Natale Barca - Knossos, Mycenae, Troy: The Enchanting Bronze Age and its Tumultuous Climax

Published in the United Kingdom in 2023 by

OXBOW BOOKS

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Oxbow Books and Natale Barca 2023

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-947-6

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-948-3 (ePub)

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022950962

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Front and back cover : Delphins of Knossos ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dauphins_de_knossos.jpg; Armagnac-commons; used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license)

Timeline

Source: E. H. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 23.

Preface

Located in central Crete, in a valley in the hinterland of the northern coast, 5 km from the sea, and surrounded by low, verdant hills, a large field of ruins, largely still buried, testify to the existence of one of the most ancient and enduring human settlements in the West. Its focus is a low hill called Kephala, situated northwest of the confluence of the Vlychia and Katsambas torrents; its flat top is occupied by the remains of a gigantic architectural complex. The site is now the archaeological area of Knossos, one of the most important of its kind in Greece and the entire Mediterranean region. It was called ko-no-so , or ku-ni-su , by its inhabitants in the Bronze Age and Knossos by the Greeks of the 1st millennium BC. The Romans, in 36 BC, built a Roman colony in the vicinity of Kephala: Colonia Iulia Nobilis.

Ko-no-so was the hub of one of the first Mediterranean civilizations worthy of the name, the one that was called the Minoan civilization by the English archaeologist Arthur John Evans (18511941). The name refers to the legend of Minos, the wise and just king of Crete, the founder of the Cretan thalassocracy of his time, who, after his death, became a judge of the dead in the underworld. Evans identified the architectural complex of Kephalawhich he discovered, excavated, and restored according to highly questionable criteriaas the Palace of Minos, which he called the Labyrinth because of the complexity of its layout.

The Minoan civilization was made up of cities, palaces, maritime supremacy, mercantile expansion, advanced technology, fine craftsmanship, and elegant and refined art. It flourished from 3000 BC onward for a couple of millennia, lasting throughout the entire Bronze Age with close ties with other Mediterranean civilizationsthose of the Cycladics (southern Aegean Sea), Mycenaeans (the Greek mainland and islands), Hittites (central Anatolian plateau), and Egyptians (Nile Valley and part of the southern Levant)as well as with the contemporary cultures of Cyprus, Syria, and the southern Levant.

It emitted a strong cultural influence, so much so that the Cycladic civilization allowed itself to be Minoanized and the Mycenaean civilization looked to it as a model to imitate.

The architects and protagonists of the Minoan civilization are today called Minoans. They descended from the Neolithic peoples of Crete. We have an idea of these people thanks to the skeletons and tibias in their tombs and their frescoes, painted stuccos, seal engravings, weaponry etchings, statuettes, stone engravings, and vases with relief decorations, which portray both men and women, never mature but young.

They were quite short individuals: men were around 1.67 m tall, while women were around 1.55 m. They were reasonably well-fed people. The life expectancy was 35 years for men and 30 years for women, in line with those of other Mediterranean peoples of their day. As for their general health, this was often affected by anemia or malaria.

The Minoans were well-proportioned individuals, lithe and slender, animated and attractive. They had a tanned complexion, large, dark eyes framed by thick eyebrows, a straight, arched, or aquiline nose, a well-shaped mouth, thick lips, and prominent chins. They had an athletic, tough physique, rather thin, even skinny, with muscular shoulders, arms, and thighs and slender, wiry legs, giving them a flexible and graceful gait. Some had short hair, while others wore it long, letting their curls fall to their shoulders.

Usually, they wore a perizoma, supported by a wide belt worn very tightly at their waist, or a short skirt with an angled wrap, akin to a kilt. Having a thin waist was characteristic of both Minoan men and Minoan women. To protect themselves from the sun, they covered their heads with a turban, a cap, or a large hat, flat and round. When it was cold, they covered themselves with a long garment and a cloak. When not walking barefoot, they wore a pair of sandals or ankle boots, which could reach the calf, of white or light yellow leather.

The boys went naked and had braided hair. Women, on the other hand, wore very low-cut doublets, which revealed their protruding bosom, with puffed sleeves, and multicolored skirts with a bell shape, narrow at the waist and hanging from the hips. They were rather attractive, had elaborately coiffed hair, white skin, an ample chest, and a proud expression. Both men and women often wore jewelry.

From 1450 BC onward, the Minoan civilization was enriched with elements of the Mycenaean civilization. It flourished for a few more centuries, then declined.

The Mycenaean civilization flourished in mainland Greece from the end of the 17th century BC for around 500 years. It took its name from Mycenae, a city in Argolis (Peloponnese), probably its most important center of influence. It learned and drew everything it could from the Minoan civilizationamong other things, a centralized system of government, the architecture of the palaces, and wall decorationbefore dealing it a severe blow by invading and occupying Crete and its overseas territories, thereby removing its primacy in mercantile trade.

Meanwhile, another civilization was rising up in the Aegean region, one which is now known as the Trojan civilization after its main settlement. Troy was the capital of a kingdom and controlled access to the Turkish Straits, a fundamental access route to the agricultural and metallic resources of the Black Sea. It was part of the federation of Arzawa and, therefore, part of the Hittite Empire. The latter had its heart in the Hatti Kingdom and its capital in attua, a city found on the central Anatolian plateau.