Famous from ancient Greek literature as King Agamemnon's capital, Mycenae was the site of almost unbroken excavation during the 20th century, and this continues today. In presenting a full up-to-date account of the site and placing it in its geographical and historical setting, the author concentrates on the great buildings of the citadel--the Lion Gate, the Cult Centre, and the Palace Complex--which flourished during the palatial Period in the 14th and 13th centuries BC. But she also investigates the legends associated with Mycenae and examines the evidence for the pre-palatial and post-palatial periods. Additionally, she is able to incorporate new information on the town and tombs outside the citadel.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts describing Mycenaean involvement in the Trojan War, trade, and other aspects of their history *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents When people think of ancient Greece, images of philosophers such as Plato or Socrates often come to mind, as do great warriors like Pericles and Alexander the Great, but hundreds of years before Athens became a city, a Greek culture flourished and spread its tentacles throughout the western Mediterranean region via trade and warfare. Scholars have termed this pre-Classical Greek culture the Mycenaean culture, which existed from about 2000-1200 BCE, when Greece, along with much of the eastern Mediterranean, was thrust into a centuries long dark age. Before the Mycenaean culture collapsed, it was a vital part of the late Bronze Age Mediterranean system and stood on equal footing with some of the great powers of the region, such as the Egyptians and Hittites. Despite being ethnic Greeks and speaking a language that was the direct predecessor of classical Greek, the Mycenaeans had more in common with their neighbors from the island of Crete, who are known today as the Minoans. Due to their cultural affinities with the Minoans and the fact that they conquered Crete yet still carried on many Minoan traditions, the Mycenaeans are viewed by some scholars as the later torchbearers of a greater Aegean civilization, much the way the Romans carried on Hellenic civilization after the Greeks. Given that the Mycenaeans played such a vital role on the history in the late Bronze Age, it would be natural to assume there are countless studies and accurate chronologies on the subject, but the opposite is true. Although the Mycenaeans were literate, the corpus of written texts from the period is minimal, so modern scholars are left to use a variety of methods in order to reconstruct a proper history of Mycenaean culture. In fact, even the name "Mycenaean" can be a bit misleading since it refers only to one locale in Greece. However, since the city was the first Bronze Age site discovered, it became a reference point for archeologists and historians to use to refer to any Bronze Age discoveries in Greece. Archeology provides the base for any study of the ancient Mycenaeans; since many of their cities were replaced and built over in classical, medieval, and modern times, excavations of the Bronze Age cities can tell modern scholars how these people lived and died. Closely related to archaeology is art history, which can be the study of any material culture including pottery, sculptures, reliefs, and jewelry. The Homeric epics also provide some information about Mycenaean culture, though Homer was a poet who lived hundreds of years after the collapse of the Mycenaean culture. Classical Greek historians and geographers also wrote about the Mycenaeans, but their works should be consulted with caution as some of their statements have proved false and they, like Homer, received much of their information through oral traditions. Finally, the few extant Mycenaean written documents can help tell modern scholars what the Mycenaeans found most important in life. When all of the sources are consulted, they reveal that the Mycenaean culture was as vibrant as any other during the Bronze Age. The Mycenaeans: The History and Culture of Ancient Greece's First Advanced Civilization analyzes the history of this influential Greek civilization. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Mycenaeans like never before, in no time at all.

The period between the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization around 1200 BC and the dawning of the classical era four and half centuries later is widely known as the Dark Age of Greece, not least in the eponymous history by A. M. Snodgrass published by EUP in 1971, and reissued by the Press in 2000.In January 2003 distinguished scholars from all over the world gathered in Edinburgh to re-examine old and new evidence on the period. The subjects of their papers were chosen in advance by the editors so that taken together they would cover the field. This book, based on thirty-three of the presentations, will constitute the most fundamental reinterpretation of the period for 30 years. The authors take issue with the idea of a Greek Dark Age and everything it implies for the understanding of Greek history, culture and society. They argue that the period is characterised as much by continuity as disruption and that the evidence from every source shows a progression from Mycenaean kingship to the conception of aristocratic nobility in the Archaic period. The volume is divided into six parts dealing with political and social structures; questions of continuity and transformation; international and inter-regional relations; religion and hero cult; Homeric epics and heroic poetry; and the archaeology of the Greek regions. Copiously illustrated and with a collated bibliography, itself a valuable resource, this book is likely to be the essential and basic source of reference on the later phases of the Mycenaean and the Early Greek Iron Ages for many years.

The Description for this book, Mycenae and Mycenaean Age, will be forthcoming.

Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series(Part I and Part II) Mycenae, the fabled city of Homer's King Agamemnon, still stands in a remote corner of mainland Greece. Revered in antiquity as the pagan world's most tangible connection to the heroes of the Trojan War, Mycenae leapt into the headlines in the late nineteenth century when Heinrich Schliemann announced that he had opened the Tomb of Agamemnon and found the body of the hero smothered in gold treasure. Now Mycenae is one of the most haunting and impressive archaeological sites in Europe, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. From Homer to Himmler, from Thucydides to Freud, Mycenae has occupied a singular place in the western imagination. As the backdrop to one of the most famous military campaigns of all time, Agamemnon's city has served for generation after generation as a symbol of the human appetite for war. As an archaeological site, it has given its name to the splendors of one of Europe's earliest civilizations: the Mycenaean Age. In this book, historian of science Cathy Gere tells the story of these extraordinary ruins--from the Cult of the Hero that sprung up in the shadow of the great burned walls in the eighth century bc, to the time after Schliemann's excavations when the Homeric warriors were resurrected to play their part in the political tragedies of the twentieth century.

The extraordinary story of the loss and rediscovery of the city that fought Troy, told through archaeology, literature, and poetic black-and-white photography The Mycenaean civilization flourished more than 800 years before the classical Greeks, with a complex society, strong artistic tendencies, and a distinct system of writing. Famous for its lion gate and citadel, Mycenae was long believed to be the city that fought Troy in Homer’s epic, the Iliad. But after flourishing nearly three thousand years ago the society vanished, becoming nothing more than a legend. Mycenae: From Myth to History brings readers into the heart of this mystery, as it was being solved, through lively text, stunning photographs, and an original take on Greek history and mythology. Using the pivotal summer of 1954—a year after Linear B, the mysterious language present on all Mycenaean artifacts, was decoded—as her entry point, author Athina Cacouri reveals the fascinating archaeological history of the site, from the pioneering work of Heinrich Schliemann to the discovery of hundreds of “seal stones,” marked with an unknown language. Cacouri’s text is complemented by the photographs of Robert A. McCabe, whose lens captured the site before it was opened to the general public, giving his atmospheric images a poignant, unmatched immediacy. An original play, commissioned for this volume from renowned American playwright John Guare, sets the mythological stage for the archaeological discoveries to come by recounting the history of the House of Atreus and King Agamemnon’s Trojan War, while commentary on the photographs from archaeologist Lisa Wace French ties those myths to very real discoveries at the site. An essay by Daniel Fallu, detailing the importance of Mycenae’s geology, rounds out this unparalleled survey of one of Greece’s treasured archaeological sites. A multifaceted look at a brilliant civilization and the tireless work that led to its rediscovery, Mycenae is a fast-paced, lushly illustrated exploration of one of the most intriguing mysteries of antiquity that is sure to delight lovers of classical civilization, photography, and travel.