Mycenaean Greece (Routledge Revivals)

Book excerpt: Mycenaean Greece, first published in 1976, investigates from an historical point of view some of the crucial periods in the Greek Bronze Age. The principal subject is the so-called ‘Mycenaean’ culture which arose during the sixteenth century BC, as assimilation of the previous ‘Helladic’ culture of mainland Greece with some of the developments of Minoan Crete. Many of the material aspects of the Mycenaean civilisation are examined, as are the extent of Mycenaean expansion overseas and the eventual destruction of Mycenaean sites which marked the end of their civilisation. The author also considers the evidence relating to the religious beliefs of the Mycenaeans and their social, political and economic organisations, and he relates the Mycenaean culture to the later civilisation of Archaic and Classical Greece. There is an Appendix containing a list of Mycenaean sites, with reference to excavation reports, and a full bibliography.