The Mycenaeans Flashcards
When and where did the Mycenaeans exist?
From 1600 - 1100 BC
In mainland Greece
What were the Mycenaeans like?
They were tough Bronxe age warrior people.
They fought with long bronze swords, daggers, spears, ox hide shileds and bronze armour.
How did the Mycenaeans live?
They lived in small kingdoms.
Each had its own fortifed hilltop citadel - called an acropolis.
What were Mycenaean citdels like?
There was a great hall at the centre where there was a central fireplace.
Warririors would sit there and chat about their deeds.
How were Mycenaean kings buried?
After about 1500 BC.
They were buried in beehive tombs called a tholos.
They had long corridor shaped entrances.
What did Homer say about the Mycenaeans?
He said that Troy was destroyed by the Mycenaeans.
It was after a 10 year siege.
Troy’s remains were discovered in Turkey.
The siege occured about 1190 BC.
What was the background to the Trojan war?
The war was caused by the marriage of Helen of Sparta.
She married Menelaus, the brother of King Agamemnon of Mycenae.
However she fell in love with prince Paris of Troy.
She eloped to Troy with Paris.
King Agamemnom and other greeks then laid siege to the city.
The battle featured heroes such as Hector, Achilles and Odysseus.
The greek soldiers conquered Troy by hiding in a wooden horse.
How did the Mycenaeans get their name?
They got their name from a citdel of stone called Mycenae in the Peloponnese region of Greece.
