History

Our conception of the Mycenaean economy has been considerably altered in recent times. The palatial administration has gone from being conceived of as a centralized, almost totalitarian bureaucracy that collected and subsequently redistributed goods to the society at large, to one that is conceived of as predominantly interested in mobilizing resources almost solely for the purpose of producing its own elite goods. Alternative foci of economic power have been recognized, the damos and the religious sector. In this work the author thoroughly explores the clues to the latter's economic activities as they appear in the Linear B tablets and the archaeological record in order to better understand the economic role of the religious sector in Mycenaean society. In addition, the author bears in mind that economic power can bring social and political power. Indeed, they are very often intertwined; therefore she also examines, where possible, the indications that the religious sector wielded some influence within their communities and with respect to the palatial authority. The early chapters, before delving into the archaeological and Linear B evidence concerning the economic activities of the religious sector, explore exactly what the author means when referring to a site as a workshop or a sanctuary, and the methods used in identifying such places. Chapter 3 is a discussion of the workshop-shrine connection as it is manifested in archaeological contexts outside of Mycenaean Greece. Chapter 4 turns to one of the bodies of evidence that has proved most useful for this study: the Pylos land tenure tablets which deal with the landholdings of Pa-ki-ja-ne. Chapter 5 focuses on the religious sector's involvement in other economic activities, including shepherding, textile production, bronze working, perfume production, and chariot and armor production. Chapter 6 investigates the Mycenaean archaeological material that appears to support the evidence found in the tablets for the involvement of the religious sector in industrial production.

The period between the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization around 1200 BC and the dawning of the classical era four and half centuries later is widely known as the Dark Age of Greece, not least in the eponymous history by A. M. Snodgrass published by EUP in 1971, and reissued by the Press in 2000.In January 2003 distinguished scholars from all over the world gathered in Edinburgh to re-examine old and new evidence on the period. The subjects of their papers were chosen in advance by the editors so that taken together they would cover the field. This book, based on thirty-three of the presentations, will constitute the most fundamental reinterpretation of the period for 30 years. The authors take issue with the idea of a Greek Dark Age and everything it implies for the understanding of Greek history, culture and society. They argue that the period is characterised as much by continuity as disruption and that the evidence from every source shows a progression from Mycenaean kingship to the conception of aristocratic nobility in the Archaic period. The volume is divided into six parts dealing with political and social structures; questions of continuity and transformation; international and inter-regional relations; religion and hero cult; Homeric epics and heroic poetry; and the archaeology of the Greek regions. Copiously illustrated and with a collated bibliography, itself a valuable resource, this book is likely to be the essential and basic source of reference on the later phases of the Mycenaean and the Early Greek Iron Ages for many years.

Ever since Sir Arthur Evans first excavated at the site of the Palace at Knossos in the early twentieth century, scholars and visitors have been drawn to the architecture of Bronze Age Crete. Much of the attraction comes from the geographical and historical uniqueness of the island. Equidistant from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Minoan Crete is on the shifting conceptual border between East and West, and chronologically suspended between history and prehistory. In this culturally dynamic context, architecture provided more than physical shelter; it embodied meaning. Architecture was a medium through which Minoans constructed their notions of social, ethnic, and historical identity: the buildings tell us about how the Minoans saw themselves, and how they wanted to be seen by others. Architecture of Minoan Crete is the first comprehensive study of the entire range of Minoan architecture--including houses, palaces, tombs, and cities--from 7000 BC to 1100 BC. John C. McEnroe synthesizes the vast literature on Minoan Crete, with particular emphasis on the important discoveries of the past twenty years, to provide an up-to-date account of Minoan architecture. His accessible writing style, skillful architectural drawings of houses and palaces, site maps, and color photographs make this book inviting for general readers and visitors to Crete, as well as scholars.

The Greek Bronze Age, roughly 3000 to 1000 BCE, witnessed the flourishing of the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations, the earliest expansion of trade in the Aegean and wider Mediterranean Sea, the development of artistic techniques in a variety of media, and the evolution of early Greek religious practices and mythology. The period also witnessed a violent conflict in Asia Minor between warring peoples in the region, a conflict commonly believed to be the historical basis for Homer's Trojan War. The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean provides a detailed survey of these fascinating aspects of the period, and many others, in sixty-six newly commissioned articles. Divided into four sections, the handbook begins with Background and Definitions, which contains articles establishing the discipline in its historical, geographical, and chronological settings and in its relation to other disciplines. The second section, Chronology and Geography, contains articles examining the Bronze Age Aegean by chronological period (Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age). Each of the periods are further subdivided geographically, so that individual articles are concerned with Mainland Greece during the Early Bronze Age, Crete during the Early Bronze Age, the Cycladic Islands during the Early Bronze Age, and the same for the Middle Bronze Age, followed by the Late Bronze Age. The third section, Thematic and Specific Topics, includes articles examining thematic topics that cannot be done justice in a strictly chronological/geographical treatment, including religion, state and society, trade, warfare, pottery, writing, and burial customs, as well as specific events, such as the eruption of Santorini and the Trojan War. The fourth section, Specific Sites and Areas, contains articles examining the most important regions and sites in the Bronze Age Aegean, including Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Knossos, Kommos, Rhodes, the northern Aegean, and the Uluburun shipwreck, as well as adjacent areas such as the Levant, Egypt, and the western Mediterranean. Containing new work by an international team of experts, The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean represents the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date single-volume survey of the field. It will be indispensable for scholars and advanced students alike.

This textbook offers an up-to-date academic synthesis of the Aegean islands from the earliest Palaeolithic period through to the demise of the Mycenaean civilization in the Late Bronze III period. The book integrates new findings and theoretical approaches whilst, at the same time, allowing readers to contextualize their understanding through engagement with bigger overarching issues and themes, often drawing explicitly on key theoretical concepts and debates. Structured according to chronological periods and with two dedicated chapters on Akrotiri and the debate around the volcanic eruption of Thera, this book is an essential companion for all those interested in the prehistory of the Cyclades and other Aegean islands.

A comprehensive volume with papers discussing various aspects of the intercultural contact between West Anatolia and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The conference proceedings focus on the various Anatolian and Aegean cross-cultural "interfaces," the archaeological testimonies of the "indigenous" population, the impact of the Hittite, Mycenaean and Ionian migration movements on the pre-existing population, as well as the inter-cultural and cross-cultural mingling of the Aegean and Anatolia.

This volume presents the most up-to-date synthesis of the Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery sequence of Knossos, one of the most significant archaeological sites in Mediterranean and European prehistory. The Knossos pottery sequence has formed the backbone of Aegean prehistoric chronology for over a century, and this is the first publication since Sir Arthur Evans's Palace of Minos that provides - within one cover - a complete overview of the main ceramic developments, which have occurred at this key site during more than five millennia (ca. 6500-1100 BC). The volume is written by a small international team of archaeologists with extensive and first-hand knowledge of Knossian ceramics, whose work, over the years, has thoroughly questioned and modified previous dating of important ceramic assemblages and traditional definitions of ceramic phases. Their chapters present not only new updates of their previous works, but also a thorough re-examination of the stratigraphic and stylistic evidence currently available, and include previously unpublished material. The volume is provided with over one hundred black-and-white illustrations, and is accompanied by a CD with colour images of selected Knossian ceramics. It will be an indispensable work of reference for archaeologists working in the prehistoric Aegean as well as other Mediterranean and European regions.

This is a unique two volume box set revealing the history of Crete's luminous Minoan civilization. Volume one is a catalogue of the over 280 objects that were included in the exhibition. It features detailed descriptions as well as excellent color photographs of the wide ranges of rare objects included in the exhibition. While each object is dealt with separately the volume nonetheless covers numerous aspects of the Minoan culture such as Religion and Ritual, Scripts and Weights, Pots and Potters, Jewels for Life and Death, Masterpieces in Stone, Warriors and Weaponry. Volume two completes the set by offering 19 essays by renowned scholars of Minoan archaeology. They delve into detailed information on the Minoan civilization including up to date information on the palaces, their architecture and administration, funerary evidence and burial practices, the importance of religion in the Minoan society, the significance of the use of writing and many more principal facets of the civilization. More than just an exhibition catalogue, this two-volume set serves as a textbook for anyone who wants to better understand one of the greatest civilizations of the world. Contributors include, in addition to the editors, Peter Warren, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Bristol University; Clairy Palyvou, Professor, Department of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Christos Boulotis, Archaeologist, Academy of Athens, Research Centre for Antiquity, Athens; Philip P. Betancourt, Professor, Department of Art History, Temple University, Philadelphia; Lefteris Platon, Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Athens; Irini Papageorgiou, Archaeologist, Benaki Museum, Athens; Jean-Claude Poursat, Professor Emeritus, University of Clermont II; Photini J. P. McGeorge, Anthropologist-Archaeologist, University of Crete, Rethymnon; Metaxia Tsipopoulou, Director of the National Archive of Monuments, Athens; Nanno Marinatos, Professor of Classics, University of Illinois at Chicago; Athanasia Kanta, Archaeologist, Archaeological Institute of Cretological Studies, Herakleion, Crete; Andonis Vasilakis, Archaeologist, 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Herakleion, Crete.

During the last century's archaeological investigations of the advanced Bronze Age culture maintained by the so-called Minoans on the island of Crete, a number of tombs dated to the Late Minoan period and containing weapons have been discovered in the surroundings of the site of Knossos. The tombs are not confined to a certain area or cemetery, but are rather dispersed around the Palace and town. Although they are characterised by their weapons, other artefacts - such as bronze vessels and certain pottery types - also distinguish these tombs. The tombs are of three types: chamber tombs with long dromoi, shaft graves and pit-caves. Various labels have been designated for them: tombs with weapons, warrior tombs, warrior graves and weapon-tombs. The warrior graves are often discussed in relation to the question of when the Mycenaeans arrived in Crete. Most scholars agree that a Mycenaean presence or power in Crete existed in the Late Bronze Age, but when their arrival would have taken place has not yet enjoyed consensus. Previous scholarship raises a number of questions that are dealt with in this work in relation to the funerary landscape at Knossos, including: to what degree do the burial customs in fact change in LM II, and what about the mainland influences? If the archaeological material points in that direction, how are we to understand such a transformation of the mortuary practices? Would this indicate an ethnic change? If, on the other hand, the material points towards a gradual process beginning already in LM I or earlier, with elements of mainland traits, what would that indicate? The tombs, shaft graves and pit-caves of Knossos are re-examined in an attempt to put answers to these intriguing questions.

Analysis of the written and archaeological evidence for the existence of a kingdom centered in Mycenae in the late bronze Age. Detail analysis of the documentary and archaeological evidence from Greece, Anatolia, Egypt, and the Near East.

The magnificent works of ancient Crete, Mycenae, and the Cycladic Islands are awe-inspiring in their richness and variety. Frescoes, jewelry, sculpture, gold funeral masks, ivories, and countless other beautiful artifacts--all the significant works of art and architecture that are our legacy from those great civilizations in the third and second millennia BC are described and illustrated in Dr. Higgins's distinguished survey. This fully revised and updated edition includes greater coverage of the breathtaking frescoes from Akrotiri on the island of Thera. Other recent findings are also illustrated and described in detail, such as the unique ivory figure from Palaikastro, objects from the palace of Mallia, and the intriguing discovery of Minoan frescoes in Egypt.

This study outlines the state of our present knowledge concerning the Mycenaean settlements in Messenia and examines the evidence for reconstructing the political geography of the "Kingdom" of Pylos. The progress of archaeological exploration in Messenia is reviewed in relation to the Mycenaean (Late Helladic [LH]) period. The data from excavations and surveys concerning the Mycenaean settlements in Messenia are summarized. The author attempts to determine the extent of the "Kingdom" and to identify the locations of its main districts by correlating the archaeological data from Mycenaean sites with the the inscriptions in Linear B found in the "Palace of Nestor" at Ano Englianos.