Mycenae and Bronze Age Greece GRK 102, 3/23/2010
Questions/Comments “Mask of Agamemnon” –authenticity: debated –date: too early/late Mycenae’s end... –Who? –Why? Myths... –Who created? –Why? –When?
Iliad 2.569, Ο ἳ δ ὲ Μυκ ή νας ε ἶ χον ἐ ϋκτ ί μενον πτολ ί εθρον [... ] τ ῶ ν ἑ κατ ὸ ν νη ῶ ν ἦ ρχε κρε ί ων Ἀ γαμ έ μνων Ἀ τρε ΐ δης·
Time Line: Prehistoric Greece PeriodEvents Early Bronze AgeVillage organization Middle Bronze Age Arrival of proto-Greeks from Northwest? Anatolia? Late Bronze Age1600 Palace cultures emerge (Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, etc.) Mycenaeans occupy Crete Trojan War (??) Palace systems collapse based on Ancient Greece, 1999, Oxford
Lion Gate, Mycenae
Megaron (great hall), Pylos
Women (fresco), Pylos, 1200s BCE
Armor from Dendra (Argolid). Boar’s tusk helmet. Late 1400s BCE
Praying “psi” goddess figurine. Mycenae.
Tholos tomb, Mycenae.
Tholos tomb entrance (reconstructed), Mycenae.
“Mask of Agamemnon,” Mycenae, 1500s BCE
palace wanax (king) demos (village) basileus (chieftain) Palace Society: Redistributive Economy Produce to palace, where stored; then redistributed back to villages.
Linear-B clay tablet. Prehistoric Greek writing.
ἱέρεια ἔχει ϞϜε εὔχετοί ϞϜε ἐτώνιον ἔχεεν θεὸν κτοινόοχοι δὲ κτοινάων κεκειμενάων ὀνᾱτὰ ἔχεεν Note use of ᾱ for η. ϞϜε (kwe) = τε (“and”). -αων = fem. gen. plur. εὔχετοι = εὔχεται (not “prays” but “claims”). κτοινόοχοι = “possession-holding” (as if κτεάνη “possession” + ἔχειν “to have”). ὀνᾱτὰ: ὀνητός later = “useful,” so “that on which ‘use’ is paid.” A Linear-B Inscription
Fall of Palace Societies invasion by … –Dorians?? –“Sea Peoples” (Mediterranean marauders)? systems collapse (economic/political)? combination?