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/ Ancient Greek texts refer to a mythical king of Crete with divine origins and extraordinary abilities, Minos. Thucydides reports that Minos was the most ancient king of Crete, who dominated the entire Aegean with a powerful fleet (Minoan Thalassocracy). #Minoans
2/ He had the perspicacity to colonize the Aegean islands and defeat the pirates who "polluted" the seas, promoting peace and trade. However, he also had another aspect: he is presented as a wise legislator, gaining great fame and becoming after his death the judge of the dead.
3/Minos reigned from the Knossos, which he made the most famous city in the Aegean, and was the founder of the labyrinth. Of particular interest is the fact that his mother, Europa,was the daughter of the king of Tyre that she was kidnapped and taken to Crete by his father, Zeus.
1/ In 1903, during his excavations at Knossos, and specifically in a palatial area to the south of the Throne Room, Arthur Evans brought to light two elaborate Minoan figurines of a clearly ceremonial nature. He named the site of the figurines' discovery "Temple Repositories".
2/ Evans believed that he had discovered a Minoan palatial sanctuary with the two figurines, being made of faience, the larger of which represented a "Snake Goddess" and the smaller a priestess (he called her "Snake Priestess"), considering them to be votive objects.
3/ However, the discovered figurines were found to be largely incomplete. From the "Snake Goddess" lacked the body below the waist, one arm and part of the crown, while from the "Snake Priestess" lacked the head and the proper left arm was missing below the elbow. 👉
[PART TWO] CHG/IRF-related ancestry. From the plateaus of the Caucasus and NW Zagros to the Aegean Archipelago.
#Caucasus #Aegean #Dimini
1/ Around 6200 BC the first signs of Neolithicization appear in the Caucasus, marking a new era for local human presence. Thus, domesticated animals and plants appear and technological innovations, such as pottery, are introduced. All of these elements have a foreign character.
2/ The rich productive resources of the Caucasus attract the attention of early Neolithic populations of the Fertile Crescent, resulting in the settlement of new populations and ideas in the region that introduce it to a new world of intercultural contacts and genetic admixtures.
[PART ONE] Caucasus Hunter-Gether / Iran Neolithic Farmer lineage: When, where and through what processes did its formation take place.
1/ In 1976, a local Soviet archaeologist carried out excavations in the Satsurblia cave (western Georgia), bringing to light various layers of human habitation, the oldest of which date back to the Upper Palaeolithic (27 kya). The cave was a seasonal camp for mobile groups of 👉
👉 hunter-gatherers, who hunted a wide range of game, showing a preference for the wild boar and red deer. The surveys continued recently, where a fragment of temporal bone of a man who lived in the cave between 13,132 and 13,380 BP was recovered (Late Upper Palaeolithic).
1️⃣ The conclusions of a new archaeogenetic research confirm the theory of the descent of Proto-Indo-European speakers of an early form of the Greek language around 2250 BC (ΕΗ II / III). However, it is likely that their descent into the Helladic area took place a little earlier.
2️⃣ The earliest Helladic samples of steppe origin indicate this early descent (Theopetra - 2312 BC), in combination with the characteristics of the Proto-Greek language (centum). The Neolithic peoples are directly descended from the Yamnaya culture and passed into northern 👉
👉 Greece via the Balkan corridor. The Proto-Greek steppe origin differs from that of the Corded Ware Culture populations (3000-2300 BC) which were formed by the admixture of Yamnaya and Globular Amphora Culture populations and are widespread in central and western Europe.
1/ In 1903, the Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni discovered inside an elite chamber tomb (Tomb 4) in the area of the royal Villa of Hagia Triada, Crete, one of the most important artifacts of Aegean art: the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. It is dated to around 1400 BC. #Minoans
2/ The sarcophagus was made of limestone and there are holes in its bottom. Its construction cannot be considered as something extraordinary and its shape is very irregular. However, its importance lies in the fact that it is decorated on all four sides 👉
👉 with abstract patterns and figures, while on its two long sides it contains a series of narrative scenes that present elements of Minoan funerary ritual. The buon frescoes were applied on a layer of lime plaster and were probably the work of two artists.