Mycenae and Troy

The above is a map of the Ancient world which will assist you with your studies of Troy and Mycenae. One man closely associated with both Mycenae and Troy is Agamemnon. His story is set out below:

The Story of Agamemnon According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae, a kingdom of legendary Greece. The leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War*, he is one of the central figures in the Iliad, Homer's epic poem about the war. Greek writers generally portray Agamemnon as courageous but also as arrogant and overly proud, flaws that sometimes cause him misfortune and eventually lead to his death. The story of Agamemnon is often seen as a warning about the dangers of hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence). Agamemnon's Background Agamemnon was one of two sons of Atreus, the king of Mycenae. While Agamemnon was still a youth, Atreus was murdered by his brother. Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, fled to the city-state of Sparta, where they found refuge and protection from King Tyndareos.
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The king gave his daughters to the brothers as wives. One daughter, Clytemnestra, was already married, but Agamemnon killed her husband, Tantalus, and then married her. Menelaus took her beautiful sister Helen as his bride. Agamemnon later returned to Mycenae, killed his uncle, and reclaimed the throne of his father. He and Clytemnestra eventually had three daughtersChrysothemis, Electra, and Iphigeniaand a son, Orestes. Meanwhile, Menelaus became king of Sparta after the death of Tyndareos. Sometime later, Paris, the second son of King Priam of Troy, visited Menelaus in Sparta. The goddess Aphrodite* had promised Paris earlier that he would have the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. When Paris returned to Troy, he took Helen with him. At the time of Menelaus's marriage to Helen, all the rulers of the Greek city-states had promised to come to her defense if necessary. Menelaus reminded them of their promise, and they agreed to go to war against Troy to bring Helen back. Agamemnon was chosen to lead the Greeks in battle. Agamemnon prepared a fleet of ships to carry the Greeks to Troy. Just before the ships were ready to sail, however, he insulted the goddess Artemis* by boasting that he was a better hunter than she and by killing a sacred stag. As punishment, Artemis caused the winds to die down so that the Greek fleet could not sail.

The Price of Hubris

Greek myths reflect a view of life very different from that expressed by the earlier myths of Mesopotamia*. The Mesopotamians regretted the fact that humans could not live forever like the gods. Their mythical heroes sought eternal life even though the gods showed them that they were doomed to fail. By contrast, one of the basic ideas of Greek mythology is that all humans have a fate that cannot be escaped and limits that they should not try to exceed. The Greeks believed that individuals must face their fate with pride and dignity, gaining as much fame as possible. Peoplesuch as Agamemnonwho believed they could change fate by their own actions were guilty of hubris. They would eventually be punished by Nemesis, the vengeance of the gods. city-state independent state consisting of a city and its surrounding territory seer one who can predict the future
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A seer told Agamemnon that he could please Artemis and gain favorable winds by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess. The king tricked Clytemnestra into sending Iphigenia to him by saying that she was to marry the great warrior Achilles*. When his daughter arrived, Agamemnon killed her. Although the sacrifice pleased Artemis and allowed the Greek ships to sail, it would later have terrible consequences for Agamemnon. * See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.

The Trojan War. The Greeks fought the people of Troy for nine years and seized many of their cities. However, they failed to capture the city of Troy. This is the point at which the Iliad begins, and Agamemnon's arrogance and pride come into play again. After winning a battle against the Trojans, Agamemnon received a female prisoner named Chryseis as part of his booty (riches or property gained through conquest). The girl was the daughter of Chryses, a priest of the god Apollo*. Chryses begged for the return of his daughter, but Agamemnon refused. Angered, Apollo sent a plague to devastate the Greek forces. The hero Achilles demanded that Chryseis be returned to her father. Agamemnon still refused. He finally agreed on the condition that he be given Briseis, a female slave of whom Achilles had grown very fond. Achilles became so angry that he laid down his arms and refused to fight any longer. This proved to be a costly mistake because without Achilles the Greeks began to lose badly. Achilles returned to the battle only after learning of the death of his close friend Patroclus. When he rejoined the Greek forces, the tide of battle turned. The Greeks drove off the Trojans, killed the great Trojan warrior Hector, and went on to defeat the people of Troy and

destroy their city. After the war, Agamemnon took the Trojan princess Cassandra back home as a prize. Homer's epic poem the Odyssey tells the story of Agamemnon's return to Mycenae. The Death of Agamemnon. While Agamemnon was away fighting the Trojans, his wife, Clytemnestra, took a lover named Aegisthus. As Agamemnon sailed home from Troy, Clytemnestra was plotting to kill him in revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia. In the meantime, Cassandra, who had the power to foretell the future, warned Agamemnon that his wife would kill him. However, the gods had put a curse on Cassandra: although she would make accurate predictions, no one would believe them. True to the curse, Agamemnon ignored Cassandra's warning. When Agamemnon returned home, Clytemnestra welcomed him by preparing a bath in which he could purify himself. As the king stepped out of the bath, however, Clytemnestra wrapped him in a garment or a net that bound his arms so that he could not move. Aegisthus (Aegisthus is the son of Thyestes who had murdered Agamemnons father Atrues) then stabbed Agamemnon to death while Clytemnestra killed Cassandra. It is also said that Clytemnestra herself slew Agamemnon with an ax. Agamemnon's son Orestes eventually avenged the murder by murdering both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus with the help of his sister Electra. Many years later Orestes united the House of Atreus and the House of Thyestes, thus ending the curse. Orestes died of a snake bite when he was seventy years old. Agamemnon in Literature. Agamemnon is a favorite character in many works of literature besides the Iliad and the Odyssey. The ancient Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles wrote a number of plays based on the life of Agamemnon. He was also a popular subject of ancient Roman authors such as Ovid and Seneca. Later writers, including William Shakespeare and French playwright Jean Racine, included Agamemnon as a character in their works. In modern times, Agamemnon has served as a model for characters in works by poet T. S. Eliot and playwright Eugene O'Neill. (taken from: http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/A-Am/Agamemnon.html) Another famous story connected with Troy is that of Odysseuss return home after the fall of Troy. His story is set out as follows:

Odysseus
In Greek mythology, Odysseus was a celebrated hero, best known for his role in the Trojan War and for his ten-year journey home after the war. Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) appears as the central character in the Odyssey, an epic by the ancient Greek poet Homer, and he also plays a role in the Iliad, Homer's other major epic. Early Life. Odysseus was generally said to be the son of Anticlea and of King Laertes of Ithaca. However, some stories maintain that his father was Sisyphus, founder of the city of Corinth and a cunning man who outwitted the god Hades*. This version says that Sisyphus seduced Anticlea before her marriage to Laertes and that Odysseus inherited his cleverness from Sisyphus. Educated by the centaur Chiron, Odysseus began to display great strength and courage at an early age. While out hunting with his uncles and his grandfather, the young hero saved the adults by killing a wild boar. Before the creature died, however, it wounded Odysseus on the leg with its sharp tusk, leaving a permanent scar. When Odysseus reached manhood, King Laertes stepped aside and let his son rule Ithaca. Around the same time, Odysseus began thinking of marriage. Like other young rulers and heroes in Greece, he desired Helen*, the beautiful daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta. But Ithaca was a poor kingdom, and Odysseus had little hope of winning her. Nevertheless, he went to Sparta as a suitor. While in Sparta, Odysseus displayed some of the cunning for which he became famous. Crowds of men had come to Sparta to seek the hand of Helen, and King Tyndareus feared what might happen when he chose one of them to marry his daughter. Odysseus advised the king to make all the suitors swear an oath to protect Helen and the man she married. The suitors agreed and thus accepted Menelaus when he was chosen to be Helen's husband. To show his gratitude, Tyndareus helped Odysseus win the hand of his niece Penelope, with whom the young hero had fallen in love. The couple returned to Ithaca, and Penelope bore Odysseus a son named Telemachus. epic long poem about legendary or historical heroes, written in a grand style centaur half-human, half-animal creature with the body of a horse and the head, chest, and arms of a human
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oracle priest or priestess or other creature through whom a god is believed to speak; also the location (such as a shrine) where such words are spoken The Trojan War. When the Trojan War began, Odysseus tried to avoid participating. An oracle had told him that if he went to war, he would be away for 20 years and would return a beggar. So Odysseus pretended to be mad and sowed his fields with salt instead of seeds. When officials came to fetch him, they suspected a trick so they placed the infant Telemachus in the field. Odysseus stopped the plow to avoid killing the child, something a madman would not have done. According to the Iliad, Odysseus's role in the Trojan War was mainly as an adviser and speaker rather than as a warrior. He helped discover the whereabouts of Achilles* and convince the great hero to join the war. He tricked Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon*, into sending her daughter Iphigenia to be sacrificed to the goddess Artemis* so that the Greek ships would have good winds for their voyage to Troy*. When a go-between was needed to settle quarrels between Agamemnon and Achilles, Odysseus stepped in. He also spied on the Trojans and discovered their plans. Renowned for his eloquent and persuasive speaking, Odysseus was called upon many times to give advice. Although he fought bravely, he preferred strategy to heroics. When the Greeks captured the Trojan prophet Helenus and asked what they must do to capture Troy, it was Odysseus who accomplished the three tasks that were set. He persuaded Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, to join the Greeks in battle. He used trickery to get Philoctetes, keeper of the bow and arrows of Hercules*, to join the fighting. He also used cunning to sneak into Troy and steal the Palladium, a statue of Athena believed to protect the city and bring it good fortune. Finally, Odysseus came up with the idea of pretending to sail away from Troy and leaving behind an enormous wooden horsein which Greek soldiers were hidden. This trick enabled the Greeks to enter Troy at night and defeat the Trojans. The Journey Home. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus set sail for Ithaca, but his voyage took ten long years because he incurred the anger of the sea god Poseidon*. His journey and adventures, described fully in the Odyssey, took the hero to many wondrous and dangerous places. Along the way, he lost all his companions and the treasure he had gotten from Troy Arriving home at last after an absence of 20 years, Odysseus had to defeat rivals trying to take possession of his wife and his kingdom. Then he had to prove his identity to his wife, Penelope.
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prophet one who claims to have received divine messages or insights There are several different accounts of Odysseus's final years. Some stories say that he was accidentally killed by Telegonus, his son by the enchantress Circe. Other tales tell that he married Callidice, the queen of Thesprotia, and ruled there for a time while Penelope was still alive. Still other versions of the story report that Odysseus was forced into exile by relatives of the rivals he killed upon his return to Ithaca. One thing is certain Odysseus had many adventures on his way home from Troy! Exercise one Learn of three of Odysseuss adventures by researching them online.

As you will have noted a commonly mentioned place name in Greek mythology is that of Mycenae. But what was Mycenae? Was is a fictional place? As you will see below Mycenae was very much a real place. Furthermore the Mycenaean Period was the Greek name for Bronze Age. So like today when people studying Irish history refer to the Bronze Age, those studying Greek history refer to the Greek Bronze Age as the Mycenaean Age. Its the same period just referred to by different names in different histories. The story of Mycenae is told below:

Mycenae
The ancient city of Mycenae was once thought to exist only in ancient Greek legend and the epic poetry of Homer. It wasn't until 1870 that an amateur archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann found the fabled city. Many people doubted that he would find such a city, but using only landmarks from the text of Homers Iliad, Schliemann uncovered the remains of a once thriving civilization. The city was located in the hilly Peloponnese (a hill in the plain of Argos). Myth has it that it was founded by Perseus. As you should know from the story of Perseus and the Gorgon, Perseus eventually killed his grandfather. He inherited his grandfathers kingdom but was so ashamed that he decided to swap his kingdom (Argos) for the kingdom of his great uncle Protus or else with Protus' son Megapenthes, for the city of Tiryns. He later founded Mycenae which became much more powerful than Tiryns. Mycenae later became the kingdom of Atreus and his son Agamemnon. Its name comes from mykes meaning
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mushroom. It became the main city of Bronze Age Greece (hence Mycenaean Greece). Homer described it as being rich in gold which indicated that it was a wealthy city. This story can be found in the book by Alexander Adams entitled: A summary of Geography and History of both Argos and Mycenae as downloaded from Google Books! The city of Mycenae was the center of a large and powerful Mycenaean Greek civilization, which existed from circa 1900 B.C.E. to circa 1125 B.C.E. It is located in the south central part of what is present day Greece. The Mycenaean civilization was at its height between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E. It is believed that the entire civilization consisted of a few loosely joined city-states. Possible members of the city-states were Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, Orchomenos, and of course Mycenae, which was the strongest. The Mycenaean people were known to be warriors who lived for heroic battles. A monarch, who was supported by strong military leaders, ruled the Mycenaeans. Other people who held a high rank in society were the priests and bureaucrats. They kept precise records of inventory, distribution of materials for production, commodities produced, acquirement of land, and deliveries made. There were also lower members of society who were not nearly as important. They consisted of soldiers, peasants, artisans, serfs, and even slaves. Mycenaean traders had an extensive trade network with neighbouring civilizations. There is very little written record of the distance over which these people traded, but a rough estimate can be given from the location of Mycenaean pottery throughout the Mediterranean. Mycenaean pottery has been found in southern Italy and as far away as Egypt. There is also evidence of foreign trade coming from imported goods found at Mycenae. Ivory carvings and an abundance of gold ornaments have been found. The ivory had to be imported, but some of the gold could have been mined locally. These mines were very small, with low yields, so researchers believe that much of the gold must have been imported. There are many imported and domestic artefacts found in Mycenae. Most artefacts have been found in shaft graves, many of them excavated by Schliemann and his crew. One of the most famous and one of the first artefacts to be found is the so-called death mask of Agamemnon. It is a thin gold mask which was buried with the ancient king. Legend says that Agamemnon is the Mycenaean Greek king who led his troops into battle against Troy, which eventually

was sacked. When Schliemann found the mask, he wrote to the king of Greece, "Today I have looked on the face of Agamemnon." Schliemann also found carved stones, an assortment of cups, jewellery, pottery, and numerous bronze weapons. Mycenae is also known for its ancient builders. The Lion Gate is a main entrance into the citadel at Mycenae. It is a solid stone carving of two lions which stand as sentries directly over the entrance. This gate is part of the outer wall of the citadel. These walls have an average thickness of 5 meters. Outside the gate, four roads lead away into the countryside. Traces of these massive roads can still be seen today. Another great structure found in Mycenae is the Treasury of Atreus. This treasury is actually a selfsupporting domed tomb measuring 5.40 meters high and 5.20 meters in diameter. This kind of architecture is proof of the technological skills of the Mycenaeans at the height of their empire. By 1200 B.C.E., the Mycenaean era was in a state of hardship. No one knows what caused such a powerful civilization to decline, but many theories are in place. Maybe it was some sort of earthquake that caused chaos in society. It may have been a change in weather patterns that caused a food shortage. Or, as many believe, it was invaders from the north who sacked Mycenae. This theory is the most supported due to evidence of fire damage to nearly all the buildings being excavated. Maybe it was a combination of all these theories. In any case, by 1125 B.C.E., Mycenae was abandoned and forgotten. It stayed this way for thousands of years, until an amateur archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann followed the story of an ancient epic and discovered the remains of Mycenae.

Archaeological Excavations of Mycenae

Excavation

A view of the citadel

Linear B tablets found at Mycenae

The first excavations at Mycenae were carried out by the Greek archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis in 1841. He found and restored the Lion Gate.

The Lions gate at Mycenae above. In 1874 Heinrich Schliemann arrived at the site and undertook a complete excavation. Schliemann believed in the historical truth of the Homeric stories and interpreted the site accordingly. He found the ancient shaft graves with their royal skeletons and spectacular
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grave goods. Upon discovering a human skull beneath a gold death mask in one of the tombs, he declared: "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon". Since Schliemann's day more scientific excavations have taken place at Mycenae, mainly by Greek archaeologists but also by the British School at Athens. The acropolis was excavated in 1902, and the surrounding hills have been methodically investigated by subsequent excavations.

Linear B tablets
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries (ca. 13th but perhaps as early as late 15th century BC) and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization. Most of the tablets inscribed in Linear B were found in Knossos, Cydonia,[1] Pylos, Thebes and Mycenae.[2] The succeeding period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, provides no evidence of the use of writing. The script appears to be related to Linear A, an undeciphered earlier script used for writing the Minoan language The application of Linear B seems to have been confined to administrative contexts. In all the thousands of tablets, a relatively small number of different "hands" have been detected: 45 in Pylos (west coast of the Peloponnese, in southern Greece) and 66 in Knossos (Crete).[3] From this fact it could be thought that the script was used only by some sort of guild of professional scribes who served the central palaces. Once the palaces were destroyed, the script disappeared. Michael Ventris eventually deciphered Linear B in the 1950s.

Cylopean Masonry
Cyclopean masonry is a term used to describe a type of megalithic architecture entailing the working of unusually large blocks of stone, often for the construction of fortifications. The term was coined by Greeks in the Classical Age, reflecting the belief that only the Cyclops, gigantic, one-eyed creatures of myth, could have been strong enough to manipulate stones so immense.

Development And History

Cyclopean masonry, developed by the Mycenaean Civilization of Greece (more specifically, during the Late Helladic IIIA IIIB, c. 1425 1190 BCE) stands in stark contrast to the types of construction favoured by earlier Greek civilizations. The Minoans, for instance, known for their spectacular palace complexes on Crete, used post-and-lintel construction almost exclusively. The residents of Mycenaean citadels, however, found it necessary to build far greater fortifications than yet excavated on Crete. This need for security led to the use of

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Cyclopean masonry when constructing the extensive citadel walls enclosing the territory around Mycenaean palaces. MYCENAEAN EXAMPLES The most striking examples of Cyclopean masonry from the Mycenaean period come from the citadels at Mycenae and Tiryns. Mycenae provides a perfect illustration of the typical use of Cyclopean masonry. The citadel walls are constructed of gigantic blocks of stone, some reaching eight meters in thickness (Biers, p. 67). Mycenae is known for the three-stage construction of its walls. The first stage enclosed the central area of the citadel. Next, the walls were expanded to create the Lion Gate, and to include Grave Circle A at the eastern edge of the fortress. Finally, a small expansion was made at the citadels northwestern corner to provide access to a secret spring, a source of water for the Mycenaeans should they ever be besieged. The cyclopean fortifications of Mycenae served to protect this precious resource. The construction of the Lion Gate of Mycenae demonstrates the way in which Cyclopean masonry interacted with other types of stonework. At this gate, the cyclopean fortifications are broken by an insertion of blocks worked with the ashlar technique, which makes the blocks lie in straight horizontal lines. The elegance of ashlar work seems to be reserved for this area around the gate. Most of the walls themselves remain Cyclopean.

Plan of the citadel at Mycenae At Tiryns, Cyclopean masonry is used in an entirely revolutionary way. Although the fortress is enclosed with a wall apparently similar to that at Mycenae, the 10 meters or more thickness of the walls at Tiryns hide a secret. They are constructed in two parallel layers, leaving a hidden space in between, which would probably have been used for some sort of storage. On the outside, the walls would appear to be normal, Cyclopean fortifications.

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The walls at Tiryns

Aerial of the Citadel at Mycenae

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Corner of the South Bastion. Mycenae

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Door jamb of the Lion Gate

Plan of Circle A & Lion Gate

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Postern Gate & North Ramparts

Entrance to Cistern
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1. THE BRONZE AGE OF GREECE 2. THE PALACE OF NESTOR AT PYLOS 3. THE PALACE OF TIRYNS 4. MYCENAE RICH IN GOLD THE SETTLEMENT THE GRAVE CIRCLES THE FORTIFICATIONS THE PALACE THE CULT CENTRE THE THOLOS TOMBS

The Ramparts north of the Lion Gate The fortification walls at Mycenae are best preserved along the northern side where they are up to 7.5 metres thick stand nearly 12 metres high in places. They were constructed for the most part of huge, irregularly shape stone blocks of the sort described as Cyclopean by later Greeks. There were two principal entrances, the Lion Gate at the west end and the Postern Gate on the north side. There is also a sally

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port at the eastern end which was used to sneak in and out of the citadel during a siege. The entire circuit at its greatest extent measured close to 900 metres. The Lion Gate The Lion Gate was built c. 1250 BC, during the second occupation phase when the ramparts were extended to include Grave Circle A. It was reached by a ramp that ran below steep walls on its north-eastern side and led to an Outer Court (15 x 7.5 metres) designed to limit the number attack. Since gateways were the weakest part of the defences, this consideration was of extreme importance. The situation was made even more lethal for the attackers by the presence of a huge projecting bastion on the south-western side.

This enabled the defenders to pour fire into their unshielded right sides. The gate itself was built out of massive megalithic blocks. The lintel measures 4.5 x 2 x 0.8 metres; the jambs are 3 x 1.74 x 0.54 metres; and the threshold (which cracked under its own weight in antiquity) is 4.56 x 2.31 x 0.88 metres. The blocks frame an opening 3.1 metres high and 2.95 metres wide at the threshold (it tapers slightly) which was closed by wooden
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double-doors decorated by bronze ornaments. Pivot holes were preserved in the lintel and threshold (the latter recently damaged). Rectangular sockets in the doorjambs held a crossbar, while other recesses received the handles of the open doors. Above the lintel, the superstructure of the wall was corbelled to leave a relieving triangle which was covered by a slab whose weight rested only on the lower corners. The slab was carved with a relief depicting a pair of lions flanking a column (perhaps a symbol for the palace itself) with their forepaws rested on a pair of altars which supported the column. The heads

(now missing) were of a different material and fastened to the bodies by dowels. They faced outwards towards anyone approaching the gate. Perhaps the composition was the dynastic coat-of-arms.

Just inside the Lion Gate was a small inner court (4 x 4 metres) with a tiny guardhouse or shrine on the east side. Beyond the court, on either side, were ramps leading to the top of the ramparts. To the west of the court were the foundations of a building known as the Granary (some vessels with carbonized seed were found inside) but that does not appear to have been its original function. The remains probably represent the basement of a multistoreyed structure, possibly a guardhouse. Grave Circle A was just about 20 metres inside the Lion Gate and beyond it were a number of houses on the lower, south-eastern terrace of the hill.

Lane running inside the North Ramparts

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Interior of the Postern Gate The Postern Gate (or North Gate) was of similar construction and layout to the Lion Gate (but smaller and undecorated). A lane led from it to an area of houses in the north-western corner of the site and continued to link up with the road from the Lion Gate.

The Cistern and Sally Port The north-eastern corner of the site was only brought within the ramparts during the final phase of construction, around about 1200 BC (the photo shows the corner and the line of the original wall). This was made necessary because up until then there had been one glaring weakness in the defensive scheme there was no natural source of water. This was remedied by carving an underground cistern out of the rock and filling it by means of a tunnel which
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ran from a spring on Mount Elias. Access to the cistern was by means of a corbel-vaulted passageway which descends in three sections to a depth of over 15 metres under the northern section of ramparts. The lower section of the stairway had been waterproofed with a thick coat of plaster so that it could serve as an extension of the cistern. Next to the entrance to the passage is a small opening in the ramparts, a sally port, and there is another on the wall opposite. Like the stairway, these were splendid examples of the corbel vaulting technique. They were designed to allow people to slip in and out of the fortress, unseen by enemy sentries. There are also the remains of two small buildings in the area. It has been suggested that Building Beta was an office of some sort while Building Alpha was used for storage (pithos fragments were found in the cellar rooms).

MYCENAE, MYTHICAL HISTORY

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical literature and modern archaeology. He says of Mycenae: [2.15.4] Ascending to Tretus, and again going along the road to Argos, you see on the left the ruins of Mycenae. The Greeks are aware that the founder of Mycenae was Perseus, so I will narrate the cause of its foundation and the reason why the Argives afterwards laid Mycenae waste. The oldest tradition in the region now called Argolis is that when Inachus was king he named the river after himself and sacrificed to Hera. [2.15.5] There is also another legend which says that Phoroneus was the first inhabitant of this land, and that Inachus, the father of Phoroneus, was not a man but the river. This river, with the rivers Cephisus and Asterion, judged concerning the land between Poseidon and Hera. They decided that the land belonged to Hera, and so Poseidon made their waters disappear. For this reason neither Inachus nor either of the other rivers I have mentioned provides any water except after rain. In summer their streams are dry except those at Lerna. Phoroneus, the son of Inachus, was the first to gather together the inhabitants, who up to that time had been scattered and living as isolated families. The place into which they were first gathered was named the City of Phoroneus.
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[2.16.1] XVI. Argus, the grandson of Phoroneus, succeeding to the throne after Phoroneus, gave his name to the land. Argus begat Peirasus and Phorbas, Phorbas begat Triopas, and Triopas begat Iasus and Agenor. Io, the daughter of Iasus, went to Egypt, whether the circumstances be as Herodotus records or as the Greeks say. After Iasus, Crotopus, the son of Agenor, came to the throne and begat Sthenelas, but Danaus sailed from Egypt against Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas, and stayed the succession to the kingdom of the descendants of Agenor. What followed is known to all alike: the crime the daughters of Danaus committed against their cousins, and how, on the death of Danaus, Lynceus succeeded him. [2.16.2] But the sons of Abas, the son of Lynceus, divided the kingdom between themselves; Acrisius remained where he was at Argos, and Proetus took over the Heraeum, Mideia, Tiryns, and the Argive coast region. Traces of the residence of Proetus in Tiryns remain to the present day. Afterwards Acrisius, learning that Perseus himself was not only alive but accomplishing great achievements, retired to Larisa on the Peneus. And Perseus, wishing at all costs to see the father of his mother and to greet him with fair words and deeds, visited him at Larisa. Being in the prime of life and proud of his inventing the quoit, he gave displays before all, and Acrisius, as luck would have it, stepped unnoticed into the path of the quoit. [2.16.3] So the prediction of the god to Acrisius found its fulfillment, nor was his fate prevented by his precautions against his daughter and grandson. Perseus, ashamed because of the gossip about the homicide, on his return to Argos induced Megapenthes, the son of Proetus, to make an exchange of kingdoms; taking over himself that of Megapenthes, he founded Mycenae. For on its site the cap (myces) fell from his scabbard, and he regarded this as a sign to found a city. I have also heard the following account. He was thirsty, and the thought occurred to him to pick up a mushroom (myces) from the ground. Drinking with joy water that flowed from it, he gave to the place the name of Mycenae. [2.16.4] Homer in the Odyssey mentions a woman Mycene in the following verse: Tyro and Alcmene and the fair-crowned lady Mycene. Hom. Od. She is said to have been the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor in the poem which the Greeks call the Great Eoeae. So they say that this lady has given her name to the city. But the account which is attributed to Acusilaus, that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton of Phoroneus, I cannot accept, because the Lacedaemonians themselves do not accept it either. For the Lacedaemonians have at Amyclae a portrait statue of a woman named Sparte, but they would be amazed at the mere mention of a Sparton, son of Phoroneus. [2.16.5] It was jealousy which caused the Argives to destroy Mycenae. For at the time of the Persian invasion the Argives made no move, but the Mycenaeans sent eighty men to Thermopylae who shared in the achievement of the Lacedaemonians. This eagerness for distinction brought ruin upon them by exasperating the Argives. There still remain, however, parts of the city wall, including the gate, upon which stand lions. These, too, are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who made for Proetus the wall at Tiryns.

MYCENAE
[2.16.6] In the ruins of Mycenae is a fountain called Persea; there are also underground chambers of Atreus and his children, in which were stored their treasures. There is the grave of Atreus, along with the graves of such as returned with Agamemnon from Troy, and were
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murdered by Aegisthus after he had given them a banquet. As for the tomb of Cassandra, it is claimed by the Lacedaemonians who dwell around Amyclae. Agamemnon has his tomb, and so has Eurymedon the charioteer, while another is shared by Teledamus and Pelops, twin sons, they say, of Cassandra, [2.16.7] whom while yet babies Aegisthus slew after their parents. Electra has her tomb, for Orestes married her to Pylades. Hellanicus adds that the children of Pylades by Electra were Medon and Strophius. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus were buried at some little distance from the wall. They were thought unworthy of a place within it, where lay Agamemnon himself and those who were murdered with him.

The script
Linear B has roughly 200 signs, divided into syllabic signs with phonetic values and ideograms with semantic values. The representations and naming of these signs has been standardized by a series of international colloquia starting with the first in Paris in 1956. After the third meeting in 1961 at the Wingspread conference center in Racine, Wisconsin, a standard proposed primarily by Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., became known as the Wingspread Convention, which was adopted by a new organization, the Comit International Permanent des tudes Mycniennes (CIPEM), affiliated in 1970 by the fifth colloquium with UNESCO. Colloquia continue: the 13th is scheduled for 2010 in Paris.[4] Many of the signs are identical or similar to Linear A signs; however, Linear A, which encoded the unknown Minoan language, remains undeciphered and we cannot be sure that similar signs had similar values

Inside the walls of Mycenae

The best examples of the Mycenaean palace are seen in the excavations at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos. That these were administrative centers is shown by the records found there. From an architectural point of view, they were the heirs of the Minoan palaces and also of other palaces built on the Greek mainland during the Middle Age. They were ranged around a group of courtyards each opening upon several rooms of different dimensions, such as storerooms and workshops, as well as reception halls and living quarters. The heart of the palace was the megaron. This was the throne room, laid out around a circular hearth surrounded by four columns, the throne generally being found on the right-hand side upon entering the room. The staircases found in the palace of Pylos indicate palaces had had two stories. Located on the top floor were probably the private quarters of the royal family and some storerooms. These palaces have yielded a wealth of artifacts and fragmentary frescoes. The most recent find is a Mycenaean palace near the village of Xirokambi, in Laconia. As of early 2009, the excavation is at its first stages and artifacts uncovered so far include clay vessels and figurines, frescoes and three Linear B tablets. Preliminary findings indicate that one the tablets contains an inventory of about 500 daggers and another is an inventory for textiles. The discovery was announced at the Athens Archaeological Society on April 28, 2009. The well-preserved ruins of the ancient city of Greece known as Mycenae are located in the northeastern Peloponnesus. It was the realm of the ill-fated House of Atreus and the home of
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Agamemnon, famed leader of the Greek forces during the Trojan war. The influence of this Aegean civilization spread to many parts of the Mediterranean region from about 1400 B.C. to 1150 B.C. It was rivalled only by Minoan Crete in ancient times. After centuries of power and prosperity, Mycenae was burned and destroyed by Dorian invaders from the north about 1100 B.C., but continued as a small Greek city state and sent 400 soldiers to fight at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. The site was excavated in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist who was convinced that Homer's account of the Trojan War was authentic. He began digging just inside the walls of the citadel where the royal graves were supposed to be located. When he found six tombs with 16 skeletons "literally covered with gold and jewels," Schliemann believed that he had unearthed Agamemnon and his followers.

Although more recent archaeologists date the tombs to four centuries before the Trojan War, one of the artifacts discovered there is still referred to as "Agamemnon's mask". It is on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Here is a map of Mycenae to show the general layout of the site. a. Cyclopean Walls b. Lions' Gate c. Granary d. Royal graves e. Houses f. Royal Palace g. Artisans quarters h. Cistern i. Treasury of Atreus

The ruins of Mycenae sprawl over rugged terrain tucked between Mt. Aiyos and Mt. Zora. The city walls are composed of large, unhewn stones weighing 5-6 tons. They are known as
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Cyclopean walls because in Greek tradition, Cyclopes had built them. The imposing gateway to the acropolis is named the Lions' Gate for the decorative relief of two lions above the lintel. Just inside the Lion gate on the right is the Granary, so named for the numerous large storage jars (pithoi) found in this room. Just beyond the Granary is the area where Schliemann found the royal graves and treasures, Grave Circle A. It is surrrounded by a double row of upright stone slabs and contains six shaft graves. These were originally situated outside of the city walls, but they were later incorporated when the city expanded. A great ramp leads to the highest part of the citadel where the palace and royal apartments were located. Little is left of the buildings, but the floor plan is much like what Homer describes: courtyard, entrance hall, and throne room (megaron). At the far end of the city is an underground cistern which was used to store water in time of siege. On leaving the city, just outside the Lions' gate on the left, are two of the excavated beehive tombs (tholos) which were used for noble burials. Farther down the hill is the largest and most impressive one, the so-called Treasury of Atreus. The entry way to the tomb is a wide passage called the Dromos that is cut into the hillside. The tomb is a domed "beehive" chamber built of overhanging blocks of stone. The dome is 43 feet high and 50 feet across. The lintel over the doorway is a single stone weighing about 120 tons. Off to the right is a rectangular chamber, an unusual addition whose function remains a mystery. According to Pausanius, the ancients regarded this as the tomb of Agamemnon, but it was likely built a century or two before Agamemnon's time. The tomb had been robbed in antiquity and was empty when discovered. You might enjoy reading a biographical novel about Heinrich Schliemann and his wife Sophia: The Greek Treasure by Irving Stone. It tells the fascinating story of their marriage and their discovery of the gold in both Troy and Mycenae. The difference between grave circle A and grave circle B: Grave circle A Inside citadel walls Six shaft graves Later than grave circle B Graves more wealthy than B Discovered by Schliemann in 1874 Grave circle B Outside walls Earlier than A Less wealthy Discovered in 1951

Within both grave circle A and grave circle B shaft tombs are to be found. They are royal graves. They consist of a pit dug into soft rock and lined with stones. They were roofed over with wooden beams after burial and earth was put on top. Tombstones (stelai) were then used to mark the graves. Within these graves Archaeologists have found:
o o

bones evidence of clothing: jewellery , buttons, pins, belts

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o o o o o o

crowns masks ( gold leaf) - mask o f Agamemnon in grave circle A (The mask actually belongs to an earlier king) weapons - inlaid daggers , knives, swords , etc. vessels - vases , rhytons, cups , goblets, jugs seals - stone or metal animals

A later type of tomb was the Tholos Tomb. The features of this tomb are as follows: Tholos tombs

Royal tombs - later than shaft graves but overlapping in age Three parts o dromos - long passage leading to chamber o deep doorway at mouth of tomb (stomion) o tholos - corbelled beehive - shape burial chamber When a new burial took place the remains of the previous burial were moved to a rectangular side chamber Tholos tombs were the usual form of burial from about 1300BC. They are found all over Greece, but the best example is found at Mycenae. It is called the Treasury of Atreus or the Tomb of Agamemnon . It belongs to neither man, since it was earlier in age. The ornamental pillars from the Treasury of Atreus were brought to Westport House, County Mayo , in the nineteenth century and later sold to the British Museum . (See Shell Guide to Ireland and Higgins , Minoan and Mycenaean Art.)

Mycenaen Palaces Mycenaen Palaces had a number of similar features. Our task is to understand the features and then study the palace of Knossos as a case study. Mycenaen Palaces were situated inside the citadel walls. Their main features were that they had an arnamental gateway, a courtyard, a throne room, a porch, a vestibule (entrance hall), and a megaron (throne room). Little remains of the palace of Mycenae but it would have been similar to Pylos, which is the best-preserved example. Items found at Pylos include:
o o o o

Queen's bath wine cups (thousands!) Bronze arrow heads (hundreds!) Linear B tablets

Similar palaces are found at Tiryns, Thebes, Gla, Sparta

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Palace of Knossos

This palace is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square. Detailed images of Cretan life in the late Bronze Age are provided by images on the walls of this palace. It is also a tourist destination today, as it is near the main city of Heraklion and has been substantially restored by archaeologist Arthur Evans. The city of Knossos remained important through the Classical and Roman periods, but its population shifted to the new town of Handaq (modern Heraklion) during the 9th century AD. By the 13th century, it was called Makryteikhos 'Long Wall'; the bishops of Gortyn continued to call themselves Bishops of Knossos until the 19th century.[1] Today, the name is used only for the archaeological site situated in the suburbs of Heraklion. Discovery and excavation

"Prince of lilies" or "Priest-king Relief", plaster relief at the end of the Corridor of Processions, restored by Gilliron, believed by Arthur Evans to be a priest-king, wearing a crown with peacock feathers and a necklace with lilies on it, leading an unseen animal to sacrifice. The ruins at Knossos were discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos, a Cretan merchant and antiquarian. He conducted the first excavations at Kephala Hill, which brought to light part of the storage magazines in the west wing and a section of the west facade. After Kalokairinos, several people attempted to continue the work (and Heinrich Schliemann had previously showed an interest), but it was not until March 16, 1900 that archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, an English gentleman of independent means, was able to purchase the entire site and conduct massive excavations. The excavation and restoration of Knossos, and the discovery of the culture he labeled Minoan, is inseparable from the individual Evans. Nowadays archaeology is a field of academic teamwork and scientific prestige, but a century ago a project could be driven by one wealthy and self-taught person. Assisted by Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, who had already distinguished himself by his excavations on the island of Melos, and Mr. Fyfe, the
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British School at Athens architect, Evans employed a large staff of local labourers as excavators and within a few months had uncovered a substantial portion of what he named the Palace of Minos. The term 'palace' may be misleading: in modern English, it usually refers to an elegant building used to house a head of state or similar. Knossos was an intricate collection of over 1000 interlocking rooms, some of which served as artisans' workrooms and food processing centres (e.g. wine presses). It served as a central storage point, and a religious and administrative centre. The throne room was repainted by a father-and-son team of artists, both named mile Gillron, at Arthur Evans' command. While Evans claimed to be basing the recreations on archaeological evidence, many of the most best-known frescoes from the throne room are almost complete inventions of the Gillrons.[2] The site has had a very long history of human habitation, beginning with the founding of the first Neolithic settlement circa 7000 BC. Over time and during several different phases that had their own social dynamic, Knossos grew until, by the 19th to 16th centuries BC (during the 'Old Palace' and the succeeding 'Neo-palatial' periods), the settlement possessed not only a monumental administrative and religious center (i.e., the Palace), but also a surrounding population of 5000-8000 people. Legend

A labrys from Messara. The palace is about 130 meters on a side and since the Roman period has been suggested as the source of the myth of the Labyrinth, an elaborate mazelike structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Labyrinth may have come from labrys, a Lydian word referring to a double, or two-bladed, axe. Its representation had religious and probably magical significance. It was used throughout the Mycenaean world as an apotropaic symbol, that is, the presence of the symbol on an object would prevent it from being "killed". Axes were scratched on many of the stones of the palace. It appears in pottery decoration and is a motif of the Shrine of the Double Axes at the palace, as well as of many shrines throughout Crete and the Aegean. The first written attestation of the word 'labyrinth' is believed by many linguists to feature on a Linear B tablet as da-pu2-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja, 'lady of the Labyrinth', which makes the etymology connecting it to labrys less likely. Whatever the word's ultimate origin, it must have been borrowed into Greek, as the suffix labyr-inthos uses a suffix generally considered to be pre-Greek. The location of the labyrinth of legend has long been a question for Minoan studies. It might have been the name of the palace or of some portion of the palace. Throughout most of the 20th century the intimations of human sacrifice in the myth puzzled Bronze Age scholars,
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because evidence for human sacrifice on Crete had never been discovered and so it was vigorously denied. The practice was finally confirmed archaeologically (see under Minoan civilization). It is possible that the palace was a great sacrificial center and could have been named the Labyrinth. Its layout certainly is labyrinthine, in the sense of intricate and confusing. Many other possibilities have been suggested. The modern meaning of labyrinth as a twisting maze is based on the myth. Several out-of-epoch advances in the construction of the palace are thought to have originated the myth of Atlantis. Art and architecture Description of Palace

Magazine 4 with giant pithoi. The compartments in the floor were for grain and produce. An alternative explanation for these compartments is that they were catch basins for the contents of the pithoi if one should break or leak. It would be very hazardous to store grain or produce in the floor of a magazine, the main purpose of which was to hold giant vases of liquids. The great palace was built gradually between 1700 and 1400 BC, with periodic rebuildings after destruction. Structures preceded it on Kephala hill. The features currently most visible date mainly to the last period of habitation, which Evans termed Late Minoan. The palace has an interesting layout[3] - the original plan can no longer be seen because of the subsequent modifications. The 1300 rooms are connected with corridors of varying sizes and direction, which is different than other palaces of the time period which connected the rooms via several main hallways. The 6 acres (24,000 m2) of the palace included a theatre, a main entrance on each of its four cardinal faces, and extensive storerooms (also called magazines). The storerooms contained pithoi (large clay vases) that held oil, grains, dried fish, beans, and olives. Many of the items were created at the palace itself, which had grain mills, oil presses, and wine presses. Beneath the pithoi were stone holes used to store more valuable objects, such as gold. The palace used advanced architectural techniques: for example, part of it was built up to five storeys high.

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Liquid management The palace had at least three separate liquid management systems, one for supply, one for drainage of runoff, and one for drainage of waste water. Aqueducts brought fresh water to Kephala hill from springs at Archanes, about 10 km away. Springs there are the source of the Kairatos river, in the valley of which Kephala is located. The aqueduct branched to the palace and to the town. Water was distributed at the palace by gravity feed through terracotta pipes to fountains and spigots. The pipes were tapered at one end to make a pressure fit, with rope for sealing. The water supply system would have been manifestly easy to attack. No hidden springs have been discovered as at Mycenae. Sanitation drainage was through a closed system leading to a sewer apart from the hill. The Queen's Megaron contained an example of the first water flushing system toilet adjoining the bathroom. This toilet was a seat over a drain flushed by pouring water from a jug. The bathtub located in the adjoining bathroom similarly had to be filled by someone heating, carrying, and pouring water, and must have been drained by overturning into a floor drain or by bailing. This toilet and bathtub were exceptional structures within the 1300-room complex. As the hill was periodically drenched by torrential rains, a runoff system was a necessity. It began with channels in the flat surfaces, which were zig-zag and contained catchment basins to control the water velocity. Probably the upper system was open. Manholes provided access to parts that were covered. Some links to photographs of parts of the water collection management system follow.

Runoff system. Sloped channels lead from a catchment basin. Runoff system. Note the zig-zags and the catchment basin.

Rhyton
A rhyton is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony.

Ventilation Due to its placement on the hill, the palace received sea breezes during the summer. It had porticoes and air shafts.
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Minoan Columns The palace also includes the Minoan Column, a structure notably different from other Greek columns. Unlike the stone columns characteristic of other Greek architecture, the Minoan column was constructed from the trunk of a cypress tree, common to the Mediterranean. While most Greek columns are smaller at the top and wider at the bottom to create the illusion of greater height, the Minoan columns are smaller at the bottom and wider at the top, a result of inverting the cypress trunk to prevent sprouting once in place.[4] The columns at the Palace of Minos were painted red and mounted on stone bases with round, pillow-like capitals. Frescoes

Bull-leaping Fresco, Court of the Stone Spout Frescoes decorated the walls.[5] As the remains were only fragments, fresco reconstruction and placement by the artist Piet de Jong is not without controversy. These sophisticated, colorful paintings portray a society which, in comparison to the roughly contemporaneous art of Middle and New Kingdom Egypt, was either conspicuously non-militaristic or did not choose to portray military themes anywhere in their art. (See Minoan civilisation) One remarkable feature of their art is the colour-coding of the sexes: the men are depicted with ruddy skin, the women as milky white. Almost all their pictures are of young or ageless adults, with few children or elders depicted. In addition to scenes of men and women linked to activities such as fishing and flower gathering, the murals also portray athletic feats. The most notable of these is bull-leaping, in which an athlete grasps the bull's horns and vaults over the animal's back. The question remains as to whether this activity was a religious ritual, possibly a sacrificial activity, or a sport, perhaps a form of bullfighting. Many people have questioned if this activity is even possible; the fresco might represent a mythological dance with the Great Bull. The most famous example is the Toreador Fresco, painted around 15501450 BC, in which a young man, flanked by two women, apparently leaps onto and over a charging bull's back. It is now located in the Archaeological Museum of Herakleion in Crete. Throne Room

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Throne from which the Throne Room was named The centerpiece of the "Mycenaean" palace was the so-called Throne Room or Little Throne Room, dated to LM II. This chamber has an alabaster seat identified by Evans as a "throne" built into the north wall. On three sides of the room are gypsum benches. A sort of tub area is opposite the throne, behind the benches, termed a lustral basin, meaning that Evans and his team saw it as a place for ceremonial purification. The room was accessed from an anteroom through two double doors. The anteroom in turn connected to the central court, which was four broad steps up through four doors. The anteroom had gypsum benches also, with carbonized remains between two of them thought to be a possible wooden throne. Both rooms are located in the ceremonial complex on the west of the central court.

Griffin couchant facing throne. The throne is flanked by the Griffin Fresco, with two griffins couchant (lying down) facing the throne, one on either side. Griffins were important mythological creatures, also appearing on seal rings, which were used to stamp the identity of the bearer into pliable material, such as clay or wax. The actual use of the room and the throne is unclear. The two main theories are:

The seat of a priest-king or his consort, the queen. This is the older theory, originating with Evans. In that regard Matz speaks of the "heraldic arrangement" of the griffins, meaning that they are more formal and monumental than previous Minoan decorative styles. In this theory, the Mycenaean Greeks would have held court in this room, as
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they came to power in Knossos at about 1450. The "lustral basin" and the location of the room in a sanctuary complex cannot be ignored; hence, "priest-king." A room reserved for the epiphany of a goddess[7], who would have sat in the throne, either in effigy, or in the person of a priestess, or in imagination only. In that case the griffins would have been purely a symbol of divinity rather than a heraldic motif.

The lustral basin was originally thought to have had a ritual washing use, but the lack of drainage has more recently brought some scholars to doubt this theory. It is now speculated that the tank was used as an aquarium. Society A long-standing debate between archaeologists concerns the main function of the palace, whether it acted primarily as an administrative center, a religious centeror both, in a theocratic manner. Other important debates consider the role of Knossos in the administration of Bronze Age Crete, and whether Knossos acted as the primary center, or was on equal footing with the several other contemporary palaces that have been discovered on Crete. Many of these palaces were destroyed and abandoned in the early part of the 15th century BC, possibly by the Mycenaeans, although Knossos remained in use until destroyed by fire about one hundred years later. It is worth noting that Knossos showed no signs of being a military site; no fortifications or stores of weapons, for example. Inside the walls

Palace - Megaron type Houses Grave circle A with six shaft graves (originally outside walls) Secret passage leading to a cistern outside

Outside the walls

Grave circle B (less rich and earlier than A) Tholos tombs (beehive shape) Rock-cut tombs Water cistern - Perseus's spring (secret passage to this)

Similar sites

Tiryns Pylos (Nestor) Thebes

The life-style of the people of these sites was similar to that of Mycenae, therefore the culture as a whole is referred to as Mycenaean culture, which was a late Bronze Age civilisation. Grave circles

Agroup of shaft graves surrounded by a circular wall . A number of people were buried in each shaft grave. Two grave circles in Mycenae
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o o

Grave circle A Grave circle B

Royal graves

Bronze Age culture - its fall Bronze Age people of mainland Greece - Mycenaeans Bronze Age people of Crete - Minoans (King Minos) 1. At first Crete (Knossos) was the most important centre 2. Later the mainland (Mycenae) became important and was influenced by Crete (art work) 3. Finally the Dorians invaded Mycenae in the twelfth century BC, and this led to the downfall of Mycenae.

Troy

In Search of the Trojan War: The Age of Heroes 1/6

Homer 700 BC wrote about the Trojan War which apparently took place 500 years earlier. Agamemnon was King of Mycenae World War Two destroyed a Berlin Museum which housed much of Schliemanns finds. Golden artefacts were stolen from the museum as it lay in ruins. Replicas are all that remain. In 1830 Schliemanns father gave him a book which encouraged his interest in the Trojan War. He made his money in the Californian Gold Rush and the Crimean War. He made his first million by 30. His second wife was the 16 yr old Sophia who was Greek and well read in Homer. Schliemann dedicated his life to Ancient Greece. His real obsession started at 46 where he enrolled in a Paris University to study Archaeology. Archaeology was at the time inspired by Charles Darwins Origins of Species. It was Frank Calvert who helped Schliemann to find where to did. He arrived at Istanbul the capital of Turkey and set sail for the Nth East corner of the Aegean Sea to the site they believed to be Troy. New Ilium was the believed site within the Ancient Greek world. He arrives at Hisarlik in modern day Turkey. Its also known as Illion or Ilium in latin!
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Hisarlik is a 700 feet squared hill. Schliemann attacked it with picks and a group of men numbering up to 100. He described a prehistoric wall ten feet high which they destroyed as it was believed to not be old enough to be Troy, He identified 4 cities but no city as described by Homer. He finds plenty of cups and pottery. He becomes worried before eventually, after much digging below the roman city which hed uncovered, he found a greek citadel and a gate which he questioned as being possibly the Scaean Gate. It had been destroyed by war perhaps? This Troy is now known as Troy II. He announced that he had found Troy. He became publicly applauded but was personally unhappy as the finds were not adding up. Soon 50 layers and 9 major cities had been unearthed. 1873 following thousands of tonnes of dig, no historic finds matched what they were looking for. Recurrent malaria and bad health meant that he called off the dig in midJune 1873. Just as they were about to leave himself and Sophia (it was believed) unearthed a stone lined chamber full of gold, bracelets and treasures. He asked; could these be the jewels of Helen herself? They were unfortunately 1000 years too early, older than Troy itself. He had now dug too deep. Frank Calvert claimed that there was a layer of 1000 years missing from him digs, the thousand years in fact which covered the time of Troy. Was Priams treasure even real? Many people now believe he may have faked the treasure. A lot of this treasure was stolen from the Berlin museum when it was bombed during the second world war so now we will never know. It later was found that Sophia wasnt even present as they had claimed when he made the find. The treasure found may havew in fact been grave goods from Troy III or Troy IV. Others today believe that he didnt plant the find but did find it but it was just from the wrong age. Schliemanns Mycenaean artefacts were Mycenaean artefacts and he did find a Bronze age citadel city. He now turned his attention to Mycenae which unlike Troy was never forgotten. Its ruins still lay above ground. When he arrived he found the Lions Gate. Could this have been the crest of Agamemnons family? The city walls were 14 feet wide! He found gigantic tombs with vaulted roofs. Propertius said that Agamemnon was buried within the walls. Scholars believed this to mean inside the walls literally while Schliemann believed that it meant somewhere within the walls. He starts a tunnel inside the Lions gate and soon finds a circle of standing stones inside of which, what appeared to be tombstones carved with chariots and men fighting. He dug deeper and found the tops of five shafts buried deep in the bedrock. When he unearthed them he found what was at the time possibly the greatest archaeological find. In the shafts were the remains of Bronze Clad royalty, men, women and children literally covered in gold. Here too of course he had found the first real remains of

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Homers Iliad, studded swords like the one which Hector gave to Ajax, a dagger blade, and many exquisitely decorated golden ornaments. Cassandras two babies buried with her was a story yet Schliemann finds the remain of two babies covered in gold. The fifth shaft held the bodies of three men in war gear. He lifted the mask off the first and the skull fell to dust. He lifted the mask off the second and the skull fell to dust. Finally he lifted the mask off the third and found a preserved head. Physicians studied the face and teeth and believed that he was aged approximately 35 years old at death. Schliemann sent a telegraph to the Greek King stating: I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon. The graves didnt date from the period however and had been added to for up to 1,000 years. A sixth turned up almost as soon as he had stopped digging. Most likely, he had not in fact found Agamemnon. Pottery found dated 2-300 years prior to that of the Trojan War. Since he had not found any connections to Troy on Mycenae, he returned to Troy again in 1878, 1879, 1881 and 1882. Wilhelm Dorpfeld would now add an architectural dimension to his archaeology. 1884 the two set out for Tiryns of the great walls, known as the fortress of Hercules. Tiryn rose from the plain of Argos, 9 miles south of Mycenae and a mile from the sea. It was from here that the Iliad says that King Diomedes led 80 black ships to Troy. At Tiryns Schliemann had last touched on the palace civilisation in around 1300 BC as worked out from Bronze Age Mycenaean pottery. He found the ruins of a prehistoric palace on top of Tiryns and its wall paintings gave the first visual source of what people looked like from the time of the Trojan War. Yet again the world of Homer was proven to have existed and locations mentioned by Homer had their existence proven. He then looked for the palace of Nestor at Pylos and that of Helen at Sparta. He looked to Crete and the site of Knossos but was unable to buy the site. He then went back to Hisarlik in 1890 with the riddle of Troy still knowing at him. The excavation notes didnt fit. He started excavating outside of the walls where he had originally dug. Then he made an important connection. 25 yards outside the walls of Hisarlik, Schliemann and Dorpfeld uncovered a house that wasnt very deep below the surface.. Schliemann had always believed that a site would have to be very deep in order to be of an age similar to Troy. The house which they found resembled the royal palace of Tiryns. Masses of pottery were found inside which resembled those found at Mycenae and Tiryns. This Troy now fitted the correct time frame. This site covered the 1,000 years missing from the dig 25 yards away at the Hisarlik site! He now realised much of his earlier work on the top layers may have destroyed most of the evidence. In despair he planned to dig the following year. On Christmas Day 1890 he died in Naples. He was buried in Athens and his house there still stands to this day.
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In Search of the Trojan War: Legend under Siege (2/6)

Wilhelm Drpfeld would continue the search for Troy after death of Schliemann in 1890. 300 miles across Aegean Sea from Mycenae and Tiryns is Troy. Drpfeld was perhaps a greater romantic than Schliemann was. He was however certainly inspired by Schliemann. As youll remember, the site Schliemann found in 1890 was not on hill but only yards away from hill. Drpfeld soon revealed that the site that Schliemann uncovered had actually encompassed surrounding area including the hill of Hissarlik. The walls resembled those referred to by Homer and so too did the towers. Perhaps he found the Scaean Gates? And the wall that Patroclus attempted to climb? The site was smaller than Mycenae but it was obvious that it had once been one of the most beautiful cities of the Aegean. Signs of a great fire were evident and signs that the tops of the walls had been destroyed. An Englishman called Arthur Evans would soon, at least temporarily destroy the belief that Troy had ever existed. He would attempt at least to show that the Homeric Bronze Age was fiction. He was excavating at Crete, in search of the palace of Knossos. Born in 1851 his father owned a paper mill. Evans had a classical education, he went to public school and then on to Oxford, unlike the self taught Schliemann. Charles Darwin was a friend of Evans father. He went to find out why the Mycenaean civilisation had not left ant written record. His wife died when he was 41. He soon found small seal stones which had apparently came from Crete, and appeared to have a type of writing inscribed into them. Evans then turned his attention to Crete. Crete as you know is steeped in legend King Minos the labyrinth Minotaur Knossos Daedalus and Icarus Diomedes 80 ships sent to Troy according to Homer. March 1894 Evans arrives at Crete. Here he finds more seal stones. Evans partially reconstructed the palace of Knossos as it is to be found today. His finds at Crete were a revelation. He found a throne room with paintings still on the wall. It resembled Mycenaean palace which showed that Crete had been conquered he believed by Mycenaean mainlanders. He found many stirrup jars. Days into the dig he found baked clay inscribed tablets. Oxford University press made a type cast of these as he believed that he would soon decipher them. He soon believes that they are not Mycenaean and names them Minoan after King Minos. ( the Minoans would eventually be conquered by the Mycenaeans. As a
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student you should consider the Minoan Age similar to the Celts in Ireland, then later the Normans come.) The bull of bull of Minos had replaced the face of Agamemnon as the symbol of the Aegean Bronze Age, (at least temporarily). Bull leaping was depicted on Frescos (painting on walls). Evans sister believes that he found his lost innocence at Knossos and thats why he reconstructed it. It became his escape from the real world. Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae was work of Cretans. Become familiar with pictures. Evans believes that no way could a fleet have set sail for Troy since the fall of Knossos in1400BC as it was too weak thereafter. The views of Evans became view on the Trojan war in the academic world and became the established view. Scripta Minoa held his ideas as written in 1909. Linear B however remained untranslated yet he continued to claim that it could not be Greek. Evans oversaw the site for 50 years. Carl Blegen was certainly an Evans opponent. He was American, born in 1886 and trained as an archaeologist while Evans was at his height. He saw the saw evidence as Evans saw, differently. 9 July 1931 Blegen wrote that he believed that Troy needed to be dug at yet he believed that he would be unable to get a permit. Money for Blegen was not an issue. Drpfeld helped Blegen get permission. Blegen filmed the dig and the dig itself was a re-examination of all 9 levels. Blegen wondered whether or not Drpfeld had actuallly unearthed the walls of Troy. He soon decided that an earthquake had toppled the walls of Drpfelds Troy. He digs the layer above Drpfelds Troy. Troy 7a becomes Blegens focus. After the earthquake the city was rebuilt. From the evidence Blegen believed that all had not been well. A slop tray at a bakery was uncovered by Blagen. He believed that wine was dispensed at the building. He believed that the bread and wine was given to soldiers on their way home from a busy days fighting. In the houses he found sunken storage jars for grain and wheat. He believed that these provided storage for times of siege perhaps. Siege mentality storage is actually referred to by Blagen. It was as if he had believed that they had stock piled. Within a generation of being rebuilt from the earthquake Blagen believed that this city had been burnt to the ground. He found an arrowhead near a jawbone. He believed that the arrowhead was a Mediterranean arrowhead. The city, this time he believed had been destroyed by war.

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The city had been destroyed around 1240BC. He believed that the siege was a fact. From one arrowhead he drew the conclusion of war. Did the storage jars mean anything? Could they really have known what was coming? Blagen then turned to Linear B which Evans had never managed to decipher. Evans had published one hundred examples but this was too small a number to really help decipher it. Blagen headed to find Nestors Palace at Pylos. On the first day he found a huge number of tablets untouched since 1200BC. They were the same as those found by Evans at palace of Knossos. A large linear B text was published. Michael Ventris noticed different and archaic Greek in abbreviated form. This proved Evans wrong as he had believed that the writing was not Greek. Evans ancient Minoan civilisation had in fact been conquered by the Mycenaeans. A Greek king would in fact have sat at Knossos and therefore the Trojan War once more became a real possibility.

In Search of the Trojan War: The Singer of Tales 3/6

Homer tells the story of King Agamemnon sacrificing the life of his daughter prior to the Trojan War. Michael Woods interviews a general if he believes the war as described by Homer sounds like an accurate account. He searches through Homers language to see if anything there indicates that the story is fact or fiction. 700 years after Trojan War the Iliad is believed to have been written. Thats 200 years after the time of Homer. It is generally believed that Homer had preserved the tale orally and that100 - 200 years or so after his death it was written down. The text contains features such of repetitions among them the formulas, descriptive tags or epithets. Such as swift running Achilles, hector of the bright helmet, well built, finely towered, windy Troy. It is believed Homer lived at Iona. If he existed it is believed he was a bard. Most likely the story is not fully transmitted exactly the same each time. Sometimes perhaps they forget the exact words and other times they might make the story better. Homer is justified in describing Troy as being very windy. It still is today but this means it would be the same in Homers day Homer also mentions a wide bay in front of Troy. It has silted up today but hadnt been during Homers day. He mentions tower at main gate where Hectors wife waited. Perhaps this is also a genuine memory.

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Homer says Patrolclus attempted to climb the wall three times. The historic walls which were buried in Homers day were angled in a way making it possible to climb them. He mentioned that the western side had a section of the old circuit wall that had not been replaced. Dorpfeld found such a wall on the Troy six wsite, a wall which was buried during Homers day. Homers poem is an epic Homer describes silver studded weapons which they believe was passed down to Homer by word of mouth. Achilles heel as mentioned in story is interesting as the back of the lower legs was the only part not protected. In Iliad Homer provide a list of 165 places which provided soldiers for going to Troy. It is often referred to as the catalogue of ships. Woods finds that the places listed were often unimportant during Homers time yet would have been very important during the age in which the Trojan war took place. The Iliad may consist of more than one story and encompass earlier heroic figures Homer mentions the Simoeis Stream which was a tributory of the River
Skamandros whose flows merged near the town of Troy. SIMOEIS (or Simois) was a River-God of the Troad.

In search of the Trojan War 4/6

Ten year siege but only ended by trick of wooden horse. Also a woman caused the war... Helen Could it be true? We now know that Troy exists. Bards of Homers time believed that the sack took place 500 years before their time. Troy they believed was sacked by an exhibition from golden Mycenae in the Peloponnese. Could the historic Agamemnon have led the Greek army to Troy? Greek was composed of city states that werent united under any one person. Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae is extraordinary. It was obvious to Schliemann that the tomb of a single king built to this standard was certainly a city that was rich in artistic talent. It was once filled with riches. Royal tombs show that generations of great kings must have ruled here. The Lions gate was the main gate of Mycenae. It is a prehistoric masterpiece. Two lions each with a paw on an altar? The coat of arms of possibly for that of Agamemnons family? A grave circle which lay outside the walls was brought inside when a new perimeter wall was built which encompassed it. Mid 13th century BC the royal family show great interest in lineage as seen by shaft graves of royal family. King of Mycenae had surpassed other Greek Kings in 13th Century BC.
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Could he however have risked all this for a woman however? Homer story is that Agamemnon had been able to persuade allies to help him as the other suitors had sworn to defend Helen. Historians believe that Agamemnon being the most powerful in the region would indeed have been able to persuade them to help him. King Diomedes led 80 great black ships to Troy from Tiryns. Mainland Greece was divided into Independent city states. Powerful city states dominated their own areas. Greece was certainly not united. They had the same gods, had the same language, their architecture was the same, they traded with each other. Since they were connected through trade etc during peace times therefore could they have done likewise during times of war? Therefore is it possible that Agamemnon could have got help from neighbouring city states. Slavery is certainly something which existed in Mycenaean Greece. Carl Blegen found, while excavating at Nestors palace at Pylos that slavery had existed. In archive room he found linear B tablets. Linen, flax fields were operated by slave women. Linen was used for sails and ropes. It seems as though slavery was only present in royal familes. Evidence doesnt exist that personal slavery existed. They are usually described as women of Asia which at the time was used to describe the area south of Troy. Next Michael Woods set off for Sparta home of Helen and her husband Menelaus. In around the very generation of the Trojan War a new palace was erected at Sparta. It may well be the palace of Menelaus as it is suggested that the palace which was built was the biggest palace at the time. Legend says that it was not a Spartan that was king at the time of the war in Sparta but instead that a foreign king was king of Sparta at the time. Therefore perhaps Menelaus built a Mycenaean style palace when he became king of Sparta. Helen and Paris spent their first night in bed on island of Crany. Dermot MacMurrough invited the Normans to Ireland to help get his wife back. It certainly is fair to say also that the Greeks may have been happy to have an excuse to go to war with Troy. Horse breeding is mentioned by Homer as the source of Troys wealth. The slave export trade may also have provided the wealth of Troy. Troy six was believed by Dorpfeld as being the real troy. Its called troy six and was destroyed by earthquake. Troy 7a is the shanty town built on top of Troy Six. Troy it is said by Homer had such strong walls that it could not be overthrown by Human Hands.

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The horse is the image of Poseidon. Legend has it that it was only through the hands of Poseidon that the walls came down. Poseidon was the god associated with earthquakes. 1260BC earthquake threw down the tops of the walls of Troy. New theory suggests that the siege took place for ten years and that towards the end an earthquake came which pulled down the walls of Troy.

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