Mycenaean Palace example essay topic

Mycenaean society valued the warrior and the hunter. Evidence of military activities can be found in the stories of Homer, the layout and strategic placement of their citadels, surviving art and weapons and the defeat and control of the Minoans. Homer was a writer who recorded bardic traditions - the oral stories passed on by poem rectors, or bards. He lived about four hundred years after the Mycenaeans, yet his stories were set in their time. We now use his stories the Iliad and the Odyssey to help confirm facts about the Mycenaean way of life. The Iliad is based on the siege of Troy by Agamemnon to recapture Helen, the wife of his brother Menelaus.

These two brothers were Mycenaean kings, showing us that warfare was indeed an integral part of their society. The siege lasted for ten years according to Homer, which shows that the citadel of Troy was capable of sustaining a large number of people for a long time. Heinrich Schliemann was an archaeologist who found the remains of what is believed to be Troy, showing that Homer's stories had some element of truth to them. Many of the findings in the cities of Mycenae and others confirm many of the facts which Homer described.

For example the boar's tusk helmets described were confirmed by replicas actually found in a number of Mycenaean tombs. Homer also described the social system put in place, where the king or "wanax" was at the top of the society, followed by the "lawagetas" or leader of the people who may have commanded the army. Their importance can be seen in their place in the palace - both having a megaron to themselves. Linear B tablets, the written receipts and lists of the Mycenaeans, confirm their importance by mentioning that the wanax owned the most land in the society, and the lawagetas owned a third of that. The "eqetai" were the next in rank, serving as the king's bodyguard and soldiers.

The Iliad describes fifty men and two officers for each "hollow ship" that went to Troy, showing the navy and its importance. The Mycenaeans depended on the sea probably for trade and warfare. The Pylos tablets indicate over five hundred rowers in a fleet. The lack of land defence at Pylos indicate that the sea was the state's main form of defence. The Mycenaean palace has existed since the beginning of their society. However, around 1350 BC the palace became militarily inclined.

Great defence mechanisms were put in place probably for protection against other Mycenaean states, although there is very little evidence which suggests who their enemies were. Citadels were placed on rocky outcrops which allowed the them to see intruders arrive, whilst having the advantage of attacking enemies from above. The palaces were surrounded by tall, thick walls of cut stone blocks. Later Greeks thought that giants built the walls because of the sheer size of the stone blocks, and so called them "cyclopean" walls. The palace at Gla in Boeotia has cyclopean walls which are in an excellent state of preservation, three kilometres long. Rubble fills the inside of the walls to help prevent intruders tunnelling underneath.

There is also some evidence to suggest that wooden palings ran along the top of the walls to protect patrolling soldiers on top of the walls. The citadels had at least one grand entrance which was protected by thick wooden doors. Gla has four gates with two towers, Mycenae has one - the famous Lion Gate. Other ways in and out of the palace were through sally ports - these are small peculiar openings in the wall. They allowed soldiers to leave and attack from behind or even flee.

They were only about chest height, therefore an intruder could easily be beheaded upon entry by the constant guards. Access ramps to the gates were cleverly placed where they would expose the right side of entering soldiers. The shield was carried by the left hand, and therefore did not protect their right side. Granaries and cisterns were inside the palaces to be safe in the event of a siege.

Mycenae's cistern had forty metres of winding passage, and at full water capacity, the first sixty steps would be covered. There are a number of painting and pottery fragments which allude to the warrior way of life in Mycenaean society. Frescoes are paintings initially done on wet plaster, allowing the pigment to absorb into the wall. These were popular decorations inside the dwellings of the palace, especially the megaron. Mycenaean frescoes have the subject matter of military or religious scenes. A Pylos Theran fresco has a depiction of Bronze Age warriors, who carry tower shields which cover the whole body.

They would have been bulky and heavy, probably made of animal hide stretched over a wooden frame. Another early shield design was the figure-of-eight shield which is depicted on a short sword found in a Mycenae shaft grave. It was shaped so that the middle of the shield tapered inwards to allow movement of a spear or sword. The Warrior Vase from Mycenae is an incredibly important source picturing what the soldiers of the period 1200 BC wore and carried. A line of soldiers wear a reinforced helmet and plume, a leather cuirass covering the chest, greaves, and carry two javelins. Such scenes as the boar and deer hunts from Tiryns, the bull-jumping panels from Mycenae and Tiryns, and the appearance of horses and chariots at both Tiryns and Mycenae show us the importance of animal hunting by the Mycenaeans.

The image of the hunter symbolized strength and survival, and was linked very closely to warfare. The Theran fresco of a Bronze Age fleet of soldiers points to forty-two rowers needed for the working of a ship. A number of weapons and parts of weapons have been found at Mycenaean sites. Arrow heads of flint, obsidian and bronze, and smoothed egg-shaped stones used in sling shots have been found all around Mycenaean cities.

Slingers can be seen on the Silver Siege Rhyton from shaft grave IV at Mycenae. Swords and daggers have also survived, usually in the tombs of the palaces. A full body set of armour has been found north of Tiryns at the chamber tomb of Den dra. Made of wide strips of bronze held together with leather thronging restricted movement greatly - probably belonging to a charioteer.

We know that the Mycenaeans took control of Crete and the Minoans around 1400 BC, which therefore shows the Mycenaean hunger for power, and military movements. They acted as a kind of cultural vacuum, taking ideas as their own. This transfer of knowledge and the Minoan influence to invent Linear B writing for the Mycenaeans prove that the Mycenaeans gained control. The Mycenaeans were a militarily-inclined society. We know this from the writings of Homer, their palace defences, their artworks, found weaponry and the knowledge that they enforced themselves upon the Minoans.