Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE TROJAN WAR
For the Greeks, the story of the Trojan War was the central event in their early history, and in
their minds Homer's Iliad was not just a poem of heroic deeds sung at noble courts, but the
epic of their first great national adventure.
Excavations in the late nineteenth century by Heinrich Schliemann (see p.786) uncovered
many Troys of several periods, but the layer known as Troy VIIa clearly suffered violent
destruction in about 1220 BC. The Mycenaeans are the likeliest perpetrators, though the
abduction of a Greek beauty called Helen would not have been the only reason they
launched a thousand ships against the Trojans. Mycenaean prosperity greatly depended on
trade with the Eastern Mediterranean, where increasingly unsettled conditions made it
imperative that they secure their lines of trade and supply . Troy commanded a strategic
position overlooking the Hellespont, the narrow waterway (today called the Dardanelles)
dividing Europe and Asia and linking the Aegean to the Black Sea, where it controlled
important trade routes.
The capture of Troy was the last great success of the Mycenaeans, and perhaps for that
reason it was long remembered in poetry and song. It inspired later generations of Greeks to
dream of overseas expansion, culminating in the fourth century BC when Alexander the Great
carried a copy of the Iliad as he marched across Asia, founding Greek cities as he went, and
stood with his army on the banks of the Indus River.
Among their most impressive tools, literally at the cutting edge of new technology, was
a meter-long bronze saw that readily converted the forest-clad mountains into an ample
source of timber for ships . Some timber was probably also exported, most likely to
treeless Egypt, while metalwork, jewellery and pottery of superb Cretan craftsmanship
were shipped to the mainland and beyond. Kamares ware , as Cretan pottery of this
period is known, was especially valued; it has been found all along the Cretans'
875km-long maritime trade route to the East - on the Aegean islands of Rhodes and
Sámos, on the coast of Asia Minor at Miletus, and in Syria and Egypt.
On Crete itself, Minoan power was concentrated on three vast palace complexes - at
Knossos , Phaestos and Malia , all in the centre of the island. First built around 2000
BC, their similarity of plan and lack of defences suggest that some form of confederacy
had replaced any regional rivalries on the island, while Minoan sea power induced a
sense of security against foreign invasion. Not that prosperity was confined to the
palace centres; the numerous remains of villas of the Minoan gentry, and of well-
constructed villages, show that the wealth generated by the palaces was redistributed
among the island's population. Following an earthquake around 1700 BC, the palaces
at Knossos and Phaestos were rebuilt, and a more modest palace constructed at Zakros
on the east coast. This activity coincided with an apparent centralization of power at
Knossos, giving rise to a Minoan golden age .
Mycenaean dominance
Suddenly, however, around 1500 BC , the Mycenaeans gained control of the palace of
Knossos and were soon in full possession of Crete. How this happened is unknown,
but it probably marked the culmination of a growing rivalry between the Mycenaeans
and the Minoans for control of the Aegean trade, which perhaps coincided with a
volcanic explosion on the island of Thera (Thíra/Santoríni) and its consequent tsunami .
c.1150 BC
c.1100 BC
c.620-570 BC
The so-called Sea Peoples
sweep across Greece,
ushering in a new Dark
Age.
The first iron tools and
weapons begin to transform
agriculture and warfare.
Sappho, from whom we get the words sapphic
and lesbian (after her birthplace, Lésvos), was
regarded as one of the greatest poets of the
ancient world.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search