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Bronze Age Greece and Troy

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Gillian Shepherd

The Trojan Horse

Photo © Gillian Shepherd

View from the mound of Hisarlik (Troy?) across the Trojan Plain


“We have no record of any action taken by Hellas (= Greece) before the Trojan War… Agamemnon it seems must have been the most powerful of the rulers of his day: this was why he was able to raise the force against Troy…”

Thucydides I.3

Some dates…? c. 1250 BC Herodotus (5th cent. BC historian) 1135 BC Ephorus (4th cent. BC historian) 1194-1184 BC Eratosthenes (3rd cent. BC librarian at Alexandria) 5th June 1209 BC Parian Marble (ancient inscription listing notable events from

1581 to 264 BC) IE Late Bronze Age Greece and its Mycenaean civilisation? (Late Helladic III 1400-1100 BC)

The Trojan War: an historical event?

http://www.awesomestories.com/images/user/b2f1970c84.jpg

Troy •  9 main ancient phases (with subdivisions)

• Troy II: EBA Troy (“Schliemann’s Troy”)

• Troy VI or VIIA: Homer’s Troy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heinrich_Schliemann.jpg

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-90)

Other important “Trojans”: • Frank Calvert (the true discoverer Of Troy?) • Wilhelm Dörpfeld (stratigraphy; Troy VI)

• Carl Blegen (Troy VIIa)

Schliemann’s trench, Troy


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Section_Troy-Hisarlik-fr.svg

Yellow = ramparts/acropolis of Troy II Pink = ramparts/acropolis of Troy VI Blue = Acropolis of Troy IX (Hellenistic/Roman Troy)

Cross-section through the hill of Hisarlik

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sophia_schliemann_treasure.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Priam%27s_treasure.jpg

“Priam’s Treasure” prior to 1880

Sophia Schliemann wearing the “Jewels of Helen”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tesoro_di_priamo,_grande_diadema_con_pendenti,_oro,_cat._10,_01.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sophia_schliemann_treasure.jpg

“The Big Diadem”, Moscow

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Section_Troy-Hisarlik-fr.svg

Yellow = ramparts/acropolis of Troy II Pink = ramparts/acropolis of Troy VI Blue = Acropolis of Troy IX (Hellenistic/Roman Troy)

Cross- section through the hill of Hisarlik

The walls of Troy VI: Homer’s Troy?


“Three times Patroclus set his foot upon a corner of the high wall and three times Apollo flung him back… when for the fourth time he rushed on like a god, then with a terrible cry Apollo spoke to him with winged words…” Iliad 16. 701 ff.

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicaldig/Mycenae/0001210306.gif

Map of Mycenaean Greece

3000 - 2500 Early Helladic I

2500 - 2200 Early Helladic II

2200 - 2000 Early Helladic III

2000 - 1550 Middle Helladic

1550 - 1500 Late Helladic I

1500 - 1400 Late Helladic II

1400 - 1100 Late Helladic III

Photo © Gillian Shepherd Tiryns “The wall… is the work of the Cyclopes and is made of unwrought stones, each stone being so huge that the smallest of them could not be moved even in the slightest degree by a pair of mules.”

Pausanias 2.25.8

Tiryns

http://www.grisel.net/tiryns.htm

Megaron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BurchtTiryns2.JPG

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/cc302k/Greece/02.Myc.htm

Reconstruction of a megaron (Pylos)

Walls of Mycenae Photo © Gillian Shepherd

“Well built Mycenae”

Lion Gate, Mycenae


http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/lect3/tMycenaeMap0002280005.gif

Mycenae


Grave Circle A, Mycenae (shaft graves)

“…[inside] the wall, where Agamemnon and those murdered with him are lying” (Pau. 2.16.4)


“Mycenae rich in gold”

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=grave+circle+a+mycenae+sword&view=detail&id=CBF3E5998469B3EB6874AD38435B878C3DC70F4C&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR

Bronze dagger with scene of lion hunt in gold, silver, electrum and a black bronze alloy Shaft grave IV

http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true

The “Mask of Agamemnon” Mycenae, 16th cent. BC (Shaft grave V)



The “Treasury of Atreus” Mycenean tholos tomb 13th cent. BC

Linear B tablet from Pylos

http://proteus.brown.edu/greekpast/4690

Linear B •  syllabary composed of:

•  syllabic signs •  ideograms (images of objects/units of measure)

•  Approx. 200 signs

•  Administrative text

• NB Linear A = Minoan text, not yet deciphered

One ebony chair with a golden back decorated with birds; and a footstool decorated with ivory pomegranates. One ebony chair with ivory back carved with a pair of finials and with a man’s figure and heifers; one footstool, ebony inlaid with ivory and pomegranates

Linear B Tablet from Pylos, no. Ta 707 (DMG 242) (preserved c. 1200 BC)


“[Odysseus put on] a helmet made of hide… on the outside the white teeth of a boar of gleaming tusks were set thick… and inside was a lining of felt” Iliad X. 261

mds1 ang - la trobe university“we have no record of any action taken by hellas (= greece) before...

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