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History, Archaeology and Legend in the Bronze Age. Map of major Mycenaean and Minoan deposits.

The Problem: How to construct the history of a period whose rich tradition was recorded only centuries after the events described? How much of what we understand to be uniquely "classical" (e.g., rationalism, the polis, etc.) can be traced back to the Bronze Age? That is: is the Bronze Age relevant for understanding the Classical Age? The Greeks themselves thought it was; but surviving evidence (legend and archaeology) does not allow a definitive answer. Indeed it was not even certain that the bronze age inhabitants of Greece actually spoke Greek until Linear B, the language / script of the Late Bronze Age, was decyphered (in the early 1950s)

1. What do we learn from archaeology? To what extent can we write history of a period based on the material culture preserved in the archaeological record?
   1. Chronology --regular pattern of migration, sometimes in smaller groups, sometimes in larger!! Characteristic feature is 'palace culture' = not so much a city, but center of administration, defense (examples below)
      1. Settled life begins in about 6000 B.C., with Neolithic revolution (agriculture, instead of hunting-gathering); semi-nomadic??.
      2. Bronze age (metal working) varies from place to place but begins around 2700 and continues to about 1000. Geometric progression in use of metals (from copper, to tin, bronze) and in the use of the horse.
      3. Minoan Culture:
         1. that of Crete; Minos is title like pharaoh or king: Early Minoan (2700-2000: palace building; influence from ANE. Middle Minoan (2000-1550): continued development, extensive trade contacts (see below) yet little evidence of weapons of any sort. Ends in violent destruction of palace at Knossos. Thera (Santorini) with detail; and with detail. Another trade site, the Uluburum shipwreck. LinearA (as best we can tell, not Greek).
         2. Late Minoan (1550-1300): A distinctly military art with increase in serious weapons in finds...a new ruling class?? Linear B (i.e., Greek speakers). Extensive trade east and now west.
      4. Mainland or Mycenaean Culture: Arrival of Aryans, Greek speakers = Ionians?, begins in about 2600 and continues in waves.
         1. Early Helladic (to about 1900): Lerna, earliest palaces and fortifications, cf. Crete.
         2. Middle Helladic (1900-1600) megaron house, shaft graves (inhumation), superb metal and ceramic work (cf. Homer). Important centers in Argos, Thebes.
         3. Late Helladic (1600-1100) increasing interest in sea-trade throughout Mediterranean (for metals, cereals, oil and vessels); a period of great wealth and rising civilization. Associated with the 'Achaeans'. Citadels at Tiryns, Mycenae; use of tholos, martial character of art. Ruling families with 'faceless' dependents. Troy (1200).
         4. The walls at all these sites (and the literary evidence) suggest considerable instability: warrior bands, blood feud, violence.
   2. The Major Sites-- a palace culture...:
      1. Minoan cultural area. Knossos: the plan, the site from the air; a porch; storage urns, their size. A Minoan house. A vase; procession. The goddess. Ritual scenes: procession; bull-leaping; harvest, ritual. In the early Helladic periods little evidence of weapons, though these become common after 1550, when Linear A was replaced by Linear B (Greek). An invasion from the mainland?
      2. Mycenaean cultural area.
         1. Pylos: Geography of site. Plan of Nestor's palace. The view from the palace. Reconstruction of the megaron. Reconstruction of the throne room. The palace.
         2. Mycenae: View of the site. Plan of the site. The Lion Gate. The walls. The grave circle reconstructed. The gold masks; from the side
         3. The walls at Tiryns; the walls; inside
      3. First International Age--so called-- Late Bronze Age: (1300-1150). Mainland Greece trades with eastern Med.; Rhodes with West. Recession (ca. 1250?), then exports from Greece cease to be found in the archaeological record; "Sea Peoples" (beginning already in 1190) mixed bands of raiders traveling with whole families; connected with fall of Troy and Hittites. Emigration out of mainland Greece is undeniable. Dorian incursion after 1180; final destruction of Mycenae in 1100
   3. The economic record. Note the significance and implications of what appears to be 'standard weights' in the archaeological record.
2. What can we learn from the literary tradition?
   1. The story of Ion; and of Pelops: the evidence of legend. Note the vase paintings of Pelops and of Oinomaus. A bronze age graffito; Iphigeneia; Aegisthus Clytemnestra and kills Cassandra
   2. Review of myths: significance?
      1. Note that there are many cycles that deal with the history of different royal families. Oedipus and Thebes. A valid record of the prehistoric past?
      2. Tales are not narrowly nationalistic.
      3. Society clearly aristocratic in orientation; warrior kings ('warlords') dominate the state.
      4. The prevalence of blood feud suggest the lack of any 'law' or 'conventions'. Note the wall painting illustrating warriors and warfare; the boar tusk helmet
      5. Other indications of historical reality;
         1. the movement of people from Anatolia and Armenia into Greece,
         2. the thalassocracy of Crete and Minos (towns with the name Minoa) and
         3. of Agamemnon's Mycenae;
         4. the triumph of the Indo-European peoples (horse-rearing , worshipping male gods) warrior class over the more agrarian and fertility-cult oriented Neolithic peoples. That is, change in religion.
3. What we learn from contemporary documents of the bronze age?
   1. References in other culture: are the Hittite ahhiyawa and the Egyptian akaiwasha the Achaeans? Hittite correspondence.
   2. The catalogue of ships (Homer 2).
   3. Linear B tablets from especially Pylos (over 600 tablets of administrative character deal with status of individuals and tenure of land; suggests an administration of several hundred literate people in palace economy.
4. On the Greek language.
   1. Traditionally divided into three groups, Ionian (ca. 2000), Achaean-Aeolic (ca. 1300) and Dorian.
   2. In the historical period many dialects; they tended to merge toward what will be called the koiné in the Hellenistic period (after Alexander).
   3. Pattern indicates that there was both replacement of peoples as well as mixture (perhaps with dominant group).
5. But can we truly speak of "history" in reference to the bronze age? Is knowledge of the material culture sufficient?

Group A: political arrangements

Group B: the physical appearance of the bronze age community

Group C: production, trade, commerce.

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