Lecture 7, Bronze Age Aegean -- Minoan, Mycenaean, Hittite Civilizations

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Recommended: M. Wood, In Search of Troy.

Archaeological exploration of BA Greece was profoundly influenced by Homeric traditions -- Homer, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the ancient saga of the sack of Troy.  These contain the tragedic accounts of Bronze Age heroes as they returned from the Trojan War - King Agamemnon of Mycenae, Odysseus of Ithaca. To what degree did these prehistoric (Homer c. 750 BC) legends preserve recollections of actual events?

Minoan Crete (c. 3000-1500; high period 2000-1500).

Knossos, Sir Arthur Evans; 1899, Linear A script; legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, an earlier generation of Bronze Age heroes.

The inhabitants of Minoan Crete migrated to the island from the Near East. Their Language was  not Indo-European-- their Linear A Script has not been deciphered, but it appears to be a Near Eastern language. The Minoans otherwise brought Bronze Age technology to a stone age environment and established a hegemony throughout the Aegean. This was referred to as a "thalassocracy" (rule by sea). They established colonies such as Thera (Santorini). They constructed Palace-based economies -- several large terrace-built palaces such as Knossos and Mallia have been excavated, revealing plans that resemble those in northern Mesopotamia. Their Palaces were non fortified and surrounded by numerous storage areas. The Palace hierarchy (kings) clearly controlled trade surpluses of wine and oil, shipping them throughout the Aegean and beyond. Frescoes reveal emphasis on scenes of nature, gaiety, hedonism, as well as Evidence of bull-sports and bull-sacrifices.

Some cataclysmic event, perhaps the eruption of the volcano at Thera, led to the civilization's decline. The date for this is disputed, however, (sometime between 1600-1450 BC with accumulating evidence for the earlier date). A Layer of volcanic ash  has been found in core sediments taken throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, demonstrating that the volcanic plume of this eruption extended as far as Egypt. This possibly affected civilization at Crete (tidal waves, poison gases, Thera is 90 miles north). The Minoan Colony at Thera was indeed destroyed. Its frescoes excavated at Akrotiri have been stored in National Museum in Athens. (OT Exodus, Moses summoning 3 days of darkness may reflect tradition of this event).

The Final phase of habitation at Knossos shows Mycenaean settlement there -- including a throne room and the discovery of Linear B tablets. In Homer's Iliad, the "Catalogue of Ships" lists states that attacked Troy and includes mention of a Mycenaean king at Knossos.

INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATIONS

In c. 2200-2000 BC Indo-European migrations expanded into the Balkan region (as well as Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iranian plateau, and Indus Valley). Indo-European Culture was based on warrior bands; warrior chieftains rode horses and were buried in tomb mounds known as tumuli. Assuming for sake of argument that Mycenaean culture bore similarities with the pattern of Germanic Invasions that occurred at the end of the Roman era (3-5th centuries AD), one could argue that Mycenaean nobles (at Mycenae, the basileus) displayed their status by assembling warrior bands (comitatus) dependent on themselves. In each tribe one family was recognized as the royal line, producing the Mycenaean wanax or king. The King possessed a warrior band probably no larger than those of his nobles. He was in essence a "King among Kings," as Homer describes Agamemnon,  resulting in a highly unstable social order. The Nobles tended to defer to the royal line during emergencies -- moments of external warfare or periods of migration. The challenge for the wanax was to preserve his privileged status once the emergency had past.

MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION (c. 2000-1100, high point, 1600-1100 BC)

Mycenaean Hierarchy Flow Chart

The Indo-Europeans that invaded Greece conquered the native population and reduced it to laboring status. They also came in contact with Minoan civilization and assimilated its superior technology. They adapted Indo-European written language, Linear B, from Linear A. Linear B has been deciphered by Michael Ventris, to confirm it as a syllabic script preserving a proto-Greek language. They also adapted the Minoan palace-based economy, as more than a dozen palaces such as Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns have been excavated. They conceivably recruited and/or captured Minoan artisans, based on similarities in architectural technique and art. A palace-based bureaucracy handled the utilization of material resources while warrior elites concentrated on warfare, gradually extending their raids throughout the Aegean. The Linear B tablets preserve archival records of booty obtained from warfare in coastal Anatolia (e.g., mention of slave women from Miletos). Since they left no written legacy, no Gilgamesh epic, no law code, one suspects that the elements of the Mycenaean warrior elites, including the kings themselves, were illiterate and that they depended on their educated servants to run their palaces for them.

The first excavation of Troy was conducted by Heinrich Schliemann in 1872; he followed this by excavating Mycenae shortly thereafter. Schliemann was a self-made millionaire and a brilliant linguist who believed that the works of Homer preserved genuine record of Bronze Age historical events. His discovery of these two Bronze Age Aegean sites set in motion the sustained archaeological exploration of Bronze Age sites that has continued to this day.

Architectural features at Mycenae are generally distinctive of Mycenaean civilization, including the megaron (the royal reception hall with hearth), Grave Circle A (c. 1600-1400), Tholos tombs (1400-1100), and Cyclopean fortification walls (1200-1100).

At Grave Circle A Schliemann unearthed gold death masks, amber seal stones from the Baltic, ivory (from Egypt) inlaid swords displaying Homeric figure-eight and tower shields. Nearby at Dendra, meanwhile, discovery of a panoply of bronze armor with boar's tusk helmet, conforms with the description of Mycenaean armor preserved in Homer.  Linear B tablets appear to survive as temporary archival records that were fire hardened during palace destruction; they record, therefore, the final days of the Mycenaean era (1200-1100 BC)

A crucial determinant of Mycenaean power was its export of surplus production of wine and oil in colorfully painted "stirrup jars." Some 15 to 30 cm. tall, these squat jars have been discovered throughout the Near Eastern coastal region, including Egypt, and serve to demonstrate the range of Mycenaean trade. Mediterranean urban civilizations became economically interdependent, therefore. Evidence of Mycenaean trading posts have been identified in Italy, Spain, and in Cornwall in England, where Mycenaean traders probably sailed in search of metals (tin from England). Mycenaeans traded surplus wine and oil for grain from Egypt. Through maritime commerce they were able to sustain a large local population. Mycenae possibly supported 180,000 people in plain of Argos. This was simply an impossible feat for a normal subsistence economy, and offers an example of the degree to which Eastern Mediterranean urban civilizations became inextricably interdependent.

The Peak period of Mycenaean Civilization was 1400-1200 BC, the period of the megaron, and the Tholos tomb. Pressures on palaces clearly rose c. 1200 BC, giving rise to the massive fortification efforts dated to that time. At Mycenae there are massive walls some 40 ft. thick, that nevertheless incorporated Grave Circle A within. Palaces levels of c. 1100 BC exhibit fire damage throughout the Mycenean world, preserving linear B tablets. Mycenaean Civilization appears to have been destroyed after the period of the Trojan War. Again, the Mycenaeans left no evidence of advanced culture - no law codes, no written epics, despite the relatively widespread character of literacy among other Ancient Near Eastern elites at this time. Despite adaptation of Minoan-styled palace bureaucracies, there is no evidence to suggest that the warrior nobles of the Mycenaean Aegean assimilated any of the more elevated aspects of Near Eastern culture.

HITTITE EMPIRE (c. 2000 - 1200)
Indo-Europeans also migrated to central Anatolia, assimilated the native culture of the Hatti, and settled at Hattusas (Bogazkoy, a site excavated by the German Institute of Archaeology, c. 1900 AD. The Hittites adopted local hieroglyphic and Near Eastern cuneiform as written languages. The Indo-European warlords established supremacy over various native Anatolian peoples from a centrally located position. They controlled mining and trade in metals from abroad. The Hittites possibly even invented iron smelting. The Hittite empire grew in strength until c. 1600 BC, when they invaded Mesopotamia, sacking Babylon. However, the inherent instability of their political system (like Mycenaeans, they ruled by a "King among Kings") brought on political collapse shortly thereafter. The Hittite Empire imploded in chaos for about a century.

By 1450-1200 BC, the Hittite Empire was restored and extended its sway to Euphrates and to Canaan. King Suppiluliumas, c. 1380-1340, took Syria, defeated the Mitanni, and sent his son to marry daughter of Pharaoh Akhnaton. King Hattusilis fought Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274).  A combined host of Hittite warriors, 30000 foot and 4000 chariots, fought at this battle in the hills of Syria. The Hittite and Egyptian leaders agreed to the Peace of Kadesh that recognized a line of demarcation between their respective empires.

Evidence of Mycenaean disturbances includes the Hittite Archive at King's palace at Bogazkoy (pronounced Bowazkoy) which mentions repeated attacks by the "Ahhijawa" (perhaps Homer's Achaioi or Achaeans, the Mycenaean tribe ruled by Agamemnon). A Hittite archival record of 1250 BC makes mention of a client king, "Aleksandros of Wilusa." Some scholars believe this person was identical with Alexander Paris of Troy, since the city was also known as Ilios or Ilium (Bronze Age "Wilios"). This reference is possibly a record of the siege of Troy. Total collapse of the Hittite empire occurred shortly thereafter. Hattusas was destroyed, the empire collapsed, and Hittite elements migrated to mountain retreats along the southern Mediterranean coast of Anatolia (resulting in the Neo-Hittite Empire in Cilicia c. 1000).

The Hittites left a significant law code that recognized the role of human will in the process of law making. They assimilated Near Eastern literary traditions such as the Gilgamesh Epic and helped to transfer these to the Greeks.