Classical Myth in the Arts - Mycenaean Culture

The Mycenaean Age. In the Middle Bronze Age an invasion or migration from the north and possibly the east brought into mainland Greece the first Greek-speaking people. The civilization that they established reached its peak in the Late Bronze Age and has been called Mycenaean, after one of its principal centers of power, Mycenae.

Mycenaean civilization, although influenced by the earlier Minoan, differs from it in some striking ways. Mycenae, excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, seems to have lived up to its most famous Homeric epithet “rich in gold.” Surrounded by monumental walls (called Cyclopean because they were said to have been built by the Cyclopes) and entered through the Lion Gate (with its relief above the entrance of two lions or lionesses flanking a single column), Mycenae was built, as were Cretan communities, around a complex palatial structure. Just inside the gate, Schliemann discovered a circle of shaft graves, which contained a considerable treasure. Also excavated were tholos tombs, beehive structures below the palace complex and typical of Mycenaean centers in general.

Schliemann’s finds established the generally accurate picture of the Homeric account of the sophistication and wealth of these Mycenaean Greek communities. Homer composed epic songs celebrating a heroic age, and it must be about these communities that he, and other poets, would continue to sing hundreds of years after their collapse.

Of great significance is the work of Carl Blegen (1887–1971), who discovered the Mycenaean palace of the legendary King Nestor at Pylos. Particularly impressive is its well-preserved megaron, or central room, with an open hearth, a feature found in Mycenaean but not in Minoan palaces.

In the sphere of religion, the Mycenaeans with their worship of a supreme sky-god Zeus differed fundamentally from the Minoans, who worshiped a fertility mother goddess. In many respects, Greek mythology can be seen as the synthesis of the tension between Minoan and Mycenaean culture.

Linear B. In the excavation of Mycenaean civilization, clay tablets inscribed with writing have been found; an especially rich hoard was discovered at Pylos, preserved by the fire that brought destruction towards the end of the Bronze Age.

These tablets, deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris, in collaboration with John Chadwick, have been found to be the earliest form of the Greek language that we possess. The script is called Linear B, to distinguish it from the earlier Minoan script (as yet undeciphered) found on Crete.

On Linear B tablets, mention is made of deities familiar to us from later Greek mythology: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, Athena, Eileithyia, and Dionysus. Also recorded is the word paean, which would be a later epithet for Apollo, and the name Enualios, to be identified with Ares. The appearance of the word potnia (mistress or lady) suggests that the Mycenaeans worshiped a goddess of the mother-fertility type, in addition to their sky-god Zeus.

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Archaeological Museum of Athena is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide.

The prehistoric collection displays objects from the Neolithic era (6800-3000 BC), Early and Mid-Bronze age (3000-2000 BC and 2000 to 1700 BC respectively), objects classified as Cycladic and Mycenaean art.