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What are the periods of the Mycenaean civilization?

The Mycenaean civilization was a civilization of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece. It was named after the city of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, with Mycenae, Tyrins, and Pelos as major states. The Mycenaean civilization is an important part of the Aegean civilization, inheriting and developing the Cretan civilization. Around 1900 BC, the Mycenaeans began to settle in the Peloponnese until 1600 BC. The Mycenaean civilization began to decline in 1200 BC, and the Dorians invaded southward, proclaiming the demise of the Mycenaean civilization. This was the last stage of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, and most of the history of ancient Greek literature and mythology, including Homer’s epics, is set in this period.

Historical Period

The dynasties are called Shaft Tomb Dynasty and Dome Tomb Dynasty according to the data of archaeological excavations. Shaft Tomb Dynasty lasted for about a hundred years, and was replaced by Dome Tomb Dynasty after 1500 BC.

Pre-dynastic Period

The Mycenaeans belong to the Indo-European language family. They settled in the Peloponnese in about 2000 BC and entered the pre-dynastic period. At this time, the Mycenaeans had not yet established a country. Influenced by the Cretan civilization, the Mycenaeans gradually transitioned to a period of civilization. About 1600 BC, the Mycenaeans established a country.

Shaft Tomb Dynasty

The main artifacts of the Shaft Tomb Dynasty are found in two cemeteries inside and outside the Mycenaean citadel. There are many royal tombs in the park, which contain a wealth of gold and silver funeral accessories, the number of which is rare in the world (there are more than 870 tombs in one of the tombs). The level of craftsmanship is also very high, most of which are specialties of Crete, and some are from Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria. This shows that the Mycenaean royal family and aristocrats once served as mercenary leaders in Crete and Egypt and other places. With the close contacts with overseas advanced civilization areas, Mycenaean’s economy and culture developed rapidly and its national strength was strong.

Dome Dynasty

During the Dome Dynasty, Mycenae became a powerful country that could rival Crete. The domed tomb is not like the shaft tomb, which only has a simple underground tomb, but a circular tomb built with rock drilling and masonry on the ground. The roof is shaped like a beehive, so it is also called a beehive tomb. The construction of such tombs required high masonry engineering skills. Although its shape originated from Crete, it became increasingly large in Mycenae. The largest existing dome tomb is 13.2 meters high, and the tomb door is 10 meters high.

Mechanism
Politics

The early Mycenaean civilization was still in the period of clan society. According to archaeological excavations and the deciphering of Mycenaean characters, in 1500 BC, Mycenae entered the period of the Dome Tomb Dynasty, and large palaces appeared in Tailings, Pylos and other places. And the castle, marking the Mycenaeans into civilized society. According to the interpretation of the clay tablet records: the rulers of the city-state include kings, generals, royal servants and landowners (Telestai), officials at all levels, priests; institutions include popular assemblies and noble councils; grass-roots social organizations It is a commune composed of elders.

Religion

So far, the altar has only been found in the palace, which may prove that the king also holds religious power in his own hands, for example, they may be high priests themselves. The early religions throughout the region were essentially the same, with key features such as the worship of the main gods, who inhabited the main figures of nature (sun, stars, mountains, trees, etc.) and held the secrets of fertility. This worship went through an aniconic period, from which fetishes such as stones, pillars, trees, weapons (double-sided axes or shields) were derived, and so on. When the idol phase came in 2000 BC, we found that, as in the rest of the eastern Mediterranean, they had a goddess representing the gods, plus a young subordinate god, possibly the goddess’ son and consort.

This pair represents the fertility that is closely related to human beings. The goddess sometimes appears with the dove representing Uranus (heaven); sometimes with the serpent representing Chongnik (earth). In rituals, fetishes, usually figurines, play a large role: all plants and animals are sacred, sacrifices (non-human, not to be burned) are used, all forms of tribute and simulacrum (simulacrum), possession and other religious practices, there is the phenomenon of worship of the dead. This early nature cult explains many anomalies in ancient Greek religions, especially the cults of Artemis and Aphrodite.

Judging from the available evidence, the Mycenaean religion may be the source of the ancient Greek religion. Poseidon seems to have a high status, but he is regarded as the king of Hades and is related to earthquakes and dark rivers. Since there are not many words found, the theogony and the relationship between the characters are not very clear, and the gods with obvious characteristics can be roughly identified such as Zeus-Hera couple, Ares, Hermes, Athena, Artemis , Dionysus, Erinius, etc. The absent gods were Apollo, Aphrodite, Demeter (these were gods from the East), and Hephaestus.

Economy
Land system

The land in Mycenae was divided into two categories: private land and communal land. Private land was held by the ruler, while communal land was distributed among the members of the commune.

Slavery

The slave system in Mycenae was also divided into king-owned and private-owned, and the number of slaves was very large, engaged in agriculture and handicrafts, but only received a small ration to get by.

Commercial Trade

Commercial activity developed to a considerable degree very early, as can be seen from the Milos obsidian that spread throughout the Aegean and the influence of Nile art on early Minoan art. Archaeologists have unearthed Cretan vessels exported to Milos, Egypt and mainland Greece. Milos pottery also spread to Crete. After 1600 BC, trade with Egypt was very developed, and Aegean products were exported throughout the Mediterranean coast. Scholars have found no evidence of money, although some axes are unrealistically light, perhaps of this nature. Standard weights have also been found, as well as ingots representing such standards. But so far, no written documents in the Aegean language have been found outside this region to prove their epistolary with foreign countries. Depictions of ships are less common, only a few are found on Aegean gems, gem seals and jars, ships with masts and low freeboard.

The skilled use of marine scenes in the decoration shows their familiarity with the sea. At the same time in the twentieth century the study of sunken merchant ships off the coast of the Aegean Sea brought a great deal of new information to the field.

Perish
Sharp internal conflict

Ancient Greek mythology records that since 1200 BC, the Mycenaean civilization entered a period of decline, with frequent wars and dynasties. Production shrinks and commerce declines. The recession has brought fiscal depletion, and countries have stepped up to extract money, fueling public resentment.

Attrition of the Trojan War

Due to the decline of the economy, various countries began to plunder their wealth. The coalition army organized by King Agamemnon of Mycenae against the wealthy city-state of Troy in Asia Minor lasted for ten years. Although the Greek coalition won the victory, it was not worth the loss. His vitality was severely damaged, and he could not recover in a short period of time.

Invasion of neighboring peoples

During the period of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the “sea peoples” appeared in the Near East and Egypt, causing a huge blow to Egypt and the surrounding peoples. Following the “Sea Nation”, the Dorians took advantage of the overall decline of the Mycenaean states and sent troops to the south, destroying the Mycenaean civilization and the cities of the Mycenaean civilization in one fell swoop. From 1100 BC to 800 BC, various regions of Greece returned to the “Dark Ages” of primitive society. Without cities, commerce, words and countries, the historical situation of this period was collected by the later ancient Greek blind poet Homer and composed into epics, so it is also called “Homer era” or “Epic era”.