king of Mycenae.[27] when gods walked along friendly with men, and the "Heroic Age" when great heroes dominated the scene. The belief in gods as embodiments of power, the heroic outlook inherited from a distant past together with the local chthonic cults, were later fitted into the frame of the city-states.

 

From the history traced by Nilsson and Guthrie, the Mycenaean pantheon consisted of Minoan deities, but also of gods and goddesses who appear under different names with similar functions in East and West.[28] Many of these names appearing in the Linear B inscriptions can be found later in classical Greece like Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, Eileithyia and Dionysos,[29] but the etymology is the only evidence of the cults.

There are several reasonable guesses that can be made, however. It seems that originally the Mycenaeans, like many Indo-Europeans, considered divine any object that inherited an internal power (anima). Certain religious beliefs were mixed with the beliefs of the local populations as it appears in the old cults of isolated Arcadia, which survived up to classical Greece. In these cults, Poseidon appears usually as a horse, representing the river spirit of the underworld as it usually happens in northern-European folklore. The precursor goddesses of Demeter and Persephone are closely related with the springs and the animals, and especially with Poseidon and Artemis who was the first nymph.[30] Mycenaean religion was almost certainly polytheistic, and the Mycenaeans were actively syncretistic, adding foreign deities to their pantheon of deities with considerable ease. The Mycenaeans probably entered Greece with a pantheon of deities headed by some ruling sky-deity, which linguists speculate might have been called *Dyeus in early Indo-European. In Greek, this deity would become Zeus (pronounced Zeus or Dias in ancient Greek). Among the Hindus, this sky-deity becomes "Dyaus Pita". In Latin he becomes "deus pater" or Jupiter; we still encounter this word in the etymologies of the words "deity" and "divine".

 

Later in some cults, Zeus is united with the Aegean Great Goddess, who is represented by Hera in a "holy wedding" (hieros gamos). At some point in their cultural history, the Mycenaeans adopted some Minoan goddesses like Aphaea, Britomartis, Diktynna and associated them with their sky-god.[28] Many of them were absorbed by more powerful divinities, and some like the vegetation goddesses Ariadne and Helen survived in Greek folklore together with the cult of the "divine child", who was probably the precursor of Dionysos.[31] Athena and Hera survived and were tutelary goddesses, the guardians of the palaces and the cities. In general, later Greek religion distinguishes between two types of deities: the Olympian, or sky deities (including Zeus), which are now commonly known in some form or another; and, the chthonic deities, or deities of the earth. Walter Burkert warns: "To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer."[32] He suggests that useful parallels will be found in the relations between Etruscan and Archaic Greek culture and religion, or between Roman and Hellenistic culture.

 

The pantheon also included deities representing the powers of nature and wildlife, who appear with similar functions in the Mediterranean region.[28] The "Mistress of the Animals" (Potnia Theron), later called Artemis, may be identified as the Minoan goddess Britomartis/Dictynna.[33] Poseidon is the lord of the sea, and therefore of storms and earthquakes, (the "Earth shaker" in Linear B tablets). He may have functioned as a pre-Hellenic chthonic Zeus, the lord or spouse of the Earth goddess.[34] Athena whose task was to protect the olive-trees is a civic Artemis. The powers of animal nature fostered a belief in nymphs whose existence was bound to the trees and the waters, and in gods with human forms and the heads or tails of animals who stood for primitive bodily instincts. In Arcadia were depicted animal-headed gods, indicating than in the remote past the gods were conceived as animals and birds, in a surrounding of animal-headed daemons.[30] Later the gods were revealed in human forms with an animal as a companion or symbol. Some of the old gods survived in the cult of Dionysos (Satyrs) and Pan (the goat-god).

 

The Mycenaeans adopted probably from the east a priest-king system and the belief of a ruling deity in the hands of a theocratic society. At the end of the second millennium BC, when the Mycenaean palaces collapsed, it seems that Greek thought was gradually released from the idea that each man was a servant to the gods, and sought a "moral purpose". It is possible that this procedure started before the end of the Mycenaean age, but the idea is almost absent or vague in the Homeric poems, where the interference of the gods is not related to the rightness or wrongness of men's actions.[28] Later, Hesiod uses a lot of eastern material in his cosmology and in the genealogical trees of the gods,[35] and he introduces the idea of the existence of something else behind the gods, which was more powerful than they.[36] This is the powerful Fate (Moira), who in the Homeric poems is acting in parallel with the gods and predestinates the events.[37] Hesiod complies to the Greek desire of an order in the universe, and tries to bring the gods under a rule comparable to the rule which controls the lives of men. In Greek mythology this power is named Ananke (necessity).[38]

 

The Olympian Pantheon is an ordered system. The Greek divinities live with Zeus at the helm and each is concerned with a recognizable sphere. However, certain elements in some Greek cults indicate the survival of some older cults from a less rationalized world: old cults of the dead, agrarian magic, exorcism of evil spirits, peculiar sacrifices, and animal-headed gods. In the Homeric poems, the avenging Fate was probably originally a daemon acting in parallel with the gods.[37] Later, the cult of Dionysos Zagreus indicates that life-blood of animals was needed to renew that of men.[39] A similar belief may be guessed from the Mycenaean Hagia Triada sarcophagus (1400 BC), which combines features of Minoan civilization and Mycenaean style. It seems that the blood of a bull was used for the regeneration of the reappearing dead.[40] Probably most of these cults existed in the Mycenaean period and survived by immemorial practice.

 

A secondary level of importance was the cult of the heroes, which seems to have started in the Mycenaean era. These were great men of the past who were exalted to honor after death, because of what they had done. According to an old Minoan belief, beyond the sea there was an island called Elysion, where the departed could have a different but happier existence.[41] Later, the Greeks believed that there could live in human form only heroes and the beloved of the gods. The souls of the rest would drift unconsciously in the gloomy space of Hades. Gods and men had common origins, but there was an enormous gap between the immortal gods and mortal men. However, certain elements indicate that the Myceneans probably believed in a future existence. Two well-preserved bodies were found in Shaft Grave VI, and Wolfgang Helbig believed that an embalming preceded the burial.[42] In the shaft graves discovered by Heinrich Schliemann, the corpses were lightly exposed to fire in order to preserve them.[43]

 

Mycenaean religion certainly involved offerings and sacrifices to the deities, and some have speculated that their ceremonies involved human sacrifice based on textual evidence and bones found outside tombs. In the Homeric poems, there seems to be a lingering cultural memory of human sacrifice in King Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia; several of the stories of Trojan heroes involve tragic human sacrifice. In the far past, even human beings might be offered to placate inscrutable gods, especially in times of guilty fear. Later sacrifice became a feast at which oxen were slaughtered. Men kept the meat, and gave the gods the bones wrapped in fat.[44]

 

Beyond this speculation we can go no further. Somewhere in the shades of the centuries between the fall of the Mycenaean civilization and the end of the Greek Dark Ages, the original Mycenaean religion persisted and adapted until it finally emerged in the stories of human devotion, apostasy, and divine capriciousness that exists in the two great epic poems of Homer. It was the beginning of the religion which later the Greeks considered Hellenic, and embodies a paradox. Though the world is dominated by a divine power that the gods bestow in different ways on men, nothing but "darkness" lay ahead and life was sometimes frail and unsubstantial.[45]

 

Mycenae in Greek mythology and legends

Perseid dynasty

Classical Greek myths assert that Mycenae was founded by Perseus, grandson of king Acrisius of Argos, son of Acrisius's daughter, Danaë and the god Zeus. Having killed his grandfather by accident, Perseus could not, or would not, inherit the throne of Argos. Instead he arranged an exchange of realms with his cousin, Megapenthes, and became king of Tiryns, Megapenthes taking Argos. From there, he founded Mycenae and ruled the kingdoms jointly from Mycenae.

 

Perseus married Andromeda and had many sons, but in the course of time, went to war with Argos and was slain by Megapenthes. His son, Electryon, became the second of the dynasty, but the succession was disputed by the Taphians under Pterelaos, another Perseid, who assaulted Mycenae, lost, and retreated with the cattle. The cattle were recovered by Amphitryon, a grandson of Perseus, but he killed his uncle by accident with a club in an unruly cattle incident and had to go into exile.

 

The throne went to Sthenelus, third in the dynasty, a son of Perseus. He set the stage for future greatness by marrying Nicippe, a daughter of King Pelops of Elis, the most powerful state of the region and the times. With her he had a son, Eurystheus, the fourth and last of the Perseid dynasty. When a son of Heracles, Hyllus, killed Sthenelus, Eurystheus became noted for his enmity to Heracles and for his ruthless persecution of the Heracleidae, the descendants of Heracles.

 

This is the first we hear in legend of those noted sons, who became a symbol of the Dorians. Heracles had been a Perseid. After his death, Eurystheus determined to annihilate these rivals for the throne of Mycenae, but they took refuge in Athens, and in the course of war, Eurystheus and all his sons were killed. The Perseid dynasty came to an end and the people of Mycenae placed Eurystheus's maternal uncle, Atreus, a Pelopid, on the throne.

 

Atreid dynasty

The people of Mycenae had received advice from an oracle that they should choose a new king from among the Pelopids. The two contenders were Atreus and his brother, Thyestes. The latter was chosen at first. At this moment nature intervened and the sun appeared to reverse direction by setting in the east. Atreus argued that because the sun had reversed its path, the election of Thyestes should be reversed. The argument was heeded, and Atreus became king. His first move was to pursue Thyestes and all his family - that is, his own kin - but Thyestes managed to escape from Mycenae

.

In legend, Atreus had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, the Atreids. Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes, killed Atreus and restored Thyestes to the throne. With the help of King Tyndareus of Sparta, the Atreids drove Thyestes again into exile. Tyndareus had two ill-starred daughters, Helen and Clytemnestra, whom Menelaus and Agamemnon married, respectively. Agamemnon inherited Mycenae and Menelaus became king of Sparta.

 

Soon, Helen eloped with Paris of Troy. Agamemnon conducted a 10-year war against Troy to get her back for his brother. Because of lack of wind, the warships could not sail to Troy. In order to please the gods so that they might make the winds start to blow, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. According to some versions of the legend, the hunting goddess Artemis replaced her at the very last moment with a deer on the altar, and took Iphigenia to Tauris (see Iphigenia by Euripides). The deities, having been satisfied by such a sacrifice, made the winds blow and the Greek fleet departed.

 

Legend tells us that the long and arduous Trojan War, although nominally a Greek victory, brought anarchy, piracy, and ruin; already before the Greek fleet set sail for Troy, the conflict had divided the gods as well, and this contributed to curses and acts of vengeance following many of the Greek heroes. After the war, Agamemnon, returning, was greeted royally with a red carpet rolled out for him and then was slain in his bathtub by Clytemnestra, who hated him bitterly for having ordered the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia (although the life of the latter had been saved). Clytemnestra was aided in her crime by Aegistheus, who reigned subsequently, but Orestes, son of Agamemnon, was smuggled out to Phocis. He returned as an adult to slay Clytemnestra and Aegistheus. He then fled to Athens to evade justice and a matricide, and became insane for a time. Meanwhile, the throne of Mycenae went to Aletes, son of Aegistheus, but not for long. Recovering, Orestes returned to Mycenae to kill him and take the throne.

 

Orestes then built a larger state in the Peloponnese, but he died in Arcadia from a snake bite. His son, Tisamenus, the last of the Atreid dynasty, was killed by the Heracleidae on their return to the Peloponnesus. They claimed the right of the Perseids to inherit the various kingdoms of the Peloponnese and cast lots for the dominion of them. Whatever the historical realities reflected in these stories, the Atreids are firmly set in the epoch near the end of the Heroic Age, leading up to the arrival of the Dorians. There are no established stories of a royal house at Mycenae later than the Atreids, and this could reflect the fact that not much more than fifty or sixty years seem to have separated the fall of Troy VIIa (the likely inspiration of Homeric Troy) and the fall of Mycenae.

 

Atreids in Asia Minor

On March 5, 1223 BC, there was a total eclipse of the sun in the Aegean, which Atreus might have twisted into a setting of the sun in the east. However, this date does not solve all unknowns.

 

A late date is implied for the Trojan War, which would, in that case, have been against Troy VIIa after all. The Perseids would have been in power circa 1380 BC, the date of a statue base from Kom el-Heitan in Egypt recording the itinerary of an Egyptian embassy to the Aegean in the time of Amenhotep III (r. 1391–1353 BC or 1388–1351 BC). M-w-k-i-n-u (phonetic "Mukanuh"?) was one of the cities visited, a rare early document of the name of Mycenae. It was one of the cities of the tj-n3-jj ("Tinay"?),[46] The Homeric Danaans were named, in myth, after Danaë, which suggests that the Perseids were in fact in some sort of dominion.

Also in the 14th century BC, Ahhiya began to be troublesome to numerous kings of the Hittite Empire. Ahhiyawa or Ahhiya, which occurs a few dozen times in Hittite tablets over the century, is probably Achaiwia, reconstructed Mycenaean Greek for Achaea. The Hittites did not use "Danaja" as did the Egyptians, even though the first Ahhiya reference in the "Indictment of Madduwatta"[47] precedes the correspondence between Amenhotep III and one of Madduwatta's subsequent successors in Arzawa, Tarhunta-Radu. The external LHIIIA:1-era sources do, however, agree in their omission of a great king or other unifying structure behind Ahhiya and the Tinay.

 

For example, in the "Indictment of Madduwatta", Attarsiya, the "ruler of Ahhiya", attacks Madduwatta and drives him from his land. He obtains refuge and military assistance from the King Tudhaliya of the Hittites.[47] After the death of the latter and in the reign of his son, Arnuwanda, Madduwatta allies with Attarissiya and they, along with another ruler, raid Alasiya, that is, Cyprus.[48]

 

This is the only known occurrence of a man named Attarissiya. Attempts to link this name to Atreus have not found wide support, nor is there any evidence of a powerful Pelopid named Atreus of those times.

 

During LHIIIA:2, Ahhiya, now known as Ahhiyawa, extended its influence over Miletus, settling on the coast of Anatolia, and competed with the Hittites for influence and control in western Anatolia. For instance, Uhha-Ziti's Arzawa and through him Manapa-Tarhunta's Seha River Land. While establishing the credibility of the Mycenaean Greeks as a historical power, these documents create as many problems as they solve.

 

Similarly, a Hittite king wrote the so-called Tawagalawa Letter to the Great King of Ahhiyawa, concerning the depredations of the Luwiyan adventurer Piyama-Radu. Neither of the names of the great kings are stated; the Hittite king could be either Muwatalli II or his brother Hattusili III, which at least dates the letter to LHIIIB by Mycenaean standards. But neither the Atreus nor the Agamemnon of legend have any brothers named *Etewoclewes (Eteocles); this name, rather, is associated with Thebes, which during the preceding LHIIIA period Amenhotep III had viewed as equal to Mycenae.

 

Excavation

The first excavations at Mycenae were carried out by Greek archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis in 1841 where he found and restored the Lion Gate.[49] In 1874, Heinrich Schliemann excavated deep shafts all over the acropolis without permission; in August 1876, a complete excavation of the site by Schliemann commenced with the permission of the Archaeological Society of Athens (ASA) and the supervision of one of its members, Panayiotis Stamatakis.[49] Schliemann believed in the historical truth of the Homeric stories and interpreted the site accordingly. He found the ancient shaft graves with their royal skeletons and spectacular grave goods. Upon discovering a human skull beneath a gold death mask in one of the tombs, he declared: "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon".[50] Christos Tsountas, another member of the ASA, cleared a significant portion of the citadel during his excavations of the site beginning in 1884 and ending in 1902.[49] Afterwards, Tsountas and the ASA gave permission to the British School of Archaeology (BSA) to excavate; the BSA conducted excavations from 1920 to 1955 under the supervision of Alan John Bayard Wace.[49] After Wace died in 1957, excavation work was finished by Lord William Taylor from 1958 to 1969, especially on the west slope of the citadel.[49] The ASA continued excavation work on the site with efforts led by Ioannis Papadimitriou and Nicolas Verdelis in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as by George Mylonas from 1957 up until 1985.[49] In 1985, excavation work was directed by Spyros Iakovidis who, as of 2009, is still overseeing the ASA's research mission in both fieldwork and publication preparation.[49]

 

Since Schliemann's day, more scientific excavations have taken place at Mycenae, mainly by Greek archaeologists but also by the British School at Athens. The acropolis was excavated in 1902, and the surrounding hills have been methodically investigated by subsequent excavations. The Athens Archaeological Society is currently excavating the Mycenae Lower Town (as of 2011), with support from Dickinson College and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory.[51]

 

See also

    Ancient Greece

    Boar's tusk helmet

    National Archaeological Museum of Athens

 

References

Citations

1.    
^ Chew 2000, p. 220; Chapman 2005, p. 94: "...Thebes at 50 hectares, Mycenae at 32 hectares..."

2.    
^ Beekes 2009, p. 29 (s.v. "Ἀθήνη").

3.    
^ Chadwick 1976, p. 1. Although Chadwick states that the name "Mycenae" is derived from a previously unknown language(s) spoken in Greece, he admits that his supposition of a Greek language outside of Greece is "a hypothesis for which there is no evidence."

4.    
^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 2.16.3

5.    
^ Homer. Iliad, 4.52, 7.180, 11.46

6.    
^ Shelton 2010, p. 58.

7.    ^ a b c Forsén 1992, "Mycenae – Argolid (A:5)", pp. 51–52.

8.    
^ Velikovsky 1999, Edwin M. Schorr, "Applying the Revised Chronology: Later Use of Grave Circles".

9.    
^ Komita 1982, pp. 59–60.

10. 
^ French 2002, p. 56.

11. 
^ An older view that it represents a goddess, now generally discounted, is to be found in W.K.C. Guthrie, in The Cambridge Ancient History (1975) Volume I, Part II, p. 864: "A frequent design on engraved Cretan gems is of the type made famous by the Lion Gate at Mycenae, a single upright pillar, flanked by a pair of guardian animals. Sometimes the same arrangement is preserved, but the anthropomorphic figure of a god or goddess takes the place of a pillar" (illustrations from Nilsson). More recent discussions of its symbolism can be found in James C. Wright, "The Spatial Configuration of Belief: The Archaeology of Mycenaean Religion" in S.E. Alcock and Robin Osborne (eds.), Placing the Gods, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 37–78. Here Wright suggests that the pillar represents the palace which in turn represents the state.

12. 
^ Castleden 2005, pp. 95–96; French 2002; Luce 1975, p. 35: "The Lion Gate provides further testimony to the power of the Pelopids, for Mylonas appears to have shown conclusively that it dates from c. 1250. With the stretch of Cyclopean wall enclosing Grave Circle A it represents the climax of military and monumental construction."

13. 
^ Scarre 1999.

14. 
^ Vermeule 1960, p. 67.

15. 
^ Mylonas 1966, pp. 230–231.

16. 
^ Andronikos 1954, pp. 221–240.

17. 
^ Desborough 1975, pp. 658–677.

18. 
^ Mylonas 1966, p. 232.

19. 
^ Nur 2008, Chapter 8: Earthquake Storms and the Catastrophic End of the Bronze Age, pp. 224–245.

20. 
^ French 2002, p. 142: "The dedications continue at the Shrine by the Bridge into the fifth century, probably beyond the disablement of the walls by the Argives in 468 BC."

21. 
^ French 2002, pp. 19, 146–150.

22. ^ to: 
a b c d Chadwick 1976, pp. 70–77.

23. ^ to: 
a b c d Mylonas 1966, pp. 206–208.

24. 
^ Chadwick 1976, pp. 71–72.

25. 
^ Finley 1954, p. 124.

26. 
^ Nilsson 1967, Volume I, p. 339.

27. 
^ Page 1976, "IV: The Homeric Description of Mycenaean Greece", pp. 118–177 (see especially pp. 122–123).

28. ^ to: 
a b c d Dietrich 1973, pp. 65–66.

29. 
^ Paul, Adams John (10 January 2010). "Mycenaean Divinities". Northridge, CA: California State University. Retrieved 24 January 2014.

30. ^ to: 
a b Nilsson 1967, Volume I, pp. 479–480.

31. 
^ Kerényi 1976, pp. 110–114; Nilsson 1967, Volume I, pp. 315–319. The child dies every year in order to be reborn. In the Minoan myth it is abandoned by his mother, and then brought up by the powers of nature. Similar myths are found in the cults of Hyakinthos (Amyklai), Erichthonios (Athens), Ploutos (Eleusis), and in the cult of Dionysos.

32. 
^ Burkert 1987, p. 21.

33. 
^ Hornblower, Spawforth & Eidinow 2012, "Artemis", pp. 175–176.

34. 
^ Poseidon is pairing with the "Two Goddesses" (Demeter and Persephone) in Linear B tablets. There is a theory linking his name with elements meaning "husband" or "lord" (Greek πόσις (posis), from PIE *pótis) and another element meaning "earth" (δᾶ (da), Doric for γῆ (gē)), producing something like lord or spouse of Da, i.e. of the earth. His name may also be interpreted as "lord of the waters" (from PIE *potis and Sanskr. daFon: "water").

35. 
^ Walcot 1966, p. 85f.; Jeffrey 1976, p. 38; M.L. West (Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient, 1971, p. 205) holds that such eastern material is more likely to be lingering traces from the Mycenaean tradition than the result of Oriental contacts in Hesiod's own time.

36. 
^ Hesiod. Theogony, Lines 216–224: "Also she bore the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty."

37. ^ to: 
a b Nilsson 1967, Volume I, p. 368: "Moira is not a god, because otherwise the will of the god would be predestinated. Compare Kismet in Muslim religion."

38. 
^ Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound, Lines 515–518.

39. 
^ Schachermeyer 1964, p. 128.

40. 
^ Schachermeyer 1964, p. 241.

41. 
^ Schachermeyer 1964, p. 141. Elysion may be affiliated with Eleusis, the city of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

42. 
^ Helbig 1884, p. 53; Wunderlich 1974, p. 221.

43. 
^ Wunderlich 1974, pp. 216–218, 221–222.

44. 
^ Hesiod. Theogony, Lines 535–544.

45. 
^ Pindar. Pythionikos, VIII.95–7: "Man's life is a day. What is he, what is he not? A shadow in a dream is man, but when God sheds a brightness, shining light is on earth and life is sweet as honey."

46. 
^ For a fuller discussion of this statue base, the names on it and the pronunciation, Tinay, which appears related to Danaj-, see Documentary and Archaeological Evidence of Minoan Trade.

47. ^ to: 
a b Beckman, Bryce & Cline 2012, "Introduction", p. 5.

48. 
^ Popko 2008, pp. 121–122.

49. ^ to: 
a b c d e f g Gagarin 2010, "Mycenae: Archaeology of Mycenae", pp. 24–26.

50. 
^ Schliemann 1878.

51. 
^ Dickinson Excavation Project and Archaeological Survey. "Mycenae – Beyond the Walls of Agamemnon: Excavation of the Mycenae Lower Town (2007–2011)". Retrieved 25 January 2014.

 

Sources

·      Andronikos, Manolis (1954). Η 'Δωρική Εισβολή' και τα Αρχαιολογικά Ευρήματα. Hellenika (in Greek) 13: 221–240.

·      Beckman, Gary M.; Bryce, Trevor R.; Cline, Eric H. (2012). Writings from the Ancient World: The Ahhiyawa Texts (PDF). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ISSN 1570-7008.

·      Beekes, Robert Stephen Paul (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-9-00-417418-4.

·      Burkert, Walter (1987) [1985]. Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-11-872499-6.

·      Castleden, Rodney (2005). The Mycenaeans. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-36336-5.

·      Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.

·      Chapman, Robert (2005). "Changing Social Relations in the Mediterranean Copper and Bronze Ages". In Blake, Emma; Knapp, A. Bernard. The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 77–101. ISBN 978-1-40-513724-9.

·      Chew, Sing C. (2000). "Neglecting Nature: World Accumulation and Core-Periphery Relations, 2500 BC to AD 1990". In Denemark, Robert A. World-System History: The Social Science of Long-Term Change. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 216–234.

·      Desborough, V. (1975). "The End of Myceanean Civilization and the Dark Ages: The Archaeological Background". In Edwards, I.E.S.; Gadd, C.J.; Hammond, N.G.L. et al. The Cambridge Ancient History II (2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 658–677.

·      Dietrich, Bernard Clive (1973). The Origins of Greek Religion. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-003982-6.

·      Finley, Moses I. (1954). The World of Odysseus. New York, NY: New York Review Books. ISBN 978-1-59-017017-5.

·      Forsén, Jeannette (1992). The Twilight of the Early Helladics. Partille, Sweden: Paul Aströms Förlag. ISBN 91-7081-031-1.

·      French, Elizabeth Bayard (2002). Mycenae: Agamemnon's Capital. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1951-X.

·      Gagarin, Michael, ed. (2010). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome 1. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517072-6.

·      Helbig, Wolfgang (1884). Das Homerische Epos aus den Denkmälern Erläutert (in German). Leipzig: B.G. Teubner.

·      Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (2012) [1949]. The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8.

·      Jeffrey, L.H. (1976). Archaic Greece: The City-States c. 700–500 BC. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN 0-510-03271-0.

·      Kerényi, Karl (1976). Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-69-102915-3.

·      Komita, Nobuo (1982). "The Grave Circles at Mycenae and the Early Indo-Europeans" (PDF). Research Reports of Ikutoku Technical University (A-7): 59–70.

·      Luce, John Victor (1975). Homer and the Heroic Age. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-012722-0.

·      Mylonas, George Emmanuel (1966). Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

·      Nilsson, Martin Persson (1967). Geschichte der Griechischen Religion (in German) (3rd ed.). Munich: C.H. Beck Verlag.

·      Nur, Amos (2008). Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology and the Wrath of God. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-69-101602-3.

·      Page, Denys Lionel (1976) [1959]. History and the Homeric Iliad. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52-003246-0.

·      Popko, Maciej (2008). Völker und Sprachen Altanatoliens (in German). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-05708-0.

·      Scarre, Christopher (1999). The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World: The Great Monuments and How They Were Built. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-50-005096-5.

·      Schachermeyer, Fritz (1964). Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.

·      Schliemann, Heinrich (1878). Mykena (in German). Leipzig.

·      Shelton, Kim S. (2010). "Living and Dying in and Around Middle Helladic Mycenae". In Philippa-Touchais, Anna; Touchais, Gilles; Voutsaki, Sofia et al. MESOHELLADIKA: The Greek Mainland in the Middle Bronze Age (Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique: Supplément, Volume 52). Athens: École française d’Athènes. pp. 57–65. ISBN 978-2-86958-210-1.

·      Velikovsky, Immanuel (1999). The Dark Age of Greece. Shulamit V. Kogan & Ruth V. Sharon.

·      Vermeule, Emily Townsend (March 1960). "The Fall of the Mycenaean Empire". Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 13 (1): 66–76. doi:10.2307/41663738 (inactive 2015-02-01).

·      Walcot, Peter (1966). Hesiod and the Near East. Wales: University of Wales Press.

·      Wunderlich, Hans Georg (1974). The Secret of Crete. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-02-631600-2.

 

Further reading

·      Bryson, Reid; Murray, Thomas J. (1977). Climates of Hunger: Mankind and the World's Changing Weather. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-29-907373-2.

·      Finley, Moses I. (1970). Early Greece: The Bronze and Archaic Ages. London: Chatto & Windus.

·      Hooker, Richard (1996). "Mycenean Religion". Barbarians and Bureaucrats. Washington State University. Retrieved 25 January 2014.

·      Jansen, Anton (1997). "Bronze Age Highways at Mycenae". Classical Views (Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) XLI (16): 1–16.

·      Mylonas, George Emmanuel (1968). Mycenae's Last Century of Greatness. Sydney: Sydney University Press for Australian Humanities Research Council.

·      Mylonas, George E. (1983). Mycenae Rich in Gold. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon.

·      Nilsson, Martin Persson (1972) [1932]. The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52-002163-1.

·      Palmer, Leonard R. (1965) [1961]. Mycenaeans and Minoans: Aegean Prehistory in the Light of the Linear B Tablets. Part I: Pylos and the World of the Tablets. Part II: Knossos and Aegean History (2nd ed.). London: Faber and Faber.

·      Taylour, Lord William; French, Elizabeth Bayard; Wardle, K.A. (2007). Well Built Mycenae (Volume 13): The Helleno-British Excavations within the Citadel at Mycenae 1959-1969. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-1-84-217295-7.

·      Vermeule, Emily (1964). Greece in the Bronze Age. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

·      Wace, Alan John Bayard (1964) [1949]. Mycenae: An Archaeological History and Guide. New York: Biblio and Tannen.

·      Wardle, K.A.; Wardle, Diana (1997). Cities of Legend: The Mycenaean World. London: Bristol Classical Press. ISBN 978-1-85-399355-8.

External links

·      British School at Athens

·      Dickinson College Excavations at Mycenae

·      Mycenae: Research and Publication

·      Objects from Mycenaean Tombs

 


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11. Grave Circle A, Mycenae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Circle_A,_Mycenae

 

 

 

Native name

Greek: Ταφικός περίβολος A'

 

Location

Mycenae

Area

Argolis, Greece

Formed

16th century BC

Built for

Resting place of the Mycenaean ruling families

 

Grave Circle A in Mycenae is a 16th-century BC royal cemetery situated to the south of the Lion Gate, the main entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece.[1] This burial complex was initially constructed outside the fortification walls of Mycenae, but was ultimately enclosed in the acropolis when the fortifications were extended during the 13th century BC.[1] Grave Circle A and Grave Circle B, the latter found outside the walls of Mycenae, represent one of the major characteristics of the early phase of the Mycenaean civilization.[2]

 

The circle has a diameter of 27.5 m (90 ft) and contains six shaft graves, where a total of nineteen bodies were buried. It has been suggested that a mound was constructed over each grave, and funeral stelae were erected. Among the objects found were a series of gold death masks, additionally beside the deceased were full sets of weapons, ornate staffs as well as gold and silver cups. The site was excavated by the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, following the descriptions of Homer and Pausanias. One of the gold masks he unearthed became known as the "The Death Mask of Agamemnon", ruler of Mycenae according to Greek mythology. However, it has been proved that the burials date circa three centuries earlier, before Agamemnon is supposed to have lived.

 

Contents                   

1 Background

2 History

3 Findings

4 Excavations

5 Historical inferences

6 See also

7 References

7.1 Citations

7.2 Sources

8 Further reading

 

 

 

Background

During the end of the 3rd millennium BC (circa 2200 BC), the indigenous inhabitants of mainland Greece underwent a cultural transformation attributed to climate change, local events and developments (i.e. destruction of the "House of Tiles"), as well as to continuous contacts with various areas such as western Asia Minor, the Cyclades, Albania, and Dalmatia.[3] These Bronze Age people were equipped with horses, surrounded themselves with luxury goods, and constructed elaborate shaft graves.[4] The acropolis of Mycenae, one of the main centers of Mycenaean culture, located in Argolis, northeast Peloponnese, was built on a defensive hill at an elevation of 128 m (420 ft) and covers an area of 30,000 m2 (320,000 sq ft).[1] The Shaft Graves found in Mycenae signified the elevation of a new Greek-speaking royal dynasty whose economic power depended on long-distance sea trade.[5] Grave Circles A and B, the latter found outside the walls of Mycenae, represent one of the major characteristics of the early phase of the Mycenaean civilization.[2]

 

History

Mycenaean shaft graves are essentially an Argive variant of the rudimentary Middle Helladic funerary tradition with features derived from Early Bronze Age traditions developed locally in mainland Greece.[6] Grave Circle A, formed circa 1600 BC as a new elite burial place, was probably first restricted to men and seems to be a continuation of the earlier Grave Circle B and correlates with the general social trend of higher burial investment taking place throughout entire Greece that time.[7] The Grave Circle A site was part of a larger funeral place from the Middle Helladic period. At the time it was built, during the Late Helladic I (1600 BC),[2] there was probably a small unfortified palace on Mycenae,[8] while the graves of the Mycenaean ruling family remained outside of the city walls.[9] There is no evidence of a circular wall around the site during the period of the burials.[10] The last interment took place circa 1500 BC.[11]

 

Immediately after the last interment, the local rulers abandoned the shaft graves in favour of a new and more imposing form of tomb already developing in Messenia, south Peloponessus, the tholos.[12] Around 1250 BC, when the fortifications of Mycenae were extended, the Grave Circle was included inside the new wall. A double ring peribolos wall was also built around the area.[13] It appears that the site became a temenos (sacred precinct), while a circular construction, possibly an altar was found above one grave.[14] The burial site had been replanned as a monument, an attempt by the 13th century BC Mycenean rulers to appropriate the possible heroic past of the older ruling dynasty.[15] Under this context, the land surface was built up to make a level precinct for ceremonies, with the stelae over the graves being re-erected. A new entrance, the Lion Gate, was constructed near the site.[11]

 

Findings

Grave Circle A, with a diameter of 27.5 m (90 ft), is situated on the acropolis of Mycenae southeast of the Lion Gate. The site is surrounded by two rows of slabs, while the space between the rows was filled with earth and roofed with slabs. The Grave Circle contains six shaft graves, the smallest of which is measured at 3.0 m by 3.5 m and the largest measured at 4.50 m by 6.40 m (the depth of each shaft grave ranges from 1.0 m to 4.0 m). Over each grave a mound was constructed and stelae were erected.[16] These stelae had been probably erected in memory of the Mycenaean rulers buried there; three of them depict chariot scenes.[2]

 

A total of nineteen bodies – eight men, nine women and two children[10] – were found in the shafts, which contained two to five bodies each (with the exception of Grave II, which was a single burial).[2] Among the findings, boars' tusks were found in Grave IV, as well as five golden masks in Graves IV and V. One of them, the supposed Mask of Agamemnon, was found in Grave V. Additionally, gold and silver cups, including Nestor's Cup and the Silver Siege Rhyton, were found by the side of the deceased. A number of gold rings, buttons and bracelets were also found.[2] Most of the graves were equipped with full sets of weapons, especially swords,[17] and the figural depictions of the objects show fighting and hunting scenes.

 

Many objects were designed to signify the social rank of the deceased, for instance, decorated daggers, which were objects d'art and cannot be considered real weapons. Ornate staffs as well as a scepter from Grave IV clearly indicate a very significant status of the deceased.[18] Items such as bulls' heads with a double axe display clear Minoan influences.[19] At the time that the Grave Circle was built, the Mycenaeans had not yet conquered Minoan Crete. Although it seems that they recognized the Minoans as the providers of the finest in design and craftsmanship, most of the objects decorated in Minoan style and buried in Grave Circle A are not of Minoan but of indigenous craftsmanship.[20] On the other hand, certain motifs such as fighting and hunting scenes are clearly of Mycenaean style.[21]

 

Excavations

The site of Mycenae was the first in Greece to be subjected to modern archaeological excavation.[22] It was excavated by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876.[11] Schliemann, inspired by Homer’s descriptions in the Iliad, in which Mycenae is termed "abounding in gold", began digging there.[22] He was also following the accounts of the ancient geographer Pausanias who, during the 2nd century AD, described the once prosperous site and mentioned that according to a local tradition, the graves of Agamemnon and his followers, including his charioteer Eurymedon and the two children of Cassandra, were buried within the citadel.[23] What Schliemann discovered in his excavation satisfied both his opinion of Homer's historical accuracy and his craving for valuable treasures. Among the objects he unearthed in Grave Circle A was a series of gold death masks, including one he proclaimed "The Death Mask of Agamemnon".[22] Schliemann cleared five shafts and recognized them as the graves mentioned by Pausanias. He stopped his exploration after the fifth grave was explored, believing that he had finished excavating the Grave Circle, however a year later Panagiotis Stamatakis found a sixth shaft grave.[24]

It has since been proven that the burials in Grave Circle A date from 16th century BC, before the traditional time of the Trojan War (13th-12th century BC), in which Agamemnon is supposed to have participated.[22]

 

Historical inferences

The valuable objects found in the graves suggest that powerful rulers were buried in this site. Although Agamemnon was supposed to have lived centuries later, these graves might have belonged to the former ruling dynasty of Mycenae – according to Greek mythology, the Perseides.[8]

 

In the 2006 History Channel documentary, The Exodus Decoded, it was suggested that some of the objects are related to the events of the Exodus, the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. It was argued that the Tribe of Dan is linked with the Danaans of the Greek mythology, though this view is not widely supported.[25]

 

See also

·      Lion Gate

·      Mask of Agamemnon

·      Mycenaean civilization

 

References

Citations

1.    ^ a b c "The Bronze Age on the Greek Mainland: Mycenaean Greece – Mycenae". Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World. 1999–2000. Retrieved 9 March 2011.

2.    ^ a b c d e f Komita 1982, p. 60.

3.    
^Pullen 2008, p. 36; Forsén 1992, pp. 251–257.

4.    
^ Hielte 2004, pp. 27–94.

5.    
^ Dickinson 1977, pp. 53, 107; Anthony 2007, p. 48: "The Mycenaean civilization appeared rather suddenly with the construction of the spectacular royal Shaft Graves at Mycenae, dated about 1650 BCE, about the same time as the rise of the Hittite empire in Anatolia. The Shaft Graves, with their golden death masks, swords, spears, and images of men in chariots, signified the elevation of a new Greek-speaking dynasty of unprecedented wealth whose economic power depended on long-distance sea trade."

6.    
^ Dickinson 1999, pp. 103, 106–107.

7.    
^ Heitz 2008, p. 21.

8.    ^ a b Castleden 2005, p. 42.

9.    
^ Burns 2010, p. 80.

10. ^a b Gates 2003, p. 133.

11. ^ t
a b c Geldard 2000, p. 157.

12. 
^ Castleden 2005, p. 97.

13. 
^ Morris & Powell 1997, John Bennet, "Homer and the Bronze Age", p. 516.

14. 
^ Antonaccio 1995, p. 49.

15. 
^ Fields & Spedaliere 2004, p. 25.

16. 
^ Komita 1982, pp. 59–60.

17. 
^ Graziadio 1991, pp. 403–440.

18. 
^ Graziadio 1991, p. 406.

19. 
^ Heitz 2008, p. 24.

20. 
^ Heitz 2008, p. 25.

21. 
^ Gates 2003, p. 134.

22. ^ a b c d Sansone 2004, "Greece in the Bronze Age", pp. 7–8.

23. 
^ Mylonas 1957, p. 122.

24. 
^ Mylonas 1957, p. 8.

25. 
^ Wood, Bryant G. (2006). "Debunking "The Exodus Decoded"". biblearchaeology.org. Retrieved 19 March 2011.

 

Sources

·      Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05887-3.

·      Antonaccio, Carla Maria (1995). An Archaeology of Ancestors: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Early Greece. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated. ISBN 0-8476-7942-X.

·      Burns, Bryan E. (2010). Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-11954-5.

·      Castleden, Rodney (2005). Mycenaeans. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-36336-5.

·      Dickinson, Oliver (December 1999). Invasion, Migration and the Shaft Graves. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 43 (1). pp. 97–107. doi:10.1111/j.2041-5370.1999.tb00480.x.

·      Dickinson, Oliver (1977). The Origins of Mycenaean Civilization. Götenberg: Paul Aströms Förlag.

·      Fields, Nic; Spedaliere, Donato (2004). Mycenaean Citadels c. 1350-1200 BC. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-762-X.

·      Forsén, Jeannette (1992). The Twilight of the Early Helladics. Partille, Sweden: Paul Aströms Förlag. ISBN 91-7081-031-1.

·      Gates, Charles (2003). Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. New York, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-12182-5.

·      Geldard, Richard G. (2000). The Traveler's Key to Ancient Greece: A Guide to Sacred Places. Quest Books. ISBN 0-8356-0784-4.

·      Graziadio, Giampaolo (July 1991). "The Process of Social Stratification at Mycenae in the Shaft Grave Period: A Comparative Examination of the Evidence" (PDF). American Journal of Archaeology 95 (3): 403–440.

·      Heitz, Christian (2008). "Burying the Palaces? Ideologies in the Shaft Grave Period." (PDF). University of Heidelberg. pp. 1–38. Retrieved 11 March 2011.

·      Hielte, Maria (December 2004). "Sedentary versus Nomadic Life-Styles: The 'Middle Helladic People' in southern Balkan (late 3rd & first Half of the 2nd Millennium BC)". Acta Archaeologica 75 (2): 27–94. doi:10.1111/j.0065-001X.2004.00012.x.

·      Komita, Nobuo (1982). "The Grave Circles at Mycenae and the Early Indo-Europeans" (PDF). Research Reports of Ikutoku Technical University (A-7): 59–70.

·      Morris, Ian; Powell, Barry B. (1997). A New Companion to Homer. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 90-04-09989-1.

·      Mylonas, George Emmanuel (1957). Ancient Mycenae: The Capital City of Agamemnon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

·      Pullen, Daniel (2008). "The Early Bronze Age in Greece". In Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–46. ISBN 978-0-521-81444-7.

·      Sansone, David (2004). Ancient Greek Civilization. Malden (Massachusetts), Oxford (United Kingdom), Carlton (Victoria, Australia): Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-631-23236-2.

 

Further reading

·      Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.

·      French, Elizabeth B. (2002). Mycenae: Agamemnon's Capital. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1951-X.

·      Mylonas, George E. (1983). Mycenae Rich in Gold. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon.

·      Wace, Alan John Bayard (1964) [1949]. Mycenae: An Archaeological History and Guide. New York: Biblo and Tannen.


 

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12.  Grave Circle B, Mycenae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Circle_B,_Mycenae

 

Grave Circle B

Native name

Greek: Ταφικός περίβολος Β'

Location

Mycenae:  37°43′51″N 22°45′18″E

Area

Argolis, Greece

Formed

ca. 1675/1650 - 1550 BC

Built for

Burial place of the Mycenaean ruling families[1]

 

Grave Circle B in Mycenae is a 17th–16th century BC royal cemetery situated outside the late Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece. This burial complex was constructed outside the fortification walls of Mycenae and together with Grave Circle A represent one of the major characteristics of the early phase of the Mycenaean civilization.[2]

 

Contents  

            1 Structure

            2 History

            3 Findings

            4 Excavations

            5 Further research

            6 References

            7 Sources

 

Structure

Grave Circle B, with a diameter of 28 m (92 ft), is situated at a distance of 117 m (384 ft) south of the Lion Gate, the main entrance of Mycenae.[3] The burial structure was enclosed by a circular stone wall, 1.55 m (5 ft) thick and 1.20 m (4 ft) high.[1][4] The Circle hosts a total of 26 graves; 14 of which are shaft graves and the rest simple cists. A total of 24 persons were found in the shafts,[1][4] while six of the shaft graves were family tombs in which several occupants were found.[1]

 

Most shafts were marked by a pile of stones and on four of them stelae were erected. The latter were up to 2 m (7 ft) high.[1] Two of the stelae, on graves Alpha and Gamma, were engraved with hunting scenes.[5]

 

History

Mycenaean shaft graves are essentially an Argive variant of the rudimentary Middle Helladic funerary tradition with features derived from Early Bronze Age traditions developed locally in mainland Greece.[6] During the first phase of use of the Grave Circle, the interments were typical of the burials of that period; they were small and shallow with small and poor goods found next to the deceased.[7] The graves became gradually larger, richer and more numerous in goods, while female burials were also introduced.[7] Moreover, diadems were found in both sexes and in all the age groups buried. The number of ornaments was also considerably increased and especially associated with female burials. An additional new feature was that half of the graves, regardless of the sex of the deceased, were equipped with imports from the nearby Cyclades islands.[7] The number of imports continues to grow steadily in the early Late Helladic period (ca. 1600–1550 BCE), while the first objects of Cretan origin make also their appearance.[8]

 

At its latest phase of use, more women than men are buried in the Circle, while the male burials appear to be relatively poor compared to the female ones.[7] Male burials are associated with sets of tableware, usually drinking vessels and their military force is stressed by weapons of various types.[7] This points to the emergence of an elite warrior class in Mycenaean society.[7]

 

Meanwhile, Grave Circle A, a new elite burial place of similar architecture was found nearby, which seems to be a continuation Circle B.[9] Thus, the latest graves of Circle B (Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Omikron) were contemporary with the earliest of Circle A.[10]

 

Findings

The graves were not looted in antiquity as happened to other monuments such as the latter (15th–12th century BCE) Mycenaean tholoi tombs.[11] The women in the graves were richly dressed and decorated with various ornaments,[10] such as earrings, necklaces, bands of gold and silver pins. On the other hand, swords, daggers and arrowheads were found next to the deceased males and their clothing was trimmed with gold.[7][10] In grave Nu, traces of a boar's tusk helmet, typical of Mycenaean warfare, were recovered.[1][5]

 

A death mask of electrum has been also unearthed. However, it wasn't found on the face of the deceased male, but in a wooden box next to him.[12] On the other hand, the burial costumes differed from those of Grave Circle A. The latter included death masks of different artistic style and made of gold, like the Mask of Agamemnon.[11]

 

Excavations

The burial complex was discovered in 1951 by accident, when workmen were digging at a nearby 13th century BCE tholos tomb, known as the Tomb of Clytemnestra. Extensive excavations were conducted by archaeologists Ioannis Papadimitriou and Georgios Mylonas in 1952 and lasted for two years.[3] Each shaft grave was assigned a letter from the Greek alphabet, in order to be distinguished from the graves of Circle A, which bear Latin numbers.[3]

 

This group of 26 graves can be dated into the late Middle Helladic through early Late Helladic period, in ca. 1675/1650-1550 BCE.[13][14] Their exceptional number, as well as the fact that they were not looted, enabled the archaeologists to extract a detailed analysis of the ruling Mycenaean society of that time.[15]

 

Further research

The remains of the deceased found in the Grave Circle were generally in a good state of preservation and have been since extensively examined. Many of the males have signs of injury, probably received on the battlefield,[12] while some of them died in battle.[16]

 

Researchers from the University of Manchester have carried an ancient DNA study of 22 skeletons found in the site and obtained authentic mitochondrial ancient DNA sequences for four individuals. The results were also compared with facial reconstructions of the skulls and archaeological data. They have also concluded that two bodies from "Gama" shaft, where the electrum death mask was found, were brother and sister. Based on this, it has been argued that both female and male family members, held a position of authority by right of birth.[13][14]

 

References

1  ^ a b c d e f Kershaw 2010, Chapter 2 – Mycenae: 'Rich in Gold' ("Shaft Graves and Tholos Tombs").

2  
^ Komita 1982, p. 60.

3  ^ a b c Schofield 2007, p. 33.

4  ^ a b Komita 1982, p. 61.

5  ^ a b Komita 1982, p. 62.

6  
^ Dickinson 1999, pp. 103, 106–107.

7  ^ a b c d e f g Heitz 2008, p. 12.

8  
^ Heitz 2008, p. 13.

9  
^ Heitz 2008, p. 21.

10           ^ a b c Schofield 2007, p. 34.

11           ^ a b Heitz 2008, p. 25.

12           ^ a b Schofield 2007, p. 35.

13           ^ a b "DNA reveals sister power in Ancient Greece". University of Manchester. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2013.

14           ^ a b Bouwman et al. 2008, pp. 2580–2584.

15           
^ Heitz 2008, p. 11.

16           
^ Budin 2009, p. 165.

 

Sources

·      Bouwman, Abigail S.; Brown, Keri A.; Prag, John N.W.; Brown, Terence A. (September 2008). "Kinship between burials from Grave Circle B at Mycenae revealed by ancient DNA typing". Journal of Archaeological Science (Oxford: University of Manchester) 35 (9): 2580–2584. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.04.010.

·      Budin, Stephanie Lynn (2009). The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537984-6.

·      Castleden, Rodney (2005). Mycenaeans. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-36336-5.

·      Dickinson, Oliver (December 1999). Invasion, Migration and the Shaft Graves. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 43 (1). pp. 97–107. doi:10.1111/j.2041-5370.1999.tb00480.x.

·      Heitz, Christian (2008). "Burying the Palaces? Ideologies in the Shaft Grave Period" (PDF). University of Heidelberg. pp. 1–38. Retrieved 11 March 2011.

·      Kershaw, Stephen (2010). A Brief History of Classical Civilization. London: Robinson. ISBN 9781849018005.

·      Komita, Nobuo (1982). "The Grave Circles at Mycenae and the Early Indo-Europeans". Research Reports of Ikutoku Technical University (A-7): 59–70.

·      Schofield, Louise (2007). The Mycenaeans. Los Angeles: The British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-89-236867-9.


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13.  Shaft Graves

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/society/burials/index1.html

 

The shaft grave is the first Mycenaean grave type that appears during the Late Helladic I period (1550-1500 BC). The most typical examples of shaft graves are in the two Grave Circles of Mycenae. Grave Circles A and B which are considered as burial places of the regional chiefs. Grave Circle B which is situated in the southwestern side of the citadel is the oldest one since its earliest graves date to the end of the Middle Helladic period. The later Grave Circle A was initially out of the citadel but later enclosed within its wall as this was extended for protection.

 

The shaft graves constitute probably an evolution of the Middle Helladic cist grave, a type which continues in the Late Helladic period as well. These are deep pits of a parallelogrammic shape and were destined for more than one burial, in contradiction to the cist graves. Their roof was made of slabs placed on wooden beams and was covered with clay while its great distance from the ground created a small rectangular chamber. The area above the roof, the latter being usually the surface of the ground, was covered with earth. On the earth a stone stele was implanted..

 

The dead of the shaft graves were placed in a supine position, their legs slightly bent, maybe in coffins as the remains of wood indicate. They were dressed with valuable costumes and adorned with jewellery and precious metals and rare stones. Around them were sumptuous grave goods, weapons, ceramic and metal vases and objects of everyday use which reveal the high social status of the dead if not their royalty. Among the grave goods are some of the most fabulous examples of Mycenaean art as well as imported objects or domestic ones made of imported materials, indications of the international contacts of the Mycenaeans.

 

The grave goods of the shaft graves show the refined taste of the Mycenaean leaders which seem to have been collectors of the most elegant and masterly articles of that period. Moreover, the grave goods reflect the personality of the monarchs, which were no longer attached to the Helladic customs but had adopted the tastes, customs and beliefs of other people. Thus, a skeleton, probably of a woman which has traces of embalmment - despite the isolated example - brings the burial customs of the Mycenaeans close to the beliefs of the Egyptians as far as life after death is concerned.


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14.  Mycenaean Religion

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/religion/index.html

 

Religion

In contradiction to the Middle Helladic period which lacked completely religious signs, during the following period on mainland Greece religion dominates over most social activities. The first evidence of Mycenaean cult come from the shaft grave period. The beliefs of this period are clearly influenced by the religion and cultic ritual of Minoan Crete. The religious parallels of these two Aegean cultures are revealed by the presence of the sacred symbols and similar cult objects.

 

During the mature phases of the Mycenaean period (Late Helladic III A-III C) the cult ritual acquires a stereotype form. The decipherment of these religious acts and their interpretation are now supported by a number of iconographic representations on frescoes, seals and gold rings. The interpretation of these representations which are often codified at a considerable extent is completed by the more rich and clear Cretan iconography. But, the influence of Minoan Crete concern mostly the ritual of the cult and less the main religious principals. Along with the cult of the Minoan female goddess which is distinguished by the intense eastern elements, the cult of other female or male deities with names of Indo-European origin is ascertained mainly by written sources. The linguistic and archaeological evidence reveal that in the course of the Late Bronze Age the pantheon and the main cult figures of classic Greece had already been formed.

 

The evidence on religious representations is completed by fragmentary but clear texts from the tablets of Pylos, Knossos and Thebes. The relative texts concern administrative matters of the religion, lists of offerings to sanctuaries, the possessions and duties of the priesthood. As in Minoan Crete, the religious and political power appear interdependent if not identical on the highest level of the hierarchy.

 

The absence of particular buildings devoted exclusively to cult shows that the sacred rituals usually took place in open spaces or in peak sanctuaries. The sacred buildings which occur in very few representations had the form of a shrine of a tripartite architectural design in the country. The fact that Mycenaean shrines have been discovered under temples of Antiquity constitutes a clear indication that certain places of cult of the Mycenaean period maintained their religious property in later periods as well.

 

Apart from architecture, iconography and the written texts, the Homeric epics are also used as information sources on the Mycenaean religion despite the fact that the evidence of Homer comes mainly from later periods. The religious traditions of Homer associate the Mycenaean cult with the cult and burial customs of Classical Greece and particularly with the cult of heroes.

 

Deities

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/religion/deities/index.html

 

The depiction of an imposing female figure which is often identified as the "Mother Goddess", the most significant deity of Minoan Crete, occurs frequently in Mycenaean iconography. The presence of this deity on mainland Greece as well as the identical way in which she is depicted show that the cult of the Minoan goddess of fertility was greatly approved by the agricultural populations of Mycenaean Greece. The various symbols that accompany the religious representations show that the Mycenaeans, as the Cretans, attribute many and various properties to the Mother Goddess. The shields present her as a war goddess while the animals and the birds she holds in her hands make her the Potnia, that is to say the goddess which was responsible for the birth and death of the animals. One of the most common emblems of the Mother Goddess was the snake. However, she is never depicted as a "snake goddess".

 

In contradiction to this supreme female deity, the Mycenaean art does not include illustrations of male gods. This differentiates them from the god of Minoan Crete which is considered husband, son or attendant of the Mother Goddess and is less frequently but regularly depicted in Minoan art. There are also the demonical figures which were the attendants of the anthropomorph goddess, as the donkey-like demons which are depicted on a fresco of Mycenae and on the gold ring of Tiryns. One of the most common themes of Mycenaean religious iconography were the sphinxes, mythical figures of eastern origin with a lion body and female head which usually bear a feather crown.

 

The similarities of the Mycenaean and Minoan religious iconography made the researchers believe that the Mycenaean beliefs were absolutely identical with the Minoan ones, the former being of eastern origin as well. But, the decipherment of the texts of Mycenaean writing revealed a rather different Mycenaean religion. Texts of the palace tablets include names of gods of the Greek twelve-god pantheon as Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, Hermes and Dionysus while there is frequent reference to the Potnia, an early regional goddess which is identified with Athena. Along with these the cult of a number of unknown until then deities, whose importance seems to have faded in the later Greek world, was ascertained. Therefore, the pantheon of the Mycenaean period is now considered as a mingling of different elements which expresses the coexistence of the regional tradition with imported Minoan elements. The cult of deities of a different origin at the same time as well as the different rendering of the cult ritual in art show that the Mycenaeans adopted from the Minoan cult only elements that did not oppose to their own religious traditions.

 

 

Priests

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/religion/priests/index.html

 

Some of the persons of religious scenes are identified as members of the priesthood. The priestesses appear in Minoan type dresses which leave the breasts exposed. This ritual dress emphasized on the fertility which was an indispensable element for the benediction of the cultivations and childbirth.

 

The priests wore a typical priestly, long and sleeved garment. Seal representations frequently bear the bearded men motif. They are determined as priests according to comparisons with the religious iconography of Minoan Crete and the East. According to this last iconographic model the priests are depicted with a long fringed garment and often hold a Syro-Palestinian axe.

 

Sometimes during religious ceremonies the priests, men and women, wore animal hides which probably represented the sacrifice. The existence of this type of priestly garment is verified by the texts of the tablets, in which references are made to priests who wear animal hides (di-pte-ra-po-ro), that is to say leather.

 

The members of the priesthood were the leaders of the religious ceremonies, they accepted the offerings of the faithful and kings and were in charge of the possessions of the shrines. According to the evidence of the tablets, the priesthood was distinguished in different degrees of hierarchy and duties. Thus, reference is made to the key bearers, the hierourgoi or "sacred workers", the telestai (religious officials) and to a Priestess of the Winds (hiereia anemon). The religious communities also included persons devoted to the cult. The number of the slaves varied in function with the importance of the shrine.

 

The Linear B texts include clear indications that the relations of the priesthood were interwoven and interdependent with political power. The Wanax, the person in the highest position of the political leadership may have been the one that concentrated the religious powers as well.

 

Shrines

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/religion/shrines/index.html

 

During the second millenium BC the religious ceremonies in imposing buildings reserved exclusively for cult were rather common in the countries of the East and in Egypt. These temples were clearly differentiated from the secular buildings as far as topography, architectural conception and decoration are concerned. Conversely, in Minoan Crete, the dissociation between sacred and secular buildings was not that clear. However special places of cult are identified in the palaces and private residences while the existence of outdoor cult on peak sanctuaries and sacred caves is attested.

 

The identification of sacred rooms in buildings of Mycenaean Greece is very difficult. The archaeological and iconographic evidence lead to the conclusion that the sacred acts took place mainly in the countryside. The religious scenes which are depicted on the seal rings usually have rocky landscapes, sacred trees and springs as backgrounds. In the Mycenaean iconography the "tripartite shrine" is identified. It is a three-part building decorated with sacred symbols, which also occurs in Minoan Crete.

 

Although the archaeological evidence on the country shrines and peak sanctuaries is not yet adequate the finds indicate that in the places of Mycenaean cult, temples of the Archaic and Classical period were founded. The earliest Mycenaean sanctuary was indicated at Epidauros under the temple of Apollo Maleatas and dates to the Late Helladic I period. In a similar way, that is searching the lower strata of archaeological and classical temples, remains of Mycenaean buildings in Eleusis and Delos were discovered. The existence of organized sacred places is verified by the texts of the tablets which register the offerings of the subjects and kings to the shrines, the lists of the cult personnel and the number of slaves that corresponded to each shrine. The sanctuaries are usually referred to as placenames, as the cult centre of Pa-ki-ja-ne.

 

Sacred places have also been indicated in settlement complexes. The settlement shrines present no particular architectural plan. Their identification is determined by the finding of sacred vessels and the existence of built benches on which the figurines and ritual vessels were placed. Such sacred places have been found in Mycenae, Pylos, Berbati and Kalapodi of Phocis. But, the most typical and well-preserved sanctuaries have been discovered off the mainland, in the Mycenaean town of Phylakopi on Melos and in Agia Irini on Keos. At the Mycenaean citadel, the so-called "cult centre" is a building complex on the southwest side of the Grave Circle A.

 

Sacred rooms existed in the Mycenaean palaces as well. However, their identification is much more difficult than in the Minoan palaces. In the large ritual centre of the megaron libations and sacrifice probably took place whereas the throne of the king was possibly occupied by the archbishops or the supreme religious leader. The sacredness of the palatial area is also indicated by the iconographic themes of the frescoes which decorated the rooms. The totality of the frescoes of Pylos are religious which means that sacred acts took place in the palace. Thus, despite the very few examples of clearly identifiable sacred rooms it is considered certain that all the Mycenaean buildings, citadels or palaces had special areas reserved for cult.


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15.  Treasury of Atreus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_of_Atreus

 

The Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of Agamemnon[1] is an impressive "tholos" tomb on the Panagitsa Hill at Mycenae, Greece, constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BC. The lintel stone above the doorway weighs 120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.2m,[2] the largest in the world. The tomb was used for an unknown period. Mentioned by Pausanias, it was still visible in 1879 when the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the shaft graves under the 'agora' in the Acropolis at Mycenae. The tomb has probably no relationship with either Atreus or Agamemnon, as archaeologists believe that the sovereign buried there ruled at an earlier date than the two; it was named thus by Heinrich Schliemann and the name has been used ever since.

 

The tomb perhaps held the remains of the sovereign who completed the reconstruction of the fortress or one of his successors. The grave is in the style of the other tholoi of the Mycenaean World, of which there are nine in total around the citadel of Mycenae and many more in the Argolid. However, in its monumental shape and grandeur it is one of the most impressive monuments surviving from Mycenaean Greece.

 

It is formed of a semi-subterranean room of circular plan, with a corbel arch covering that is ogival in section. With an interior height of 13.5m and a diameter of 14.5m,[3] it was the tallest and widest dome in the world for over a thousand years until construction of the Temple of Hermes in Baiae and the Pantheon in Rome. Great care was taken in the positioning of the enormous stones, to guarantee the vault's stability over time in bearing the force of compression from its own weight. This obtained a perfectly smoothed internal surface, onto which could be placed gold, silver and bronze decoration.

 

The tholos was entered from an inclined uncovered hall or dromos, 36 meters long and with dry-stone walls. A short passage led from the tholos chamber to the actual burial chamber, which was dug out in a nearly cubical shape.

 

The entrance portal to the tumulus was richly decorated: half-columns in green limestone with zig-zag motifs on the shaft,[3] a frieze with rosettes above the architrave of the door, and spiral decoration in bands of red marble that closed the triangular aperture above an architrave. Segments of the columns and architraves were removed by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century and are now held by the British Museum.[4] The capitals are influenced by ancient Egyptian examples, and one is in the Pergamon Museum as part of the Antikensammlung Berlin. Other decorative elements were inlaid with red porphyry and green alabaster, a surprising luxury for the Bronze Age.

 

See also

1.    List of megalithic sites

2.    List of world's largest domes

 

References

1.     A.J.B. Wace, “Excavations at Mycenae: IX. The Tholos Tombs”, Annual of the British School at Athens 25, 1923, 283-402

2.     A Classical and Topographical Tour Through Greece: During the Years, Edward Dodwell

3.    a b Structurae.de: Treasury of Atreus

4.     British Museum Collection

 

External links

·      Coordinates: 37°43′36.5″N 22°45′12.97″E

·      Treasury of Atreus at Structurae

·      A different light inside Treasury of Atreus

 

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16.  Megaron

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaron

 

The megaron (/ˈmɛɡəˌrɒn/; Ancient Greek: μέγαρον), plural megara /ˈmɛɡərə/, was the great hall of the Grecian palace complexes. It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch, and a more or less central, open hearth vented though an oculus in the roof above it and surrounded by four columns. It was particularly Aegean, due to the open porch which was usually supported by columns.[1] The entrance was the feature that helps to distinguish the megaron, due to its position at the entrance, which was along the shorter wall so that the depth was larger than the width.[2] There were often many rooms around the central Megaron, such as archive rooms, offices, oil-press rooms, workshops, potteries, shrines, corridors, armories, and storerooms for such goods as wine, oil and wheat.[3]

 

Structure

The structure of the Megaron has foreshadowed an image for the eventual layout of Greek temples. This includes a columned entrance, a pronaos, and a central naos or cella.[4] It is the architectural predecessor of the classical Greek temple. The design of the megaron originated in Russia from the earliest dated examples, and these originals are Neolithic.[2] An early Megaron has a pitched roof, and there were other roof types as well such as the flat roof and barrel roof.[2] These are always destroyed in the remnants of the early Megaron, so the definite roof type is not known. See Ancient Roofs for examples. In the theory of architecture, the Megaron is considered to be the earliest architectural act.

 

The floor was of patterned concrete, covered in carpet.[5] On the walls were inlaid paintings called frescoes, these were often of Phoenician style.[6] The Megaron is considered to be the predecessor of all orders in architectural theory. Originally it was very colourful, made with the Minoan architectural order, the insides made of fired brick and a wooden roof supported on beams. The rooftop was tiled with ceramic and terracotta tiles.[7] There were wood ornamented metal doors often two leaved, and footbaths were also used in the megaron.[8] The proportions of a larger width than length is a similar structure to early doric temples.[9]

 

Purpose

The megaron's functions were many, including poetry, feasts, meetings, and worship. It was used for royal functions and court meetings as well. Its religious functions included the practice of animal sacrifices, often to Chthonic deities.

 

Examples

A famous megaron is in the large reception hall of the king in the palace of Tiryns, the main room of which had a raised Throne placed against the right wall and a central Hearth bordered by four Minoan-style wooden Columns that served as supports for the roof. This was from a Cretan influence,[10] and evolved into the palace type from Minoan Architecture. After that the Myceneans took over this design, making it characteristically Greek. Frescoes from Pylos shows figures eating and drinking, which were important activities in Greek culture.[11] Bulls were also a trend in many Greek Frescoes.[12] Other famous central megaron units are at Tiryns, Thebes, Mycenae, and Pylos. The decoration unifies each Megaron suite decoratively, This also distinguishes famous megarons, making them unique. Different Greek cultures had their own unique megarons; for example, the people of the Mainland tended to separate their central megaron from the other rooms whereas the Cretans didn’t do this.[13]

 

References

1.    
^ "Megaron". Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Retrieved April 3, 2013.

2.    ^ a b c Muller, Valentine (Oct–Dec 1944). "Development of the "Megaron" in Prehistoric Greece". Archaeological Institute of America 48 (4): 342–348. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

3.    
^ Pentreath, Guy. "A Greek Architecture Primer". Fodors LLC. Retrieved April 3, 2013.

4.    
^ "Mycenae Megaron".

5.    
^ Diehl, Charles (1893). Excursions in Greece: Recently explored sites of Classical interest. London: H. Grevel and Co. pp. 38–436 [53].

6.    
^ Rider, Bertha C. (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to Hellenistic Age. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 60, 94–266.

7.    
^ Rider, Bertha C. (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to Hellenistic Age. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–266 [180].

8.    
^ Rider, Bertha C. (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to Hellenistic Age. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–266 [182].

9.    
^ Rider, Bertha C. (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to the Hellenistic age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–266 [140].

10. 
^ Muller, Valentin (Oct–Dec 1944). "Development of the "Megaron" in Prehistoric Greece". American Journal of Archaeology 48 (4): 342–348 [347].

11. 
^ Wright, J.C. (2004). "A survey of evidence for feasting in Mycenaean society.". Hesperia 73 (2): 133–178 [161]. doi:10.2972/hesp.2004.73.2.133. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

12. 
^ Wright, J.C. (2004). "A survey of evidence for feasting in Mycenaean society.". Hesperia 73 (2): 133–178 [167]. doi:10.2972/hesp.2004.73.2.133. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

13.                 
^ Rider, Bertha C. (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to the Hellenistic age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–266 [127].

 

Further reading

·      The megaron of Odysseus is well described in the Odyssey.

·      Biers, William R. 1987. The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press)

·      Klein, Christopher P. (Editor in Chief) Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Tenth edition. Harcourt Brace (1996). ISBN 0-15-501141-3

·      Vermeule, Emily, 1972. Greece in the Bronze Age (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

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17.  Why Study Greek Vases?

From http://www.colorado.edu/Classics/exhibits/GreekVases/exhibit.htm

 

Pots are a wonderful way to learn about the cultures and societies of antiquity. Potsherds survive the years by the thousands and afford archaeologists, art historians, and social historians unparalleled insights into the lives of the people who made, used, and broke them. The shape of a vase can suggest its use; its decoration can tell us about the tastes and lives of the people who used it. The relative quantities of sherds, or the findspots of vases, can let us think about the ways their users lived, the kinds of food the people ate and liquids they drank, how they stored things (and what they stored), or even the kinds of things they considered important. Some vessels are spectacularly beautiful. And even the most utilitarian of pots was a thing touched and used by people in their day-to-day existence.

 

This exhibit has been created by students in a graduate seminar at the University of Colorado, CLAS 7109: Greek Vase Painting. Each student has been responsible for two or more of the pots now owned by the University of Colorado's Art Museum, has done research into the pot's shape, decoration, and function, and has taken on research into additional, related, aspects of Greek social and ceramic history. The essay is included here, and the links provided, are the result of their work.

 

The exhibit has been made possible thanks to the collaborative and unflagging efforts of the University of Colorado Natural History Museum, the Special Collections Department of the University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries, the Classics Department, and ITS-Graphics. Support was provided by a grant from the President's Fund for the Humanities.

 

New links provided October 2013 by Kallan Oliver:

South Italian Vase Painting

Greek Pottery and other material made in the 4th century BC

Greek Pottery and its chronology

The Pottery of Ancient Greece

 

 

 

Bronze Age Pottery on the Greek Mainland

http://cuartmuseum.colorado.edu/collection.bak/classics/greekvases/mainland.html

 

Although pottery was made in Greece during the Stone Age, the tradition of decorated ceramics in Greece really started in the Bronze Age, a period which began in about 3000 BC and ended with the so-called Dark Ages in about 1100 BC. On mainland Greece, the Bronze Age is known as the Helladic Period and is divided into three main phases: Early, Middle, and Late Helladic (also known as Mycenaean), abbreviated EH (c. 3000-2000 BC ), MH (c. 2000-1550 BC ), and LH (c. 1550-1100 BC ) (1). For a chronological chart of Bronze Age periods and pottery types, click here. During the Bronze Age, Greece was divided into small kingdoms which were probably often at war with one another (2). Since we lack written records from this period in history, we must rely on archaeological finds such as pottery to reveal something of the history of Helladic Bronze Age Greece.

Early Helladic (c. 3000-2000 BC)

The Early Helladic period brought new pottery shapes in addition to those that had been in use since the Neolithic period. The easily recognizable 'sauceboat' is one of the most common of these new shapes, plainly decorated with a glossy dark paint. The sauceboat shape may have been derived from metal prototypes or even from the shape of cut gourds (3). Most pottery from this period was either painted in solid colors or decorated with very simple designs, just as Stone Age pottery had been. Greeks at this time lived in small villages or as farmers and hunters, subsisting mainly on grains, olives, figs, and game such as deer. Women wove clothing for the family, as they would do throughout Greek history (4).

Middle Helladic (c. 2000-1550 BC)

Two major cultural and artistic shifts occurred in the Middle Helladic period; foreign invaders known today as the "Minyans" entered Greece , and the pottery wheel came into use. The potter's wheel, which arrived in Greece in about 2000 BC, had been invented about 2000 years earlier in Mesopotamia (5). As a result of this new technology (and possibly due to influence by the foreign invaders), a new pottery type  evolved from the simple, earlier types, possibly brought to Greece by the new arrivals evolved from the simple, earlier types; Minyan Ware was an undecorated but highly polished painted ware with a somewhat sharp-edged profile that seems to have been based on metal vessels (6). Made on the fast wheel, Minyan Ware is found in monochrome grey, black, yellow, and red, and has a distinctive soapy feel. Contemporary with Minyan Ware , but very different in almost every way, is the dark-on-light, handbuilt Matt-Painted Ware, decorated with simple geometric designs and, later, more naturalistic motifs. This ware may have been introduced by foreigners as well. In contrast to the fine fabric of Minyan ware, Matt-Painted Ware tends toward the course and chunky. Despite the innovations in pottery and arrival of the Minyans, life in Greece did not change much during the Middle Helladic period; farmers still tended their fields in the old ways and settlements remained small (7).

Late Helladic/Mycenaean (c. 1550-1100 BC)

The Late Helladic period, also known as the Mycenaean period, was the time of the great palaces in Greece , the most famous at Mycenae. The well-known Lion Gate leading into the walled city of Mycenae anticipates future monumental relief carvings, and paintings on palace walls show an interest in the animal motifsError! Hyperlink reference not valid.and depictions of pattern and movement that will be seen again in vase painting. Other palaces on the Greek mainland include those at Pylos and Tiryns(8).

 

Along with the grand palaces, many new pottery types w ere introduced in the Mycenaean period (9). On the opposite end of the design spectrum from the monochrome and simple designs of Middle Helladic was the Pictorial Style, which featured human and animal figures. These vessels, with their real and mythological creatures, marching soldiers, and chariots, foreshadowed later developments in Greek vase painting. The Close Style was another adventurous experiment, featuring aquatic birds and delicate geometric patterns competing for attention. Despite the innovations, holdovers from the period of Matt-Painted Ware remained, especially at the beginning of the Mycenaean period when simple patterned and banded pots were common.

 

Later Mycenaean pottery painting was influenced by Minoan ceramics, which were exported to mainland Greece (10). The Mycenaeans simplified and abstracted the Minoan motifs, creating a more patterned and decorative ware than the more naturalistic pottery found in Crete. Common are variations on the marine style. Not all pottery was decorated, though; a plain, glossy type, known as Acropolis Burnished Ware, is an orange-tinted descendent of Minyan ware (11).

 

At the end of the Late Bronze Age, around 1100 BC, Mycenaean civilization collapsed for a reason on which archaeologists have yet to agree. Whatever happened, Greece entered the so-called Dark Ages , about which little is known. Depopulation and destruction seem to have been characteristic of the period, in which the art of writing was lost along with much pottery production.

 

Author: Summer Trentin

 

Notes

·      (1). On the chronological divisions of the Greek mainland in the Bronze Age, see Reynold Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean Art (New York: Oxford University Press 1981): 65-6; John G. Pedley, Greek Art and Archaeology (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall 1993): 29-30.

·      (2). William R. Biers, The Archaeology of Greece (Cornell University Press 1980): 62-3.

·      (3). Pedley, Greek Art and Archaeology , 40 : see also Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean Art , 67.

·      (4). For life in the Early Helladic period, see Emily Vermeule, Greece in the Bronze Age (The University of Chicago Press 1964) 36-42.

·      (5). Andrew A Clark, Maya Elston, and Mary-Louise Hart, Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques ( Los Angeles : The J. Paul Getty Museum 2002): 130-1.

·      (6). Jeremy B. Rutter, Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean ( http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/index.html updated 18 March 2000 , accessed 13 March 2005 ).

·      (7). On the Middle Helladic period, see Vermeule, Greece in the Bronze Age , 72-81 ; Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean Art , 68-70 .

·      (8). On the Mycenaean palaces, see George E. Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age (Princeton University Press 1966): 46-88.

·      (9). For the Mycenaean period and its art, see George E. Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age ; for further information with excellent images, see Spyridon Marinatos, Crete and Mycenae (New York: Harry N. Abrams, inc. 1960).

·      (10). Jack L. Davis, "Late Helladic I Pottery from Korakou." Hesperia 1979:234-263 ; on Mycenaean pottery and its influence from Crete , see also Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean Art, 106- 22. .

·      (11). Penelope A. Mountjoy, Mycenaean Athens (Jonsered, Sweden: Paul Åströms Förlag 1995): 13-4.

 

 

Mainland Greece (Helladic) Pottery

Main Division

Subdivision

Pottery Styles

Early Helladic

  c. 3000-2200 BC

EHI

   c. 3000-2500 BC

simple monochrome pottery

EHII

   c. 2500-2200 BC

"sauceboat" shapes

EHIII

   c. 2200-2000 BC

patterned ware

Middle Helladicc. 2000-1550 BC

MH

   c. 2000-1550 BC

Minyan Ware

Matt-Painted Ware

Late Helladic (Mycenaean)   c. 1550-1100 BC

LHI

   c. 1550-1500 BC

CU Art Museum #2006.17.T

LHII

   c. 1500-1400 BC

Palace Style

CU Art Museum #2006.22.T

LHIIIA

   c. 1400-1300 BC

sparsely decorated pottery

CU Art Museum #2006.24.T

LHIIIB

   c. 1300-1200 BC

Pictorial Style

LHIIIC

   c. 1200-1100 BC

Close Style

Granary Style

Octopus Style

Pictorial Style

 

 

Following are links to other sections of the Colorado U Art Museum Project

 

WHY POTS?

IMAGES OF POTS

WINING AND DINING

OFFERINGS

STUDYING POTS

TIMELINE

MAP

AUTHORS


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18.  Mycenaean Frescoes

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/technology/frescoes/index.html

 

The Mycenaean wall-painting art comes from Minoan Crete where it had appeared already from 1700 BC in rooms of the palaces and in other luxurious buildings of Crete. The first Mycenaean frescoes date to the 15th century and coincide roughly with the second building phase of the Minoan palaces. It is very likely that this art had reached mainland Greece earlier since the most intense Minoan influences occurred during the early phases of the Mycenaean period. Certain archaeological indications, such as the coloured plasters of buildings of the Middle Helladic period and some fresco fragments from the citadel of Mycenae which were found with ceramics of the Late Helladic I and II periods verify this suggestion.

 

Most examples of Mycenaean frescoes date to the 14th and 13th centuries BC and are related to the palatial apartments of Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos or with seats of local chiefs, as Gla, Argos and the Menelaion. The fresco decoration constituted an incontestable demonstration of prestige but its existence in private buildings shows that they were not an exclusive privilege of the chiefs. Apart from their presence in the official architecture, frescoes have been discovered in graves of eminent persons and in sacred buildings.

 

As the Minoan frescoes, the Mycenaean ones, were drawing compositions on plaster which were made with the fresco technique. The drawing should be completed before the plaster dries. That is the reason for which it required great ability and a whole staff of craftsmen which worked at the same time for the drawing of large iconographic compositions. The paints that were employed had an earthen texture and their colours were blue, red, yellow and black. As the painted tombstones, various limestone plastered tiles and clay larnakes show, the same technique was applied on mobile objects.

 

The themes of the Mycenaean frescoes can be distinguished in three different categories: iconographic representations from the religious life of the population, representations of the favourite occupations of the ruling class and abstract decorative themes. The latter functioned as a frame of the illustrations and as decorative covers on floors, ceilings and elsewhere. The decoration procedure of the frescoes was organized in three levels. The main drawing representation was placed in the middle of an outlined jamb which was painted to resemble veined marble and in a decorative band. In addition, the representation of building elements, mainly wooden beams, was common. The so-called miniature style which is expressed on long friezes which depict representations with figures of a very small size, has a distinguished Mycenaean character.

 

As far as the iconographic representations are concerned, the Cretan influence in the style and selection of the themes is manifest. As the Minoan frescoes, the Mycenaean as well include bull-leaping, evil creatures and architectural elements. The purely Mycenaean subject matters were the hunting and battle scenes and the processions of women in costumes offering gifts. The themes of the frescoes reveal the religious and heroic sprit of the Mycenaean aristocracy. The battle scenes are of a narrative character and depict probably specific moments or historic events. The themes and fresco styles seem to have influenced the other iconographic arts of the Mycenaean period. Thus, similar classification of the iconographic themes occurs in ivory carving, pottery and seal carving.

 

The frescoes of the 13th century BC, no longer based on the Minoan models, acquired an established Mycenaean character, which presents strong schematization, rigidity and inartistic creation. The destruction of the palaces around 1200 BC marked the end of the mural painting, which was connected with the official architecture. The only memory of the old art are some improvised paintings in the shrine of the Lower Citadel of Tiryns.

 

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19.  Weapons Manufacture

http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/mg/technology/metallurgy/index2.html

 

The manufacture of defensive and offensive bronze weapons constituted a substantial sector of Mycenaean metalworking. The Mycenaean weapons are discerned in many and continuously evolving types which reveals that the Mycenaeans constantly improved their polemical techniques. [ = war-making skills from Greek polemikos relating to war, from polemos war – tkw.]   Metal weapons are found in graves where they had been placed as funeral gifts and in treasures.

 

From the earliest phases of the Mycenaean period different types of bronze weapons that will present a rapid evolution in the later periods, appear. The earlier spearheads which come from late Middle Helladic tombs are named "Sesklo  type spearheads" and had a shoe-socket for greater stability on the wooden stem of the spear. In the shaft graves of Mycenae a large number of metal swords and daggers with elaborate relief decoration and inlaid with gold, niello, ivory and precious stones was discovered. This composite decoration had been achieved with the impressed technique and the so-called "painting on metal". This imposing and valuable armament expressed the virtues of the early Mycenaean aristocracy, the combative ability and the high social status.

 

The swords of the early Mycenaean period are distinguished in two main types, type A and type B. Type A, which is considered as the older one, is discerned by the very long and narrow blade and the rounded shoulders, which often end in hornlike lugs. The initial model of this type is searched in the long ritual swords of the Old Palace period. The later type B, which is characterized by its shorter and broader tang, was appropriate for both beating and cutting. Its shoulders were squared and sharp while the stem of the blade which was fit into the hilt was of the same width of the latter and was fixed on it with nails.

 

After 1400 BC new types of offensive weapons appear. Most swords were now appropriate for beating and cutting. The most widespread type of sword was a relatively short tang with a central vein and nails on the hilt. Later the cross type sword is developed. It has a broader blade and a strengthened central vein. At the same time the use of the polemical daggers, which are distinguished in various and constantly evolving types, prevails. From the 12th century BC, a new type of sword, which appears simultaneously in the Near East, is diffused in the Aegean. This is a cutting and pricking sword with a sharp, long blade, rounded shoulders and a forked hilt. Its use continued into the Iron Age.

 

The spearheads of hammered or cast metal did not evolve remarkably until the middle of the 13th century BC. During the Late Helladic III period spearheads became shorter and sharper and their blade acquired a fin shape. The spearheads were fixed on the sword hilt with a hole at one end of the shoe-socket. Parts of preserved frescoes illustrate armed men carrying the spears in pairs.

 

The tablets of Pylos refer also to copper arrowheads. The heads of these arrows are made of molten metal or of metal sheets and initially followed the simple triangular shape of the stone ones. But later arrowheads with stems were manufactured. These were better fixed to the stem of the arrow and were more efficient. At the same time with copper arrows, the manufacture of chert or obsidian arrowheads continued.

 

A typical example of the Mycenaean armament were the imposing bronze armours which are observed from the Late Helladic II period. The exact shape of these metal armours is apparent on a unique find from the chamber tomb of Dendra which dates to the end of the 15th century BC [the so called Dendra Panoply” – tkw]. This armour is composed of wide copper bands which are fixed on a leather internal lining which covered the body from the knees to the neck. The excessive weight of the armour made it awkward. That is why it is conjectured that it was not used in battle but only to demonstrate prestige. Apart from the armours there were also other metal parts for the protection of the warriors. In the late Mycenaean graves metal helmets, parts of greaves and protective accessories for the hands were found.


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20.  Lefkandi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefkandi

 

Lefkandi (Modern Greek: Λευκαντί) is a coastal village on the island of Euboea, Greece. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement on the promontory locally known as Xeropolis, while several associated cemeteries have been identified nearby. The settlement site is located on a promontory overlooking the Euripos, with small bays forming natural harbours east and west of the site. The cemeteries are located on the hillslopes northwest of the settlement; the plots identified so far are known as the East Cemetery, Skoubris, Palia Perivolia, Toumba, in addition to further smaller groups of burials. The site is located between the island's two main cities in antiquity, Chalkis and Eretria. Excavation here is conducted under the direction of the British School at Athens, and is ongoing as of 2007 (Previous campaigns in 1964-8, 1981-4).

 

Occupation at Lefkandi can be traced back to the Early Bronze Age, and continued throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, to end at the beginning of the Archaic period (early 7th century BCE). The known cemeteries cover only part of the periods attested in the settlement, dating to the Submycenaean through Subgeometric periods (c. 1050 – 800 BCE, the "Greek Dark Ages"). The abandonment of Lefkandi coincides with a rise in settlement activity in nearby Eretria, and it has been argued by the excavators that the site is, in fact, Old Eretria.

 

Lefkandi's contribution to archaeology

The site's importance is due to a number of factors. First, substantial occupation strata of the Late Helladic IIIC period (c. 1200 – 1100/1075 BCE) excavated in the 1960s allowed the establishment of a ceramic sequence for this period, at that time insufficiently attested. The IIIC settlement furthermore stands in contrast to sites in the other parts of Greece, such as the Peloponnese, where many sites were abandoned at the end of LHIIIB (i.e. the end of the Mycenaean palatial period). This situation places Lefkandi within a group of sites in Central Greece with important post-palatial occupation, such as Mitrou (settlement), Kalapodi (sanctuary), and Elateia (cemetery).

 

Heroon

The archaeological significance of the site was revealed in 1980[1] when a large mound was discovered to contain the remains of a man and a woman within a large structure called by some a heroön (ἡρῷον) or "hero's grave." There is some dispute as to whether the structure was in fact a heroön built to commemorate a hero or whether it was instead the grave of a couple who were locally important for other reasons. This monumental building, built c 950 BC, 50 meters long and 13.8 meters wide, with a wooden verandah, foreshadows the temple architecture that started to appear with regularity some two centuries later.[2]

 

One of the bodies in the grave had been cremated, the ashes being wrapped in a fringed linen cloth then stored in a bronze amphora from Cyprus. The amphora was engraved with a hunting scene and placed within a still larger bronze bowl. A sword and other grave goods were nearby. It is believed that the ashes were those of a man.

 

The woman's body was not cremated. Instead, she was buried alongside a wall and adorned with jewelry, including a ring of electrum, a Bronze braziere, and a gorget believed to have come from Babylonia and already a thousand years old when it was buried. An iron knife with an ivory handle was found near her shoulder. It is unknown whether this woman was buried contemporaneously with the man's remains, or at a later date. Scholars have suggested that the woman was slaughtered to be buried with the man, possibly her husband, in a practice reminiscent of the Indian custom of sati. Other scholars have pointed to the lack of conclusive evidence for sati in this instance, suggesting instead that this woman may have been an important person in the community in her own right, who was interred with the man's ashes after her own death.

 

Four horses appear to have been sacrificed and were included in the grave. Two of them were found with iron bits still in their mouths.

 

Xeropolis

Archaeological research has brought to light a settlement where continuous occupation can be demonstrated from the Mycenaean period through the Dark Ages and into historic times.[3][1] It has been suggested by the excavators that the site can be identified as the old Eretria which was forced to up root and move farther from Chalkis as a result of the Lelantine War.

 

Notes

1.    
^ Preliminary report by Mervyn Popham, E. Touloupa and L.H. Sackett, "The Hero of Lefkandi", in Antiquity 56 (1982:169-74); final publication R. W. V. Catling and I. S. Lemos, Lefkandi II. 1. The Protogeometric Building at Toumba. The Pottery, BSA Suppl. vol. 22, Oxford 1991; M. R. Popham, P. G. Calligas, and L. H. Sackett, (eds.), Lefkandi II: the Protogeometric Building at Toumba, Part 2. The Excavation, Architecture and Finds, BSA Suppl. vol. 23, Oxford 1993.

2.    
^ Early Excavations at Lefkandi: THE PROTOGEOMETRIC BUILDING AND THE CEMETERY OF TOUMBA

3.    
^ D. Evely (ed.), Lefkandi IV: The Bronze Age: The Late Helladic IIIC Settlement at Xeropolis, BSA Suppl. 39, London 2006

 

References

·      Morris, Ian (1996). "Negotiated Peripherality in Iron Age Greece: Accepting and Resisting the East". Journal of World-Systems Research 2 (12).

·      Encyclopædia Britannica On-line article The post-Mycenaean period and Lefkandi

·      Thomas R. Martin, Ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Yale University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-300-06956-1

·      Barry B. Powell, "Did Homer Sing at Lefkandi?", Electronic Antiquity 1(2), July 1993

·      John R. Lenz, "Did Homer Sing at Lefkandi?", Electronic Antiquity 1(3), August 1993

 

Εxternal links

·      Lefkandi

·      The official Lefkandi excavation web site

·      Lefkandi excavation page from the British School at Athens, which undertook the archaeological dig at the site

·      Photo tour of the site at Lefkandi

·      Dartmouth classics department site for early Aegean archaeology: "Lefkandi I" and Tiryns Cultures

 

THE PROTOGEOMETRIC BUILDING AND

THE CEMETERY OF TOUMBA

http://lefkandi.classics.ox.ac.uk/Toumba.html

 

The building is a monumental structure (50 x 13.8 meters) and was erected in the middle of the tenth century BC

 

The main entrance is to the east, while in the west the building has a curved (or ‘apsidal’) end, a feature typical of the period. It is divided into three rooms: the East, the Central and the Apse. The last of these was approached through a wide corridor flanked by two rooms. A row of wooden columns run down the central axis of the building which supported the thatched roof.

 

A remarkable feature of this building was the discovery of a row of post-holes running along the north and south walls and round the apse which supported a wooden veranda (peristrasis). This is earliest example in Greek Architecture and anticipates later uses in Greek temples.

 

In the central room two burial shafts were found: one contained the cremated body of a man buried with his weapons and an inhumed woman with remarkable jewellery; the other contained the remains of four horses.

 

After the destruction and the deliberate covering of the building and the burials with a mound, the area in front of the east entrance was used as a cemetery. Those buried here were probably members of the same kin group (or oikos) as those buried inside the building.

 

They belonged to a distinguished elite group which chose to display its wealth with rich offerings given to their dead. Their grave offerings include local and imported pottery, jewellery, iron weapons and luxurious goods most of them imported from the eastern Mediterranean and others from northern Greece.


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21.  The Iliad and the Greek Bronze Age

by John Porter, University of Saskatchewan

http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/CourseNotes/HomBA.html#helladciv

 

Contents:

·      Index

·      Introduction

·      Minoan Crete

·      Helladic Civilization: The Mycenaean Age

·      Troy

 

Some definitions:

·      For our purposes, the bronze age in Greece can be identified, roughly, with the second millennium B.C. (i.e., ca. 2000-ca. 1000). In speaking of bronze-age cultures three terms are used:

·      *Minoan — refers to the culture of bronze-age Crete

·      *Cycladic — refers to the bronze-age cultures of the islands of the Aegean

·      *Helladic — refers to the culture of mainland Greece in the bronze age

 

Introduction. The Homeric poems date to the late 8th century B.C., but (like Arthurian legend) they purport to tell of a much earlier age. The Greece of Homer's time was on the rebound: as we shall see in a later unit, his day witnessed the rise of the city state or polis, the flourishing of trade, intense colonization in southern Italy, Sicily, and the Black Sea region, the introduction of coinage, of more sophisticated battle tactics, and of writing — in short, the emergence of what would become Classical Greece. But these developments represented a rise out of an extremely bleak period in Greek history. In the 11th to 9th centuries (the so-called Dark Ages) mainland Greece had consisted primarily of meager, relatively isolated agrarian settlements, dominated by local landed aristocracies, with a relatively low level of material culture: no urban centers, relatively little trade or manufacturing, a population sustained principally by what crops it could manage to foster in the arid, rocky soil and under frequent pressure from migrating peoples displaced by the generally unsettled nature of the times. It is all the more striking, then, that Homer tells of a time of powerful Greek kings who rule large kingdoms, engage in vast military expeditions overseas, and live in grand palaces filled with precious objects while routinely dining on meals such as Homer's audience saw only on special feast days, if at all. Prior to the late 19th century it was felt that Homer's grand vision of powerful kings and grand expeditions was merely a poetic fiction (again, compare the legends about King Arthur), but then in 1870 a megalomaniacal German banker named *Heinrich Schliemann journeyed to northwest Turkey and unearthed a grand bronze-age city (a series of cities, actually) at the very place tradition identified as the site of Troy. He then journeyed to Greece and, in digs at Mycenae and Tiryns, discovered evidence of a rich and powerful bronze-age civilization very like that described in the poems of Homer.

 

[For recent assessments of Schliemann and his work, see D.F. Easton, "Heinrich Schliemann, Hero or Fraud?" Classical World 91.5 (1998) 335-43, S.H. Allen, "A Personal Sacrifice in the Interest of Science: Calvert, Schliemann, and the Troy Treasures," Classical World 91.5 (1998) 345-54, and the debate between E.F. Bloedow and S.H. Allen in Echos du monde classique / Classical Views n.s. 17, no. 3 (1998) 579-644.]

 

At the turn of the century another amateur archaeologist, *Arthur Evans, journeyed to Crete and uncovered evidence of a hitherto unknown bronze-age civilization there. These two men radically changed the then accepted view of early Greece, revealing that the eastern Mediterranean in the bronze age was vastly more sophisticated and complex than formerly suspected. Schliemann and Evans also gave a valuable impetus to the development of the modern science of archeology. Since their day, many other sites have been discovered and a relatively precise chronology has been worked out, based on stratigraphic evidence, pottery styles, and various synchronisms. Michael Wood presents something of this archaeological background in the first two episodes of his series, In Search of the Trojan War; useful accounts can be found in W.A. McDonald's Progress into the Past and the other works listed in the course bibliography. In what follows you will find a general sketch of the Greek Bronze Age, to be developed further in the class slide lectures.

 

Minoan Crete. We begin on Crete, where ca. 1900 B.C. there suddenly appears a culture of a most striking nature. Archaeological remains in Crete dating to the third millennium B.C. present a picture of a relatively unimpressive, rather typically disorganized early bronze-age culture. At the turn of the millennium, however, a transformation occurs, with a sudden and quite dramatic change in the material remains and (one assumes) in the society those remains represent. The impetus behind this transformation is uncertain, but it would seem to be associated with the gradual assimilation of an immigrant population (perhaps from southwest Turkey) and a concomitant rise in affluence and social organization. The precise identity of the immigrants is unknown: even their language is of uncertain origin, although we have a large number of written records (dating to the middle of the second millennium) inscribed on clay tablets in a script known as Linear A. The archaeological remains, however, attest to one of the most impressive civilizations ever to appear in the ancient Mediterranean: a highly centralized and sophisticated society with a system of writing, a complex and efficient bureaucracy, beautiful wheel-made pottery, and (eventually) a naturalistic style of art that at its best rivals later Classical art. Today, the people of this society are known as the Minoans. Although this culture first arose ca. 1900, a massive earthquake ca. 1700 led to extensive rebuilding and to various artistic and architectural innovations. Most of the material that you will see in books and in the course lectures dates to this second (post-1700) phase of Minoan culture.

The most prominent, and most instructive, feature of Minoan culture is presented by the palaces (see, esp., the guide by Cadogan). The largest and most elaborate is that at *Cnossus, but others are to be found throughout the island. All are built according to the same general plan: a north-south orientation, with a large central court and a smaller external court to the west; a large number of storerooms and storage magazines (often, as at Cnossus, on ground floor of the west wing), royal quarters (at Cnossus, in the east wing), an industrial area (at Cnossus, in the north wing), cult places (at Cnossus, on the ground floor of the west wing, opening on the central court). The elaborate layout of the palaces reflects a highly sophisticated artistic and architectural aesthetic. There seems to be a conscious effort to avoid regularity and predictability, with numerous twists and turns as one proceeds along the lengthy corridors through an elaborate system of doorways. There is an elaborate system of light wells and windows as well, which must have led to pleasing alterations of shadow and light (known as a chiaroscuro effect) as one proceeded through the palaces. [Plan of palace at Cnossus]

The design of the palaces allows us to draw several inferences concerning Minoan society. First, it suggests a complex and highly organized political structure, probably under the leadership of a monarch (since someone presumably inhabited the grand domestic quarters in the east wing). The Minoans seem to have had a very tightly controlled and centralized political/economic system. The palace at Cnossus clearly was an important political seat, but it was also an administrative and industrial center, as the vast storerooms, copious amounts of raw materials, and numerous workshops indicate. It would seem that produce from the countryside (grain, wool, oil, wine, etc.) was brought to the palace, recorded (on the clay tablets mentioned previously), and subsequently redistributed, employed in the various workshops, or exported. This high degree of centralization, along with the general cultural continuity throughout the island (indicated, e.g., by similarity in palace design), has suggested to some a wealthy and powerful central monarch, with his political seat at Cnossus, who governed the entire island through various minor kings or nobles, with a peasant population who toiled, not in their own interest, but the nobility's. [FN 1]

Unlike the similar palaces on the Greek mainland (see below on the Mycenaean Palaces), the Minoan palaces have no fortifications.

[Although fortification walls have been discovered that predate palaces, these seem to have been abandoned fairly early in the Palace Period: see Jeremy Rutter's notes on Middle Minoan Crete.]

This could be attributed, in part, to their isolation and their reliance on naval power for both trade and defense. The contrast with mainland Greece also appears, however, in Minoan art: Helladic art bristles with scenes of soldiers, weapons, chariots, and military exploits; Minoan art, on the other hand, focuses on scenes from nature (portrayed with a liveliness and plasticity that at times anticipates modern abstract art), religious ritual, and daily life, with relatively few instances of military motifs. The general picture that emerges is one of a wealthy, cultured, unified, peaceful people. Today there is often a tendency to romanticize the Minoans: some have equated them with the lost civilization of Atlantis, others (pointing to the prominence of women in Minoan art) have argued that they represent evidence of peaceful matriarchal societies in the bronze age that came to be overthrown by Indo-European invaders (see below on the Indo-Europeans), who brought with them their strongly patriarchal and militaristic traditions. There is little real evidence for such theories. Above all, it is necessary to remember the limited and often ambiguous nature of the archaeological evidence, which is constantly being reevaluated as new finds come to light. [FN 2]

 

The bronze-age finds on Crete were immediately associated by Evans with the legendary king *Minos (from whom the term "Minoan" is derived). According to later Greek myth, Minos ruled a powerful naval empire (or thalassocracy) from his palace at Cnossus. The most famous legend concerning Minos told of the adventure of *Theseus and the *Minotaur. Theseus, the son of King Aegeus, was a legendary ruler of Athens (see The World of Athens, H.I. 5). When King Minos' son Androgeus was killed in Athens (cf. below on the possible historical significance of the Theseus legend), the powerful Cretan monarch exacted a terrible toll from the Athenians: each year seven young men and seven young women were sent from Athens to Cnossus, where they were fed to the savage Minotaur.

[The Minotaur (the name was taken to mean "the bull of Minos") was a monstrous creature, half human, half bull. He was the offspring of Minos' wife, *Pasiphae. Legend had it that Minos had boasted that the sea-god Poseidon (who was also the god of earthquakes) would grant him any favor he wished and, as proof of this, had prayed to Poseidon to send him a bull out of the sea, promising to sacrifice the animal in the god's honor. The bull appeared, but was so magnificent that Minos decided not to sacrifice it but to keep it, sacrificing a normal bull in its place. Angered by this slight, Poseidon caused Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull. Pasiphae approached the artisan *Daedalus, the most cunning craftsman of all time, and convinced him to build a cow suit for her. Donning Daedalus' cow suit, Pasiphae managed to consummate her passion for the bull and, as a consequence, bore the Minotaur. Horrified by his new "stepson," Minos ordered Daedalus to construct an elaborate maze (the *labyrinth) [FN 3] in which to confine the monster: so cunning was the maze that, once inside it, no one could trace their way out.]

 

Upon reaching manhood, the young Theseus insisted on being included in the seven young men to be sacrificed that year. He had no fear of the Minotaur, but was a bit daunted at the difficulty posed by Daedalus' maze. Fortunately for him, the young princess *Ariadne (one of Minos' daughters) fell madly in love with him and told him how to defeat the maze by unrolling a ball of yarn as he worked his way into the labyrinth. Theseus followed her instructions, killed the Minotaur, and managed to escape from Crete, taking the young princess with him. (In the time-honored manner of the best Greek heroes, Theseus quickly deserted Ariadne on the island Dia [Naxos], where she either committed suicide or was taken up by the god Dionysus to be his bride: for more on the amorous adventures of Theseus, see The Mythological Background to Euripides' Hippolytus.)

 

If you study theories of myth, you will find that one approach suggests that myth is "faded history" — dimly recalled historical fact, preserved in a fanciful form in traditional stories handed down over generations. The tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, it can be argued, presents precisely such a myth. What features of the legend tie in with what you have seen of Minoan culture as represented by the palaces? (More connections will appear when we look at slides of Minoan art.)

 

Minoan culture collapsed just as quickly as it evolved. All of the palaces except that at Cnossus were destroyed ca. 1450; Cnossus survived for another 75 years or so, but the archaeological evidence suggests that it had been taken over by Greeks from the mainland. Cnossus itself was destroyed ca. 1375 and Crete remained a cultural and political backwater for centuries afterward. The cause of this sudden collapse remains uncertain, but many scholars believe that it is related to the eruption of the island of *Thera, north of Crete (see map 4 in The World of Athens) in ca. 1500. The eruption of Thera was a cataclysmic event, some four to ten times as violent as that of Krakatoa in 1883.

 

[A good part of this relatively large island simply blew up (leading many to recall, once again, the myth of Atlantis). In the past few years archaeologists have excavated an important settlement on Thera, preserved intact for centuries in mud and ash. Thera provides invaluable evidence for Cycladic culture and is a must-see for any tourist to Greece: it is actually possible to walk through the town and get a sense of daily life in a Cycladic setting. The frescoes (in the National Museum in Athens) are among the most striking works of art to survive from antiquity.]

 

It has been thought that the ash from this eruption, along with a possible tsunami, may have disrupted the Minoan economy and perhaps ruined its fleet sufficiently to allow invasion. On this view, Helladic Greeks seized the island and destroyed all of the palaces except that at Cnossus, which they took under their control, only to fall themselves (how, we can only speculate) some 75 years later.

 

Helladic Civilization: The Mycenaean Age. The arrival in Europe of the "Greeks" (that is, the people who brought with them the rudiments of the language and culture that we associate with historical Greece) is identified by the gradual appearance (ca. 1900-1800) [FN 4] of a new culture on the mainland, characterized by a distinctive gray pottery made on a fast wheel (known as Minyan ware), by the arrival of the horse and chariot, and by a more martial cast to the archaeological remains (cf. above on the relatively peaceful cast of Minoan Society). The new arrivals were invaders from the east and, perhaps, the north. They were descendants of a people known as the *Indo-Europeans, originally perhaps located in the steppes of southern Russia, who, by the third millennium B.C., had began a gradual series of migrations to the west and south, taking with them their distinctive language, religion, and culture.

 

Our knowledge of the Indo-Europeans derives mainly from comparative linguistics and anthropology. Linguists have demonstrated that the principal languages of modern Europe and western Asia (Greek and Latin — along with those languages derived from Latin, the so-called Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian — as well as the Germanic, Baltic, Celtic, Slavic, Armenian, Hittite, Tocharian, Iranian, and Indic languages) are all regional offshoots of an original Indo-European tongue. As well as a linguistic heritage, the Indo-Europeans bequeathed to their descendants, e.g., a strongly patriarchal tradition and a pantheon headed by a powerful male weather god: note the similarity between the Greek Zeus (whose name is etymologically associated with the shining sky), the Latin Jupiter (etymologically: "father Zeus"), and the Sanskrit Dyaus Pitar.

The new arrivals present little of interest for us until ca. 1550, when Helladic culture itself undergoes a dramatic alteration. Our earliest evidence consists of two grave circles (dated to ca. 1550 and ca. 1500, respectively) at Mycenae. The later of these was unearthed by Schliemann; the earlier was not discovered until the 1950s. Within these circles were a series of shaft graves laden with precious objects, many of which were imported from (or showed direct influence from) Egypt, Mesopotamia, and (especially) Crete. At about the same time, elaborate stone tombs (known as tholos tombs) began to appear and, within the next century or so, elaborate palaces that matched those of Crete in size and magnificence, if not in sophistication. Originally it was thought that these developments were the result of colonists or refugees from Egypt or Crete who subdued the local Greek population and established a modified form of the society prevalent in Crete, Egypt, and the Near East. (Review the Theseus legend (summarized above): what was Androgeus doing in Athens, and how was Minos able to exact such tribute?) Today it is generally believed that trade contacts between mainland Greece and its neighbors to the south and east led to a sudden flourishing of riches and the local adaptation of the traditions of the Greeks' more advanced Mediterranean neighbors.

 

This flourishing of Helladic culture in ca. 1600-1100

 B.C. is known as *The Mycenaean Age, after Mycenae, the home of Agamemnon. The principal sites of importance, in addition to Mycenae, are Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, Athens, and Gla, each of which had impressive citadels. The Mycenaean palaces are much less expansive and complex, and much more regular in design, than their Minoan counterparts. They are built around a main structure known as the *megaron, or royal hall, consisting of a large rectangular chamber fronted by a colonnaded antechamber (see The World of Athens, ill. HI 1). At the center of the megaron was a large hearth surrounded by four columns (which would have supported a clerestory — for light and ventilation — and in some cases a balcony). On the right wall, as one entered, was an elaborate throne (attested by marks preserved in the flooring). It would seem that this chamber was where the king performed his most important political and, perhaps, religious functions

 

The most striking feature of the palaces, however, is presented by their fortifications. In contrast to the Minoan palaces (discussed above), those of mainland Greece (with the exception of Pylos) are heavily fortified, with massive walls constructed of immense, irregularly shaped stones. [Later ages felt that these stones were too large to have been put in place by human agency: the story arose that the walls had been built by the Cyclopes (gigantic craftsmen in the service of Zeus — the better-behaved kinsmen of the famous one-eyed monster who tried to eat Odysseus). Thus the term *cyclopean masonry is used even today to indicate this style of bronze-age construction.] Clearly the Mycenaean Greeks, like Homer's heroes, were familiar with the hazards of war. [See, further, W. Taylour, The Mycenaeans, J.T. Hooker, Mycenaean Greece, and the other works in the course bibliography.]

 

Like the Minoans, the Mycenaean Greeks kept elaborate records on clay tablets, written in a script related to Minoan Linear A but distinct from it (hence it is known as *Linear B: see The World of Athens, ill. HI 2). An immense cache of these tablets was discovered at Pylos, but they also appear at Thebes, Athens, and (significantly) Cnossus. In the mid-1950s an architect and amateur linguist by the name of Michael Ventris demonstrated that the Linear B tablets were written in a form of Greek — a discovery that seemed to demonstrate conclusively that the kings of Pylos, Mycenae, etc. were not foreign overlords (like the Normans in 11th century England) but Greeks. [See esp. J. Chadwick, The Decipherment of Linear B, and E. Doblhofer, Voices in Stone.] The Linear B tablets provide invaluable evidence regarding the palace economy and their day-to-day administration, particularly at Pylos. Like the palace at Cnossus, that at Pylos was as much storage depot and administrative center as royal seat, with massive amounts of goods being brought in, catalogued, and stored or redistributed. The tablets also tell us something of military and political affairs at Pylos, and of religious matters. What they do not contain is literature of any sort: they are purely administrative. [See in particular the excellent book by J. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World.]

 

The Mycenaean Greeks enjoyed increasing prosperity in the 15th and 14th centuries, reaching something of a golden age in the early 13th century. But in the middle of the 13th century problems began to arise: Thebes was sacked; Mycenae was attacked (the houses outside the walls of the citadel were destroyed and later rebuilt); Mycenae, Tiryns, and Athens all extended their fortifications to secure a water supply and (at Tiryns) to provide for an influx of refugees from the surrounding countryside. It seems clear that something of a siege mentality was beginning to develop. Around 1200 the Mycenaean world begins to undergo a general collapse. This was a disastrous period throughout the eastern Mediterranean: the Hittite empire (in modern Turkey) collapsed; various centers in the Near East fell; Egypt survived, but records there speak of attacks by "the sea peoples" and this time marks the beginning of a period of decline in Egyptian affairs. Various theories have been proposed to account for this wide-spread catastrophe: climactic change (which might have caused a general collapse of the ancient economies — fragile under the best of conditions — and a breakdown of social order) and foreign invaders remain the two favorite. (The Greeks themselves spoke of an invasion of Dorian Greeks, said to be the descendants of the pan-hellenic hero Heracles.) By ca. 1100-1050 the great centers on the Greek mainland had all fallen. This collapse ushers in the Dark Ages of the 11th to 9th centuries, mentioned at the beginning of this account.

 

Troy. It is now time to return to Homer. It turns out that there was an age of great kings and grand palaces. But was there a Trojan War? (This question is considered at length by Michael Wood.) Excavations at Troy itself have uncovered nine major settlements. The most important are:

 

Interpretation of the archaeological evidence is difficult. We have a Troy that is destroyed by fire (Troy VIIa) at almost the very time ancient tradition claimed Troy fell (1184 B.C. was the traditional date), but it is not the grand Troy described by Homer and it falls at a time when the Mycenaean centers themselves appear to have felt threatened and were making defensive, rather than offensive, preparations. (It seems more likely that Troy VIIa fell to the same forces that destroyed the Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations.) On the other hand, we have a grand city (Troy VI) that matches Homer's Troy quite nicely and that falls when the Mycenaeans are at the peak of their power, but that seems to have fallen by earthquake (although this interpretation of the evidence has been questioned: for one thing, if earthquake were the only cause of Troy VI's fall, why was it rebuilt on such a reduced scale and in so haphazard a fashion?). These are not questions that we can solve in this class, but it is perhaps fair to give Homer the benefit of the doubt. After all, if there was no historic basis for Homer's tale, what would be the motivation for inventing it? On the other hand, we can prove that the Mycenaeans had extensive trade contacts in Asia Minor, the Near East, and Egypt: it does not seem improbable that hostilities of some sort might have broken out between the Mycenaeans, eager to trade in Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, and the Trojans, who commanded such a strategic position overlooking the Dardanelles.

 

[For a more detailed (largely negative) assessment of the historicity of the Iliad, see K.A. Raaflaub, "Homer, the Trojan War, and History," Classical World 91.5 (1998) 386-403.]

 

Notes

·      [FN 1] Further evidence, of a general sort, is provided by the Linear A tablets. Confirmation for this view of the Minoan political and economic structure is found in the very similar structures attested on the Greek mainland, as we will see.

·      [FN 2] One example: some few years ago archeologists claimed to find evidence of human sacrifice in one of the smaller palaces adjoining the grand palace at Cnossus. If proven, such practices would entail a radical shift in our notions of the "peaceful" Minoans. See, in particular, C. Eller, The myth of matriarchal prehistory: why an invented past won't give women a future (Boston, 2000).

·      [FN 3] The English "labyrinth" comes from the Greek labyrinthos. The ending of this word (-inthos) associates it with a family of words that predate the Greek language: that is, it survives from the (unknown) language spoken by indigenous people of the region prior to the arrival of the "Greeks" (compare below). It closely resembles another Greek "loan word," labrys (a type of double ax). We will see the significance of this in the slide lectures.

·      [FN 4] Note the synchronism with developments on Crete.

·      [FN 5] Again, note the synchronism with Minoan Crete and the arrival of Indo-European peoples in Greece.


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Some external Internet Links
http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/en.html
http://www.colorado.edu/classics/exhibits/GreekVases/timeline/lines.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helladic_period
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenaean_Greece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minyan_ware
http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/aha/kaw/Mycenae/mycenaeindex.htm
http://www.timetravelturtle.com/2012/08/mycenae-mycenaean-empire-greece-sites/
http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiryns
http://www.ancient.eu/mycenae/
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/myce/hd_myce.htm
http://ancient-greece.org/archaeology/mycenae.html
http://www.historywiz.com/trojanwar.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War
http://www.ancient.eu/Trojan_War/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html -- full English Samuel Butler Illiad Text
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html -- full English Samuel Butler Odyssey Text
http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html -- full English John Dryden Aeneid Text

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