mycenaean civilization

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Mycenaean Civilization

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Page 1: Mycenaean civilization

Mycenaean Civilization

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Location•Mycenae was a city in

ancient Greece, located 10km north of agros in the southern peninsula

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• The Mycenaean civilizationflourished during the period roughlybetween 1600 BC,

• It perished with the collapse ofbronze age civilization in the easternMediterranean.

• The major Mycenaean citieswere Mycenae and Tiryns inArgolis, Pylos in Messenia, Athens inAttica, Thebes and Orchomenus inBoeotia, and Iolkos in Thessaly.

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Architecture• The style of architecture used by the Mycenaeans in their cities developed during the

Early Mycenaean period.

• The plan and layout of the Bronze Age cities on the mainland resemble the “palaces” of Crete in many ways, however, the Mycenaeans did develop their own style over the following centuries.

• Architecture of the heroic age in southern Greece from the 17th to 13th century B.C. Exemplified in the earliest phase by shaft graves cut into the sloping rock, with sidewalls of stone masonry and a timber roof;

• In the middle period by monumental beehive tombs constructed of superimposed layers of enormous stone blocks progressively projecting to create a parabolic corbeled vault, with a stone-faced, inclined access passage leading to the entrance composed of upward-slanting jambs and a heavy stone lintel supporting a characteristic Mycenaean relief triangle

• In the late period by fortified palaces having Cyclopean walls, underground passages with corbeled vaults, postern gates, and cisterns, laid out on an irregular ground plan, with distinctive propylaea, one or more unconnected columnar halls with porches facing individual courts, and long corridors linking auxiliary and storage rooms.

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Fortifications• The principal Mycenaean towns were well

fortified. against a large hill as in Mycenae, or on the coastal plain, like Gla or Pylos.

• Besides the citadels, there are also isolated forts that undoubtedly served to militarily control territory.

• Mycenaean walls were often made in a fashion called cyclopean, which means that they were constructed of large, unworked boulders up to eight meters (26 ft) thick, loosely fitted without the clay mortar of the day.

• Different types of entrances or exits can be seen: for emonumental gates, access ramps, hidden doors, and vaulted galleries scaping in case of a siege. Fear of attack meant that the chosen site must have a cistern or well at its disposal.

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The graves of the bronze age• Two sets of graves found in the soil of Mycenae have

given a fascinating glimpse of the wealth and artisticaccomplishments of this city.

• The graves in each were enclosed within a circularwall. The older set, tentatively dated between 1700and 1600 B.C., was outside the walls that surround thecitadel of Mycenae

• There were wealthy Greeks, perhaps from a royalfamily or clan. Alongside the bodies, the survivingrelatives had deposited various offerings, for example,a golden rattle in a child's grave.

• The second set of graves, inside the citadel walls, farsurpassed the older ones in wealth. Their contentsinclude such stunning luxuries as three masks of goldfoil that were pressed on the faces of the dead and acomplete burial suit of gold foil wrapped around achild, as well as swords, knives, daggers, and hundredsof gold ornaments.

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Tombs• The tombs of the Mycenaeans are famous for

their unique construction and, of course, theamazing riches that were found in many ofthem.

• The first style of tomb popular on themainland was the shaft grave. Two wellpreserved examples from Mycenae are knownas Grave Circle A and Grave Circle B. Bothwere communal graves, the first held 19skeletons and the second, 24. The spectrum ofages represented in each suggest commonfamily burials. Both contained many fineexamples of Early Mycenaean art pieces,including the now infamous Mask ofAgamemnon.

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• The tholos tomb became popular for the burials of entire royal families later in the Mycenaean period.

• These tombs are known throughout Greece during the Bronze Age and are easily recognized by their bee-hive shape created by corbel vaulting of a round building. The most famous of these tholos tombs by far is the so-called Treasury of Atreus discovered by Heinrich Schliemann.

• These tholos tombs were entered through a dromos, or entrance passage.

• Dimensions :

• At the Treasury of Atreus, this dromos is of monumental proportions, 6m wide and 36m long. The dome of the tholos is equally impressive, 14.6m in diameter and 13.5m to the top of the dome.

• The stone work of the interior is very refined for the period, with a smooth surface of limestone.

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Corbel vaulting• Many of the Mycenaean constructions utilized stone

blocks of an enormous size. Some of the blocks are the size of a small truck.

• This technique can be used to span arched corridors and circular domes in buildings and is often used to lighten the weight above doorways. The corbel vault is created by arranging courses of stones with each successive course projecting slightly more into the space, until a single stone can be placed over the top of the triangular arch.

• The tunnel at Mycenae leading to the “secret spring” and the tholos tombs of the Mycenaeans are the most recognizable uses of corbel vaulting.

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•The Lion Gate of Mycenae was the entrance to the city. Atop thegate, two lions rampant are carved in stone relief. Similar bas-reliefs of two lions rampant facing each other are found in anumber of places in Phrygia in Asia Minor.

•The gate was about 10 feet wide and 10 feet high; the carvedstone with the lions is about three feet high. It forms what is calleda "relieving triangle", because the carved slab weighs much lessthan the stones to the right and left; this reduced pressure on thelintel block below it. That block weighs two tons or so. The doorwas made up of two wooden leaves opening inward.

•The lions originally had heads made of metal, but they have longsince disappeared. The column the two lions stand beside perhapsrepresented the god of the royal house; the lions served to guardthe entrance.

Lion gate

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The Megaron• The megaron is the great hall of the Grecian palace complexes.

• It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch, and a more or less central, open hearth vented though an oculus in the roof above it and surrounded by four columns.

• It was used for poetry, feasts, worship, sacrifice, formal royal functions, councils, and is said to be where guests of the king would stay during their visits

• Originally it was very colourful — made with the Minoan architectural order, the insides made of fired brick and a wooden roof supported on beams.

• The rooftop was tiled with ceramic and terracotta tiles.

• The Megaron creates the notion of special approach and axis and thus is considered to be the predecessor of all orders in architectural theory

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The Megaron

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Mycenaean palaces• The palaces of the mainland Mycenaeans are sprawling

buildings usually located at the center of the fortified citadel.

• Mycenaean palaces were built around great halls calledmegaron rather than around an open space as in Crete.

• The best examples of the Mycenaean palace are seen in theexcavations at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.

• Within the palace complex residential space, storeroomsand workshops were arranged around the central megaron,considered to function as the audience chamber for theroyals. Most were probably two-storied, but in all cases thesecond story has not survived and must be hypothesized fromstairways.

• The plan of the palace varies a great deal from site to site,but they all share the megaron as their central feature

• This plan features two megarons suggesting a publicaudience chamber as well as one reserved for moreimportant visitors and family.

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Palace of tyrins•The city of Tiryns, situated on a ridge in the plain between Nauplion and Mycenae, has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age but attained its greatest splendour in the late Mycenaean period (c. 1400-1200 BCE). •The bluff on which it stood was only 18 m (59 ft) higher than the surrounding plain, which in ancient times was a salt march.• The palace on the summit of the citadel was excavated (1884-85) by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and until the later discoveries in Crete was considered the most complete example of the home of a prehistoric king in the Aegean area.• It includes entrance gates, paved courts, large halls, vestibules, smaller rooms, and a bath.• It was apparently built by stages; the complex of buildings representing both earlier and later palaces. Tiryns survived into the classical period but was destroyed by Argos about 468 BCE.•Tiryns survived into the classical period but was destroyed by

Argos about 468 BCE.

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Knossos palace•Labyrinth, or Knossos 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 palace has an interesting layout. The 1,300 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).

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•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 stories high 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.

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Palace of pylos

• The most thoroughly excavated palace is that of Pylos, the fable home of King Nestor. The site is one of the few Mycenaean cities that was undamaged by later settlement on the site, so modern excavations have been quite fruitful.

• The information recovered from Pylos reveals the high level of decoration that occurred in Mycenaean palaces.

• The walls, floors and ceilings of the megaron were covered in frescoes of bright colors.

• the residential suites on the ground floor were quite spacious,

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Citadel and fortifications

• The citadel of Mycenae was probably the greatest and the largest of all the Mycenaean cities.

• Located on the top of a hill, the city was meant to take the fullest advantage of the natural defenses.

• The fortified wall surrounding the city was built up in progressive stages with the last section completed only a short time before the city was abandoned.

• The city walls were immense, incredibly thick, and consisting of several ton boulders

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Reason of its collapse• Around 1100 BC, the Mycenaean civilization collapsed.

Numerous cities were sacked, and the region entered what historians describe as a dark age for its lack of inscriptions, with some Mycenaeans fleeing to Cyprus as well as other Greek islands and coastal parts of Anatolia.

• During this period, Greece experienced decreasing population and the limited literacy, connected with bureaucrats of palace culture, disappeared.

• Alternate theories for the decline also include natural disasters such as a series of earthquakes or large-scale drought, although these recent theories are more controversial.