Mycenaean Collapse
Transcript of Mycenaean Collapse
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The Collapse of MycenaeanCivilization
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LHIIIB-LHIIIC:
1320/1300-1050/1030 2 centuries ofdisasters:
1250-1050 bc
Multiple destructionsacross Mycenaeanworld
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LHIIIB1:
Signs ofTrouble? Mycenae
Zygouries Thebes Gla
Tiryns Athens Isthmus Wall
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Destruction at Mycenae
Housesoutside
citadel(south ofGraveCircle B)destroyedby fire
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Fire
Accidentalor
Deliberate? Oil from stirrup
jars poured
over floor ofHouse of theOil Merchant
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Cistern &
Expanded,StrengthenedFortifications
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GlaMassive engineering
project to drainCopaic Basin Fortified granary? Drainage channels
destroyed
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Tiryns Enclosure of lower citadel Syringes
(underground water supply)
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Pylos: Watchers by the Sea
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Further Disasters in LHIIIB2
Earthquake & Fire atTiryns, Mycenae & Midea
Mycenaean Collapse dueto Natural Disasters?
But Fire (not earthquake)destroys Menelaion,Nichoria & palace at Pylos
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Population Movements
in/before LHIIIC Massive
depopulation ofMessenia Depopulation of
Argolid, Lakonia
Influx in Achaia
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Mapping the Movement
Influx in Attica,Ionian Islands,Crete, Cyprus
North-Southline ofdepopulation
East-West
populationincrease
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What is Happening
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Social Unrest
Neo-MarxistTheory
Peasant revolt
against elite? Thersites in
Iliad But why
abandonfertile land?
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Mycenaean States
at War? New fortifications due to threat fromoutside orinside Mycenaean World?
Watchers by the Sea => fear of
piratic neighboring Mycenaeans?
Myths of Conflict post Trojan War=> Internecine Strife?
Eteocles and Polyneices: Theban vs.Argos?
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Splits within the Elites? Mycenae Atreus vs.
Thyestes
Agamemnon vs.Aegisthus& Clytemnestra
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Climate Change
across EasternMediterranean?
Dendrochronology saysdrought in Anatolia mayhave destroyed HittiteEmpire
Possible but Unprovenfor GreeceBut why so manypalaces destroyed at thesame time?
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Historic
Evidence? In the seventh book of his
History Herodotus
recounts that Crete wasso beset by famine andpestilence after theTrojan War that it
became virtuallyuninhabited until itsresettlement by laterinhabitants.
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Invasion of
the SeaPeoples Egyptian Sources
of C13th-C12thBC Attacked Levant,
Cyprus, Anatolia,Egypt But Cycladic islands
seem unscathed
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Origins of Sea Peoples?
R III B C
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Ramses III: 1176 B.C.Medinet Habu Inscription
"No land could stand before their arms, from Hatti,Qode, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alasiya on, beingcut off at one time. A camp was set up in one place in
Amurru. They desolated its people, and its land waslike that which has never come into being. They werecoming toward Egypt, while the flame was preparedbefore them. Their confederation was the Peleset,Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, landsunited. They laid their hands upon the land as far asthe circuit of the earth, their hearts confident andtrusting: 'Our plans will succeed!'
h
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Cut-and-thrust swords asevidence of Northern
invaders?
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Good Evidence for Sea Peoples in
Egypt but swords in Greece in goodMycenaean contexts: graves, etc.
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Evidence for Barbarian
Invaders? Handmade BurnishedWare (HMBW) =Barbarian or DorianWare found at sites incentral & southernGreece, Achaea, TroyVIIb
Intrusive population ofsmall bands of piratesfrom Central Europe?
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Evidence from
Myth? Tradition of Dorian
Invasion
Spartans claim decentfrom Dorians Athenians claim to have
repulsed Dorians
Who are the Dorians? The Heracleidae? Multiple waves of
invasions fits fits evidence& myth
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Disruption of
Trade Fragile palaceeconomies pushed
over the edge bycollapse of traderoutes
But, again, why
abandon fertile land?
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Change in Warfare
Light-armed, swift-moving Infantry withJavelin replacesChariot-based warfare
Mycenaean, Hittite, &other Near Easternempires collapse
But War Chariotdepiction more popularthan ever
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Confusing Possibilities
(a) Internal Social Upheaval (b) Mycenaean States at war
(c) Climate Change (d) Invasion from Outside theAegean World
(e) Changes in the Nature of
Warfare Economic Factors
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Film time?
Topics & Questions
Opportunity to boost
grade in discussionclass