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Mycenaean Civilization ca. 1600 BC - 1150 BC
Mycenaean civilization: an ancient Aegean civilization known
from the excavations at Mycenae and other sites. The excavations
were first undertaken by Heinrich Schliemann and others after 1876,
and they helped to revise the early history of Greece.
The people who would later become the Mycenaeans entered Greece
from the north or northeast ca. 2000 B.C., displacing, seemingly
without violence, the older Neolithic culture, which can be dated
as early as 4000 B.C. These Indo-European Greek-speaking invaders
brought with them advanced techniques in pottery, metallurgy, and
architecture. Contact with Crete advanced and strongly influenced
their culture, and by 1600 B.C., Mycenae had become a major center
of the ancient world. The exact relationship of Mycenaean Greece to
Crete between 1600 and 1400 B.C. is extremely complex, with both
areas evidently competing for maritime control of the
Mediterranean. After the violent destruction of Knossos in 1450
B.C., Mycenae achieved supremacy, and much of the Minoan cultural
tradition was transferred to the mainland.
The Mycenaean commercial empire and consequent cultural
influence lasted from 1600 to 1100 B.C., when the invasion of the
Dorians and “Sea Peoples” ushered in a period of decline for
Greece. Although the Mycenaeans had certain innovations of their
own, they drew much of their cultural inspiration from the Minoans.
The great Mycenaean cities—Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, and
others—were noted for their heavy, complex fortifications and the
massive, cyclopean quality of their masonry, while Minoan cities
were totally unfortified.
Mycenaean palaces were built around great halls called megaras
rather than around an open space as in Crete. Unlike the Cretans,
the Mycenaeans were bearded and wore armor in battle. Their written
language, preserved on numerous clay tablets from Pylos, Mycenae,
and Knossos, appears to be a form of archaic Greek linguistically
related to ancient Cypriot. The presence of this script, known as
Linear B, at Knossos c.1500 B.C. indicates that Mycenaean Greeks
had invaded and dominated Crete during the Late Minoan period
before the final collapse ca.1400 B.C. The works of Homer have been
radically reevaluated since the archaeological discoveries of
Mycenaean Greece. He is now considered to have given admirable
glimpses of the culture of the late Mycenaean civilization of the
12th century B.C.
During the Mycenaean period, the Greek mainland enjoyed an era
of prosperity centered in such strongholds as Mycenae, Tiryns,
Thebes, and Athens. Local workshops produced utilitarian objects of
pottery and bronze, as well as luxury items, such as carved gems,
jewelry, vases in precious metals, and glass ornaments. Contact
with Minoan Crete played a decisive role in the shaping and
development of Mycenaean culture, especially in the arts.
Wide-ranging commerce circulated Mycenaean goods throughout the
Mediterranean world from Spain and the Levant. The Levant is the
Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical
term that
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denotes a large area in Western Asia. The Levant includes
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Occasionally, Cyprus, Sinai and Iraq are included. The evidence
consists primarily of vases, but their contents (oil, wine, and
other commodities) were probably the chief objects of trade.
Besides being bold traders, the Mycenaeans were fierce warriors and
great engineers who designed and built remarkable bridges,
fortification walls, and beehive-shaped tombs—all employing
Cyclopean masonry—and elaborate drainage and irrigation systems.
Their palatial centers, "Mycenae rich in gold" and "sandy Pylos,"
are immortalized in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Palace scribes
employed a new script, Linear B, to record an early Greek language.
In the Mycenaean palace at Pylos—the best preserved of its
kind—Linear B tablets suggest that the king stood at the head of a
highly organized feudal system.
Habitation
The settlements of Mycenaean civilization are largely known from
archaeological remains. The citadels built during the Mycenaean Age
were constructed using the Cyclopean stonework style, with huge
entrances made with large stones. These citadels were
administrative headquarters for the rulers. At the highest peaks of
the citadels the palaces of the kings were built. The basic
planning of these palaces was similar to Minoan structures, with
different rooms for different functions, styled accordingly. The
buildings were not complex in structure and were built around a
central megaron. The structural design was an earlier element of
Helladic architecture.
The common people lived at the foot of the citadels in the
countryside or nearby regions. These settlements were generally
based at hillocks or plains where land was fertile and water was
abundant. Along with plains, port and coastal sites were of equal
importance from the viewpoint of economy and trade.
Society
The king was also primarily a warlord, and Mycenaean society was
constantly geared for battle and invasion. Their cities were heavy
fortresses with unimaginably thick perimeter walls. While the
Minoans surrounded themselves with delicate art of everyday life,
Mycenaean art was about
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warfare and hunting. Not only did the Mycenaeans stay on the
defensive, they actively went looking for trouble. There are
Hittite records in Asia Minor and the Middle East chronicling
Mycenaean invasions, and the Egyptians list them among groups of
raiders. And, after Minoan civilization had been weakened in a
series of earthquakes, the Mycenaeans conquered Crete and other
Aegean civilizations, establishing themselves over the culture that
so deeply influenced their own. The most famous of the Mycenaean
raids, of course, is the war against Troy, a wealthy commercial
city on the coast of Asia Minor. This city, according to the
archaeological evidence, was totally destroyed by the
Mycenaeans.
During the Mycenaean civilization the class diversification of
rich and poor, higher classes and lower became more established,
with extreme wealth being mostly reserved for the King, his
entourage and other members of the royal circle. Like the Minoans,
the Mycenaeans built grand palaces and fortified citadels, with
administrative and political powers firmly under royal authority.
Mycenaean society was to some extent a warrior culture and their
military was ever prepared for battle, be it in defense of a city
or to protect its wealth and cultural treasures.
The difference of classes in societal structure can, to some
extent, be derived from the goods that were buried in their graves.
It is clear that there was a strong, ruling class and a lower group
of the common people.
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The political hierarchy consisted of the Wanax (or king), at the
top, who was the political and religious leader. Below him were the
local chiefs and controllers who looked after administrative
duties. The safety of the state was the responsibility of the
Lawagetas, the head of the army. Because of this efficient
hierarchy, the Mycenaean Age was economically and culturally
affluent, while weapons, arms and armaments found in graves and
sites confirm their society as military inclined.
Economy
The Mycenaeans followed a bipartite system of working. There
were two groups of people. One who worked in the palace for the
rulers and another who were self-employed. But even those people
who worked in the palace could run their own business if they
wished. The scribes overlooked economic production and
transactions. They also organised the distribution of rations and
allotted work.
Agriculture
The agricultural economy was well organised and had well
distributed storage centres for products and crops. The surplus was
kept in palaces as a form of tax. We know this from records kept in
the form of clay tablets. Important goods produced were cereals,
olive oil and wine. Herbs, spices and honey were also cultivated.
Sheep and goats were grazed for their wool and milk. Goods and
produce were also exported to foreign countries, especially olive
oil.
Industry
The textile industry was one of the most significant industries
during the Mycenaean civilization. From the first stage of grazing
the sheep, stocking the wool in the palaces to the last stage of
the finished product in the form of a cloth, everything was
meticulously organized. The palace of Pylos employed around 550
textile workers while at Knossos there were 900. Wool, fiber and
flax were the most important textiles. Another important industry
was the metal industry where metallurgy was practised in an
advanced form. At Pylos about 400 workers were employed. At
Knossos, tablets suggest, that swords and weapons were manufactured
in quantity. Another interesting industry was the perfume industry.
Oils of rose, sage, etc. were used to make perfumes and scents.
Other skilled craftsmen included goldsmiths, ivory-carvers, stone
carvers, and potters.
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Religion
The pantheon of Mycenaean deities has been reassembled from
inscriptions in Linear B found at Pylos and at post-palatial
Mycenaean Knossos in Crete. Some of the deities are familiar—or at
least their names are recognizably present in the Olympic pantheon
of written myth. Others are not: Ares, for example, is represented
only as "Enyalios" which was retained as an epithet. Apollo may be
recognized at Knossos as PA-JA-WO, ("Paian"). Far more prominent
are A-TA-NA PO-TI-NI-JA ("Athena Potnia", "Athena the Mistress"),
E-RE-U-TI-JA (Eileithyia, later merely invoked during childbirth),
Dionysus, Poseidon, already the "Earth-Shaker", either with his
consort Poseida, who was not retained in the transition to
Classical Greece, or at Pylos with the "Two Goddesses", apparently
Demeter and Persephone. The Erinyes or Furies are already present,
as are the Winds.
There are very few temples or shrines that have been found where
religious practices might have been exercised: So we can assume all
rituals took place on open ground or in peak sanctuaries. Some
shrines that are found have a tripartite structural design. Minoans
had a strong influence on most of the religious practices and
rituals practised by the Mycenaeans.
The Mycenaeans buried their nobles in beehive tombs (tholoi),
large circular burial chambers with a high vaulted roof and
straight entry passage lined with stone. They often buried daggers
or some other form of military equipment with the deceased. The
nobility were frequently buried with gold masks, tiaras, armour,
and jeweled weapons. Mycenaeans were buried in a sitting position,
and some of the nobility underwent mummification, whereas Homer's
Achilles and Patroclus were not buried but cremated and honored
with gold urns, instead of gold masks.
Art
Pottery work such as stirrup jars, pitchers, kraters and
chalices were made during this era. The vessels that were exported
were more intricately designed and had beautiful motifs, often
depicting warriors and animals. Vessels in the shape of tripods,
basins, or lamps were found in large quantities at the
archaeological sites. Terracotta statuettes included
anthropomorphic figurines and sometimes zoomorphic figures, most of
them being male or female. They were either single or
multi-coloured and were often used as statues of worship. Painting
themes included hunting, war scenes, processions, mythology and
legend. Several frescoes have also been found in palaces, while
similar artistic themes were also used in pottery.
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Meanwhile, a variety of materials (wood, leather and metal) were
used in the manufacture of armour, shields, helmets, spears,
javelins, swords, daggers and arrows..
Language
The Linear B language that was written during the Mycenaean
civilization consisted of about 200 syllabic signs and logograms.
This language was an improved form of the Linear A, written during
the Minoan Age. The language was used mostly in Knossos and in
Pylos. The corpus of the Mycenaean Age consists of 6000 tablets.
The Kafkania pebble is the oldest Mycenaean inscription dating back
to the 17th century BC.
End of Civilization
There are two theories about the end of the Mycenaean
civilization. One is population movement, the second internal
strife and conflict. According to the first theory the Dorians
launched a devastating attack, although this hypothesis has been
questioned because the Dorians had always been present in the
Greece of that time. Alternatively, it could have been the “Sea
Peoples” who attacked the Mycenaeans. The Sea Peoples are known to
have attacked various regions in the Levant and Anatolia, so
perhaps this reading of events is more credible. The second theory
suggests an internal societal conflict between the rich and poor,
with the lower classes becoming impoverished towards the end of the
Mycenaean period and rejecting the system under which they were
governed. By ca. 1100 B.C., Mycenaean civilization had come to an
end with the cities of Mycenae and Tiryns completely destroyed. The
end of the “Age of Heroes” heralded the start of the Greek Dark
Ages.
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Mycenaean Civilization ca. 1600 BC -1150 BC Questions for
Study
Directions: Respond to the following questions in your Ancient
Greek History copybook. Properly title, date and organize your
work. 1. What did the Indo-European Greek-speaking invaders bring
with them to southern Europe around 2000 BC? 2. When was the peak
of the Mycenaean commercial empire? 3. What were the great
Mycenaean cities known for? 4. What type of cultural impact did the
Minoans have on the Mycenaeans? 5. What is the Levant? 6. How were
the Mycenaean palaces similar and different from the Minoan
palaces? 7. Being bold traders, fierce warriors, and great
engineers, the Mycenaeans also ruled efficiently. What
characterized the rule of the Greek warlords? 8. Describe the
political hierarchy of a Mycenaean city and its surrounding area.
9. What were some important agricultural goods and how did the
kings maintain an agricultural economy? 10. What were the most
significant industries in the Mycenaean Age? 11. How did Mycenaean
religion relate to the Minoan belief system? What comparisons can
one draw between the Mycenaean religion and popular Classical myth
(the Olympians)? 12. What characterized Mycenaean art? 13. What is
Linear B? 14. What are the two theories pertaining to the collapse
of Mycenaean civilization?