Few words about Mycenaeans (and a bit about Minoans)

August 15, 2021 ☼ history ☼ 2600BC ☼ minoan ☼ 1600BC ☼ mycenaeans ☼ greece

On top of an article I found on LinkedIn, I add some some basic info, as I love the subject. I created a small page to cover the following topics:

Minoans and Mycenaeans

Languages/scripts

The historical setting and the Achaeans

The Trojan War, Acheans (Mycenaean) and Hittites chronicles

The end date

Minoans and Mycenaeans - the two bad boys of European Bronze Age

The Mycenaean civilization (1600-1100 BC) has a glorious predecessor: the outstanding and fascinating Cretan/Minoan Civilization (roughly 2600-1400 BC). Yes, the ones with the Minotaur.
Also the ones who built the first roads in Europe (over 1000 years after Ur and Babylon, though) and the first civilization to use underground clay pipes for sanitation and water supply. Not only highly developed but also very clean.

Sadly, one of their reasons for demise (after they were severely crippled by the catastrophic volcanic eruptions in present-day Santorini) was exactly the invasion of the militaristic Mycenaeans from the mainland…

The latter inherited a lot from the flourishing culture of the former, including language (see below) - therefore we cannot talk about Mycenaeans without mentioning the Minoans. (I will write more about them, soon)

Languages/scripts

When we talk about Minoans and Mycenaeans we refer to two intriguing scripts (writings):

Linear A (1800-1450 BC) is the writing system used by the Minoans (Cretans) to write the hypothesized Minoan language. No texts in Linear A have been deciphered.
Linear B (1425-1200 BC) is a syllabic script derived from Linear A that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. It consists of about 200 syllabic signs and logograms. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries.

Both were discovered and defined (but not translated !) by the formidable archaeologist Sir Arthur John Evans (1851-1941).

Linear B was such a tough nut to crack ! There were A LOT of attempts, including Australian classicist Florence Stawell (1911, 1931) and the legendary Czech Bedřich Hrozný (1949), the one who unraveled the Hittite cuneiform decades previously. None worked.

However, the second World War brought a boost in cryptography and decryption and more heroes emerged. The self-taught (read: amateur) British linguist Michael Ventris, with the huge help of American classicist Alice Kober, discovered in 1952 that it was an archaic form of Greek.

The historical setting and the Achaeans

The Mycenaean period is the historical setting of the Trojan War. We know the Mycenaean as… Achaeans, one of the names that Homer used to refer to the Greeks in the Iliad (“long-haired Achaeans”); later, in the Classical period, it meant only inhabitants of Achaea.

Now, using the Hittite chronicles:
The Hittite term for Mycenaean Greek territory is Ahhiya (or Ahhiyawa in later texts). Due to the amazing work of three German Hittitologists between 1927 and 1931 (J. Friedrich, A. Götze, F. Sommer), Ahhiya(wa) has been identified with the Achaeans of the Trojan War !
Based on Hittite inscriptions, it appears that the Ahhiya were a powerful empire, at the same scale as contemporary Egypt, Assyria and the Hittite Empire.
(Once again, Hittites are enriching history… even 3100 years later)

The Trojan War, Acheans (Mycenaean) and Hittites chronicles

The three German gentlemen above also discovered in the Hittite chronicles from 13th century BC the name Wilusa/Wilusiya - a major city of the late Bronze Age in western Anatolia, part of a confederation named Assuwa.
Now,
Ilios and Ilion (Ἴλιος, Ἴλιον), which are alternate names for Troy in the Ancient Greek language (more precise: Ἴλιον” is the name of acropolis of Troy), are linked etymologically to Wilusa.
Therefore, the Hittitologists and Hellenologists linked the city of Wilusa with the legendary city of Troy. Amazing !…

Interestingly, the Tawagalawa letter (sent by the Hittite king Hattussili III, the legendary co-author of the first surviving written peace treaty in the world) mentioned that the Hittites and the Ahhiyawa fought a war over Wilusa. The plot thickens ;)

And in case you wonder where is this Ilos/Troy/Wilusa: a study from 1977 to 2001 conducted by two geologists (American John C. Kraft and Irish John V. Luce) rendered the topography and geology against the features described in the Iliad and other classical sources (e.g. Strabo’s Geographia) and concluded that the real Troy is in Hisarlik, Anatolia, Turkey.
Mind that are nine (!) layers of Troy. The ones from Trojan War is called “Troy VII” and corresponds roughly to period 1300-950BC (collapse of the Bronze Age)

The end date

The Mycenaean civilization dominated Greece between 1600 BC and 1100 BC. (1750-1050 BC are also accepted). This end date is the agreed date when the infamous Sea People destroyed most of the Mediterranean civilisations (including my beloved Hittites) during Late Bronze Age collapse, triggering the beginning of Greek Dark Ages - 350 years of regression (destruction, famine, depopulation…)

Some accessible documentation used here: