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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1️⃣ In the 1950s, a very interesting finding was discovered by chance in Dohnsen, Lower Saxony, which immediately aroused the interest of the scientific community. It was a bronze cup with exceptional artistic features both in its shape and decoration.
2️⃣ The bronze cup referred to Aegean patterns and the first ascertainments were that it is a artefact that was a product of long-distance transit trade between the Aegean and local communities within the context of the circulation of metal objects during the Late Bronze Age.
3️⃣ Although the archaeological context in which the bronze cup was found is uncertain, important Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement sites rich in archaeological remains and artefacts have been identified around and within close proximity of its find site, 👉
1/ According to the Hittite texts the Myc warlord Attarsiya carried out military operations in Anatolia and Cyprus around 1400 BC. We don't know if Attarsiya was the king of Mycenae, however he must have been an important member of the most powerful royal family of the Myc world.
2/ However, what was the visitor seeing when he was coming to Mycenae at the time of Attarsiya? He certainly was not seeing the majestic palatial Mycenae with the large building complexes and the huge walls, which were creations of newer periods.
3/At the time of Attarsiya,Mycenae was a settlement in constant expansion,being in the vestibule of implementation of the great palatial construction program,which began a few years later with more important elements the construction of the palatial complex and the fortification.
1️⃣A similar pattern of abandoning coastal and lowland sites to defensible mountainous sites is observed in Crete with the beginnings of the phenomenon being traced shortly after 1250 BC. Then the first destructions in Cretan coastal sites take place,while others decline abruptly.
2️⃣ In the coming years, Crete will become a field of a) intense pirate activity by multinational groups of sea raiders, some of which establish temporary fortified settlements on coastal hills, and b) immigration movement both from the Mainland and from Italy.
3️⃣Within a generalized climate of instability and insecurity, a significant portion of the local population retreats to inaccessible mountainous locations,often facing a daily life of hardship,such as the people of Karphi, who were living crowded under extreme weather conditions.
1️⃣ The megaron was not a Mycenaean innovation, but appears for the first time in the Helladic area as a central building where the local ruler probably lived in the Neolithic fortified settlements of Dimini and Sesklo. However it may have had a more communal character.
2️⃣ During the Early Helladic, the megaroid building structure and architecture appears in the monumental corridor houses in Lerna, Aegina etc. These buildings functioned as the administrative and financial centers of the local communities (houses of powerful local elites?).
3️⃣ During the EH III - MH period apsidal megaroid buildings became the main type of domestic unit. It consisted of a narrow rectangular building with an apsidal end. In some cases they were divided into three rooms: a narrow, open or closed, vestibule leading to a large central👉
1/ At the beginning of the 9th century BC settlers from the mainland settled to the north of the Gulf of Smyrna in a poor coastal site, which was nevertheless endowed with two sheltered harbors, the existence of which was to play a decisive role in the future of the newcomers.
2/ The tradition states that the founders of Phocaea were not Aeolians, but Phocians (Dorians) who arrived in the area under Athenian leadership and settled on land granted to them by the nearby Aeolian colony of Cumae. After a few years, however, the elites 👉
👉 of newcomers accepted that they were descendants of the mythical Athenian king Codrus and entered the Ionian League. Archaeological evidence demonstrates an initial presence of Aeolian pottery, which at the end of the 9th century BC, is suddenly replaced by Ionic motifs.
1/ During the Post-palatial period, the Cyclades are a field of intense rearrangements with the collapse of Mycenaean mainland control, the arrival of refugees from the mainland and the emergence of new local elites with a strong maritime and military character. #Sifnos
2/ A memorable case is the strong fortified settlement of Agios Andreas in Sifnos, which appears to have been founded by members of some mainland Mycenaean palatial authority shortly after the advent of LH IIIB2 (second half of the 13th century BC).
3/ The strategic site of the hill of Agios Andreas, which was covered by dense woody vegetation of a species of low cedar, dominates the central and SE part of Sifnos, allowing the control of a large part of the island, the port at Plati Gyali and an extensive sea area of Aegean.