Exploring Mycenaean Greece – Culture, Kingdoms and the Historical Context of the Trojan War

Achilles Agamemnon menaus odyusa Nester these are the names of just some of the many Heroes whose Tales are told in Homer's great epic The Iliad one of the western world's most famous works of literature consisting of well over 15,000 verses that are divided up into 24 chapters or books The Iliad raises profound questions about morality fate honor virtue and The Human Condition The Iliad is focused on the Trojan War which was a legendary armed conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans whose City Troy was along the Northwestern coast of Asia Minor despite being steeped in Greek mythology and with the gods constantly intervening to manipulate events on the battlefield in favor of their chosen side over the other most Scholars today believe that the Trojan War was likely based on an actual historical conflict the exact date of the composition of the Iliad remains a subject of scholarly debate while attributed to Homer who's traditionally thought to have lived during the late 8th or 7th Century BC many experts on the subject believe that the Iliad itself was composed well before that and passed down orally over several Generations before finally being written down Homer's descriptions of the weapons armor and other material culture not to mention the political structure of the Greek Coalition against the Trojans are relatively consistent with archaeological findings dating to the late Bronze Age while several Bronze Age cultures existed in Greece the one that seems to align closest to the world of The Iliad belongs to what we today call Myan civilization the term Myan is a modern convention and named after the Bronze Age site of meini which was the most prominent and Powerful Kingdom in Greece at the time in the IAD M's King Agamemnon is the leader of the Coalition against the Trojans before we proceed any further I just want to quickly mention the basic chronology that's used by archaeologists to categorize and date the phases of the Bronze Age on Mainland Greece based primarily on the sequence of pottery Styles found in archaeological excavations the helic chronology is divided into three major periods the early helic from 3200 to 2000 BC the middle helic from 2000 to, 1550 BC and the late helic from, 1550 to 1050 BC each of these periods is further divided into several phases and subphases while I'll do my best to give you approximate dates as much as possible so that you won't necessarily have to remember each period I just want you to be aware of this relative chronology because any book I've ever read or Museum that I've visited dedicated to my san civilization or simply the bronze AG in Greece references it let's continue the stories from The Iliad and Odyssey have fascinated mankind for Millennia but by late Antiquity most people considered such epics to have been little more than collections of myths and legends enter Hinrich schleman an extremely wealthy businessman turned archaeologist to say that he's controversial is an understatement especially when it comes to his Hasty and often destructive methods of excavation he was also not the best at documenting his findings some have accused him of even planting several of the artifacts that he claims to have discovered in the ground himself that said we have to give credit where it's due it's Shan's obsession with the Iliad and the world of Homer that led him in the late 19th century to spend a considerable amount of his time and Fortune searching for the fabled city of Troy with advice and help from English archaeologist Frank Calvert he arrived at the site of Hisar on the coast of the aan in what's today Northwestern turkey Calvert believed that Hisar was the site of ancient Troy and eventually convinced schleman of this today most archaeologists also seem to agree with him because schleman financed the excavation of the site he and not Calbert gets most of the recognition for Troy's Discovery over the years the excavations led by schan and archaeologists such as Christos Tunas Alan was Carl Bon Lord William Taylor George milonis and others at sites such as meini tyrin and pyos have helped to lay down the foundation for our modern study of inian civilization getting a feel for Greece's geography can help us in understanding its history it's a country that is crisscrossed by mountains and rough Rocky Hills which naturally divide up the land into many smaller physical units the sea creates further divisions cutting through the central and southern portions of the Mainland of the Gulf of patras and the Gulf of Corinth which almost physically separates the pipines from the rest of the European continent these lands are further penetrated by several other Gulfs including the saronic argolic laconian and meinian Gulfs this sea also physically separates many of the inhabitable islands of the aan from the mainland as well at first glance it may seem impossible for a great civilization to develop in an area of the world with such challenging geography that not only made agriculture difficult but also created sizable physical barriers that often isolated settled communities from each other the good thing though is that many of these mountains gave way to fertile valleys with broad Plains where crops could grow and wherever such conditions existed small farming Villages would spring up the land became even more manageable around 3,000 BC with agricultural Innovations such as the plow which allowed Farmers to cultivate even rockier land settlements also formed along the Gulf Coast especially where there were Bays suitable for harboring small ships that could trade with nearby communities along the shores of the peloponese ateka and the islands of the aan it's in such areas that around the mid 17 Century BC several Myan States and kingdoms were born while today we know a great deal about who the Myans were and how they lived the archaeological record currently provides little information as to where they may have come from the many samples of their later written language which today is known as Linear B has been largely deciphered and it's evident from this that they spoke in Indo-European language specifically in early form of Greek based on this and other evidence it was initially believed that the ancestors of the Myans were all groups of pastoralis who had migrated onto the Greek mainland from some area north of the Black Sea most likely what today the country of Ukraine whether this migration occurred all at once or gradually over the centuries is a matter of debate in 2017 a DNA analysis was done on the remains of 19 ancient individuals including Minoans from CRE means from Mainland Greece and a few people from Southwestern Anatolia the study concluded that both the Meenan and minoan samples shared at least 3/4 of their ancestry with the first Neolithic farmers of Western Anatolia and the aan most most of the rest of their DNA matched with ancient populations from the caucuses and Iran however the Myan remains differed from the Minoans in that they also had ancestry that tied them to hunter gatherers of Eastern Europe and Siberia while a study on the remains of just 19 individuals is far from conclusive it does open up the possibility that the means shared more in common with the indigenous Neolithic peoples of Greece than had originally been thought most Scholars of helic studies agree that by around 1750 BC the people that we today identify as the Myans had spread throughout Central and Southern Greece around this time there was also a change in the distribution of settlements throughout the Greek Peninsula during the early phases of the Bronze Age that is around 3,00 000 BC before the Myans appeared in the archaeological record settlements were widely spread throughout the land however a few centuries later during the middle Bronze Age roughly between 2000 to 1550 BC much of the population seems to have moved to New settlements that were clustered together around focal point many of these sites would later on become the Great meinian citadels and palatial complexes that we're familiar with today the exact reasons for this phenomenon are still unclear but it indicates that economic social religious and especially political activities were becoming more centralized it may have also been for protection in the dangerous world of the Bronze Age there was greater safety in numbers in 1876 the team team led by Heinrich schleman discovered a tremendous cache of items made of gold and other precious metals and stones at a burial site within the Citadel of minini that they called grave Circle A the incredible objects uncovered from the graves included fine jewelry gold diadems intricately decorated swords daggers seals ryons and most famous of all gold leaf death masks one of these popularly became known as the now famous mask of Agamemnon though there's nothing indicating that such an object belonged to Agamemnon nor is it from the 13th century BC when he would have lived that is also assuming of course that he was indeed a historical king of minini archaeologists and art historians have dated the objects discovered in grave Circle A to the 1500s BC archaeologists also discovered another older burial site outside of the walls of M's Acropolis that they labeled grave Circle B most scholars believe that the remarkable finds uncovered at both grave circles could not have been made by local Artisans and metalsmiths and to this day no one has determined for sure where the gold used to create them came from the region of argolis where minini tyrin and other important Bronze Age sites are located is devoid of natural deposits of the precious yellow metal theories on the origin of these objects abound some have made the case that because minow and Craftsmen and Smiths already had the skills to create such objects out of metal Stone and ivory that the items found within the two grave circles must have been manufactured abroad others believe believe that they may have been crafted by Artisans living at some of the monan outposts on the Greek mainland this makes sense because many of the motifs found on these objects are similar to those indigenous to Northern and Central Greece and it's possible that Menan Artisans could have modified their products to better fit the taste of their customers it could also be the case that Meenan Artisans were trained by Minoans to create such dazzling objects between the years 1900 to 1911 archaeologist Arthur Evans and his team discovered thousands of clay tablets with a strange unknown script at the minoan palacial site of kosis on cre calling them minoan hieroglyphics it was eventually apparent that though related and with many similar if not identical signs there were actually two different scripts amongst the tablets one which ended up being an earlier minoan script was called linear a as for the second script it was dubbed Linear B and had been appearing at several sites not just on cre but also on the Greek mainland in 1939 the largest cache of Linear B tablets was uncovered at pyos they and other tablets like them remained undeciphered until 19 52 when philologists Michael Ventress determined that they were a syllabic pictographic script and a very early form of Greek authorities on the two scripts are convinced that Linear B developed from the older minoan script but was modified to accommodate the peculiarities of the Meenan Greek language like cona form that was invented in ancient Mesopotamia the Linear B Signs were incised on a soft wet clay surface using a pointed stylus when the clay dried it hardened to form a tablet with the script engraved upon it unfortunately the Linear B tablets discovered at various Myan sites are not very descriptive most seem to contain administrative records with lists of Commodities and finished goods distributed to various people or places although a few do deal with troop deployments and religious matters however there are no lofty proclamations of great Kings excerpts from popular literature diplomatic correspondence treaties or a corpus of lengthy religious texts similar to those found in the ancient languages of Mesopotamia and Egypt from around the same time period an example of a typical linear V text from a tablet discovered that pyos goes as follows a pair of tripods of Creon workmanship tripod on one foot with one handle tripod tripod of workmanship burnt off at the legs jar of larger size for handled jar a pair of jars of larger size three- handled jar of smaller size four handled the linear be tablets discovered at sites throughout the Myan world date to between 1400 to 1200 BC with the overwhelming majority confined to the last few Decades of that range so we're really only getting a snapshot of what Myan Society at the major centers was like just before their imminent collapse but we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves let's go back in time a few Centuries by 1500 BC most of the larger clusters of settlements in Central and Southern Greece not only grew in size but many of the hills they rested upon became increasingly fortified with stone walls and citadels especially in the eastern pipines and viota though we don't have any documented history of any particular Wars or the results of specific battles scholars believe that due to the increase in population in and around the early Meenan citadels most armed conflicts when they occurred were over land and scarce resources as mentioned earlier arable land for growing crops was relatively scarce in Greece and so keeping what you already had and obtaining more of it was a necessity conflicts must have also ensued over the lucrative trade routes that brought valuable Metals such as copper tin gold and silver into the Myan world at the top of the early Meenan social hierarchy was the local ruler ER or wanx he was the one who held the ultimate political authority over his people though some believe he may have also had a religious role how one initially became the local wanex isn't certain but it's possible that he was chosen by a council of his peers because he was the best hunter or Warrior however by the 16th century BC the position had likely become a hereditary one like that of a king from this point onward I'll be using the terms wanex and King interchangeably beneath the wanex was the laetus who served as his second in command or Deputy archaeologists have uncovered numerous High status burials replete with fine daggers swords knives Bor Tusk helmets bronze suits of armor and obsidian points often along with such weapons were pottery and jars that once contained olive oil and wine even the graves of lesser status individuals contained such items though of poorer quality and without much decoration for ultra- high status individuals such as the anx a new type of burial structure the tholos popularly known as the beehive tomb became more common most thoy which is the plural of tholos were built out of large stone blocks and a assembled in a circular beehive shape by placing each successive layer on Stone over the previous one but then tapering the diameter of the room or ceiling The Higher One got such structures were usually built within the side of a hill or separately and then covered with Earth Mani aloy had a wide entryway known as a dromos that led up to its entrance for their occupant or soon to be occupant AOS was the ultimate status symbol the largest and most famous tholos is the so-called treasury of Atrius sometimes also called the tum of Agamemnon at minini and dates to around 1250 BC along with the body of the deceased the typical tholos contained weapons and luxury items such as jewelry objects made of gold and beautifully decorated pottery that was usually imported the ruins of the earliest known Myan Palace to have been excavated are at the site of Menon just a few miles south of the city of Sparta though not the best preserved building from the Meenan era archaeologists have been able to determine that the palace once had living quarters at its center with flanking corridors and secondary rooms presumably for storage and craft production the palace at menalon dates to a round 1450 to 1400 BC but just a few centuries later the newer and much larger palaces at tyan meini thieves pyos and Meda would outdo it while the great minoan palaces on creit may have served as an inspiration the Meenan palaces on the mainland had their own distinctive style of architecture when it comes to the minoan structures the word Palace is a bit of a misnomer because most scholars believe that these massive buildings weren't Royal residences at all but instead political and economic administrative centers that monitored stored and redistributed agricultural output important Commodities domesticated animals raw materials and finished goods such as Pottery wine and olive oil there's also plenty of evidence indicating that these large buildings were used for religious purposes as well however since Palace has become the most widely used term to describe them we'll stick with it here not every minoan Palace was exactly alike but at the center of most of them was a large rectangular Courtyard that was surrounded by various buildings used as workshops and storage facilities the main minan Palace centers were kosis vistos Malia and zachos of which kosis was the largest and today is still the best preserved the major Meenan citadels and palaces also served their communities as administrative and redistribution centers but unlike those on cre they were nearly all heavily fortified the exception being pyos which doesn't seem to have had a massive fortification wall due to the sheer gargantuan size of many of the stones used in their construction the defensive of walls at sites such as minini and tyrin are referred to as copian walls because the ancient Greeks who came after the Myans believed that the strong oneeyed Giants known as the cyclopses had built them also unlike in minoan society the ruler in this case the wanx lived with his family inside the Meenan palacial complexes while the most powerful and well-known Meenan states were in the pelones there were several other major centers of Meenan activity north of the ismus of Corinth perhaps the greatest Meenan site of the north is orom menos in vioa here Fresco depicting Warriors chariots and bore hunting were Unearthed along with a large tholos which archaeologists called the tomb or treasury of Minas it may have been identical to or even surpassed the the treasury of Atrius at minini but today it's not nearly in as good condition the Greek traveler penus who visited the site in the 2 Century ad had this to say about it the Treasure House of Minas is one of the greatest wonders of the world and of Greece it is built in stone circular in shape they say the topmost stone is a keystone holding the entire building in place Greeks are terribly prone to be wond struck by the Exotic at the expense of Home Products distinguished historians have explained the pyramids in the greatest detail and not made the slightest mention of the Treasure House of Minas or the walls of Tyran which are by no means less marvelous while such a description would normally suggest that oranos must have been at the heart of a very important Meenan Center it lacks a large monumental m al Palace similar to sites such as minini Tyran or pyos there have also not been any Linear B tablets discovered there implying that there was no sizable economic activity to be accounted for these two absences have led a few Scholars to come to the conclusion that oromos may not have been a political and administrative Center at all but a ceremonial one that also served as an ancestral burial ground perhaps for the rulers of nearby GLA first excavated in 1893 with work still continuing to this day the Citadel at the site of gla in vioa was built around 1300 BC close to its cyclopian walls the remains of several buildings were uncovered that contained storage rooms what seems to have been a tiled administrative Center and a sistern gla was eventually destroyed around 1200 BC after which it was never reoccupied just to the southeast of gla is thieves a city that has featured prominently in the history of ancient Greece especially during the archaic and classical periods most of ancient thieves Lies Beneath the modern city of the same name which has made Excavating its Bronze Age remains extremely difficult what has been dug up though shows that its residents during the Myan period were quite wealthy archaeologists have uncovered shaft Graves with swords and luxury grave Goods belonging to thieves' Elites along with the remains of workshops that specialized in creating objects out of gold Ivory and stone a large pear-shaped Palace known as the cadmon or House of kadmos was discovered along with several Linear B tablets proving that Meenan thieves was once a very productive place though the capital of modern Greece and made famous during the country's archaic and classical periods few today know of athens's Meenan past this is partially because most of the Bronze Age layers of the city and its Acropolis have been covered over by three Millennia of occupation since then archaeologists have determined though that Bronze Age Athens contained a citadel that was built around 1270 DC in 1937 a staircase leading down to a hidden well was discovered within the north circuit wall Scholars estimate that it dates to the 1220s BC while the ruins of Meenan sites in thess vioa and ateka are impressive the greatest palacial centers in both size and Splendor are in the peloponese with its imposing ruins nestled amidst the rugged Hills of the northern felipin minini stands as an awe inspiring Testament to the grander of prehistoric Greek civilization crowned by the iconic lion gate its massive stone walls constructed with colossal cyclopian Stones evoke a sense of both strength and Architectural sophistication the archaeological remains of the Citadel and the objects uncovered within it reveal that once upon a time a very cultured and complex society thrived here the Acropolis of minini once contained a palace complex with a mearon Courtyards living quarters and storage rooms minini Citadel played a central role in the military administrative and cultural life of this most powerful of all Meenan kingdoms along with grave circles A and B mentioned earlier minini has yielded several other burial sites big ones in fact such as the treasury of Atrius and the tomb of Clum nestra about 9 miles south of minini are the ruins of ancient Tyran the site spans different periods of Meenan civilization with evidence of occupation during the early middle and late helic periods though it reached its Zenith during the latter between 1400 to 1200 BC tyin is most famous for its massive cyclopian walls and fortifications constructed out of large irregularly shaped Stones tyn's walls still encircle the Acropolis and once featured several bastions and Towers given its importance and fame as the home of the legendary King Nester it's almost unbelievable that the ruins of pyos were only excavated in 1939 by archaeologist Carl Bon though there are the remains of a great palace on its main Hill appropriately called the Palace of Nester there haven't been any traces of large Citadel walls discovered there so far however the palace is the best preserved of any Meenan site and consists of a mearon along with several surrounding rooms at the center of the mearon are the remains of a large circular Hearth and a place to the east side of the room where a wooden Throne once stood perhaps just as spectacular are the archive rooms where over 1,000 Linear B tablets were uncovered archaeologists also found bright frescos on the remains of what were once the palace's walls these are just some of the major Myan sites for which there are substantial archaeological remains there are numerous other areas of Central and Southern Greece that shared the same Myan culture religion and language but they were generally devoid of large citadels and palaces in such areas life probably continued much as it did during early helic times with people living in villages and farming without much outside interference it can be difficult to know much about the daily life of the Common People of an ancient civilization because they're generally omitted from Royal records and the proclamations of Kings however archaeologists and anthropologists over the last few decades have been able to use the remains of various settlements art and images created by the Myans themselves on Pottery metal work and frescos objects uncovered at grave sites Linear B tablets and DNA analysis to give us a better understanding of how the Greeks of the late Bronze Age lived and worked most Myan settlements whether small hamlets or massive palacial centers were generally adjacent to at least one fertile plane and a freshwater Source the reason for this was simple agriculture though their artwork and lofty citadels have given the impression that theirs was a total warrior Society the truth is that most people in myin and Greece were farmers and lived in villages and small towns in the countryside often within just a day or two's Journey from a major Citadel or palatial Center luckily for us today many of these settlements had their own administrators who recorded aspects of life in the countryside cereals were the staple crops that were grown and harvested on every Meenan Farm the most important of these were wheat and barley records uncovered at some sites indicate that daily wheat rations were about 1.5 cups while those for barley were about 3 cups growing wheat in barley involved long hours in the field Farmers would plant in fall from October to December and then Harvest and thresh the grain between May and July Linear B tablets also Al recorded extensive olive production which after cereals were the most important and versatile crop not only could olives be eaten as soon as they were ripe but they were also easy to store in jars so that they could be used for another day from olives came olive oil which was used in cooking as a dressing for lighting lamps making soap and in the creation of ointments like olives olive oil was easy to Store and could be exported without much difficulty depending on the location many Myans also ate figs almonds walnuts pistachios and fruits such as cherries strawberries plums and grapes the latter which was used to make wine both for domestic and foreign consumption to add a little bit of flavor many foods were infused with spices such as coriander basil cumin fennel oregano Rosemary and others flax was also cultivated to make both oil and linens at pyos at least 200 women are recorded to have been working in the textile industry as flax Spinners linen Weavers and seamstresses what's also interesting is that much of the flax was allocated to Soldiers and Sailors who it's believed may have used it as the primary material for making clothing and sales for ships cattle was a source of food and leather with the latter used in producing sandals shoes straps and bridles at least one tablet indicates that 234 oxides were prepared annually for the palace at pyos cattle was also offered regularly in religious sacrifices so it must have been considered a valuable commodity in Myan Society goats were also raised for their meat milk and their hair which could be used in weaving textiles sheep were bred for the same reasons and valued especially for their wool not everyone in towns and Villages farmed or raised livestock there were several people who would have been considered specialists in certain trades such as Carpenters Stone Cutters Craftsmen and metal workers the larger the town the more Specialists it had one Linear B tablet gives us a list of ingredients allocated to one such specialist a perfume maker for one of his special concoctions it reads axas gave to the eses the perfume maker the following ingredients to make perfume six coriander seeds 16 Cypress seeds wine 576 L honey 58 L perfume makers created luxury goods that most in Myan Society probably could have done without the same though can't be said of metal workers who were arguably the most important specialists in Myan Greece by 1500 BC the main medal in use throughout the mainland and the aan was bronze which was was needed for making swords daggers spear points suits of armor parts for chariots farming tools chisels cooking pots storage containers cauldrons and many of the important items that Myan Society needed in order to function tablets indicate that pyos may have had as many as 400 bronze workers at any given time copper the main component for making bronze was scarce in Greece and Tin the other vital element non-existent both had to be imported of the two copper was much easier to obtain while nearby Creed did have some deposits of copper that could be shipped for export it was likely Cyprus with its enormous reserves that supplied Meenan workshops with the metal the source of tin used in Bronze Age grease is harder to determine while it is Poss possible that some of it came from as far away as Iran and Afghanistan there were much closer deposits in Central Europe many of the earlier swords found in shaft Graves such as those at meini seem to have been knockoffs of minoan models several of them are beautifully decorated and were probably used more for ceremonial purposes than actual combat however the means did develop a short sword with a broader stronger blade that was likely their Preferred Choice in battle most soldiers also carried long Spears some Warriors especially those from the ranks of the aristocracy wore suits made of bronze many also covered their heads with a Bor Tusk helmet which was a distinctly mean invention as a typical Bor Tusk helmet could consist of anywhere from 30 to 75 tusks the more tusk that one collected the greater status and Prestige the warrior was perceived to have possessed such items were also very expensive and may have been passed down from father to son much like a family heirloom based on the types of weapons discovered as well as depictions of soldiers in artwork military historians of Ancient Warfare have theorized that early Meenan armies from the late 16th to the 14th centuries BC generally consisted of heavy spearmen who were supported by Swordsmen light infantry skirmishers and often chariots this was the preferred mode of fighting against rival palacial centers and citadels for battling against less structured units for example stateless Mountain tribes mobile light infantry seems to have been the best choice there's a good deal of evidence to indicate that this motor of warfare increased in the 13th century BC which was around the same time that many of the larger Meenan sites were increasing their fortifications and constructing large Stone ramparts some experts believe that this may not have been to protect against other Meenan States but to ward off Seaborn Raiders who preferred more hit and run tactics while scenes of brave men slaying wild animals and attacking lions are depicted in nearly every type of Myan art it's believed that mostly the aristocracy partook in such activities hunting was possibly their favorite pastime the most popular game animal was wild boar desired not just for its meat but also for its tusks another animal that could bring Hunters greater stature were Lions until recently it was thought that scenes of War Warriors hunting lions were simply displays of fantasy art but recent archaeological findings have proved that mountain lions were still roaming throughout the peloponese during the late Bronze Age isans also hunted less dangerous animals such as deer hairs Ducks geese and various Birds but these were mostly for food and not sport of all the animals that a man in Myan Society could possess horses were the most prestigious they're also an import as Horses are not known to have been in southern Greece until shortly before Meenan civilization began the more horses one possessed the greater wealth and Status they were perceived to have had to help horses chariots carts and people in general travel more efficiently throughout the rough land that was Greece the m neans developed a wide web of roads and bridges that connected many of the palace centers with each other especially in the pipines this is rather fascinating because it shows that there must have been a great deal of cooperation between the various Myan kingdoms to have built such an extensive network it also has led some Scholars to make the case that the means were more politically unified than had previously been believed one aspect of daily life that has been difficult for Scholars to unravel is that of Myan religion what exactly did they believe which deities did they worship and how did they worship them the problem in knowing precise answers to these questions is that we have a good deal of material evidence such as the remains of shrines figurines devotional images and frescos but not a lot of descriptive written material there is some information that can be gleaned from Linear B tablets but these don't tell us much about any specific doctrines or cosmology if one were to Simply go by The Iliad it would seem then that there was little difference between Myan religious beliefs and the popular Greek religion and Pantheon that many of us are familiar with today while some of the religious vocabulary and even the deities mentioned resemble those from the archaic and classical periods that would follow we can't automatically assume that they're identical and would have had the same attributes or meaning so far there is no definitive consensus as to what the means believed we do though have the names of several deities that are listed on various linear be tablets dating to close to the fall of Meenan civilization in the late 13th century BC tablet from pyos dating to around this time mention several gods and goddesses whose names are either variations of or in some cases nearly identical to those found in the classical Greek pantheon namely Zeus Hera Athena posidon emus and Apollo their relationship to each other though cannot be determined for example there's no indication that Zeus held the role of the greatest or King of the Gods as he was known to be in later Greek religion in fact the God who appears to have been the most important and venerated at least in tablets from pyos was posidon because he consistently got the most offerings of any deity other Myan deities mentioned in Linear B tablets are not present in later Greek religion such as marinus Diya and Kenta they may have been minor gods that were eventually forgotten Linear B tablets also reveal that priests and priestesses had a large role in Myan religion their job was to determine the will of the Gods and to conduct rituals and sacrifices in their honor offerings usually included useful animals such as bulls and goats but as we'll see later on humans as well from around 1800 to 1450 BC the Minoans dominated the Waters of the aian and Eastern Mediterranean through their fast ships and Mastery of the maritime trade networks that connected their home island of cre with Mainland Greece the cletic islands Southwestern Anatolia Cyprus the Levant and Egypt based on their colorful frescos most people have the impression that the Minoans were a rather peaceful people this may have been the case or they simply didn't depict Warfare in their artwork from what we know though the Minoans did not establish a formal Empire in the political sense but due to their extensive Maritime commercial activities their influence in the aan and Eastern Mediterranean was substantial there's little doubt that the Minoans and their culture inspired and influenced the people living on the Greek mainland as we've seen Meenan Elites were already fond of the goods that minoan Traders brought to their Shores from all over the aian and Mediterranean world and it's only natural that they would have imitated and adopted many minoan cultural and religious practices as their own but trade and influence between the two wasn't just a one-way Street for their part the means supplied their minoan partners with raw materials such as wool and Timber as well as agricultural products such as wheat olives and wine many Myans may have also provided security or military services to groups of Minoans especially on the nearby Islands at the site of actii on the island of Thea also known as Santorini there's a house containing a number of miniature frescos including one that depicts several Warriors who many scholars believe are depictions of Meenan soldiers for they March in formation and carry swords Long Spears or lances broad Shields and helmets that appear to be similar to the bore Tusk ones that have been uncovered at several Meenan burial sites as the rest of the scene in the Fresco is rather tranquil and the soldiers are not engaged in battle it's thought that if these were indeed Myan soldiers then perhaps they were employed as mercenaries by the local zanthera to keep the peace and or protect the town from Pirates and other dangers around 1600 BC One of the most powerful volcanic eruptions of the past several thousand years occurred on the island of Thea it threw immense and unmeasurable amounts of Ash and pmus into the atmosphere though most of it fell into the sea the fierce Winds of the aan dumped large quantities of it on Eastern CIT where it may have reached a height of up to 10 cm in some areas according to scientists this would have rendered the local Farmland in such areas useless for at least the next year or so and led to starvation for many of the communities that relied on agriculture for their livelihood the eruption would have also triggered earthquakes and waves of massive tsunamis that would have destroyed coastal towns and harbors as well as any ships in their path such a cataclysmic event and its After Effects would have without a doubt disrupted communication with clients and trading outposts within the vast minoan Maritime Empire but that's not all the volcano's impact may have been a catalyst for the rapid Decline and downfall of minoan civilization the history of creit in the 15th and 14th centuries BC is both extremely interesting and very mysterious the island went through profound change with all things monan onr going into Decline and gradually being replaced with elements of Myan culture how this happened has puzzled Scholars for well over a century but they have a few explanations one is that the eruption of the volcano Ana had less of an impact on the Greek mainland and few long-term shocks to the major Meenan settlements and citadels over the next Century or so as the Minoans lost their Supremacy on the high seas meinian Greeks from the mainland were more than happy to step into any economic and political vacuums that had been created both in the Ean as well as on the manan's own home island of cre around 1450 BC the major Palace centers of Malia vistos and zakros all show evidence of Destruction by fire only the palacial center of kosis seems to have survived the exact cause of these fires is unknown but interestingly Linear B tablets start showing up in the archaeological record on cre not too long afterward especially at the palace of kosis which seems to have continued its function as an administrative Center under a new Meenan regime the great destruction at the main minoan Palace centers around 1450 BC had previously led many to believe that it had been caused by a foreign Invasion from the Greek mainland specifically by Myans but today many scholars are of the opinion that this was unlikely since in their view the destruction throughout the island would have been much greater had there been a violent Conquest they argue that it's more likely that a Civil War in Insurrection against their local rulers an earthquake or some other unforeseen Calamity was to blame and in the aftermath of this meinian Greeks from the mainland came to colonize creit and take over whatever aspects of minoan society still remained including the palace Center at kosas the Myans weren't at kosis for for very long as by 1350 BC it too had been destroyed perhaps by an earthquake but Scholars also have not ruled out that the destruction may have been intentional following the destruction of the palace at kosis Myan culture spread rapidly throughout the aan and within a century became the dominant one in the region most Scholars are of the opinion that there's little archaeological evidence to indicate that the majority of Myan Palace centers were ever politically unified under one ruler they may have had a similar culture religion language and writing system but few would go as far as to say that they were all part of a single state with one king at the helm instead it's believed that the citadels and Palace centers acted with one another much like the city states of AR aric and Classical Greece forming alliances whenever necessary to protect themselves against a common foe but also fighting with each other to further their own specific interests but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence as the great astronomer Carl Sean once said could there at one time have been a great or High King in the Myan World akin to that of Agamemnon in The Iliad for some Scholars the answer is an absolute yes those who held my cini that well- wrot Citadel and Wealthy Corinthos and well- wrought cleoni commander of their hundred vessels was Lord Agamemnon son of Atrius and with him came the most troops by far and the best and among them he himself stood armed in his gleaming bronze exalting preeminent among all the heroes since he was the greatest and brought by far the largest Force this is just one brief description of Agamemnon king of meini and the power that he held within the Greek world at least according to the Iliad but did a ruler like him actually exist in Myan Greece during the late Bronze Age there are a few historical textual sources suggesting that a ruler of at least one Meenan State during that period was recognized as a great king and feared abroad these texts though do not come from Greece or even the aan but from the ruins of husha the once great capital city of the mighty hittite Empire there at the beginning of the 20th century nearly 10,000 mostly cona form tablets were discovered several of the tablets ended up being diplomatic correspondents between various hittite Kings and their counterparts in Egypt Babylonia and Assyria While others were addressed to their numerous vassals throughout Anatolia and the Levant one text discovered at husha is addressed to a certain madua a vassel of the hittite king aruanda who ruled around 1400 BC at the beginning of the letter aruanda recounts events dating to the reign of his father Talia II and a king named ataria of aah ataria the ruler of Ahah chased you madua out of your land then he harassed you and kept chasing you and he continued to seek an evil death for you madua he would have killed you but you fled and the father of my Majesty saved you from death he got rid of ataria for you otherwise ataria would not have left you alone but would have killed you the text is over 90 lines and mostly consists of reminders to madua of how Aranda's father and predecessor Talia II aided him during his time of need and how grateful he should have been since later on in the letter we learn that madua betrayed the hittite King by allying himself with at tarasia of AIA to attack alashia or Cyprus which was a hittite imperial possession at the time it's definitely a very interesting story but what really excited archaeologists and historians alike when they first read this letter are the two mentions of a place called Aya the short form of aawa many scholars believe that aawa is the hittite name for akans one of the terms that Homer uses in the ilad to refer to the Greeks ataria was a very powerful opponent for according to the letter he was able to call up 100 chariots and an unspecified number of infantry for battle against one of the hittite Kings generals the letter goes on and you madata once more did not resist Atara but broke ranks before him then kapili came and took charge of you from hati kapili went in battle against ataria 100 chariots and infantry of Atara Drew up and they fought there are other texts from around the same time period that may also allude to both contacts and conflicts between Hittites and Myan Greeks in Western Anatolia one describes a rebellion by a confederation of at least 22 cities and little States known in hittite texts as the auuan Confederacy in the battle that followed the hittite king either Talia the first or thei but most likely the second was Victorious and captured at least 10,000 soldiers of the assuan Confederacy along with 600 teams of horses the king of asua and his son kukuli chalia eventually let kukuli go and later even appointed him as the new king of assua but the latter rebelled and he was eventually put to death there is reference to this conflict in a badly damaged tablet discovered in The hitide Archives of atusa that appears to be a a copy of a letter from the king of Aiwa to his hittite counterpart the names of both kings are lost to us but most authorities on the matter believe that the hittite ruler being addressed in the letter is muali II who ruled between 1295 to 1272 BC what remains of the letter primarily describes a dispute over the ownership of a group of islands in the Eastern aan the hittite claim is that the islands were just one of The Spoils of War after they defeated the king of the assuan Confederacy but the unnamed current king of aawa states that the islands had been given to his ancestor as a gift from asu's then ruler before he was defeated and overthrown by the Hittites from this it's clear that the king of Aiwa had at least some relation to auua and May may have even lent its ruler Military Support if Aiwa and Myan Greece are indeed one and the same then this might be more proof that contacts between them and the Hittites go back several Generations additional proof of this is the discovery of a Meenan style sword within the premises of the ruins of the hittite capital of husha on the blade is inscribed the following text in a Cadian as Talia the great king shattered the Yeshua country he dedicated these swords to the storm God his Lord the discovery of a Meenan style sword presumably one of many taken from some hapless enemy soldier doesn't prove who the wielder was while it could have been a Meenan soldier in the service of the king of Aiwa the sword could also have belonged to a Meenan mercenary fighting for auua or someone else entirely if the Trojan War is indeed based on historical events then most scholars believe it would have taken place sometime around 1250 BC given this it's useful to examine letters between hittite rulers and their aan counterparts dating to around that time the hittite king whose reign coincides with this date is hatu shili III who ruled from 1267 to 1237 BC One of the most intriguing documents from his Reign is what's known as the taag galaa letter though the author isn't named it's believed that the letter was sent on behalf of hatu shili III to the unnamed king of Aiwa it's been determined that the original letter consisted of three tablets but unfortunately the first two are lost to us but we can deduce from the third tablet that the main issue at hand seems to be the extradition of a renegade named Pam maradu whose crimes in the western most parts of the hittite empire were many one of these was recruiting or more likely forcing thousands of hittite subjects to move across the aan sea to some destination further to the West the reason for rounding them up isn't stated but a few scholars believe that they may have been needed as labor to work on the construction of Meenan citadels and palacial centers on the Greek mainland this makes sense when you consider that the great expansions to the citadels of minini Tyran and thieves tend to date to around this time hatu shili personally led a force to apprehend Pam maradu but to no avail the criminal is reported to have ultimately escaped by ship to AWA whose King was giving him shelter like other corresponden between the great rulers of the ancient near East the taag galaa letter also has a fascinating backstory which I'll cover in another program what makes it extremely interesting for Scholars of Meenan Greece is how the hittite king in this case hatu shili II addresses and shows a great deal of respect to the ruler of aawa when hatui writes to his counterpart he addresses him as my brother which meant that at least diplomatically the hittite king considered the ruler of Aiwa to have been his equal not only this but hatu shili also makes reference to a past conflict over the city or state of WUSA with WUSA is the hittite name for Troy in the talawa letter hatu shili requests the king of Aiwa to do the following with regard to the Renegade Pam maradu oh my brother write to him this one thing if nothing else get up and go off to hati your lord has reconciled with you if not then come over to Aiwa and in whatever location I settle you get up and resettle in another location so long as you are hostile to the king of hati be hostile from another land do not be hostile from my land if you would rather be in karia or Masa go there the king of hati has persuaded me about the matter of the land of wiusa concerning which he and I were hostile to one another and we have made peace now now hostility is not appropriate between us the mention of some sort of conflict between the king of Aiwa and the Hittites at WUSA AKA Troy strengthens the case for those who believe that the Trojan War was indeed based upon a historical conflict yet another interesting fact is that hatu Chili's brother and predecessor muali II made a treaty with a certain alexand of WUSA the name alexand sounds awfully similar to the Greek alexandros and many believe that it's just the hittite pronunciation of the same name in Homer's Iliad alexandros also known as Paris is the prince of Troy who abducted Helen the wife of King manaus of Sparta Manus was the brother of Agamemnon the king of meini in the treaty with Alexandre muali II States and as I protected you Alexandre in good willll because of the word of your father and came to your Aid and killed your enemy for you later in the future my sons and my grandsons will certainly protect your descendant for you to the first and second generation if some enemy arises for you I I will not abandon you just as I have not now abandoned you I will kill your enemy for you but if your brother or someone of your family revolts or later someone revolts against your son or your grandsons and they seek the kingship of the land of wiusa I will absolutely not depose you alexand I will not take that one into my service as he is your enemy in exactly the the same way he is my enemy I will destroy his land that's a pretty strong endorsement of alexand who would have been an important Ally given WUSA or Troy's strategic position on the aan at the western edge of the hittite Empire suppose hypothetically that Alexandre of WUSA is the same as alexandros or Paris of Troy if that is indeed the case then the king of Aiwa with whom huili states there was a past conflict with over wiusa could be the same person as Agamemnon the leader of the Greek Coalition against Troy alexand may not have actually snuck off with the Spartan King's wife that detail could have simply been added to the story many years later to make it more entertaining for future audiences but he might have committed some grave offense against a Meenan King that may have demanded nothing less than a military response against him and wiusa which would have by treaty obliged the hittite king to come to his Aid there's no way to currently prove this but such an entanglement between mean Greeks and the Hittites or their allies may be the historical basis for the epic poem that became The Iliad the story of the Trojan War text dating to the reign of hatu Chili's successor Talia IV between the years 1237 to 129 BC also make references to aawa one is a treaty with shamua the ruler of the coastal lentine state of amuru shamua was talia's nephew he was also married to talia's sister which made him the king's brother-in-law as well it may seem a bit strange that a hittite king would make a treaty with another hittite let alone one so closely related to him but the reason may have been to assure that shamua would remain loyal to Talia and his progeny hittite history is full of discontented sons brothers and other relatives scheming against their King in fact several hittite rulers had been deposed or assassinated by family members after all talia's father huili III was himself a usurper who forcibly took the throne from his own nephew musili theii the treaty with shamua makes the following demands if the king of Egypt is my Majesty's friend he shall be your friend but if he is my Majesty's enemy he shall be your enemy and the Kings who are my equals in rank are the king of Egypt the king of Babylonia the king of Assyria and the king of Aiwa because I my Majesty have begun war with the king of Assyria no ship of AWA may go to him Talia IV was trying to impose an economic blockade of Assyria whose King tuul nerta I first had become his great Nemesis eventually relations must have soured between Talia and the king of Aiwa because a second document mentions how the latter allegedly aided a rebellion against the hittite throne thus speaks Talia the great king the land of the sear River transgressed again for a second second time thereafter tarun Naru King of the land of the sear River waged war and relied on the king of Aiwa relied on the king of Aiwa implies that tarun Nadu received military aid from him seha was an area just southeast of wiusa AKA Troy despite such textual evidence not every scholar of mean studies is of the opinion that aawa was a state or even a confederation based within Myan Greece several including the famed scholar Ferdinand Sr made the case almost a century ago that ayawa is not the same as akya the latter being the word from which akans is derived for him it's just a coincidence that the two sound the same most of those who subscribe to this AR argument also believe that aawa was a kingdom somewhere in Western Anatolia however in light of recent documents those who believe that Aiwa was indeed a Meenan Kingdom make the case that given the stretch of the hittite Empire far into Western Anatolia to the shores of the aan it would have been nearly impossible for another state to have also existed there colonies and settlements such as milanda yes that's basically been proven but a full Regional superpower based there seems highly unlikely other texts also mention that Aiwa was across the sea from hittite territory the only places that really meet this criteria are Cyprus Egypt and whatever peoples at the time lived on the northern coast of the Black Sea all of whom can easily be ruled out the only other options remaining is someplace on the Greek mainland or a large island such as creit the majority of Myan trade was with the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean by the end of the 14th century BC Commercial links with parts of western and southern Anatolia the Levant and Egypt had been established a typical Journey for a Meenan ship would have likely started at one of the ports on the mainland such as Nao or pyos and then sailed to cre from there the ship would take advantage of the Mediterranean winds and travels Southeast to Egypt after dropping off or picking up new cargo the ship would then ride the sea currents that would help to propel it to the Northeast and the coasts of Canaan and the lant where they would most likely end up at the commercial Emporium of ugarit the return journey home would leave from ugarit stop in Cyprus and then catch the eastwest current that would take them along the coasts of tarhun tasa and Luca in southern Anatolia to what's today roads before island hopping around the southern aan on their way back home according to those specializing in nautical archaeology late Bronze Age Meenan ships were quite like the minoan ones that preceded them though a bit smaller unfortunately we don't have a complete model of such a ship but based on the rather limited evidence gathered so far mostly images from Pottery shards and a few seals they appear to have been galys somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 m long with a square sail that was mounted on a central Mast a typical Galley could accompany at least 40 ormen men along with the captain and some soldiers and were light enough to be easily beached on land below the deck there was space for sizable quantities of raw materials and finished goods examples of the cargo such gys may have once carried come from a few shipwrecks that have been discovered off the southern coast of turkey and in the argolic Gulf of these the most famous is the uluburun Shipwreck discovered in 1982 near the the coastal town of KAS turkey dating to approximately 1300 BC the objects uncovered from the floor of the sea indicate that the ubber room wreck contained over 350 copper ingots weighing around 10 tons along with another ton of tin which combined is enough to make about 11 tons of bronze lead isotope analysis indicates that the copper came from Cyprus while a 20 2022 study suggests that the tin came from multiple sources with about a third coming from as far away as modern usbekistan while the rest were likely to have been mined in the taus mountains of turkey in addition to these raw materials nearly a ton of terab benth resin was discovered in jars of Canaanite origin tabin resin was used in making perfume as well as incense there were also large qu quantities of colored glass copper and bronze vessels gold and silver jewelry Blackwood and Cedar Logs elephant and hippopotamus tusks tortoise shells ostrich eggs a trumpet made of ivory weapons tools Stone weights and the remains of olives and pits from some fruits it's difficult to determine if the ship was a Myan Galley or one whose home base was Cyprus or some near Eastern Port such as ugarit the cargo and the route though all but confirm that the ship was traveling from east to west and likely headed to some destination within the Meenan world but what did the means Exchange in return the Greek mainland is poor in deposits of raw materials that were desired both at home and abroad instead Myan palatial complexes likely exported a wide array of finished goods to Market in Egypt Anatolia Cyprus Canaan and the Levant and also parts of Southeastern and Central Europe products such as wine olives olive oil and perfumes manufactured at palacial centers in Greece found their way to destinations overseas as there have been numerous remains of standard Myan style jars and pottery discovered throughout the near East especially at sights of what were once ancient port cities it was not the containers that were the prized so much as the contents within in the 13th century BC something strange was happening in Greece and the islands of the aan no one today knows exactly what was going on but around 1250 BC many Meenan palacial centers began to divert more of their resources into strengthening their fortification systems the walls of minini were greatly expanded and there were efforts to secure the citadel's water supply by carving out a passageway leading to an underground reservoir parts of M's defensive walls were specifically expanded in order to better protect it at nearby tyan improvements to the fortifications of the upper Citadel were carried out while the lower Citadel was enclosed behind a large cyclopian wall other Meenan sites in the north such as GLA and thieves made similar adjustments the Acropolis of Athens was also further fortified and access to its water source made possible only by a secret diagonal stairway descending down to it pyos didn't build any fortification walls but its leaders did take some precautions by integrating its workshops and Stor rooms with the main buildings of the palace where they'd presumably be safer several tablets from the archives also record the organization of a sort of Coast Guard to defend the shores around pyos and Mia such actions by several palacial centers and citadels indicate that there was the General fear not only of an attack but also the possibility of a prolonged Siege either from the forces of other Meenan States or some foreign group group if there were attacks by hostile foreigners then the Greek mainland wasn't alone in 129 BC the Egyptian pharaoh marenta recorded an attack from the West led by hostile libyans and their allies who we mentioned specifically by name as the EES teresh Luca Sheran sheesh Northerners coming from all lands with the exception of the Luca who were from the coastal regions of Southwestern Anatolia the homeland of the other allies in the Libyan Coalition is still hotly debated but most Scholars suspect that they came from various parts of the Mediterranean including as far away as Sicily and Sardinia while marenta claimed Victory many of the group's members would come back to attack Egypt and much of Anatolia and the Levant in the decades that followed around 1200 BC just over two generations after palatial centers such as minini and Tyran had erected their massive cyclopian walls meinian civilization itself collapsed over 3,200 years later how this occurred is still debated by archaeologists and Scholars of helic studies everything from a severe earthquake to civil unrest economic decline Revolution and Invasion by foreigners has been suggested perhaps it was a combination of several of these perhaps none of them what archaeologists have determined is that by the early 12th century BC the sites of minini tyrin Meda pyos GLA thieves and other Myan sites were destroyed most of them by fire while parts of meinian Tyran were somewhat rebuilt and reoccupied for short periods in the centuries that followed other sites such as pyos and gla were abandoned and forever left to ruin Athens though seems to have suffered the least damage and from what we can tell continued to function the popular hypothesis is that the Myan palacial centers suffered lethal attacks from hordes of stateless Outsiders who we commonly refer to to as barbarians today while the attackers may have left behind a trail of death and destruction they themselves have mostly disappeared from the archaeological record there is a good deal of evidence indicating that throughout the 13th century BC The outlying Villages around minini were often attacked and set to the torch it may have been such constant attacks that prompted the rulers of the various Myan kingdoms around 1250 BC to build their massive walls and take measures to protect their water [Music] supplies evidence of a sudden almost simultaneous collapse comes from both the archaeological record as well as a number of Linear B tablets uncovered at various Myan sites the tablet labeled P yjn a29 from pyos tells of how bronze from various temples had to be distributed to the community's leaders for making spear points meaning that there must have been some sort of military emergency on the horizon part of the tablet reads something like this thus will give the officials and Masters and Deputy officials and key bearers and fig supervisors and digging supervisors Temple bronze as points for like javelins and Spears the text goes go on to allocate the bronze into units equivalent to about 2 kg for each official and 75 Kg for each deputy and then there's tablet pytn 316 that mentions sacrificial victims being offered to the gods presumably to gain victory over whoever was threatening pyos it's dated to around the same time as tablet pjn 829 and reads as follows in the month of PLO toyos at pyos he consecrates at vaganis and he brings gifts and leads the sacrificial victims toota one Gold Cup one woman to Manassa one gold dish one woman to posa one gold dish one woman to Thrice hero one Gold Cup to dupus one Gold Cup at pyos at pyos he consecrates at The Shrine of posidon and the town takes part and he brings gifts and he leads sacrificial victims one gold cup two women to Boya and Kenta the identity of the men and women offered as sacrifices isn't revealed they could have been prisoners of War slaves or perhaps even volunteers who were willing to give up their lives for the greater good of their Community the tablets describing the sacrifice date to shortly before the fall of pyos around 1200 BC so the event described was probably a last ditch effort to secure some Divine Aid in order to ward off whatever or whoever was about to bring on the city's destruction apparently desperate times called for Desperate Measures as for the identity of the attackers some Scholars have proposed that they came from northern Greece or somewhere else in Southeastern Europe while many others have argued that they might be one or several of the groups associated with the so-called CA pees who are mentioned in texts and inscriptions from Egypt and ugarit an older but popular view is that the attackers Were Somehow related to the dorians mentioned in later Greek literature and other sources but this has now mostly been refuted due to lack of archaeological evidence others believe that internal social economic and political issues within the Myan world may have been the cause for its ultimate collapse they make the case that competition for scarce resources became exceedingly Fierce and this may have led to unrest and later rebellions by the common people who overthrew their rulers and burned their palaces such unrest may have been exacerbated by a change in the climate which would have affected crop yields and other aspects of the mostly agrarian Meenan economy news of a successful revolt and destruction at one site may have prompted others to do the same and soon the whole palatial system was upended the circumstances and ultimate cause of the collapse of the Meenan system around 1200 BC May Never Fully be understood but it was definitely a fundamental turning point in the history of Greece and The Wider aan world the great palace structures and citadels were never rebuilt and most of them completely abandoned the next few decades afterward saw trade with many parts of the outside world especially the Eastern Mediterranean evaporate save for a few areas along the coast of Greece and some islands of the Ian Linear B and the Art of writing which had essentially been created to keep an account of the activities of the great palacial centers was no longer needed and ultimately forgotten all this doesn't mean that Myan culture religion and language completely died out but it gradually evolved over the centuries into something closer to what we see in the archaic and classical periods of Greek history in a sense the Myans were never truly forgotten in Greece their descendants may not have known them by that name but thanks to the works of Homer the glory and Splendor of their great civilization was remembered throughout the ages until today when we have the knowledge and tools to really know much more about their world and who they really were there's lots more with regard to Greek history coming up so be sure to subscri subscribe and stay tuned thanks for watching I'd also really like to thank the Channel's patrons for making videos like this possible seriously I appreciate all you do these include but are certainly not limited to granek 69 Yap graph pasta frola Michael Lewis Daniel Allen Danny Vanek lxtv Robert Morgan strobeck Frank Tim Lane Sebastian Nado Korea Michael trudell leader Titan mic a g John scarberry Andrew bmer Connor Dolson chish David R Steven ball Gabe Monty Grimes Fran Robbins Cyrus Meir Dian asra Nim Roder hypnos San Brendan Redmond far dundada chanji Adel minomi Jimmy darala anahita deu gulistan deu Sher cam Farhad K and all of the Channel's patrons on patreon for helping to support this and all future content also shout out to Arcus travel for arranging visits to many of of the sites seen in this program their team went above and beyond what was expected and I couldn't have visited all of these places without their help check out the benefits to being a patreon member and if you'd like to join feel free to click the link in the video description you can also follow history with Sai on Instagram Facebook and X formerly known as Twitter as well 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Channel: History with Cy

Views: 246,769

Keywords: Mycenaeans, Mycenaean Greece, ancient Greece, prehistory, ancient history, history, Trojan War, Homer, Hittites, Agamemnon, Achilles, Iliad, Mycenaean, ancient warfare, Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns, Athens, Thebes, Orchomenos

Id: WxDvrmSspP8

Length: 90min 33sec (5433 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2024