MYCENAE IN GREECE

By:- Akshat, Sayan, Shrey

 Mycenaean Greece was the last phase of the Bronze
Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from
WHAT IS approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.

MYCENAEAN?  It represents the first advanced Greek civilization in

mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban
organization, works of art, and writing system.
LOCATION
Mycenae is an ancient city located on a
small hill between two larger hills on the
fertile Argolis Plain in Peloponnese,
Greece.

Location - Argolis, Greece

Coordinates - 37°43′49″N 22°45′27″E
HISTORY OF MYCENAE
Early Mycenaean period
(~1600 to 1100 BC)
The name “Mycenaean” comes
from the site of Mycenae in the
Peloponnese, the ruins of what
was once a massive Bronze Age
fortified palace.
 Mycenaean Period. Agora established at Athens.
The Mycenaean civilization dominates Greece.
The Mycenaean settlement of Serayia flourishes on Kos. Argos takes over
from Mycenae as
Gold death masks (including that of 'Agamemnon') made at Mycenae.
most important
Mycenaean monumental architecture first appears at Epidaurus. regional power in
the Argolid.
Minoan Palatial period
superseded
First evidence of a cult
by Mycenaean. to Dionysos in Mycenaean culture.

1700 BCE 1550 BCE 1450 BCE 1350 BCE 1250 BCE 1100 BCE

1600 BCE 1500 BCE 1400 BCE 1300 BCE 1200 BCE

Mycenaean chamber tombs

constructed at Thebes. Mycenaean Epidaurus at its
First palace structure and
First shaft graves Treasury of
peak of prosperity.
constructed at Mycenae. Atreus tomb built
at Mycenae.

Culture in the Cyclades is

Mycenaean fortifications, palaces and tombs constructed at Argos.
increasingly influenced by
First evidence of elite buildings at Mycenae. Mycenaean Thebes at its peak of prosperity and influence. the Mycenaean civilization of
mainland Greece.
Sphinxes are represented in Mycenaean art, particularly in pottery and ivory carving.

Mycenae at its peak of influence.

 Outside the partial circuit wall, Grave Circle B, named for its
enclosing wall, contained ten cist graves in Middle Helladic
style and several shaft graves. Richer grave goods mark the
burials as possibly regal. Mounds over the top contained
broken drinking vessels and bones from a repast, testifying to
a more than ordinary farewell. Stelae surmounted the mounds.
LATE HELLADIC I A walled enclosure, Grave Circle A, included six more shaft

(LHI; C. 1550–C. graves, with nine female, eight male, and two juvenile
interments. Grave goods were more costly than in Circle B. The
presence of engraved and inlaid swords and daggers, with
1450 BC) spear points and arrowheads, leave little doubt that
warrior chieftains and their families were buried here. Some
art objects obtained from the graves are the Silver Siege
Rhyton, the Mask of Agamemnon, the Cup of Nestor, and
weapons both votive and practical. The chemical compositions
of the silver objects indicate that the silver was sourced from
several locations.
LATE HELLADIC II (LHII; C. 1450–C.
1400 BC)
Alan Wace divided the nine tholos tombs of
Mycenae into three groups of three, each
based on architecture. His earliest – the
Cyclopean Tomb, Epano Phournos, and the
Tomb of Aegisthus – are dated to LHIIA.
Burial in tholoi is seen as replacing burial in
shaft graves. The care taken to preserve the
shaft graves testifies that they were by then
part of the royal heritage, the tombs of the
ancestral heroes. Being more visible, the
tholoi all had been plundered either in
antiquity, or in later historic times.

Museum replicas of Mycenaean swords and cups.

 At a conventional date of 1350 BC, the fortifications on the acropolis, and
other surrounding hills, were rebuilt in a style known as Cyclopean because
the blocks of stone used were so massive that the work of the one-eyed
giants known as the Cyclopes. The construction of palaces at that time with
a similar architecture featured a megaron, or throne room, with a raised

LATE
central hearth under an opening in the roof, which was supported by four
columns in a square around the hearth. A throne was placed against the
center of a wall to the side of the hearth. In the temple built within the

HELLADIC III
citadel, a scarab of Queen Tiye of Egypt was placed in the Room of the
Idols alongside at least one statue.
Wace's second group of tholoi are dated between LHIIA and LHIIIB: Kato
(LHIII; C. Phournos, Panagia Tholos, and the Lion Tomb. The final group, Group III:
the Treasury of Atreus, the Tomb of Clytemnestra and the Tomb of the
Genii, are dated to LHIIIB by a sherd under the threshold of the Treasury of

1400–C. Atreus, the largest of the nine tombs. Like the Treasury
of Minyas at Orchomenus the tomb had been looted of its contents.

1050BC) In the middle of LHIIIB, around 1250 BC, the Cyclopean wall was extended
on the west slope to include Grave Circle A. The main entrance through the
circuit wall was made grand by the best-known feature of Mycenae,
the Lion Gate, through which passed a stepped ramp leading past circle A
and up to the palace. One of the few groups of excavated houses in the
city outside the walls lies beyond Grave Circle B and belongs to the same
period. The House of Shields, the House of the Oil Merchant, the House of
the Sphinxes, and the West House.
Example of tholos, outside the Cyclopean masonry, backside of the Lion Gate
citadel of Mycenae: tomb of
Clytemnestra

The Lion Gate; two lionesses or lions

flank the central column.
SOCIETY
In general, Mycenaean society appears to
have been divided into two groups of free
men: the king's entourage, who conducted
administrative duties at the palace, and the
people, da-mo.
These last were watched over by royal agents
and were obliged to perform duties for and
pay taxes to the palace.
 The state was ruled by a king, the wanax (ϝάναξ),
whose role was religious and perhaps also military
and judicial.

The wanax oversaw virtually all aspects of

palatial life, from religious feasting and offerings
to the distribution of goods, craftsmen and troops.
ADMINISTRATION
Under him was the lāwāgetas ("the leader of the
people"), whose role appears mainly religious.

His activities possibly overlap with the wanax and

is usually seen as the second-in-command.
RELIGION
Mycenaean religion was polytheistic (multiple gods).
they also were willing to add gods to their religion
from other belief systems.
Dyeus, most likely a sky god was their supreme god,
comparable with the Greek God Zeus.
They eventually would adopt the Minoan
Goddesses & associated them with Dyeus.
The Greek Pantheon is not a reflection of the
Mycenaean system other then the Zeus-like supreme
being.
The Mycenaean pantheon already included many divinities that
were subsequently encountered in Classical Greece.
Several divinities have been identified in the Mycenaean scripters,
Poseidon (Linear B: Po-se-da-o) seems to have occupied a place of
privilege. He was a chthonic deity, connected with earthquakes (E-
ne-si-da-o-ne: Earth-shaker), but it seems that he also represented
the river spirit of the underworld.
Paean (Pa-ja-wo) is probably the precursor of the Greek physician
of the gods in Homer's Iliad. He was the personification of the
magic-song which was supposed to "heal" the patient.

Poseidon
 The Lady of Phylakopi; wheel-made pottery
figurine of a goddess or priestess from the West
Shrine in Phylakopi; late Helladic IIIA period,
14th century BC, Archaeological Museum of
Milos
 By observing Mycenaean wall paintings,
scholars have deduced that women
during this time often wore long dresses,
their hair long, and wore jewelry, most
notably beads.
Beads made of carnelian, lapis lazuli,
etc., were known to have been worn by
women on bracelets, necklaces, and
buttons on cloaks, and were often buried
with the deceased.

DAILY LIFE OF WOMEN

If women were not officials in the cult or married to
high-ranking male officers, they were likely low-
ranking laborers. Linear B details specialized
groups of female laborers called "workgroups”.
Women who belonged to workgroups did not
belong to independent households. Women in
workgroups are not believed to have been able to
acquire land holdings or have had economic
independence of any kind and are believed by
some to have been slaves.
No woman in Mycenae is believed to have been
able to "own" land at this time, but priestesses
were women who could legally procure land.
Only a small number of women could become
priestesses in Mycenae, but there were other
cultic titles that women could aspire to obtain,
such as that of Key-bearer.
Key-bearers appear to be women who had
authority over the sacred treasury.
The ring in the National Archaeological
Museum of Athens
 Around 1400 BC the character of
Mycenaean art began to change. The
artistic creation acquired a peculiar
character which expressed mostly the
Mycenaean temperament.
The Minoan elements were preserved in
all the arts, but the Mycenaean works
reflect the strength and severity of the
Mycenaean civilization and the intention
of the aristocracy for prestige and
imposition.
ART AND CRAFT
During the prosperity phase of the Mycenaean palaces
the arts, especially the "fine arts" were under the
protection of the central power.
The art workshops were now in special areas in the
palaces and the craftsmen manufactured products on
the demand of the kings.
The art of the transitional period from the Mycenaean
to the Iron Age is not adequately known as the
Submycenaean period is mostly distinguished by radical
changes in the settlement and burial customs and less by
changes in art.
 The Mycenaeans were a warring
people. Not only did they engage in
battle to defend themselves and take
over new land, but they also enjoyed
fighting. Because of their warlike nature,
it was important for them to build
defensive structures.
One of these types of structures was the
citadel, which is a fortified city or part
of a city.
The Mycenaeans typically built their
citadels on hilltops and contained most
of the city inside of them, including the
ARCHITECTURE palace.
The borders of the Mycenaeans' citadels were
Cyclopean walls.
Cyclopean walls were made from enormous
stones, and they were given that name because,
according to legend, they were built by giants,
since the stones were so large.
Inside of the walls of the citadels, the Mycenaeans built cisterns. These were structures that
were built to hold water for the civilization and were usually underground.
The Mycenaeans created a pipe or tunnel system to carry water from natural springs outside
of the citadel into the cisterns inside of the citadel to supply fresh water.