1. Mycenaean Greece and Cross-Cultural Interactions “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon.” ~Heinrich Schliemann

2. Dating Scheme after J.-B. Bury (following Evans)

3. Thera and Crete

4. Thera (Santorini)-Satellite Image

5. Minoans and Mycenaeans  Thera explosion ca. 1600 BCE  Trading empora: Minoan pottery replaced by Mycenaean by ca. 1450 BCE  Struggle for Mediterranean hegemony between Minoans and Mycenaeans, ca. 1600-1400 BCE  Mycenaean takeover of Crete ca. 1450 BCE  Final destruction of Knossos ca. 1380 BCE (Linear B)

6. Flotilla Mural from Thera

7. Excursus: Heinrich Schliemann  Excavator of Mycenaean civilization  Autodidact; early fascination with Homeric poems  “Outsider” to academic establishment W. Doerpfeld and credibility  Entrepreneur and Treasure Hunter  Modern Assessments

8. Heinrich Schliemann

9. Mycenaean Argolid

10. Mycenaean Death Mask

11. Mycenaean Trading Contacts from Minoan Crete  Height of Mycenaean Greece: ca. 1400-1200 BCE (LH II- IIIB)  Cultural Influences (palace architecture, frescoes, seal stones, fine gold work)  Trading Emporia in the Near East and West (Taranto)

12. General Characteristics  Centralized Administration (king or wanax); Palace as Redistributive Economy  Highly Organized Bureaucracy (Linear B Palace Inventories)  Complex Social Structure Royal Family (wanax: military, legislative, judicial, religious functions) Nobility (priests and scribes) Merchants (?), Agricultural Workers, and Craftsmen Slaves  Mycenae: Shaft Graves (circles A and B): ca. 1650-1550 BCE ; tholos (“beehive”) tombs: ca. 1500 BCE ; “Treasury of Atreus”: ca. 1300 BCE

13. Royal Grave Circle A circa 1600 BCE

15. Entrance to “Treasury of Atreus”

16. Cross-Section of Tholos

17. Interior of “Treasury of Atreus” Corbeled Arch (ca. 1300-1250 BCE)

18. Mycenaeans and Minoans  Significant Differences Mycenaean Palaces are closed; strongly fortified Mycenaean art: war motifs predominate

19. “Warrior Vase” circa 1200 BCE

20. Vapheio Cup (ca. 1400-1300 BCE)

21. Citadel of Mycenae

22. Aerial View of Citadel at Mycenae

23. Lioness Gate at Mycenae

25. Writing: Linear B Script  Monopoly of the Elites Linear B script virtually unchanged  destruction at Knossos, ca. 1380 BCE (following Biers)  destruction at Pylos, ca. 1250 BCE

26. Linear B Tablets

27. End of Mycenaean Civilization and Trojan War  Back to Lecture One  Thirteenth and twelfth-century Mediterranean BCE context: Turmoil in the Mediterranean basin and the Near East (“Sea Peoples”). ca. 1200 BCE--Egypt weakened; Hittite empire collapses; destruction at Mycenaean centers (Tiryns, Mycenae, Pylos, Thebes; ca. 1150 BCE: final destruction at Mycenae)  Greece--lines of trade disrupted (e.g. contact with Cyprus, a source of copper, is broken) Fortifications strengthened at Mycenae; secret passageway to underground cistern Secret passageways to water sources at Athens and Tiryns Isthmian Wall Archaeological Evidence of Troy VII A--a last gasp Mycenaean expedition?

28. Collapse of Mycenaean Civilization

29. Explanations: Intruder, Environmental, Class Conflict  Tradition: return of Heracleidae and the Dorian invasion (Sparta)  Problem: tradition dates invasion to ca. 1100 BCE; archaeological evidence indicates a date closer to 1200 BCE  Identifying the Dorians? Invaders or Subject Population within Mycenaean society?  Alternatives: climatic--famine leads to internal social revolutions; inter-city wars  Trojan War; Nostoi; Egyptian records and Achaeans (Sea Peoples)