MYCENAEANS
The
Mycenaeans were South-West Indo-Europeans, part of a much greater
expansion and migration of Indo-Europeans from the northern shores
of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. In the twentieth century AD, a
general consensus of scholarly opinion was that Indo-Europeans migrated
into Eastern Europe from the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the period
between 3300-2600 BC. After having left the main westwards migration
of Indo-Europeans around 2500 BC, the ancestors of the Mycenaeans
gradually blended into the indigenous population in the lower Balkans
(largely, it seems, in the form of the Pelasgians) between then
and 2000 BC. However, in recent years that idea has undergone some
refinement.
Clearly
the Mycenaeans were part of an imported steppe culture. But the
close relationship between Mycenaean and proto-Indo-Iranian languages
shows that these two branches divided fairly late, sometime between
2500-2000 BC. Archaeologically, Mycenaean chariots, spearheads,
daggers and other bronze objects show striking similarities to the
Seima-Turbino culture (between about 1900-1600 BC) of the northern
Russian forest-steppe, known for the great mobility of its nomadic
warriors (Seima-Turbino sites have been found as far away as Mongolia).
It
is therefore likely that the Mycenaeans descended from the steppe
into Greece between 1900-1650 BC, seemingly halting only briefly
- if at all - amongst their Indo-European cousins along the Danube
(the lack of dilution of their Indo-Iranian links precludes long-term
integration with older western Indo-European groups with far lower
levels of Indo-Iranian influence). Once in Greece they intermingled
with and dominated the locals to create a new, unique Greek culture.
Naturally, as the new dominant force in the region, their language
would also have dominated. Those locals had gained between 62% and
86% of their DNA from people who had introduced farming from Anatolia
as part of the Neolithic cultures of 'Old Europe'. They would have
adopted this language fairly quickly or, if not them, then their
children or grandchildren would have, which is why modern Greek
expresses its Indo-European origins so clearly. However, the Indo-European
influence on DNA in Greece was more subtle than across much of Europe,
showing that these Mycenaean Indo-Europeans arriving in Greece were
fewer in number than some of their cousins - a warrior elite imposing
its language and customs on a numerically greater native population.
The
new proto-Greek speakers covered a swathe of territory that reached
as far north as Epirus and Thrace. They emerged into the archaeological
record rather suddenly, with the appearance of shaft grave royal
burials around 1650 BC. Whilst the first city states had emerged
by 1600 BC (the same time at which Mycenaean culture also appears
on Cyprus), the Mycenaeans did not form a single nation state. Instead
they banded their independent city states together under one leader
in times of trouble. During their own time they were known primarily
as Achaeans, after the Achaea region of Greece.
Records
on the Mycenaeans are very sparse, usually being limited to myths
and legends. Many of their leaders are semi or wholly legendary.
The latter are backed in lilac, usually for events prior to the
Trojan War which itself is barely historical. Mycenaeans also established
trading outposts on the Anatolian coast, and were possibly the Ahhiyawa
mentioned in Hittite texts from the mid-fifteenth century onwards.
Their civilisation seems to have flourished immediately following
the fall of Minoan Crete, which seems to have dominated them up
to that point. DNA research has shown that the Minoans of Crete
were generally of the same origins as the Mycenaeans - Neolithic
natives overlaid with an Indo-European cultural identity, and both
share their DNA with today's Greeks.
(Information
by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information
from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from
the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from
The Iliad, Homer (Translated by E V Rieu, Penguin Books, 1963),
from Europe Before History, Kristian Kristiansen, from A Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith (Ed),
from An Historical Geography of Europe, Norman J G Pounds (Abridged
Version), from History of Humanity - Scientific and Cultural Development:
From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century BC (Vol II), Ahmad
Hasan Dani, Jean-Pierre Mohen, J L Lorenzo, & V M Masson (Unesco
1996), and from External Links: Haplogroup R1a (Eupedia Genetics),
and DNA clue to origins of early Greek civilization (BBC News),
and Grave of the Griffin Warrior, and The Greeks really do have
near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals (Science).)
c.3000
- 2800 BC :
The city of Pavlopetri is founded on the south-eastern coastal tip
of the Peloponnese, in southern Laconia. Pavlopetri's inhabitants
later copy Cretan and mainland styles, making exact ceramic copies
of high status Cretan bronze jugs, in effect making cheap copies
of expensive exotic goods in much the same way that desirable designer
brands are copied today.
But
the early city is neither a Minoan colony or a Mycenaean settlement
- it predates both peoples in the area (and certainly the Mycenaeans),
making it more likely to be a Pelasgian settlement that is later
absorbed by the Mycenaeans and is subject to heavy Minoan influence
or control in the second millennium BC. The city flourishes, reaching
a peak around 2000 BC.
![Pavlopetri](Pavlopetri_City01_full.jpg)
Modern
computer graphics show a reconstructed Pavlopetri based on surviving
ruins and remnants of the street plan, all of which still exist
about three metres under the sea
c.2600 BC :
This is a tentative dating for the earliest members of Greek mythology
where it relates to kings of the Mycenaeans. Pandion II is the mythical
ruler of Athens and father to Lycus of Lycia and Aegeus of Athens.
Given the links between Aegeus and Medea, Pandion (if he exists
at all) is more likely to be a thirteenth century BC king who is
mistaken for an earlier king or whose dating is incorrect. The Mycenaeans
of this time are still steppe nomads.
c.2000
BC :
Now at its height, the city of Pavlopetri contains detached and
semi-detached two-storey houses with gardens, clothes drying in
the courtyards, walls, and well-made streets. There are larger,
apparently public buildings and evidence of a complex water management
system involving channels and guttering. The city is divided into
pleasant courtyards and open areas where people cultivate gardens,
ground grain, dry clothes, and probably even chat with their neighbours.
Dotted between the buildings and sometimes built into the walls
themselves are stone-lined graves. These contrast with an organised
cemetery just outside the city.
This
is not a village of Neolithic farmers but a stratified society in
which people have professions - city leaders, officials, scribes,
merchants, traders, craftsmen (potters, bronze workers, artists),
soldiers, sailors, farmers, shepherds and also probably slaves -
all echoing the early hierarchical and organised aspects of Bronze
Age Greece. Pavlopetri is now heavily influenced by the regionally-dominant
Minoan culture.
c.1900
- 1650 BC :
Now having left the steppe and arriving on the west bank of the
River Prut (generally speaking, the modern border between Romania
and Moldova), the proto-Mycenaeans likely meet other, closely related
Indo-European groups of the south-west branch between there and
the eastern side of the Carpathian Mountains. Similar groups would
already be lining the Danube through Romania and into Hungary. They
may even have begun to fan out into what is now northern Serbia
and Croatia, although a belt of much more difficult terrain beyond
that, in line with the Balkans Mountains which cut horizontally
through Bulgaria, would inhibit any further southwards drift for
some time.
![Map of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Greece 1900-1650 BC](Map_EasternEurope1900BC_full.jpg)
The
proto-Mycenaeans seem to have been amongst the last of the western
Indo-European centum-speakers to take to the road, following
a path that had been trodden by related tribes for the past thousand
years
It is likely that, rather than settle with related Indo-European
groups along the Danube or in Romania, the Mycenaeans keep moving,
descending into what is now Greece (the modern E4 walking route
along the western edge of Romania and through Bulgaria offers one
potential path of least resistance through the mountains). There
they intermingle with and dominate the Neolithic locals of the former
farming cultures of 'Old Europe' to create a new, unique Greek culture.
Naturally, as the new dominant force in the region, their language
also dominates.
c.1600 BC :
Mycenaean culture appears on Cyprus, gradually displacing Minoan
culture. Mycenaean shaft graves dated to this early period clearly
demonstrate their dominance on the Greek mainland. At the same time,
the people of the Central European Unetice culture establish commercial
relations with the Mycenaeans. A transcontinental amber trade has
already begun at about the same time as the Baltic Bronze Age, and
amber has already been in some demand by the Uneticians themselves.
Now, though, the amber trade reaches an amazing volume. The Uneticians
import their amber from the Balts and from the Germanic peoples
in Jutland, and it is estimated that at least eighty per cent of
the graves of classical Unetice contain amber beads.
c.1500
BC :
The
'Griffin Warrior' dies in this period and is buried alone near the
site of the later 'Palace of Nestor' at Pylos. His burial is accompanied
by one of the most magnificent displays of wealth ever to be discovered
in Greece by twenty-first century AD archaeologists. The character
of the objects that follow him to the afterlife - no ceramics but
plenty of bronze, silver, and gold - prove that this part of Greece,
like Mycenae itself, is being indelibly shaped by close contact
with the Minoans. This warrior, clearly a ruler in the Pylos region,
had lived on the acropolis of Englianos at a time at which mansions
are first being built with walls of cut-stone blocks, in the so-called
Minoan ashlar style.
![The Griffin Warrior burial site](Pylos_GriffinWarrior01_full.jpg)
Shown
here are some of the finds discovered in the lowest levels of the
Griffin Warrior's tomb, amongst which are a blade, 'horns', and
part of the hilt of a Minoan-type sword, lying on top of a bronze
short sword with a similar gold handle
c.1470 BC :
During this period, Greece is still under the domination of the
Minoans, but the volcano at the heart of the island of Thera erupts
around this time, catastrophically ending Minoan dominance of the
Mycenaeans. The various Mycenaean city states begin to dominate
not only Greece but the islands of the Aegean and Crete itself.
Iolkos and Mycenae both rise to prominence at this time, as do the
semi-mythical early Thracians.
c.1450
BC :
The
Bronze Age kingdom of Ahhiyawa first becomes prominent on the Aegean
coast of Anatolia, being mentioned in Hittite texts, but it remains
of minor importance. Its main base or capital is Milawata (Millawanda,
Classical Miletus) and its people are usually believed to be Mycenaeans.
King
Minyas has several claims in regard to his parents, most of them
related to gods. The only two humans to be involved are Orchomenus
and his wife, Hermippe. In Greek myth, Minyas founds the city of
Orchomenus in Boeotia after leading his followers from coastal Thessaly.
He is also the father of several children, one of which - another
Orchomenus - succeeds him in the city bearing his name while another,
Cyparissus, founds Anticyra.
Minyas
: Son of Orchomenus. Founder of Orchomenus in Boeotia.
Orchomenus
: Son.
c.1400
BC :
Announced in 2017 is the discovery of one of the largest ancient
Greek tombs ever discovered. A team of archaeologists working near
the Mycenaean city of Orchomenus in Boeotia (the 'Minyan Orchomenus')
finds the tomb, containing the body of one man and a trove of artefacts.
The burial tomb for the unknown Mycenaean measures a massive 12.8
square metres in size. The collection of grave goods and the tomb's
size clearly mark out the occupant as a leading figure in Mycenaean
society, and very likely a king - perhaps Orchomenus himself.
![Orchomenus archaeological site](Mycenae_Orchomenus01_full.jpg)
The
team work on the track which leads to the tomb of the unknown, but
very wealthy and well-honoured Mycenaean in this discovery of one
of the richest graves of its type
13th century BC :
Although Mycenaean city states reach the height of their power by
the end of the fourteenth century BC, Greek legends and myths provide
only enough names to list possible kings as far back as about the
early thirteenth century BC. These are the immediate ancestors of
the kings who become involved in the Trojan War, the one
key event in Mycenaean history which solidifies their existence
to later generations as anything more than a series of archaeological
digs (despite the war being remembered only in oral tradition until
Homer writes it down some four hundred or more years later). The
city states that can confidently be claimed as existing with their
own kingship (historical or legendary) include Achaean Crete, Athens,
Ephyra, Iolkos, Laconia, Mycenae, and Phthia.
Mycenae
(Mycenaeans) :
The site of Mycenae was occupied from about 3500 BC by indigenous
peoples - Neolithic farmer cultures of 'Old Europe' - but archaeological
evidence was mostly destroyed by later construction. The Indo-European
Mycenaeans arrived in the region from the Balkans between about
1900-1650 BC and had settled the site by around 1600 BC. They existed
by farming the area - probably employing the now-subjugated Neolithic
natives to do this - and by keeping cattle, a very well-established
habit for most formerly-steppe-living Indo-Europeans. The early
stages of settlement also show that there was interaction with Minoan
Crete, which is believed to have dominated the early Mycenaeans,
at least in the Peloponnese, until the fifteenth century BC.
The citadel of this Mycenaean city state was near the city state
of Argos, in the Peloponnese, situated on the lower slopes of the
Euboea Mountain, on the road leading from the Argolic Gulf to the
north (leading towards Ephyra and Athens). The citadel was rebuilt
about 1350 BC, using limestone blocks so massive that later ages
thought it to be the work of the cyclopes. These outer walls
contained later rebuilds of the royal palace. The name of this city
state - Mycenae - was adopted by archaeologists to describe the
whole of this Late Bronze Age Greek civilisation.
Greek mythology paints the city's legendary founder, Perseus, as
a son of Zeus, a common tactic for half-remembered heroic ancestor
figures whose family details had not been preserved. The historical
version of this Perseus does seem to have been an important early
king of Mycenae, so it would certainly make him a figure worth remembering
in oral history. The city state was at the height of its power by
1350-1300 BC, close to the time at which Perseus could have ruled
given the generations between him and Agamemnon. That fails entirely
to agree with the date of the city's founding as a Mycenaean colony,
but it does put him in prime place to have been behind the major
rebuild of about 1350 BC.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward
Dawson, from History of Humanity - Scientific and Cultural Development:
From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century BC (Vol II),
Ahmad Hasan Dani, Jean-Pierre Mohen, J L Lorenzo, & V M Masson
(Unesco 1996), from The Iliad, Homer (Translated by E V Rieu,
Penguin Books, 1963), from Europe Before History, Kristian
Kristiansen, from A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology, William Smith (Ed), from An Historical Geography
of Europe, Norman J G Pounds (Abridged Version), from The
Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian
Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from The
Ancient History, Vol 2, Charles Rollin (Ninth Edition, M Ogle,
1800), and from External Links: DNA clue to origins of early
Greek civilization (BBC News), and The Greeks really do have near-mythical
origins, ancient DNA reveals (Science).)
fl
c.1350 BC? :
Perseus
: Son of Danaë, dau of King Acrisius of Argos. City 'founder'.
Perseus is considered by later Greeks to be an historical figure.
He marries Andromeda, daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia
of Ethiopia (Ethiopia being a much later addition to the legends),
after freeing her from the rock to which she is chained in order
to appease a sea serpent named Cetus which is terrorising the people
at the bidding of Poseidon. Then he fortifies Mycenae (according
to Apollodorus, which would seem to link Perseus to the massive
rebuilding work of about 1350 BC - and the timescale based on the
number of rulers between him and Agamemnon does support this).
![Mycenae reconstruction](Mycenae_Citadel01_full.jpg)
This
artist's reconstruction of the citadel at Mycenae shows it at the
height of its power, when Mycenaean Greeks ruled or terrorised much
of the eastern Mediterranean Sea
Electryon
: Son. Also king of Tiryns. Killed by Amphitron.
Amphitron
/ Amphitryon : Son-in-law. Ousted.
Amphitron accidentally kills his father-in-law, Electryon, and appears
briefly to hold power in Mycenae before he is driven out by one
of Electryon's brothers, Sthenelos. He flees to Thebes, where he
is cleansed of his guilt for the accident.
fl
c.1300 BC? :
Sthenelos
: Brother of Electryon. Also king of Tiryns.
Eurystheas
/ Eurystheus : Son. Also king of Tiryns.
Atreus and Aegisthus are the sons of Pelops, king of Pisa, and grandsons
of Tantalus of Sipylus (Maeonia in Anatolia, which would support
the idea of Mycenaean colonists already being there). Eurystheas
leaves them both in charge of Mycenae while he proceeds to attack
Athens. He is defeated resoundingly and killed, along with his own
sons. With no direct descendant to occupy the throne, Atreus and
Thyestes fight each other for the kingdom. Atreus wins and becomes
king.
Archaeologically,
the citadel they occupy is known as Phase IIa, in the Late Helladic
II phase of the Late Bronze Age. It is with Atreus that the rulers
of Myceneae begin to emerge from legend into some semblance of history
as preserved by The Iliad.
Atreus
: Son. Founder of the House of Atreus. Murdered by Aegisthus.
Aegisthus : Nephew. Usurper. Driven out but returns c.1183
BC.
Thyestes / Thyestis : Father, and brother of Pelops. Joint
ruler.
The brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus (or grandsons
via Pleisthenes, according to alternative traditions), shelter with
Tyndareus of Laconia following the usurpation of the Mycenaean throne.
Together the brothers return to drive out Aegisthus and Thyestes,
and Agamemnon increases the kingdom's territory by conquest to become
the most powerful Mycenaean ruler.
c.1200
- 1177 BC :
Agamemnon : Killed Tantalus of Maeonia and married his
widow.
c.1200
BC :
Menelaus
: Inherited the throne of Sparta. Took part in the Trojan
War.
c.1193 - 1183 BC :
Agamemnon calls to arms the forces of his allied Achaean kingdoms,
including Athens, Crete, Ephyra, Laconia, Phthia, Pylos, Tiryns,
and Thebes. Before he can leave for the Trojan War, the seer
Calchas (later to be found in Pamphylia) prophesises that in order
to gain a favourable wind, the king must sacrifice his daughter,
Iphigeneia, to the gods. Afterwards, the force sails off to various
adventures on its way to Troy, leaving Agamemnon's strong-willed
wife, Clytemnestra, in charge.
![Mycenae's citadel in ruins](Mycenae_Citadel02_full.jpg)
Mycenae
was already in ruins by the start of the first millennium AD, having
been abandoned during the fall of Mycenaean Greece
Clytemnestra begins an affair with Aegisthus, the only surviving
son of Thyestes and the former usurper king of Mycenae itself. When
Agamemnon returns (with his captive consort, Cassandra) the pair
are murdered in the bath by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, partially
in revenge for the death of Iphigeneia.
c.1193 - ? BC :
Clytemnestra : Wife. Daughter of Tyndareus of Laconia.
c.1183
- ? BC :
Aegisthus
: Cousin of Agamemnon and third husband of Clytemnestra.
Orestes : Killed his mother and fled the kingdom for a
time.
Tisamenus / Tissamenus / Tisamenos : Son. Driven out by
the Heraclidae.
1200
- 1140 BC
:
Mycenaean
power is gradually eroded by the Dorians who are migrating in from
the Balkans, with domination coming by 1140 BC. The surviving Ionic-speaking
Mycenaeans gather and flourish in Athens or perhaps in conquered
Levantine territories which probably include Phillistia, or in new
colonies founded well away from the Dorians such as Epirus in north-western
Greece or Pamphylia in Anatolia. All the Mycenaean palaces and fortified
sites are destroyed and a major proportion of other sites are abandoned.
The population of the Peloponnese appears to decline by about seventy-five
per cent. Mycenae itself remains occupied, but is burned twice in
succession and survives in a much-reduced state and size, never
again to hold the reins of power.
Once the Hittites had been destroyed around 1200 BC, and the Mycenaeans
had themselves (probably) smashed Troy, the colonisation of the
western coast of Anatolia could begin (the possibility that the
earlier Ahhiyawa may also be a Mycenaean colony notwithstanding).
This would seem to be the most likely - and popular -avenue of Mycenaean
escape from the mainland, where they form or take over states or
regions such as Caria, Lycia and Maeonia, and perhaps Pamphylia,
between about 1100 to 900 BC. Those states themselves usually survive
until they are conquered by the later great empires.
![Map of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Greece 1200 BC](Map_EasternEurope1200BC_full.jpg)
Climate-induced
drought in the thirteenth century BC created great instability in
the entire eastern Mediterranean region, resulting in mass migration
in the Balkans, as well as the fall of city states and kingdoms
further east
However, in common with much of the Near East, this general instability
which has been driven by a major regional drought causes a dark
age to fall throughout the remainder of Greece, until about 750
BC, when early Classical Greece begins to emerge. Overseas trade
ceases in the Mediterranean, people are no longer buried with lavish
grave goods, and the fortress of Minyan Orchomenus is one of those
to be broken by the Dorians, while others are substantially reduced
in size or abandoned altogether. The only state to buck the trend
is that of Alashiya, which prospers.
In Greece, Classical states such as Athens, Corinth, Epirus, Macedonia,
Phthia, Sparta, and Thrace slowly emerge (or re-emerge) during the
ninth to seventh centuries. Many of them do so with a Dorian ruling
elite in place over the remaining Mycenaean nobility and the Neolithic
general populace.
Ogyges
: Last
of the Atreidae. Possibly did not rule.
c.1150
BC :
Mycenae is attacked yet again (for at least the third time) and
is razed. Archaeology shows that subsequent habitation of the site
is on a reduced basis. Coincidentally perhaps, this attack can be
aligned with the ousting of the Atreidae from Mycenae by their implacable
enemies, the Heraclidae of Maeonia in Anatolia.
c.1000
BC :
The city of Pavlopetri in southern Laconia is submerged beneath
about three metres of water, probably by an earthquake. The city's
disappearance appears to occur in three stages, with sections of
it being abandoned to the water but buildings on higher ground remaining
occupied, so perhaps three successive earthquakes in one of the
most geologically active regions of Europe seals the city's fate.
Even today, Pavlopetri appears as a series of large areas of stones
indicating building complexes, among which a network of walls can
be traced. Archaeologists recover the shards of everyday items such
as cooking pots, crockery, jugs, storage vessels, and grinding stones
as well as finer drinking vessels probably kept to impress, being
brought out when higher status guests would pay a visit or being
used to make offerings to the gods.
![Ruins of Pavlopetri](Pavlopetri_City02_full.jpg)
This
actual footage of the ruins of Pavlopetri on the sea bed has been
enhanced with computer-generated images to show the original building
in context with the present site
fl c.950s BC :
Aristodemus : King of Sparta. Captured Mycenae.
c.940s BC :
Aristodemus is instrumental in launching the final attack on Mycenae,
and would seem to rule it for a time although legend has him being
killed before his forces arrive there. Additionally, the two ruling
houses of Laconia are created by Aristodemus. A candidate from each
house will share the throne. The idea is that if one of the warlike
kings die in battle, the state will not be left leaderless, instead
being able to respond immediately to the threat. Classical Sparta
is born.
fl
c.950s BC :
Theras
: Regent
for Aristodemus in Mycenae and his brother-in-law.
Mycenae
now passes out of the historical/legendary record, such is its diminished
importance. How long it remains a satellite stronghold of Sparta
is unknown. In fact, it barely re-emerges into history at all, and
then only as the provider of a unit of troops for Leonidas of Sparta
in 480 BC.
480
BC
:
Leonidas
of Sparta achieves everlasting fame as a result of the events in
the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persians in 480 BC. The 300
Spartans of Leonidas' personal guard leads a force totalling no
more than 7,000 Greeks which includes Athenians, Corinthians, Helots,
Mycenaeans (thereby proving the city's continued existence as a
stronghold of now-lesser importance), Thebans, and Thespians. (These
events are depicted somewhat colourfully - but no less impressively
for that - in the 2007 film, 300.)
![Battle of Thermopylae](Sparta_Thermopylae01_full.jpg)
The
Spartan stand at Thermopylae in 480 BC, along with some Greek allies,
stopped the Persian advance in its tracks and provided a rallying
call for the rest of the free Greek cities to oppose the Persians
468
BC
:
Troops
from nearby Argos capture the Mycenaean citadel. Its inhabitants
are expelled and the remaining fortifications are rendered useless.
The citadel is later reoccupied, but only briefly. A theatre is
built during the Hellenistic period, but by the time Rome conquers
Greece in 146 BC, Mycenae has been abandoned for the final time
and is already in ruins.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsEurope/GreeceMycenae.htm