Mycenaean societyand cultureYANNIS GALANAKIS

Archaeological excavations in mainland

Greece in the last 140 years have yielded a

great wealth of Late Bronze Age material evi-

dence (1700–1050 BCE), with the vast majority

deriving from the thousands of tombs that

have come to light. Settlement sites, though

fewer, diversely excavated, and dated mainly

to the later phases of the Late Bronze Age,

help broaden our scope about society and cul-

ture during this period (see the map below).

The few securely identified cult sites outside

settlements in mainland Greece and the

Aegean islands have recently added an impor-

tant dimension to religious practice in the

Late Bronze Age (e.g., Ay. Konstantinos,

Amyklaion, Kalapodi, Aphaia, and probably

Mavromati in Thessaly). The decipherment

of LINEAR B in 1952 gave voice to the partici-

pants of the time, broadening our understand-

ing of the structure and operation of

some Aegean Late Bronze Age societies.

A refined chronological resolution has been

achieved for mainland Greece thanks to inten-

sive stratigraphical observations and chrono-

logical correlations (especially with Egypt), as

well as stylistic analyses. The term “Late

Helladic” (LH), although primarily adopted

to describe the pottery of central (including

THESSALY) and southern mainland Greece dur-

ing the Late Bronze Age (the most easily iden-

tifiable attribute of “Mycenaean culture”), is

today widely used for classifying the material

remains of the period according to ceramic

phases (see Table 1). Setting aside this intricate

dating, one can identify in mainland Greece

three main phases with regard to the “society

and culture” of the Late Bronze Age: a formative

one (1700–1400 BCE), followed by the establish-

ment and operation of the major palace sites

(1400–1200), and the period of their demise,

destruction, and abandonment (1200–1050).

PREPALATIAL

Between 1700 and 1400 there is evidence

of growing rivalry between sites in mainland

Greece, most visible in burials and their

associated objects. This competition resulted

in the emergence of a distinctive material

culture. The artistic styles and technologies of

the objects found in these burials were

influenced by contacts with contemporary

fashions on CRETE and the other southern

Aegean islands. Although contacts with Crete

and the transformation of power on the island

around 1450 had an effect on some mainland

centers, it is still a matter of great debate

as “why then” and “how” certain individuals

managed to accumulate such a diverse material

culture (in terms of quality and quantity) in

the graves. A “warrior ethos” is also noticeable

among numerous prominent burials in shaft

graves (already from the late Middle Bronze

Age, 1800–1700), tholos tombs, chamber

tombs, built graves, or even pits and cists: the

emphasis on the warrior persona (among

the various personae of a man’s life) appears

to highlight the dominant ideology of the

period and what it meant to be a “man” of

a particular status and/or rank.

Table 1

1700

1600

1500

1400

1300

1200

1100

Late Helladic (LH) I

Late Helladic (LH) IIA

Late Helladic (LH) IIB

Late Helladic (LH) IIIA

Late Helladic (LH) IIIB

Late Helladic (LH) IIIC

Pre‐palatial(Early Mycenaean)

Palatial

(Late Mycenaean)

Post‐palatial

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 4653–4658.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02133

1

The funerary record provides most of the

evidence for the Prepalatial period. Burials

are characterized by regionalism and tombs

by architectural experimentation. Through

social networking across the Aegean, burial

practice and tomb architecture became pro-

gressively standardized, with “conspicuous

competitive consumption” (both in monu-

mental funerary structures and rich-furnished

burials) becoming a distinctive feature of elite

funerary practice.

The architectural experimentation at the

end of the Middle Bronze Age and the begin-

ning of the Late Bronze Age led to the spiraling

Bounarbashi

Argissa

Palamas Petra

Pyrgos KieriouVelestino Palia

Sophades

TsaniMagoula

MagoulaTheophani

PhiliaDimini PefkakiaNeo

Monastiri

Skaphidaki

Lepenou

Ithaca: PelikataAstakos

Ithaca: TrisLangades

Kephalonia:Starochorapha

Kephalonia:Ay. Theodoroi

Kalydon

TeichosDymaion

Zakynthos:Kalogeros

Zakynthos:Alikanas

Thermos

Kato Vasiliki

VoudeniPatras

Chalandritsa

Achaea Klaus

DrakotrypaAy. AthanasiosPortes

MytikasOlympia

Aigeira

Aigion

EpitalionKakovatos

Frantzis

ElateiaKynos

MitrouKalapodiDelphi

KrissaItea

Kirrha

KastrouliAntikyra

MedeonThisbe-Kreusis

Gla

ThebesEutresis

Tanagra

LefkandiEretria

NisiAmarynthosAy. Ilias

PanaktonPlasi

Orchomenos LithosorosManika

Glypha

AthensAlimos

Ay. Kosmas

KiaphaThiti

BrauronThorikos

Kea: Ay. Irini

Asea

MalthiLakathela Pellana

PeristeriaMouriatada

Pylos (Ano Englianos)

VorouliaPalaiochoria Iklaina

Volimidia Katarrachaki

Nichoria

MenelaionAmyklaion Palaiopyrgi

Ay. VasileiosAy. Stephanos

Analipsis

Pavlopetri

Melos:Phylakopi

Major extent ofMycenaean World

Major extent ofMycenaean World

Mavromati

100 km

N

Triantaphyllia

Korakou

Corinth Gonia

MycenaeChania

ZygouriesBerbati

ProsymnaArgos

Kephalari

Lerna AsineKandia

Iria

EpidaurosTirynsMidea

Eleusis

Salamis: Kanakia

Aegina:Kolonna

Aegina:Lazarides

Ay.Konstantinos

Magoula

Dokos

Nauplion

Korfos

Kokla

Aidonia

Tsoungiza

Figure 1 Map showing distribution of Late Bronze Age settlements in central and southern mainland

Greece. Illustration by Yannis Galanakis.

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monumentalization of tombs. Monumental

built tholoi and rock-cut chamber tombs

marked the landscape with their tripartite lay-

out (dromos: passageway; stomion: entrance;

thalamos: chamber). Although regional differ-

ences never disappeared, they are less notice-

able in the archaeological record, especially of

the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries. Tombs

in mainland Greece were used for successive

burials, the number of which varies between

regions and even sites. Burials were placed on

the chamber floor or in pits and cists and rarely

on wooden biers or in coffins (with TANAGRA in

BOIOTIA yielding the largest accumulation of

clay larnakes outside Crete). The dead were

inhumed and only very late in the Late Bronze

Age cremated (e.g., at Perati). Sometimes in

preparation for a new funeral, earlier burials

were either pushed aside or buried in charnel

pits to make room for the new internment.

Another secondary ritual included the

“smoking” (fumigation) of bones and artifacts

(frequently mingled together, with no interest

whatsoever in retaining contextual associa-

tions). In some tombs these fire rituals appear

to have constituted the last act prior to the

abandonment of the tomb’s use. Tombs differ

significantly in the Aegean in terms of size

and elaboration, as well as the quantity,

quality, and diversity of the objects found

with the burials. In those sites that later devel-

oped into major centers, richly furnished

burials are more frequently attested in the

Prepalatial period, while in other areas they

are more common between 1450 and 1300.

PALATIAL

By 1400–1350, certain sites in mainland

Greece, such as MYCENAE, PYLOS, and Thebes,

became the dominant administrative centers

within their region. Other important places,

such as the MENELAION IN LAKONIA, probably

tried to achieve a similar level of complexity

but may have given way to other regional

competitors (perhaps Ay. Vasileios, where

recently Linear B tablets have come to light).

Communities across the Aegean were influenced

by these Mycenaean states or became part of

them.

The destruction of KNOSSOS at around 1375

probably strengthened further the mainland

centers, with aspects of Mycenaean material

culture between 1375 and 1300 disseminated

not just within the Aegean but reaching well

beyond, from the central to the eastern

Mediterranean. The wide distribution and

imitation of Mycenaean pottery appears to

reflect tastes of the time as well as preference

for certain vessels, such as kraters and stirrup

and piriform jars, and their contents (see

STIRRUP JAR). As Dickinson (1994: 252) has

suggested, the widespread distribution of

Mycenaean pottery, especially during the

fourteenth and thirteenth centuries, should per-

haps indicate that it might have traveled about

“quite independently of the presence or activity

of ‘Mycenaeans’ or other Aegeans” in the trade

networks of the Mediterranean (largely con-

trolled by Syria, Cyprus, and Egypt in the

east). Instead, its distribution to lands nearby,

such as northern Greece, or further afield may

reflect the efforts made by the Aegean palatial

centers to maintain the flow of raw materials

and other luxuries.

Although the architecture of the palaces may

ultimately have been inspired by those on

Crete, it was adapted to mainland tastes and

needs (e.g., the so-called “megaron” arrange-

ment at Mycenae, TIRYNS, and Pylos: a hall with

a hearth and a throne supported by columns

and preceded by an anteroom and porch; see

MEGARON). Unlike the palaces on Crete, most

major mainland centers – heavily fortified

from about 1350 onwards (e.g., Mycenae,

Tiryns, Thebes, and possibly Pylos) – had

a simpler design and were rather small

(Mycenae with < 40 ha probably occupied

half the size of Knossos at its peak, while

Thebes with about 30 ha was half the size of

PHAISTOS). These architectural structures con-

stituted the centers of administrative, religious,

economic, and social life for their local or

regional communities. Although houses were

modestly built with stone foundations and

3

mudbrick superstructures, palaces were more

elaborately built, sometimes with dressed

stone facades, alluding to the more spacious

and elaborate palaces on Crete. The walls and

floors of buildings were often plastered and

occasionally painted with frescoes, sometimes

with detailed scenes focusing on human activ-

ities (hunting and warfare, banqueting, and

religious scenes, but also animals, etc.).

Festivals in open-air sanctuaries and

banquets organized in the palaces were used as

means for paying tribute to the gods and at the

same time reaffirming the political authority of

the ruler. Something similar can be suggested

for the shift from elaborate burials to extrava-

gant building projects observed in this period

(such as the KOPAIS LAKE drainage project or the

fortification walls of Mycenae and Tiryns; also

terraces, dams, and bridges, especially around

the Argolid and Boiotia).

The earliest Linear B tablets from mainland

Greece date to around 1300 (Petsas house at

Mycenae), while the bulk of administrative

documents (including inscribed stirrup jars)

and clay sealings date from 1250 to 1200.

Although the tablets are bureaucratic in

nature, dealing primarily with the economic

concerns of the palaces, they provide invalu-

able information about their political organi-

zation and economic administration, as well as

insights into several aspects of life, such as diet,

gods, ceremonial practice, labor organization,

and personal names. At the top of the hierarchy

was the WANAX (“king,” “lord”), accompanied

by a number of administrators, such as the

lawagetas (“leader,” “gatherer”; perhaps second

in command), the hequetai (followers), the

korete (mayor) and damokoro (perhaps a

provincial overseer), and others.

The absence of foodstuffs like pulses and

objects such as stone tools from the Linear

B documents, well attested in the archaeolog-

ical record, have suggested to Halstead (1992)

and other scholars that the palace bureaucracy

had a specialized interest in certain aspects of

the economy (e.g., the textile and aromatic oil

industries and the control of BRONZE), while the

communities scattered across the landscape

had mixed economies and interacted with the

centers. It has been suggested that for certain

objects, such as pots, the palace was not

a producer but a consumer. Regular and irreg-

ular taxes were levied from the subordinate

centers in kind or services, while the palace at

Pylos supported a substantial workforce,

including women from distant lands (e.g., the

east Aegean islands and the west Turkish

coast), perhaps the result of raids.

Although there is no consensus about the

issue of AHHIYAWA, a state mentioned in the

Hittite sources, some scholars are willing to

identify it with at least part of the Mycenaean

world. A list inscribed on a statue base in

the mortuary temple of Amenhotep at Kom

el-Hetan in Egypt (ca. 1350 BCE) records what

is often interpreted as an official Egyptian visit

to the Aegean, mentioning place-names such as

Mycenae, Knossos, Phaistos, AMNISOS, Kydonia,

KYTHERA, Messenia, Nauplion, and TROY.

Based on the prominence of Cretan sites, it is

possible that this embassy reached the Aegean

at a time when Knossos was still the dominant

center. Shipwrecks (Uluburun: 1330–1300;

Gelidonya: late twelfth century; Iria: ca. 1200)

provide important information about differ-

ent levels of interconnections between the

Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.

MATERIAL CULTURE, 1700–1200 BCE

The rich material evidence of the Late Bronze

Age in mainland Greece has yielded precious

metal vessels, stone vases and reliefs, weapons

and armor, metal and stone tools and utensils,

seals and rings, jewelry (e.g., beads and

ornaments made of glass, FAIENCE, precious

metals, and semi-precious stones), figurines,

objects made of faıence, bone, and IVORY,

and vast amounts of pottery (some decorated

with pictorial scenes). Although textiles, bas-

kets, and wooden objects (i.e., made of perish-

able materials) hardly survive in Greece due to

the climatic conditions, they must have played

an important role in life (e.g., special costumes

for special offices or ceremonies) as well as in

4

death (e.g., funeral shrouds or wooden biers

and coffins). AMBER beads, Near Eastern

cylinder seals, Egyptian scarabs and alabaster

vessels, Canaanite amphoras, and rare raw

materials such as LAPIS LAZULI are some of the

objects introduced to mainland Greece during

the Late Bronze Age.

POSTPALATIAL

Between 1250 and 1200 the major regional

centers of mainland Greece were destroyed

or abandoned, marking the end of centralized

administration in the Bronze Age Aegean. Some

sites were destroyed earlier than others (e.g.,

Gla) or show several destruction levels

(Mycenae, Thebes). Although it is tempting to

connect these destructions, the archaeological

evidence suggests a more complicated picture,

probably the result of several different factors.

Numerous suggestions have been put forward,

from external threats and internal strife to nat-

ural disaster(s). Whatever the causes, palatial

administration was immediately affected by

those destructions – for the people living on

the fringes of or outside palatial control the

Postpalatial period probably provided new

opportunities and certain communities grew

larger (LEFKANDI, AIGEIRA, Perati) or maintained

a substantial nucleated center (Tiryns). Net-

works were realigned, and regionalism became

once again a prominent feature of the material

culture. A renewed interest in the “warrior

ideology” is observed in burials with weapons

on a number of Aegean regions, echoing

aspects of the formative Prepalatial period.

The instability in the eastern Mediterranean,

perhaps combined with internal conflicts in

the Aegean, led to the final destruction and

abandonment of the last remaining Bronze

Age sites; those that survived were reduced to

small villages, only to start rising again from

the tenth century BCE onwards.

SEE ALSO: Aigina; Amyklai and Amyklaion;

Aphaia in Aigina; Argos; Asine; Berbati; Cape

Gelidonya shipwreck; Dendra in the Argolid;

Iolkos in Thessaly; Kalapodi in Phokis; Korakou

in the Argolid; Kydonia, Crete; Lerna in the

Argolid; Midea; Minoan archaeology; Minoan

society and culture; Mycenaean archaeology;

Nichoria; Orchomenos in Boiotia; Perati in

Attica; Phylakopi on Melos; Prosymna;

Tsoungiza; Uluburun shipwreck; Vapheio

in Lakonia.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Chadwick, J. (1976) The Mycenaean world.

Cambridge.

Cline, E. H., ed. (2010) Oxford handbook of the

Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford.

Darcque, P. (2005) L’Habitat mycenien: formes et

fonctions de l’espace bati en Grece continentale a la

fin du IIe millenaire avant J.-C. Paris.

Davis, J., ed. (1998) Sandy Pylos: an archaeological

history from Nestor to Navarino. Austin.

Dickinson, O. T. P. K. (1994) The Aegean

Bronze Age. Cambridge.

Galaty, M. and Parkinson, W. A., eds. (2007)

Rethinking Mycenaean palaces II. Los Angeles.

Halstead, P. (1992) “The Mycenaean palatial

economy: making the most of the gaps in the

evidence.” Proceedings of the Cambridge

Philological Society 38: 57–86.

Hope Simpson, R. and Dickinson, O. T. P. K.

(1979) A gazetteer of Aegean civilization in the

Bronze Age. Gothenburg.

Killen, J. T. (2008) “Mycenaean economy.” In

Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo Davies, eds.,

A companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek texts

and their world: 159–200. Louvain-la-Neuve.

Killen, J. T. and Voutsaki, S., eds. (2001) Economy

and politics in the Mycenaean palace states.

Cambridge.

Rougemont, F. (2009) Controle economique et

administration a l’epoque des palais myceniens (fin

du IIe millenaire av. J.-C.). Paris.

Taylour, W. D. (1990) The Mycenaeans. London.

Wardle, K. A. and Wardle, D. (2000) Cities of

legend: the Mycenaean world. Bristol.

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