CLA 2323 Lecture 2: Week 1 - Session 2
8 May 2018
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CLA 2323: Greek Mythology
Week 1: Thursday, May 3, 2018
Greek's Heroes
• The Olympian gods (allowed to live on Mount Olympus)
Zeus
Apollo
Hera
Artemis
Poseidon
Aphrodite
Hermes
Demeter
Ares
Dionysus
Athena
Hephaestus
• 10 if not more are listed in the tablets of the Mycenaeans
• One deity is missing: Aphrodite
Timeline for the Mycenaean Civilization
1600-1200 B.C.
• 1490: the Mycenaeans invade Crete, take over Minoan civilization
• 1400-1250: Mycenaean heyday - trade and war to Cyprus and Asia Minor
• 1200: a real-life Trojan war?
• 1200-1150: Mycenaean destruction (they disappear)
Tales of the gods vs tales of the heroes
• Greek mythology is the tales of the gods and the tales of heroes
• Most world mythologies focus on gods
o Greek mythologies illustrate tales of heroes more than tales of gods (5 to 1)
• Heroes derives from heros, or "protector"
o Someone who is almost always a descendant from the gods
▪ Usually male (i.e. Son of Zeus)
• Ancient Greeks had conquered the land of Greece (south), they did not massacre the aboriginal
population but amalgamated with them
o Many stories illustrate heroes marrying the "foreign princess"
• We begin to find evidence in archaeology (strong evidence) suggesting a vigorous culture emerging
in southern Greece
o Modern name we give to it is Mycenaean (these are the Greeks)
▪ The "first blossoming" of Greek civilization in the Bronze Age
Mycenaean
• They were Greeks
• In 1876, a brilliant/aggressive German businessman named Heimlich Schliemann was an amateur
archaeologist, who theorized that if he went to southern Greece - to the site of the ancient city of
Mycenae - and started digging, he could find evidence of real-life truth behind the history of King
Agamemnon
o Greek king who leads Greeks to Trojan War
▪ Schliemann did not prove that the king was real, but he was dynamically successful
▪ Found fortified stone structures, tombs, golden artefacts
▪ Evidence of a rich, war-like city
• Schliemann proved that Mycenae was the capital of some kind of kingdom
o Giant step toward demonstrating historical truth behind some of the Greek myths
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• Schliemann demonstrates that this was the seat of power (it was a kingdom)
• Subsequently, other archaeologist have found other artifacts linking to this kingdom
o In 19th century, a scholar realized that places yielding biggest Mycenaean finds also had the
biggest roles in Greek mythology (i.e. Thebes, Argos, Mycenae
• People were noticing there is an overlap of historical truth behind M. Civilization and some aspects
of Greek mythology
• Mycenaean kingdom mirrored a medieval castle
o Used limestone blocks for structures (i.e. Surrounding gates)
o Lions were carved out of limestone at opening gate, put on either sides of a pillar to indicate
that what follows is the royal palace
• Schliemann also found a gold mask in the remnants of a tomb
o The corpse was a king
o Believed that this mask mirrored his facial features
o He informed the King of Greece of what he had found
▪ This is usually called the death mask of Agamemnon
• Sand in Greece is red because of its iron concentration
o There's clay across Greece, which is pretty red
• Mycenaean had organized fashion - soldiers had generic uniform
• Different types of shields
o Ox-hide over wooden frames
• Accomplished, war-like society that was uncovered by Schliemann
• After digging up Mycenae, Schliemann went to Troy
• Mycenae is relatively ambiguous - just the civilization, or the people as well?
• There might have been 4 civilizations like this one
o Mycenae (the largest, richest, and strongest), associated with: (that guarded the plain of
Argos)
▪ Argos: farther inland
▪ Tiryns: port city of Mycenae
o Thebes: north of Athens in central Greece
o Pylos: southwestern Greece
o Iolcus
• It looks like these cities existed as separate kingdoms of Mycenaean civilizations
o Each of these were seen as separate kingdoms
• "The Seven Against Thebes": Mycenae (twice) sent an army to attack Thebes to capture it
• Mycenaen civilization is best understood as encompassing (most) of eastern Greece, comprised of
four separate kingdoms
Mycenaean Greeks
• The civilization emerged around 1600 B.C.
• Schliemann found a collection of tombs, dating back to this time
• 1490 B.C.: at least one of the kingdoms invaded Crete in this year
• Minoan civilizations were non-Greek culture on Crete
o Aspects of their culture went into Greek mythology and were models for Mycenaeans to
copycat
▪ Mycenaeans were copying Minoans
• Mycenaeans invaded Crete, putting Minoans to work for them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
