Homeric World – Key Sites Flashcards
Mykenaean Age
- Named after city of Mykenae – most famous city
- general term that describes the time when separate independent cities in the Greek world were powerful
- Similar culture, buildings, administration, and had palaces at the heart
- Mykenaean is a modern word
- The cities are from the mediterranean, and not only from Greece.
- Lasted 1600BC to 1150BC – cannot be precisely dated, complicated by similarity to Minoan civilisation
- Dated by comparing pottery styles with Egypt where there were better records. Carbon objects can also be dated.
- Bronze Age
Minoan civilisation
Based on Crete
influenced neighbouring areas
3500-1400BC
Overlapped in both time and area with the Myceneaean
3 Phases of Mykenaean Age
(1600-1400) The early period: burials were made in shaft graves
(1400-1250) The palatial period: great palaces are thought to have reached their peak
(1250-1150) The later period: when palaces seem to have come under more attack before suddenly being abandoned or destroyed
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1675BC
First burials in Grave Circle B at Mykenae
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1600BC
- First burials at Grave Circle A
- Destruction of Akrotiri
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1400BC
**Start of major building at Mycenaean sites
Treasury of Atreus built
Development of the city of Tiryns
End of Minoan Age
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1375BC
Shipwreck of Ulu Burun
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1350 BC
Tombs of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus built
Cyclopean Walls of Mycenae built
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1300 BC
Western wall of Mycenae strengthened
Eastern Gate and palace built at Mycenae
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1250 BC
Further strengthening of walls and defences of Tiryns
Building of Galleries at Tiryns
Lion Gate built
Destruction of Troy VIIIa
Decline of major Mycenaean sites
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1200 BC
Destruction of Troy VI
Damage to Mycenae from fire
Timeline of Mycenaean Age
1075 BC
Final destruction of Mycenae from fire
Mykenae
- Most famous city of the Mykenaean Age.
- Myth: Home of Agamemnon
- Built on a hill, 40-50 metres above the plains.
- Perimeter of 900m
- Hills to the north and south and ravines surround the plains on three sides, and a spring less than 400m away supplies water
- Site occupied for a few thousand years before Mykenaean Age
- Most famous for tombs and treasuries found there
what does citadel mean?
- Ancient city built on high ground and defended by walls
- Means ‘little city’
- Size of a small town
Date of first Mykenaean burials
c. 1650 BC
Peak prosperity of burials in Mykenae
1400-1200 BC
Mykenae foundation myth
According to Classic Greeks – not the Mykenaeans themselves
* Perseus founded the city
* Cyclopes helped build it, as it was thought no human could have built such huge structures
* Agamemnon became king centuries later and invaded Troy with a coalition
Who was Heinrich Schleimann?
Questionable German archaeologist who was enthralled by the notion of finding Troy.
Found the tombs and treasuries at Mykenae between 1876 and 1878.
Illegally ran off with some of the treasures
Mykenae culture
What the site of Tiryns known for?
- 10 miles from Mykenae
- Strong defensive walls, up to 8m high and 13m thick
- Famous for palace, throne room, series of arched galleries
- Numerous frescoes, including bull leaping youth – sport from Crete
Troy
Why is Troy important?
- Northwest Turkey
- Famous for the Trojan War
- Rebuilt several times, each on top of the last
- Little evidence of Homer’s riches, but was probably important trade centre in Mykenean times
- Debated which one is from Homer’s Epics
The layout and structures of Mykenae
- Palace at the very top of the hill
- Ground artificially levelled
- Terraces at the sides used for storage
- Two sally ports, north and south, use corbelling
- Next to the north port is a passage that goes under the wall to an underground cistern
What was the technique of corbelling?
Method for spanning a gap between two structures
At the top of both sides of the gap, increasingly larger blocks of stone placed on top of one another until joining at the top
What is a sally port?
A gap in the outer wall through which defenders could rush out to surprise attackers.
Phrase we use is ‘to sally out’ (Latin salire - to leap, via French saillir)
Describe Mykenae’s south sally port
2.5 metres wide.
Visible from some distance – questionable how effective it was as a defence measure, or whether it was actually for something else.
Cistern at Mykenae
Accessed from a passage that comes from within the citadel
18 metres underground
Collects water through a series of clay pipes in the roof. The water came from the natural spring that lay close to the city.
If attackers lay siege and tried to cut off the water, the Mykenaeans could secretly get to a supply of water to enable them to hold out for a long time
Why are the walls of Mykenae so impressive?
Impressive feat of engineering and construction: even the Ancient Greeks could not understand how they were built, calling them Cyclopean Walls.
First phase began around 1350BC; it was enlarged a century later and finished around 1200BC.
It was 900m long.
The northern wall is between 5.5 and 7.5m thick.
It is estimated that the wall rose to up to 12m high. It is 8.25m high at the Lion Gate.
Built from limestone blocks weighing around 2 tonnes from local quarries.
Mykenae
Describe the Lion’s Gate
Most impressive work of masonry in the Ancient Greek world.
Main entrance to the city and built 13thC BC
The approach is along an uphill path. The surrounding wall is of a conglomerate rock unlike the rest of the limestone walls. It is shinier and smoother than limestone.
the opening is square; it has two vertical supports (jambs - [Fr.- legs!]
The lintel (horizontal beam on top) weights 20 tonnes.
Above the lintel is the corbel arch.
Holes in the threshold and lintel indicate that there the gate had doors and a bar to lock them.
Describe the corbel arch relief above the Lion Gate
Two lions are carved in relief. (carved into but stand proud of the flatness around them)
The lions have paws on altars.
Their heads have not survived but probably faced forward to those entering the city (symbolism - power, strong, site of Kings, solemnity, majesty)
Columns above the altars are typically Minoan – thicker at top.
Defenders either side of the gate could hurl stones and arrows on any attackers.
Mykenaen Tombs
Where are the oldest Mykenaen tombs found?
Grave Circle B - 200m to the west of the city.
24 graves dated to 1700-1500C BC.
The graves are enclosed by a stone wall of diameter 28m.
Objects found there suggest that half the graves were of the Royal Family.
35 bodies of men, women, and children. Some were marked by an upright stela. Carved stelai = male; uncarved = female.
Part of Clytemnestra’s tomb was built on top of the graveyard.
Mykenaen Tombs
Describe Grave Circle A
Circle A was found before B but is younger.
Similar to B: 20m diameter. Shaft graves, but deeper than B.
Royal burial site, and from what was found there, it has been date from 1600-1501.
At the time of the Lion Gate construction, the Grave Circle’s wall was raised and grander tombs were created for the dead - perhaps honouring the ancestral greats.
Six shaft graves - 9 women, 8 men, 2 children buried precious objects of gold, silver, amber, glass, ivory, indicative of wealth and prestige. The stelai were elaborately carved, three of which depict chariot scenes. Some gold objects weighed 14kg (£840,000 each in today’s prices)
Homer called Mykenae ‘rich in gold’
Mykenaen Tombs
What were the other impressive tombs outside of Mykenae?
The so-called tombs of Clytemnesta and Aegisthus and the Treasury of Atreus. They did not house Clytemnestra (married first to Agammenon and secondly to Aegisthus) - they were named relatively recently by locals.
Atreus’ tomb may have been his: Pausanias wrote, “In the ruins of Mycenae … there are also undergound resting places of Atreus and his children. Their treasure was kept in these chambers.”
These were built 1400-1301BC (14th C) and are known as tholos tombs.
They lie west of the city. ‘Clytemnestra’s and Aegisthus’ tombs were 13m in diameter and Aegithus’ was also 13m high.
The tombs had been robbed in Ancient times.
Tiryns
Describe Tiryns
Tiryns is built on a hill like Mykanae.
300m long, 45-100m wide.
Dates from 2500BC
City walls built in Mykenaen times 1400 onwards.
1300BC - Eastern gate constructed. Western wall added with curved defences: Iliad refers to Tiryns as “surrounded by walls.”
Walls also said to have been built by Cyclopeans, brought by Proitos from Turkey; they used to be 10m high.
The approach was on the east side and up a ramp, now called the Cyclopean Ramp, again reflecting its size. Little remains today though.
Tiryns
Describe the gate at Tiryns.
3m high, 3m wide
(similar width to Lion gate)
Pivot holds for the doors are visible and slots for a bar to lock the gates.
Attackers would be trapped by narrow passage leading to the gate and defenders could hurl objects and missiles from the walls.
What were Tiryns’ walls like?
Most were straight but the west wall has a deliberate curve to it
Tiryns
Where was the palace at Tiryns - and describe it?
Built on the highest part of Tiryns called the Upper City.
It had its own defensive walls.
Describe the megaron at Tiryns
A grand entrance to the megaron (central hall) with four wooden pillars around a central hearth.
To the east was the King’s throne.
The plastered floor had images of octopi and dolphins. The plastered walls had frescoes of rich ladies on a hunting scene.
Off the megaron were the rulers’ apartments and colonnades; there was even a ‘wet room’ bathroom whose floor was made of polished limestone and was holed to allow for drainage.
Two staircases hint that there was a second storey.
Tiyrns
What is special about Tiryn’s galleries?
The galleries were build into the outer wall of the city; they used the corbelling technique to create vaulted roofs.
A large number of rooms were accessible from the galleries and in the 1200s, an extra loop to the wall extended the site to include workshops and houses.
Tiryns
Describe the Tiyrns tholos tomb
Half mile away from Tiryns, built into the side of a hill, 6m tall, 6m wide and an entrance 1.5m high.
Contains a large round stone, possibly an altar.
Corbelled roof and massive stone blocks holding up the roof of the entrance.
Troy
What do we know of Troy from the archaeology?
It was populated in the Mykeneaen age.
There is evidence of several wars fought at Troy and, mixed up, they may recount the literary siege of Troy that Homer threw into one story.
