1/ In the Iliad, Homer often refers to the uniqueness of the capabilities of the armies of Achilles and Ajax, where they are described as dense formations of elite soldiers, who use brilliant tactical battles under the guidance of highly trained warlords. #Homer#Iliad#Troy
2/ " ...howbeit thereto could he no more avail, for with shields were they fenced in on every side, as they stood around Patroclus, and before them they held their spears. For Ajax ranged to and fro among them and straitly charged every man; ➡️
➡️ Thus mighty Ajax charged them, not one, he bade them, should give ground backward from the corpse, nor yet fight in front of the rest of the Achaeans as one pre-eminent above them all; but stand firm close beside the corpse and do battle hand to hand. ➡️
➡️ and the earth grew wet with dark blood, and the dead fell thick and fast alike of the Trojans and their mighty allies, and of the Danaans; for these too fought not without shedding of blood, ➡️
➡️ howbeit fewer of them by far were falling; for they ever bethought them to ward utter destruction from one another in the throng."
3/ Does Homer's narration of a historical Mycenaean invasion of Troy contain memories of the existence of elite special forces in the ranks of the Mycenaean army,who were undertaking difficult operations,while with their fighting being a decisive factor for the battle's outcome?
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1/ The causes of the collapse are more complex than theories about the existence of successive earthquakes and periods of intense drought. Recent researches in the Aegean have revised the magnitude of the effectiveness of the above causes by deconstructing their importance.
2/ For example, in Messinia intense drought is observed after the mid-12th century BC, i.e. much later than the period when the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces took place. At the same time, the inhabitants of the Aegean were particularly adapted to earthquakes aftereffects.
3/ So, we could look for the main causes of the collapse in the dysfunctional bureaucratic palatial system, in the overexploitation of natural resources, in the dependence of the Mycenaean economy on international trade, in dynastic quarrels and in social inequalities.
1️⃣ In the 16th cent BC a warlike elite appeared in the southern Helladic area whose members were thirsty for conquest and demonstration of mastery,and their exploits changed the Aegean forever, reaching to be recorded even in the Hittite textual records (end of the 15th cent BC).
2️⃣Early Mycenaean warlords carried powerful weaponry: long swords, spears,composite bows, tower and figure-of-eight shields. All the above Mycenaean weapons were futher developing or adoption of Minoan examples,being distillations of Aegean traditions and Near Eastern borrowings.
3️⃣ However, the Mycenaeans possessed two types of weapons that appear for the first time in the Aegean area: the armour and the chariot. In the second half of the 16th century BC Mycenaean warriors wore armour, as evidenced by the discovery of a right shoulder protection 👉
1️⃣ In 1950, during excavations in the prehistoric settlement of Grotta, a very interesting small-sized stone head of a male figure was discovered, which received the name acrolith mycenaean "kouros", identifying in it a crucial role in the evolution of Aegean figurine art.
2️⃣ The stone head was found inside House A, the most important and well-built house of LH IIIA Grotta, in which there are indications of storage, food preparation, possibly handling or control of products and possibly domestic worship (marble platform of domestic altar).
3️⃣ The stone head of Grotta is made of blue-green ophite, it has a highly polished surface and coarse engravings of facial features. An elongated triangular embolus was forming at the point of the sternum, which was adapting to a wooden core.
1/ The Mycenaean presence in the Iberian Peninsula has been found only in southern Spain (Montoro, Llanete de los Moros) and has the character of non-regular visits. However, this fact is not proof that the Mycenaeans had not advanced further west without leaving visible traces.
2/The myths of Perseus and Herakles indicate direct contacts of the Mycenaeans beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Various writers of classical times refer to areas or islands that were further west of the Pillars of Hercules: Makárōn Nêsoi or Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed.
3/The Isles of the Blessed are mentioned by Hesiod and Pindar as a remote location inhabited after death by mythical heroes,without however being precisely specified geographically,although it is implied that they were somewhere in the West Mediterranean or in the Atlantic Ocean.
1/ The basis of the Mycenaean diet was cereals, mainly barley and then emmer wheat. They were ground to produce flour from which they made bread, while in other cases they were used coarsely ground in soups and porridges. Beer production was also possible.
#Mycenaean_diet
2/ The consumption of legumes, such as the lentil, the pea, the common and the bitter vetch, the chickpea, the broad bean and the lupine, was of great importance in the daily diet. Legumes were ground to make bread flour, made into soups and purees, or eaten raw.
3/ However, the main components of the Mycenaean diet were olives, figs and grapes. The olives were pickled or processed to produce olive oil, while the figs were dried. Grapes were mainly used to produce wine, which was flavored with resin, herbs or honey.
1/ According to textual evidence the Hittites called the Mycenaeans by the ethnonym Ahhiyawa, while the Egyptians called them Tanaju, two words that refer to the Homeric Achaeans and Danaans. However, what did the Minoan Cretans call the Mycenaeans? #Ionians
2/ The KN C 914 tablet mentions the sending of several sacrificed animals to A-ka-wi-ja-de, which may have been some local celebration of the Mycenaeans who settled in Crete after 1450 BC in memory of their common homeland on the mainland (Achaea).
3/ Of extreme interest are two fragmentary tablets from the Room of the Chariot Tablets (KN B 164 and Xd 146.4) which refer to a group called i-ja-wo-ne. Several scholars associate the i-ja-wo-ne with the historical Ionians and indeed within a military context.